Donald Trump Jr. claims Biden is weak on China

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. Republican National Convention

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan claimed that Democrats were trying to confiscate US citizens' guns.

“They’re also trying to take away your guns,” Jordan said.

Facts First: Some Democrats have supported a mandatory gun confiscation buy-back. Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, instead supports a voluntary buy-back program.

Along with banning the “manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Biden’s plan includes mandating that people who own assault weapons either sell theirs to the federal government or properly register them with the authorities.

Donald Trump Jr. Republican National convention

Donald Trump Jr. claimed that Joe Biden had called President Donald Trump a racist and xenophobe for having imposed travel restrictions on China.

Facts First: Biden did accuse Trump of “xenophobia” in an Iowa campaign speech the same day, Jan. 31, that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced the Trump administration’s travel restrictions on China – but it was not clear if Biden was even aware of the travel restrictions at the time, and his campaign says he wasn’t. Biden first took a firm position on the travel restrictions in early April, when he expressed support for them.

Biden said on Jan. 31 that “this is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia — hysterical xenophobia — and fear-mongering to lead the way instead of science.” But he did not specifically mention the travel restrictions in that address. 

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Pennsylvania Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell. Republican National Convention

Pennsylvania Republican congressional candidate Sean Parnell spoke at the Republican National Convention on Monday, saying he believes in “our President’s vision for the future.”

“I look across the aisle and I do not see a party that wants you to pursue your dreams. I see a Democrat party that wants to dictate what those dreams are. I don’t see a party that wants you to be free. I see a party that wants to chain you to conformity and will destroy anyone they deem a heretic,” Parnell said. 

Parnell is running against Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb, who has been representing Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District since 2019.

A veteran who served in Afghanistan, Parnell said, “I swore an oath to defend my country and its Constitution. President Trump has sworn to do the same. That is why he has advanced freedom despite savage political attacks to overcome the agenda of the radical left.”

Parnell urged Americans to vote for Trump in November, saying, “It doesn’t matter what you look like, who you love, how you worship, your gender or your job. If you’re a traditional Democrat who has become disillusioned with how radical your party has become, then stand with us. You are most welcome.”

“America needs all her patriots to rush to her defense,” Parnell said. 

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise. Republican National Convention

Top Congressional Republicans attacked the Democrats on police funding.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan implied Democrats want to “defund the police” and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise said “The left wants to defund the police."

Facts First: While some Democrats have joined calls for a radical shift in police policy, including a reduction in police budgets, top congressional Democrats and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden have not supported calls to “defund the police.”

Biden’s published criminal justice plan called for a $300 million investment in community policing efforts – including the hiring of more officers. 

On June 8, Biden told CBS, “No, I don’t support defunding the police,” Rather, he said, “I support conditioning federal aid to police based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness. And, in fact, are able to demonstrate they can protect the community and everybody in the community."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Democrat of Maryland, told CNN, “Defunding police departments are not the answer.” House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline and Karen Bass have also spoken out about the phrase, CNN reported in June. 

It’s worth noting that the slogan “defund the police” means different things to different activists – from the dissolution of police forces to partial reductions in funding. 

Trump’s campaign has seized on a single comment Biden made to a progressive activist in a July video chat. In that conversation, Biden repeated his opposition to defunding police. When pressed, he did say he "absolutely" agrees that some funding can be redirected to social services, mental health counseling and affordable housing, but he immediately transitioned to his previous proposal to deny federal funding to specific police departments that do not meet certain standards. Biden said in early June that decisions about funding levels should be made by local communities, since some have too many officers but some don’t have enough.  

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. Republican National Convention

Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said allegations that the country is racist are personal to her, and she used her remarks before the Republican National Convention to praise the leadership of President Donald Trump while noting that "America is a work in progress."

"America is a work in progress, now it's time to make America even for your, and better forever," she said.

Haley went on to slam the Democratic Party for "turning a blind eye toward riots and rage."

"The American people know we can do better, and of course we value and respect every Black life. The Black cops who have been shot in the line of duty, they matter. The Black small business owners who have watched their lives work go up in flames, they matter. The Black kids who have been gunned down on the playground, their lives matter too. And their lives are being ruined and stolen by the violence on our streets. It doesn't have to be like this," Haley said.

Haley said that with Trump as president, "we will build on the progress of our past and unlock the promise of our future."

"America is not perfect but the principles we hold dear are perfect. There is one thing I've learned, it's that even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America. It's time to keep that blessing alive for the next generation. This President and this party are committed to that noble task," Haley.

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Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. Republican National Convention

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley sought to demonstrate President Trump's leadership around the world in her Republican National Convention speech tonight, saying he has been tough against North Korea, Iran and China.

She praised Trump for passing sanctions on North Korea and said he "ripped up the Iran nuclear deal."

"Joe Biden and the Democrats are still blaming America first. Donald Trump has always put America first," she said.

Haley went on to slam the Democrats, claiming they've raised taxes and "piled on more mandates."

"A Biden-Harris administration would be much, much worse," she said.

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Florida businessman Maximo Alvarez. Republican National Convention

Florida businessman Maximo Alvarez spoke at the Republican National Convention and said, “Right now, it is up to us to decide our fate and to choose freedom over oppression.”

Alvarez said his family “has fled totalitarianism and communism more than once. First my Dad from Spain, then from Cuba.”

“But my family is done running away,” Alvarez said. “By the grace of God, I live the American dream—the greatest blessing I ever had. My dad, who only had a sixth grade education, told me: Don't lose this place.”

Alvarez said Trump "may not always be politically correct," noting he is not a career politician. He described Trump as "just another family man."

“Keep in mind the other guy running for president is mostly concerned about power,” Alvarez said. “Yes, yes, power for them. But not for the benefit of all Americans. I’m speaking to you today because I have seen people like this before. I’ve seen movements like this before. I have seen ideas like this before. And I’m here to tell you: We cannot let them take over our country.”

Patricia McCloskey, the woman who along with her husband Mark McCloskey pointed a gun at protestors from her St. Louis home in June, claimed that Democrats want to “abolish” suburbs. “They want to abolish the suburbs altogether by ending single-family home zoning,” she claimed.

Facts First: This is false. Democrats are not seeking to abolish suburbs or end single-family home zoning. An Obama-era housing rule meant to address racial segregation does not abolish suburbs in any way.

McCloskey seems to be repeating Trump’s racially coded nonsense from July when he worked to overturn the change the Obama administration made in 2015 to the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), a decades-old federal requirement aimed to eliminate discrimination and combat segregation in housing.

You can read more about the regulations and Trump’s false claims here.

Some background: The McCloskeys drew national attention in late June after they were seen in a viral video brandishing guns outside their mansion at protesters walking on a private street en route to demonstrate outside the St. Louis mayor's residence. 

The mayor lives on a nearby public street and the protesters were going down a street that doesn’t reach the mayor’s house, a St. Louis city official said. The Missouri couple was charged in July with unlawful use of a weapon, a class E felony.

On the first night of the Republican National Convention, CNN's Jake Tapper said the convention "so far is great for Donald Trump's base," but "with a couple of exceptions is not even remotely reaching out to any voters in the middle."

Tapper also discussed the RNC video that was played during the convention that portrayed President Trump as a "decisive leader" on coronavirus.

"That was just complete revisionism when it came to President Trump's empirically mishandling of the pandemic early on when he dismissed the threat of the virus. And we still in this nation do not have control of the virus like other western wealthy countries do. We have 4% of the population and more than 20% ... of the world's Covid deaths," he said.

You can read our fact check on the RNC video here.

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