Trump vows – again – to save America


SEE ALSO: • U.S. Sen. Portman says GOP is unified

• 'I am your voice,' Trump says during acceptance speech

• Has the Republicans’ Reagan era ended, and the Trump era begun?

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

CLEVELAND

Mahoning Valley delegates to the Republican National Convention say they are leaving the four-day event believing most party members are solidly backing Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee.

“Many are more united, but some will never unite,” said Mahoning County Republican Party Vice Chairwoman Tracey Winbush of Youngstown, an RNC delegate. “The goal here is to unite with those who want to work and win in the fall and to establish a team of supporters who will get the job done.”

The delegates also greatly praised Trump for his acceptance speech given Thursday to close out the convention at Quicken Loans Arena, the home court of this year’s NBA champion Cavaliers.

“Finally, after years of suffering politicians who were very good at saying the right things but accomplishing little, America now has a chance to elect a strong, competent leader who can make American great,” said Mahoning County Republican Chairman Mark Munroe of Boardman, an RNC alternate delegate.

Added Winbush: “I believe this is one of the best American speeches I’ve heard from a presidential candidate in my adult life. This is a middle-American speech, one that touches every social demographic status in our country.”

Columbiana County Republican Party Chairman Dave Johnson of Salem, an RNC delegate, said, “Trump hit it out of the stadium. Strong on unfair trade, focused on law and order and immigration reform, calls for tax cuts and regulatory reform, [he’ll] take on radical Islam. I love his message on all fronts.”

Trump spent a large portion of his speech bashing Hillary Clinton, who will officially be the Democratic nominee next Thursday. He largely kept to his prepared remarks – and often paused for applause - during his 75-minute speech, the longest presidential acceptance speech in 44 years.

Regarding Clinton, Trump said, “Her single greatest accomplishment may be committing such an egregious crime and getting away with it, especially when others who have done far less have paid so dearly.” He was referring to Clinton’s use of a private internet server for confidential government emails when she was secretary of state.

Earlier this month, FBI Director James Comey recommended no charges be filed against Clinton, but said she was “extremely careless” when handling classified information.

During the speech, Trump spoke in general terms about job creation, stopping “uncontrolled immigration,” fair trade policies, repealing and replacing Obamacare, stopping domestic terrorism, appointing judges to the Supreme Court “who will uphold our laws and our Constitution,” taking care of veterans, and building the nation’s infrastructure.

“What political speech can go into detail?” Winbush said. “These are common-sense issues, not rocket science. Now that wall [on the Mexican border] is another thing.”

John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, wrote in an email: “Trump painted a dark picture of an America in decline. And his answer – more fear, more division, more anger, more hate – was yet another reminder that he is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be president of the United States. He offered no real solutions” and “just more prejudice and paranoia.”

During his speech, Trump said when he is sworn in as president, “Americans will finally wake up in a country where the laws of the United States are enforced. We are going to be considerate and compassionate to everyone.

But my greatest compassion will be for our own struggling citizens.”

The convention kicked off Monday with a bizarre controversy that had Melania Trump, the nominee’s wife, partially plagiarizing first lady Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech.

The drama escalated Wednesday night when U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who finished second to Trump in the Republican primaries, delivered a speech telling people to “vote their conscience.” That led to numerous delegates booing him.

Munroe said, “This was not a typical convention, but it was a successful one.”

John Creed of Liberty, an alternate delegate, said Trump “cut through all the noise. It’s full steam ahead. They’re not going to stop the train.”

He added that Trump “connected with the common man, of which I am one.”

When asked if RNC delegates are united behind Trump, Johnson said: “I was with him before I got here. Trump is the nominee and we support him and will campaign for him. When I get home, I’ll do what I can to get people fired up about our candidate.”

Creed said several delegates came to Cleveland “very emotional about their candidates and we leave more united. I’d say about 90 percent are backing him.”

But his wife, Kathi, a former Trumbull County Republican Party chairwoman, said, “My prayer is we walk out of here in good shape. As far as being united, I don’t think so. I don’t know how much unity we’ll get, but we need to get behind our candidate. People voted for him.”

“I’ve talked to a lot of people and they say they are united and will work to get Donald Trump elected and keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House,” Munroe said. “Certainly no one here is interested in Hillary Clinton, but we need as many people to get enthusiastically behind Donald Trump and work to get him elected. This has got to be an all-hands-on-deck effort. If we can’t do that, we could lose this election.”