(Headline USA) President Donald Trump said Friday that where Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden sees “American darkness,” he sees “American greatness.”
Anxious for his turn in the spotlight after the four-day Democratic National Convention, Trump is hitting his opponent hard.
“Over the last week, the Democrats held the darkest and angriest and gloomiest convention in American history,” Trump said in a speech to the GOP-aligned Council for National Policy in Arlington, Virginia. “They spent four straight days attacking America as racist, a horrible country that must be redeemed.”
Trump in recent speeches has emphasized the unrest and violence in American cities and has positioned himself as a defender of law and order.
Biden, in his nomination acceptance speech Thursday night, portrayed Trump as someone who tries to divide Americans.
“United we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America,” said Biden, who said nothing to address the violence plaguing the nation’s major cities, nearly all of which are run by Democrats.
Trump and the Democrats agreed on one thing.
Just as the Democrats had repeatedly contended Thursday night, Trump declared, “The future of our country and indeed our civilization is at stake on Nov. 3.”
He chided the Democrats, saying their convention did not address the threat from China or bringing safety to Democratic-run cities.
“Joe Biden grimly declared a season of American darkness,” Trump said.
Vice President Mike Pence, interviewed Friday, said the Republican National Convention next week will focus on what Trump has accomplished, including on the economy and with his coronavirus response.
Pence promised a heavy focus on GOP support for law and order and said the Democrats had failed to acknowledge violence plaguing some U.S. cities.
“We’re going to make sure that the American people see the choice here,” Pence said.
Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.
