United for a night, Republicans
nominated Donald Trump Tuesday as their presidential standard-bearer,
capping the billionaire businessman’s stunning takeover of the GOP and
propelling him into a November faceoff with Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“This is a movement, but we have to go all the way,” Trump said in videotaped remarks beamed into the convention hall.
For Trump, the celebrations were a
much-needed opportunity to regroup after a chaotic convention kickoff
that included a plagiarism charge involving wife Melania Trump’s address
on opening night. There were no big missteps Tuesday, but the event was
void of the glitzy, Hollywood touch Trump promised, with a series of
Republican officials parading on stage to level sharp, but repetitive,
criticisms of Clinton.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was one
of the few speakers to energize the crowd, delivering a full-throated
takedown of Clinton and imploring delegates to shout “Guilty!” as he
ticked through numerous accusations of wrongdoing.
“We didn’t disqualify Hillary Clinton to
be president of the United States, the facts of her life and career
disqualifies her,” Christie said.
Trump’s family again took center stage,
underscoring the campaign’s urgent task to reshape the image of a
candidate seen by large swaths of voters as harsh and divisive. Two of
Trump’s children testified to his character, casting him as a man
undeterred by challenges.
“For my father, impossible is just the
starting point,” said Donald Trump Jr., the oldest of the Republican
nominee’s five children.
For some Republicans, the night also
offered a glimpse of what could have been. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who
resisted calls to jump into the presidential race, made a vigorous call
for party unity — though his message focused more on the risks of
letting Democrats keep the White House and make gains in Congress than a
rationale for Trump.
“Let’s compete in every part of America, and turn out at the polls like every last vote matters, because it will,” Ryan said.
Many Republican leaders stayed away from
the convention, still wary of being associated with the divisive
candidate and unsure how his nomination impacts their own political
futures.
The crowd gathered in the cavernous
convention hall reflected the growing dissatisfaction among some
Republicans with party elites. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
who has been a lukewarm supporter of Trump, was greeted with a
smattering of boos as he took the stage.
It was one of the occasional flurries of
dissent on the convention floor, including jeers as states that Trump
did not win recorded their votes during the nominating roll call vote.
Still, Trump far outdistanced his primary rivals, and his vice
presidential pick, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, was also formally nominated.
Trump was put over the top by his home
state of New York. Four of his children joined the state’s delegation on
the convention floor for the historic moment and appeared overwhelmed
with emotion.
Tiffany Trump, the candidate’s
22-year-old daughter with ex-wife Marla Maples, sprinkled her remarks
with rarely heard anecdotes about her father, including the handwritten
notes he left on her childhood report cards.
“My dad is a natural born encourager, the last person to ever tell you to lower your sights,” she said.
Trump’s campaign did succeed in tamping
down late efforts by dissident delegates to derail the convention,
including during Tuesday’s roll call vote. Campaign officials invested
significant time arguing to delegates about the importance of presenting
a united front during the televised convention.
“United we stand, divided we fall,” said Johnny McMahan, a Trump delegate from Arkansas.
But Colorado’s Kendal Unruh, a leader of
the anti-Trump forces, called the convention a “sham” and warned party
leaders that their efforts to silence opposition would keep some
Republicans on the sidelines in the fall campaign against Clinton.
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