J.D. Vance accepts GOP VP nomination at RNC; speakers cast Trump as tough

July 17 (UPI) -- J.D. Vance officially accepted the GOP nomination for vice president during the Republican National Convention's third night Wednesday when speakers praised their presidential nominee, Donald Trump, as a tough, strong man who isn't without a soft side.

Vance, a Senator for Ohio, took to the stage at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee as the night's last speaker, leaving behind his oft-fiery rhetoric to adopt a less divisive vocabulary as he described himself as a man from humble roots who has fought through adversity to be able to stand by Trump's side.

"I will give you everything I have, to serve you and to make this country a place where every dream you have for yourself, your family and your country will be possible once again," he said.

"I'll be a vice president who never forgets where he came from."

He began his speech by describing the night as a celebration that could have been one of mourning if Thomas Crooks' attempt on Trump's life was successful at an election rally in Butler, Pa., over the weekend.

From the crowd, Trump listened with a large, white bandage covering his right ear that had been pierced by one of Crooks' bullets.

Vance characterized Trump as a "once-in-a-generation businessman" who chose a life of politics for the sake of America and its people and endured "abuse, slander and persecution" for it.

"Consider the lies they told about Donald Trump and then look at the photo of him, defiant, fist in the air," he said, referring to the now iconic photograph taken of the former president immediately following the assassination attempt.

"When Donald Trump rose to his feet in the Pennsylvania field, all of America stood with him," Vance said as the crowd chanted "fight, fight, fight" -- the words Trump had mouthed with his hand fisted above him after being shot.

Vance said that following the attempt, Trump called for unity and national calm, though the former president often uses incendiary and violent rhetoric and has been repeatedly accused of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection of the U.S. Capitol.

He said this combination of caring and strength is who Trump is.

"He's tough -- and he is -- but he cares about people," Vance said. "He can stand defiant against assassins one moment and call for national healing the next."

He said Trump was a man feared by American adversaries but will kiss his children on the cheek goodnight.

He then bashed Biden, stating politicians like him have forgotten towns like his own Middletown, Ohio, through the policies that were enacted by Congress.

He attempted to blamed the North American Free Trade Agreement, on Biden -- who was a senator when it was signed by Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1992 -- for sending "countless good jobs to Mexico" that decade.

He then blamed Biden's support of a "sweetheart trade deal" that sent manufacturing jobs to China and for the Iraq war of the 2000s.

He said that Trump was "right" on all of these issues while Biden was "wrong."

"Jobs were sent overseas and our children were sent to war," he said, as chants of "Joe must go" erupted in the crowd.

Many speakers took to the stage Wednesday night as they built up Trump's image as a strong, but caring man, while lambasting Biden and his record in the White House as weak.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, opened the convention by praising Trump's toughness and ability to do the job required of all presidents.

Jackson, a medical doctor who was the physician to the president from 2013 through 2018 during administrations of President Barack Obama and Trump, boasted that he could now say, "I worked for a president who literally took a bullet for our country."

"When the phone rings in the middle of the night, our president must be ready," he said. "Unfortunately, our current president isn't."

Jackson also said Vice President Kamala Harris is "as unfit in character as Joe Biden is in body and mind."

"Every second that Joe Biden remains in the White House, this country becomes less safe," Jackson said. "We will have a president who is respected by our allies, feared by our enemies, and who will lead with strength."

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida followed up Jackson's opening address by describing Trump as a law-and-order president who would protect the nation and its people.

"President Trump won't defund the police, but he will defund countries that hate us," Gaetz said.

He also chastised those who say criticizing Biden is "ableist" and a form of bigotry.

"It's not too much to ask the president to be able to do the job," Gaetz said.

Regarding the potential vice presidential running mates, he said, "appointing Harris to oversee the border is like appointing Bernie Madoff to oversee your retirement account," but emphasized Vance "knows how to fight."

"We're on a mission to rescue and save this country," Gaetz concluded.

Peter Navarro, a former Trump adviser who was released from prison in Miami, Fla., on Wednesday morning after serving four months for contempt of Congress, took the stage to rousing applause.

"This morning, I did walk out of the local prison in Miami," Navarro said. "Joe Biden and his Department of Injustice put me there.

"If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful," Navarro cautioned the audience. "They will come for you."

Navarro said it's important for the Republican Party to regain control of the presidency and Congress and ensure a fair judiciary instead of appointing "lawfare jackals" as judges and federal prosecutors.

"If we don't control all three branches of our government, their government will put some of us, like me and Steve Bannon, in prison and control the rest of us."

"The legislative branch came for me first," Navarro said, before blaming former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for having "created a sham Jan. 6 committee and demanded I violate executive privilege. I refused.

"The J-6 committee demanded I betray Donald Trump to save my skin. I refused.

"They demanded that I break the law because they have no respect for it. I refused.

"The next jackboot to drop was the executive branch," Navarro continued.

He said Attorney General Merrick Garland and federal prosecutor Jack Smith indicted and prosecuted him for criminal contempt of Congress.

"The judicial branch delivered the final blow," Navarro said.

Navarro was sentenced to prison for defying a congressional subpoena over information he had about the Jan. 6 insurrection. The former Trump advisor claimed he had executive privilege from testifying by Trump. The courts said he failed to prove he was ever given such a privilege.

"They convicted me. They jailed me. Guess what: They did not break me," he said. "They will never break Donald Trump."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott followed Navarro and focused on problems at the border.

"As governor of the largest border state, the great state of Texas, I can tell you, America needs a president who will secure our border," Abbott opened. "America needs Donald J. Trump."

He said the president's "most sacred duty is to secure our country. Donald Trump fulfilled that duty. We had the lowest border crossings in about four decades.

"Joe Biden deserted his duty on his first day in office when he gutted Trump's policies."

Abbott said illegal immigration has skyrocketed under Biden's watch and "around 11 million immigrants have crossed our border illegally."

"Biden has welcomed into our country rapists, murders, even terrorists," Abbott said. "The price we have paid has been deadly."

He said, "among the many victims is 12-year-old Jocelyn [Dungaray], who was raped and murdered by two immigrants."

"Biden is even fighting tooth and nail to stop Texas and other Republican states from securing our own borders," he added. "Biden and Kamala Harris refused to visit the border, so I took the border crisis to them by busing migrants to Washington, D.C."

"Those buses will continue to role until we secure our border," Abbott said.

"I see hope on the horizon," he continued. "On Nov. 5, Joe Biden will be fired and Donald Trump will once again become the president of the United States of America."

Abbott said Trump "will enforce the immigration laws, fight the drug cartels and arrest illegal immigrants and put them behind bars or send them back."

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum focused on energy concerns and how they affect the nation.

"Who will make American energy-dominant?" Burgum asked the crowd three times.

"When President Trump unleashes American energy, we unleash American prosperity," he said.

"He cut taxes. He cut red tape," Abbott said of Trump."Service as a governor under Joe Biden has been like taking a gale-force wind to the face."

"Biden has raised the price of gas in your car, the cost of food on your table, and it's even raised your rent," he said.

Burgum said Biden's EV mandate benefits China, which produces most of the world's batteries for electric vehicles, despite Biden having raised tariffs on $18 billion of Chinese imports, including electric vehicles and EV batteries and just last week announced nearly $2 billion in grants to boost domestic electric vehicle production.

He said Biden's policies also benefit Russian and Iran.

"Biden's policies are making Russia and Iran filthy rich, and they're using the money to fund wars and terrorism against our allies," Burgum explained. "Four more years of Joe will usher in an era of Biden brownouts and blackouts."

"Pres. Trump will ensure there's power for you and to ensure we have the power to beat China in an AI arms race," Burgum said. "Unleashing America's energy dominance is our path to prosperity through peace and strength."

Five Gold Star families of the 13 American service members killed during an Islamic State attack on the Kabul International Airport during the August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan were then welcomed onto the stage.

The families praised Trump for spending six hours with them following the attack while chastising Biden over his withdrawal and blaming them for their children's deaths.

The president was also blamed for the withdrawal despite it being Trump's administration that in February 2020 signed a formal agreement with the Taliban to withdrawal all U.S. troops from the country.

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of the former president, was the last of the night to speak before Vance, and he equated his father's survival of the assassination attempt and his reaction to it as the embodiment of the American spirit.

He said his 78-year-old father did not cower nor surrender but showed the world "the next American president has the heart of a lion."

In attacking Biden, he questioned who was actually leading the country, stating that the only thing they were effective at was persecuting his father, who is awaiting sentencing after being convicted on 34 counts related to falsifying business records to keep an alleged affair with a porn start hidden from the American public ahead of the 2016 election.

He said the America of today is not the American of before, an America that was confident, proud and that "knows who it was and what it stood for" and that somewhere along the way the country "stumbled" and "we lost ourselves."

He said the country is like Trump when shot in Pennsylvania.

"He may have moved to the ground, but he stood back up," he said. "And when he did, my father raised his fist into the air, he looked out at the crowd and what did he say?"

The crowd answered, erupting into chants of "fight, fight fight."

"And we will fight," Donald Trump Jr. said. "We will fight with our voices, we'll fight with our ideals and on Nov. 5 we will fight with our vote."