Former UN ambassador Haley slams Biden's record under Obama on Night 1 of RNC

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 about 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.

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.

Watch:

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.

Multiple speakers — including Rep. Vernon Jones, Rep. Jim Jordan and Mark McCloskey — touted the low unemployment rate America has witnessed under the Trump administration. Both Jordan and McCloskey credited the President for the “lowest unemployment in 50 years,” while Jones said President Trump “built the most inclusive economy ever, with record low unemployment for African Americans."

Facts first: This is misleadingly outdated, as it ignores the economic destruction caused by the coronavirus pandemic. While the US unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.5% last September – its lowest level since 1969 – the pandemic has put a definitive end to America’s strong jobs market and millions of people remain out of work.

After dropping to a 50-year low in September 2019, the unemployment rate hovered around that level for five months before Covid-19 hit and millions of jobs vanished.

The unemployment rate for Black workers, meanwhile, fell to 5.4% in August of 2019, a record low for the data, which have been collected since 1972. It was mostly driven a drop in the jobless rate for Black women. The Black unemployment rate rose throughout the winter months.

All in all, America’s jobs market was strong when the pandemic hit. The March jobs report was the weakest since 2009. Things got worse in April, when more than 20 million American jobs disappeared amid the pandemic lockdown, by far the most sudden and largest decline since the government began tracking the data in 1939.

The unemployment rate spiked to 14.7% — the highest level since monthly records began in 1948. Joblessness had not been that severe since the Great Depression: The unemployment rate peaked at 24.9% in 1933, according to historical annual estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While the pandemic affected workers across the country, minorities fared worse than White workers. In July, the overall unemployment rate fell back to 10.2% — still higher than during the worst part of the Great Recession — while the jobless rate for Black Americans was 14.6%.

President Trump sits with former hostages and detainees who were freed during his administration. Republican National Convention

President Trump has made a second “surprise appearance” on night one of the Republican National Convention, this time appearing from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House with former hostages and detainees who were freed during his administration.

"We have 6 incredible people who were held hostage by various countries and I'm very pleased to let everyone know that we brought back over 50 hostages from 22 different countries," Trump said.

Trump spoke with Pastor Andrew Brunson who was held in Turkey, Sam Goodwin who was held hostage in Syria, Michael White who was held hostage in Iran, Josh Holt who was held in Venezuela in his wife Tammy and Brian Nerran who was arrested and held in India. 

Brunson said "Trump took unprecedented steps to secure my release and your administration really fought for me." 

Holt also thanked the President for his help.

"You helped us get out, and it was a great honor to be able to meet you when we got back," Holt said. 

Trump concluded the appearance by saying “we have a few more people we want to get back and we will get them back and they’ll be back very soon." 

An RNC video played during the convention contrasted President Trump as a "decisive leader" on coronavirus while suggesting that Democrats and media outlets “got it wrong” by downplaying the pandemic. 

Facts First: This suggestion is inaccurate. Trump continued to downplay the virus into March. Trump declared in February that the number of cases in the US would go “within a couple of days” from 15 to “close to zero,” and he predicted that the virus might "disappear" through a "miracle" or something of the sort. In late February, he was still likening the virus to the flu; in March, he suggested that the virus did not require the country to take more severe measures than the flu requires. 

He claimed in March that the virus was under “control”  and that the media and Democrats were overhyping the situation.