RNC 2020: Melania Trump to take centre stage on second night

Melania Trump attends a 4 July eventImage copyright
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The normally limelight-shunning US First Lady Melania Trump will take centre stage at the Republican convention as she makes the case for her husband’s underdog re-election bid.

The party conference’s second night will also hear from the president’s children Eric and Tiffany Trump.

President Donald Trump will address the convention’s final night on Thursday.

He currently trails his Democratic challenger Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of November’s election.

A total of 17 million people watched the Republican convention’s first night on Monday, according to Nielsen.

Some 19.7 million TV viewers tuned in to the first night of the Democratic National Convention last week.

Where is Melania Trump speaking?

The US first lady is delivering Tuesday evening’s keynote address before a small audience at the White House.

Her decision to speak from the seat of presidential power has angered Democrats, who say the chosen venue is an inappropriate use of government resources.

Over the weekend, Mrs Trump unveiled renovations to the White House Rose Garden, which included the relocation of about a dozen crabapple trees that were planted by former First Lady Jackie Kennedy.

  • An unusual, traditional First Lady

On social media, some wrongly claimed historic rose bushes and trees had been removed, with a former New York Times reporter angrily denouncing the Slovenian born first lady as a “foreigner”.

The Trump administration says the three-week project was paid for by private donors and have not disclosed the total cost.

Who else is speaking on Tuesday?

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will deliver a speech from Israel, which has also upset critics who call it unethical. Normally, the nation’s top diplomat does not attend political conventions.

Tuesday’s programme is designed around the theme of “Land of Opportunity”.

In night two of the party conference, featured speakers will assail abortion, the media and so-called cancel culture.

Speakers will also include a former Planned Parenthood employee who became an anti-abortion activist, and a Kentucky schoolboy whose tense interaction last year with a Native American man went viral.

How have Democrats reacted?

Democrats on Tuesday criticised Republican attempts during Monday night’s convention to argue that the president has done a good job handling the coronavirus outbreak.

The Democrats said Mr Trump was to blame for Covid-19 killing more than 177,000 Americans – more than any other country in the world.

  • The Joe Biden story
  • What Biden wants to do

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Media captionJoe Biden: Will it be third time lucky in 2020?

Former US Vice-President Al Gore, a Democrat, said Mr Trump was trying to “put his knee on the neck of democracy” by criticising mail-in ballots and questioning the election’s integrity.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Mr Trump in 2016, said that if Mr Biden is trailing in the vote tally on election night, he should not concede defeat because uncounted postal ballots may decide the contest.

Where is President Trump?

Mr Trump is with his family at the White House and is expected to play “a significant role” in Tuesday’s schedule, a campaign spokesman told AP news agency.

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Media captionDonald Trump: “This is the greatest scam in the history of politics”

Hours before the event began, the president pardoned a bank robber, Jon Ponder, a black man who founded a charity that helps convicts reintegrate into society.

The opening minutes of the convention featured Mr Trump at the White House flanked by Mr Ponder and the FBI agent who arrested him, only to strike up an unlikely friendship with the reformed felon.

source: bbc.com