Day 4, Live blog: Donald Trump "I accept"

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11:54pm House Speaker Paul Ryan declares the convention is adjourned.

11:36pm 100,000 balloons fall with 300 pounds of confetti. The End.

11:34pm Trump: “So to every parent who dreams for their child, and every child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I’m With You, and I will fight for you, and I will win for you.

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“To all Americans tonight, in all our cities and towns, I make this promise: We Will Make America Strong Again. We Will Make America Proud Again. We Will Make America Safe Again. And We Will Make America Great Again. I love you. God bless you.” (Full prepared text of the Trump acceptance speech here.)

11:30pm Trump: “Now, my sole and exclusive mission is to go to work for our country – to go to work for you. It’s time to deliver a victory for the American people. We don’t win anymore, but we are going to start winning. But to do that, we must break free from the petty politics of the past. America is a nation of believers, dreamers, and strivers that is being led by a group of censors, critics and cynics.

“Remember: all of the people telling you that you can’t have the country you want, are the same people saying I had no chance of standing here tonight. No longer can we rely on those elites in media, and politics, who will say anything to keep a rigged system in place.”

11:20pm Trump: “We will repeal and replace disastrous ObamaCare. You will be able to choose your own doctor again. And we will fix TSA at the airports, which is a disaster! We will completely rebuild our depleted military. And the countries that we are protecting, at a massive cost, will be asked to pay their fair share.” (Crowd chants, “Yes, you will.”)

11:18pm Trump: “We are going to lift the restrictions on the production of American energy. This will produce more than $20 trillion in job creating economic activity over the next four decades. My opponent, on the other hand, wants to put the great miners and steel workers of our country out of work – that will never happen when I am President.”

11:06pm Trump: “The day I take the oath of office, Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced. We are going to be considerate and compassionate to everyone.

“But my greatest compassion will be for our own struggling citizens. My plan is the exact opposite of the radical and dangerous immigration policy of Hillary Clinton. Americans want relief from uncontrolled immigration.”

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11:00pm Trump: “This includes working with our greatest ally in the region, the State of Israel. Lastly, we must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism until such time as proven vetting mechanisms have been put in place.”

10:58pm Trump: “We must abandon the failed policy of nation building and regime change that Hillary Clinton pushed in Iraq, Libya, Egypt and Syria. Instead, we must work with all of our allies who share our goal of destroying ISIS and stamping out Islamic terror and we must do it quickly.”

10:52pm Trump: “I am the Law And Order candidate. The irresponsible rhetoric of our president, who has used the pulpit of the presidency to divide us by race and color, has made America a more dangerous environment for everyone than I have ever seen. This Administration has failed America’s inner cities. It’s failed them on education. It’s failed them on jobs. It’s failed them on crime.”

10:48pm Trump: “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it. I have seen firsthand how the system is rigged against our citizens, just like it was rigged against Bernie Sanders – he never had a chance.”

1042pm Trump: “I have no patience for injustice” (interruption by ‘We Want Trump’ chant as a demonstrator is removed).

10:36pm Trump: “The most important difference between our (foreign policy) plan and that of our opponents is that our plan will put America first…The American people will come first once again beginning at home….There can be no prosperity without law and order….My message is that things have to change. And they have to change right now.”

10:32pm Crowd chants about Hillary Clinton: “Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up” Trump holds up his finger, “Let’s defeat her in November.”

10:24pm Trump: “Beginning on Jan. 20 of 2017, safety will be restored…I will present the fact plainly and honestly. We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore. So, if you want to hear the corporate spin, the carefully-crafted lies and the media myths, the Democrats are holding their convention next week. Go there.”

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10:18pm Donald Trump speaks: “I humbly accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States….Together, we will lead our party back to the White House and we will lead our country back to safety, prosperity and peace. We will be a country of generosity and wealth. But we will also be a country of law and order.”

10:14pm Ivanka Trump: “When my father says he will make America great again, he will deliver….As a child, my father told me, ‘Ivanka, you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.'”

10:08pm Hillary Clinton dispatches a fundraising email: “Show me you’re with me and willing to do whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump far away from the White House.”

10:06pm  Ivanka Trump: “This is the moment and Donald Trump is the man to make America great again. Real change, the kind we have not seen in decades, is only going to come from outside the system. And it’s only going to come from a man who’s spemnt his entire life doing what others said could not be done. My father is a fighter….

“If it’s possible to be famous and yet not really well-known that describes the father who raised me. In the same office in Trump Tower where we now work together I remember playing on the floor by my father’s desk, constructing miniature buildings with Legos and Erector sets while he did the same with concrete, steel and glass. My father taught my siblings and me the importance of positive values and a strong ethical compass….

“My father not only has the strength and ability necessary to be our next president, but also the kindness and compassion that will enable him to be the leader this country needs…My father values talent when he sees it. He recognizes real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is color-blind and gender-neutral.”

9:40pm Tom Barrack, former Reagan administration official and Trump business partner: “He shows up on time. He doesn’t confuse efforts with results. He befriends the bewildered. He pushes everybody around him including you through comfort barriers they never thought they could  shatter.”

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Barrack tells a story about attending a Mike Tyson fight at Trump Casino in Atlantic City. As the men walked in the back door, Trump broke away and approached a lone man standing nearby. “Louie, how are you?” he said. The men conversed and it was clear that Trump had helped Louie’s son.

Later inside, Trump asked for a fight program and scribbled on it. He asked an aide to deliver it to Louie and his son. Trump wrote, “I came here tonight to see two champions. And one of them was your father.”

Barrack added: “It’s up to you people to make once upon a time once upon this time.”

9:24pm Peter Thiel, Pay-Pal co-founder who grew up in Cleveland: “It’s time to end the era of stupid wars and rebuild our country. (Big cheers.) When I was a kid, the great debate was about how to defeat the Soviet  Union. And we won! Now we are told the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom. This is a distraction from our real problem.  Who cares? (Standing ovation)

“Every American has a unique identity. I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all I am proud to be an American! I don’t pretend to agree with every plank in our party platform. But state culture wars only distract us from our economic decline. And nobody in this race is being honest about it except Donald Trump.”

9:06pm RNC Chairman Reince Priebus: “The dirty little secret the Democrats don’t want you to know. They’re the same party doing the same old thing. Next week they’re going to trot out the same old Democrats with the same old message running the same old candidate. We are the party of new ideas…

“A Clinton presidency only means more debt, more ObamaCare and more hardworking families never seeing a raise…”

Crowd chanting the familiar: “Lock her up! Lock her up!”

“For Hillary Clinton the Oval Office is just another cash cow. I have just one word for this corruption: Enough.”

9:02pm The Trumps are in the house. Ivanka pauses backstage to pose for a selfie with someone.

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8:50pm Lisa Shin, National Diversity Coalition for Trump: Hillary Clinton’s “dangerous ideology undermines our democracy and freedom. she represents everything that is wrong with the system — the deceit, corruption, cronyism and complete lack of accountability….

“There is only one clear choice for America. And that choice is Donald J. Trump.”

8:46pm  Maybe it’s me, but the audience seems restrained this evening. Almost as if members are waiting for some big speech or something.

8:40pm Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin: “Our country is divided. Our people are afraid. And our spirits are nearly broken. But we can ‘t let that hopelessness become the new  normal. We can make America one again.” (The night’s message. The night’s message.)

8:30pm Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee: “We’ve all had enough of bloated budgets, unkept promises and pointless red lines. We’ve had enough division and enough heated rhetoric that only drives a wedge between us and our neighbor…In short, the American people have had it. They are ready for change. There is someone who can get the job done.”

She suggests we elect Donald Trump president. “He believes in the American Dream because he has lived the American Dream.”

8:16pm Fran Tarkenton: “Remember Coach Vince Lombardi when nothing was going right on the field that day saying, ‘What the hell is going on out here?’ Right now, I look at America and I have to ask, ‘What the hell is going on here?’ The most anemic recovery in history. And Washington is broken for everybody, at least broken for everybody who doesn’t make their living inside the Beltway. We are stuck in frustration, anger and fear….

“A leader gets stuff done. I’ve known Donald Trump for 48 years. He gets stuff done, a proven leader, a team leader…I’ve watched him succeed. I’ve watched him fail, because we all fail. And I’ve watched him get back up.””

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8:04pm Pastor Mark Burns (shouting, or rather SHOUTING): “It is so important that we come together to defeat Hillary Clinton and the race-baiting Democrats. Those Democrats will do whatever it takes to keep us focusing on the colors that divide us and not the colors that unite us.”

7:58pm Sheriff Joe Arpaio: “We need a leader who will protect our borders and enforce our laws. Because a nation without borders is no nation at all….Let’s elect Donald Trump.”

7:54pm  Jerry Falwell Jr.: “We have never met such a genuine and loving family. I truly believe Mr. Trump is America’s blue-collar billionaire. He is down to earth. He loves America and the American people. He is a true patriot and a champion of the common man.

“Mr. Trump has added a plank to this party’s platform to repeal an IRS rule sponsored by Lyndon Johnson in 1954 barring churches and non-profits from expressing political free speech.”

And here’s a key point: “If you’re a conservative, a decision not to vote or to vote for a third-party candidate is a de facto vote for Hillary Clinton…The only way to make America great — and one — again is to tell Chelsea’s mama, ‘You’re fired!'”

7:48pm Speakers pause. Loud music. Aisle-dancing. Outside Quicken Loans Arena, journalists report more police than protesters.

7:36pm All good things must come to an end. And the same goes for political conventions.

Tonight, President Obama is tardily marking the end of Ramadan with a Muslim gathering in the White House. It is also the final night of the GOP’s 41st presidential convention.

Nominee Donald Trump makes his acceptance speech after daughter Ivanka introduces him. Presumably, he accepts. What will his tone be? Statesmanlike and gracious? Unifying and leaderly. Bellicose and combative?

This is no minor moment for the 70-year-old’s hopes of winning on Nov. 8. He’s pulled off an amazing feat as a political novice to capture leadership of the party of Lincoln. But he’ll need to attract five times the record 13 million primary votes he got to have a chance at victory. That will require him to reach out way, way beyond Trumpers.

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Tonight is probably the best opportunity to change a widespread image of the billionaire as someone who shoots from the lip. Will he appear as someone that, despite the caricatures, many Americans can imagine in the Oval Office? Will he say anything about Ted Cruz’ controversial Wednesday night speech?

His children this week have described Dad as a determined, hard-working father who connects with working people. He’ll need a lot of them on Nov. 8.

Reality TV usually has surprises. And a script. We’ll see that script shortly after Jerry Falwell Jr., Fran Tarkenton, Marsha Blackburn and Gov. Mary Fallin speak. For now, we predict Trump will lay claim to the law and order candidacy. He will promise a lot of jobs, to fight for everyone and something about winning again.

The Colors are in. The speakers have started. Here we go.

 

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