Pence to make economic pitch at RNC as Trump wades into Wisconsin protests

By Jeff Mason

 

U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence give thumbs up to the delegates after both addressing the first day of the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., August 24, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Mike Pence was set to make an economic pitch to re-elect President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday while his boss waded into the latest flare-up of unrest over the police shooting of a Black man.

 

The convention's first two nights featured grim claims about how the United States would suffer if Trump loses in November to Democrat Joe Biden, who is leading in national opinion polls. On Wednesday Trump weighed in on protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where three people were shot, two fatally, on the third night of unrest there. A 17-year-old was arrested on homicide charges.

 

Trump posted on Twitter that he was sending federal law enforcement and the National Guard, with the agreement of Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. "We will NOT stand for looting, arson, violence, and lawlessness on American streets," Trump wrote.

 

Officials said the suspect appeared to be linked to a vigilante militia-style group who had asked the local sheriff to deputize them as protest responders, which he refused.

 

Biden said he spoke with the family of the Black man, Jacob Blake, 29, who was badly wounded when police shot him four times in the back at close range. The former vice president called for justice for the Blake family and for an end to violence.

 

"Protesting brutality is a right and absolutely necessary, but burning down communities is not protest. It's needless violence," Biden said in a video posted to his campaign’s social media accounts. "The wisest words that I've heard spoken so far have come from Julia Jackson, Jacob's mother. She looked at the damage done in her community and she said 'this doesn't reflect my son or my family.'"

 

PENCE'S PITCH

Pence, who will be renominated as Trump's running mate after on-and-off speculation he would be dropped from the ticket, is expected to highlight the administration's record as well as goals for a second term.

 

The former Indiana governor and congressman, a conservative Christian, served as a key connector between Trump and evangelical voters, a powerful and influential part of the Republican political base.

 

But he has also become, along with Trump, the face of the White House response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 177,000 people in the United States and put tens of millions of Americans out of work. Pence leads the White House coronavirus task force.

 

Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Pence had "pulled his punch" in confronting the virus and became "a figure in the background" after being appointed to lead the task force.

 

"They were slow in anticipation and, not only that, reacting to what was happening out there in terms of the spread of the virus," Pelosi said in a video news briefing on Wednesday.

 

A White House official said Pence would offer an optimistic vision for the country while also providing a contrast with Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. At their own party convention last week, Biden and Harris warned Americans against giving Trump another four years in the White House.

 

Despite the promise of an upbeat message, the Republican gathering's first two days were peppered with ominous predictions of a wave of radical socialism and chaos if Democrats won the White House.

 

Republicans are hoping Trump will get a boost in the polls from a convention that is highlighting his re-election themes, including a tough "law and order" message.

 

A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Aug. 19-25 showed Biden had not seen a bounce in popular support from his party's convention last week, but maintains a 7-percentage-point lead over Trump nationally.

 

HATCH ACT CONCERNS

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised Trump's foreign policy record in a video address from Jerusalem, drawing criticism from Democrats and former officials for breaking with protocol by using his appointed office for partisan purposes.

 

The Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's oversight subcommittee announced an investigation into whether Pompeo's appearance breached regulations or the 1939 Hatch Act, which limits political activities by federal employees.

 

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Politico in a video interview on Wednesday that Pompeo was speaking in a personal capacity and used no federal assets in delivering the speech.

 

Tuesday night's convention program also included a citizenship naturalization ceremony at the White House, overseen by the acting secretary of homeland security, and a presidential pardon, raising concerns the apparatus of the federal government was being harnessed for Trump's re-election campaign.

 

A White House official said the naturalization ceremony and pardon were official White House events. The footage was posted on a public website ahead of the convention broadcast and the campaign was free to use that content, the official said.

 

Pence plans to speak from Baltimore's Fort McHenry, the inspiration for the U.S. national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner," a national monument under federal control.

 

The Maryland site allows space for an outdoor live audience. Both parties' conventions have been dramatically scaled back, taking place mostly virtually and without large live audiences to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Other speakers scheduled on Wednesday include second lady Karen Pence, Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Joni Ernst of Iowa, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, and Kellyanne Conway, who announced earlier this week that she would be stepping down as a White House adviser.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Additional reporting by Simon Lewis and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Scott Malone, Soyoung Kim, Howard Goller, Jonathan Oatis and Paul Simao)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-27

 

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Not much of a pence fan in fact not a fan at all but I do feel sorry for him as he has an impossible job working for a mentally ill ignorant tyrant I’m sure there are many in this administration that want to do the right thing but they know they are one tweet or mood swing away from ruin we need to get new leadership ASAP November can’t come soon enough!!

Stock market is roaring, can't deny that.

10 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Stock market is roaring, can't deny that.

Propped up by trillion dollar injections of cash, a huge bubble.

Just now, EVENKEEL said:

Stock market is roaring, can't deny that.

All things come to an end. I did however sell some more on my Mutual Fund this week in fact. Don''t get caught when the music is over.

---------------------

The Republican Convention was trying, desperately, to frame Trump as a American (middle class) savior, & its media outlet FOX was slamming into overdrive to pump that message out. Everything was looking good. Then another police shooting and resulting protests. Can it get any worse?!

 

Yes, yes it can. A Hurricane is bearing down on the Texas/Louisiana coast that has a record breaking storm surge. Meanwhile the wuhan virus lurks and some Unis who did open are now in backlash, paralysis and likely legal trouble, heh (Go Tide!)

 

Bad luck for Donald Trump.

16 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

All things come to an end. I did however sell some more on my Mutual Fund this week in fact. Don''t get caught when the music is over.

---------------------

The Republican Convention was trying, desperately, to frame Trump as a American (middle class) savior, & its media outlet FOX was slamming into overdrive to pump that message out. Everything was looking good. Then another police shooting and resulting protests. Can it get any worse?!

 

Yes, yes it can. A Hurricane is bearing down on the Texas/Louisiana coast that has a record breaking storm surge. Meanwhile the wuhan virus lurks and some Unis who did open are now in backlash, paralysis and likely legal trouble, heh (Go Tide!)

 

Bad luck for Donald Trump.

I got out too soon with my 401K, I never thought the market would do this with all the things going on in the US and elsewhere.

 

I care more about myself than Trump, at this point I don't really care who becomes POTUS as long as things can return to some degree of normalcy. 

56 minutes ago, Thailand said:

Propped up by trillion dollar injections of cash, a huge bubble.

Not just that. The Republicans slashed corporate taxes and capital gains taxes. So much of the stock market rise is due to changes in tax policy.

 

Then there's also the factor of stock buybacks.

Until the Reagan administration changed the rules. stock buybacks were actually illegal because it was obviously a way to manipulate stock prices. After the Trump tax bill was passed, most of the money repatriated to the US actually was spent on stock buybacks. The motive for this being that in most corporations big bonuses for execs are tied to stock prices. Had the money not been used in this way, there would have a lot less need to rescue corporations.

There's also the issue of excess liquidity. As an increasingly higher percentage of wealth accrues to the 1 percent, there are less opportunities for productive investments. So the money has to go somewhere. Much of it goes to t-notes. Which is why US bonds now can offer a rate of return that is lower than inflation. In effect, it's costing you money to buy bonds. Germany, for one, now offers bonds that even nominally lose some value. So with all that cash sloshing around with nowhere to go, some of it ends being invested in stocks. Higher demand drives higher stock prices.

Edited August 27, 20206 yr by rcummings

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

Stock market is roaring, can't deny that.

With a world economy in tatters, with the US economy probably hit the worst, but the US stock market reaching new all time records every day, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to realize what is going on behind the curtains.

 

The fed is pumping a lot of money in the stock market

4 minutes ago, Susco said:

With a world economy in tatters, with the US economy probably hit the worst, but the US stock market reaching new all time records every day, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to realize what is going on behind the curtains.

 

The fed is pumping a lot of money in the stock market

I don't think the Fed is buying stocks. It is buying corporate bonds which indirectly does have a positive effect on a corporations stock price. 

With their support of the BLM movement, and the riots and mayhem in the streets (especially in crucial swing states like Wisconsin), it looks like the Democrat Party will once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

Edited August 27, 20206 yr by Pattaya Spotter

35 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

With their support of the BLM movement, and the riots and mayhem in the streets (especially in crucial swing states like Wisconsin), it looks like the Democrat Party will once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

If so, it will be a defeat that they truly deserve.

55 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

With their support of the BLM movement, and the riots and mayhem in the streets (especially in crucial swing states like Wisconsin), it looks like the Democrat Party will once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

So why hasnt trump fixed it

1 hour ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

With their support of the BLM movement, and the riots and mayhem in the streets (especially in crucial swing states like Wisconsin), it looks like the Democrat Party will once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

Not according to Mike Pence who warn voters that they wouldn’t be safe in Biden’s America. Isn’t this Trump’s America now with all the mayhem in the streets. 

3 hours ago, Tug said:

Not much of a pence fan in fact not a fan at all but I do feel sorry for him as he has an impossible job working for a mentally ill ignorant tyrant

That is a bit like feeling sorry for Martin Bormann!

9 hours ago, Tug said:

Not much of a pence fan in fact not a fan at all but I do feel sorry for him as he has an impossible job working for a mentally ill ignorant tyrant I’m sure there are many in this administration that want to do the right thing but they know they are one tweet or mood swing away from ruin we need to get new leadership ASAP November can’t come soon enough!!

As a devout Christian he should have resigned years ago.... but all that power and money. Anyone who goes to bed with Trump has sold his soul to the devil.

7 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

With their support of the BLM movement, and the riots and mayhem in the streets (especially in crucial swing states like Wisconsin), it looks like the Democrat Party will once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

You may be right, nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

7 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

With their support of the BLM movement, and the riots and mayhem in the streets (especially in crucial swing states like Wisconsin), it looks like the Democrat Party will once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

The Kenosha Shooting Suspect Was In The Front Row Of A Trump Rally In January

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ellievhall/kenosha-suspect-kyle-rittenhouse-trump-rally

DNC should have held off so they could have watched and learned.   Announce sensible policy decisions rather than days of hate speech about Trump.

Is rudy going to speak at the rnc? Will be very high ratings, we all love comedic relief, bit like that iraqi guy, comical ali.

So many liberal socialists on this tread.  “Come on, man,” what will you do if the 77-year old loses in November?  Or December? Or January?

Reuters is nothing but left wing propaganda with a liberal spin on everything. TV must be run by lefties too, for them to be posting shiat like this. lol I wonder what kind of triggered spin they’ll put on it when Trump wins re-election. Oh yeah, we’re all racist. Bahahahaha

35 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

So many liberal socialists on this tread.  “Come on, man,” what will you do if the 77-year old loses in November?  Or December? Or January?

 

16 minutes ago, fordguy61mi said:

Reuters is nothing but left wing propaganda with a liberal spin on everything. TV must be run by lefties too, for them to be posting shiat like this. lol I wonder what kind of triggered spin they’ll put on it when Trump wins re-election. Oh yeah, we’re all racist. Bahahahaha

Blame all America's woes on Thai Visa. Straight out of the Trump playbook. Classic. 555

1 minute ago, polpott said:

 

Blame all America's woes on Thai Visa. Straight out of the Trump playbook. Classic. 555

Another reincarnation, wonder who.....

27 minutes ago, fordguy61mi said:

Reuters is nothing but left wing propaganda with a liberal spin on everything. TV must be run by lefties too, for them to be posting shiat like this. lol I wonder what kind of triggered spin they’ll put on it when Trump wins re-election. Oh yeah, we’re all racist. Bahahahaha

Is this you being funny? Reuter's is just reporting facts and your insults about it does nothing. Birther this!

Edited August 27, 20206 yr by earlinclaifornia

4 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Another reincarnation, wonder who.....

Tom Cruise...or so people tell me. 555

 

 

Edited August 27, 20206 yr by polpott

48 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

So many liberal socialists on this tread.  “Come on, man,” what will you do if the 77-year old loses in November?  Or December? Or January?

Did you bother to listen to is speech? It did include the most favorite quote of Republicans. Open borders which every time I hear this accusation I ask whom ever, ever said that? For years not one sole ever replies. LOL

Edited August 27, 20206 yr by earlinclaifornia

11 hours ago, LomSak27 said:

All things come to an end. I did however sell some more on my Mutual Fund this week in fact. Don''t get caught when the music is over.

---------------------

The Republican Convention was trying, desperately, to frame Trump as a American (middle class) savior, & its media outlet FOX was slamming into overdrive to pump that message out. Everything was looking good. Then another police shooting and resulting protests. Can it get any worse?!

 

Yes, yes it can. A Hurricane is bearing down on the Texas/Louisiana coast that has a record breaking storm surge. Meanwhile the wuhan virus lurks and some Unis who did open are now in backlash, paralysis and likely legal trouble, heh (Go Tide!)

 

Bad luck for Donald Trump.

Right, it's time to sell.

43 minutes ago, Isaan sailor said:

So many liberal socialists on this tread.  “Come on, man,” what will you do if the 77-year old loses in November?  Or December? Or January?

laugh at the downfall of US democracy as im having my beers.

 

Will feel sorry for educated people though.

1 hour ago, Isaan sailor said:

So many liberal socialists on this tread.  “Come on, man,” what will you do if the 77-year old loses in November?  Or December? Or January?

 

This is what they'll do. Just like last time:

 

 

7 minutes ago, ExpatOK said:

 

This is what they'll do. Just like last time:

 

 

The entitled ones will have a meltdown.