President Trump will attack Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden’s record on everything from the economy to crime in a “tough” Republican National Convention speech Thursday night, Trump campaign officials said.
“At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas,” Mr. Trump is expected to say, according to excerpts obtained by Politico and confirmed by campaign officials.
The president will tell voters, “We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years. At the Democrat convention, you barely heard a word about their agenda. But that’s not because they don’t have one. It’s because their agenda is the most extreme set of proposals ever put forward by a major party nominee.”
Mr. Trump is set to deliver his primetime acceptance speech for the GOP nomination for a second term on the South Lawn of the White House, before a live audience of as many as 1,000.
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said the president will present voters with “two distinct visions” for the country.
“The president will deliver a tough speech because Americans have tough choices in front of them,” Mr. Murtaugh told reporters. “And we really feel that, unless the president does it, the media will be tempted not to cover it.”
Previewing the president’s speech, Mr. Murtaugh said, “This will be the unvarnished Joe Biden record and the unvarnished Joe Biden agenda, not the cleansed and scrubbed version that we saw during the Democratic National Convention last week, because no one there discussed what Joe Biden is in fact running on.”
“The president will describe Joe Biden as a weak candidate with a poor record,” Mr. Murtaugh said. “The president will also lay out his vision and things he wants to accomplish in a second term.”
Mr. Trump is also expected to deliver some uplifting lines, including: “The Republican Party goes forward united, determined, and ready to welcome millions of Democrats, independents, and anyone who believes in the Greatness of America and the righteous heart of the American people.”
“This towering American spirit has prevailed over every challenge, and lifted us to the summit of human endeavor,” he will say.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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