Trump uses GOP convention to contrast empowered incumbent with homebody Biden

With the White House as a backdrop, President Trump on Thursday night wrapped the four-day Republican National Convention with a resounding acceptance speech that projected himself as a vibrant, empowered incumbent running against a fatigued, house-bound career politician held hostage by the liberal wing of his party.

"Joe Biden is weak. He takes his marching orders from liberal hypocrites who drive their cities into the ground while fleeing far from the scene of the wreckage," Trump said. "These same liberals want to eliminate school choice, while they enroll their children in the finest private schools in the land. They want to open our borders while living in walled-off compounds and communities. They want to defund the police, while they have armed guards for themselves."

Trump repeated the narrative that Biden was an empty vessel for liberal policies imposed by an aggressive base that has shifted Biden farther left in the 2020 cycle than at any time in his nearly five-decade career.

"Biden is a Trojan horse for socialism," Trump said Thursday night in his nomination acceptance speech. "If Joe Biden doesn't have the strength to stand up to wild-eyed Marxists like Bernie Sanders and his fellow radicals, then how is he ever going to stand up for you?"

Earlier on Thursday, Trump visited the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for an update on people in states hit by Hurricane Laura. Images of a president calming the country during a natural disaster surfaced in the media just hours before Trump's speech, even as Trump said he considered postponing his remarks due to the storm. However, the president noted he would tour the storm-ravaged areas this weekend.

During multiple, made-for-television convention moments, Trump emphasized his default programming toward action, a subtle contrast to Biden's inertia. On screen at the convention, Trump pardoned a reformed convicted felon, attended a naturalization ceremony for five new Americans, and celebrated the women serving in the White House.

Critics charged that Trump's approach violates the Hatch Act banning partisan activity by elected officials. However, the Trump administration countered that all activities had been cleared by the White House Office of Legal Counsel.

Current Trump administration officials speaking during the convention were not introduced by their government titles; for example, Dr. Ben Carson, who serves as Trump's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was titled as a "Retired Neurosurgeon."

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign hammered Biden for announcing he would not be holding any public rallies during this election cycle, claiming that the former vice president was too fatigued to handle the rigors of both a campaign and occupying the White House. Biden has been sheltering in place at his Delaware home for nearly six months, building a television studio in his home for remote interviews and campaign events.

Convention speaker Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) slammed "basement-dwelling Joe Biden."

Vernon Jones, a Democratic member of the Georgia legislature said, "This is no time for sleeping in the basement. Joe Biden has had 47 years to produce results." 

While Trump's unvarnished language and assertive governing style has ruffled feathers, his son-in-law Jared Kusnher on Thursday morning with POLITICO summed up Trump's approach to governing, using an analogy from Gary Chapman's bestselling book "The Five Love Languages" outlining the array of methods people use to show affection.

Kushner said, quoting the concept from Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.): "Words of encouragement are not the president's love language, his actions and his successes, and his results are his love language." 

House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who spoke at the RNC on Monday, on Wednesday joined Fox News Channel's Laura Ingraham to denounce riots and violence unfolding in several cities across the country, again contrasting Trump's action with Biden's silence.  

"And the fact that some of these Democrat mayors continue to let their own cities be burned down, for goodness sake, I mean, this is something that President Trump doesn't tolerate," Scalise said. "Joe Biden sits on the sidelines. They never addressed this at the Democrat convention last week, because they're afraid to stand up to these mobs. And look, I think most people are fed up with that. Their party is not anything like your grandfather, or your father, or Joe Biden's Democrat Party."