GOP convention defends police as racial tension rises anew

Republicans aggressively defended law enforcement on the third night of their convention, as the nation faced renewed tensions following the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin that sparked protests in a state that could decide the fall election.

Vice President Mike Pence, the evening’s featured speaker, seized on the national reckoning over racial injustice to argue that Democratic leaders are allowing lawlessness to prevail in cities from coast to coast. He and others described cities wracked by violence, though protests in most locations have been largely peaceful.

“The American people know we don’t have to choose between supporting law enforcement and standing with African American neighbours to improve the quality of life in our cities and towns,” he said in remarks released before his appearance.


He also assailed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for saying there is an “implicit bias” against minorities and “systemic racism” in the US.

“The hard truth is ... you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America,” Pence said.

Meanwhile, the steady image Republicans were aiming to portray of President Donald Trump at the convention was running into a turbulent outside reality: the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the potentially catastrophic hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast, wildfires that have ravaged huge areas of California and the still-raging coronavirus pandemic that is killing more than 1,000 Americans a day.

And the programme Wednesday night was — as the president often says of Biden — low energy, with no major headline speaker beside the vice-president and few boldface names. And it lacked some of the production elements that had made previous nights’ memorable, including slickly produced videos and surprise announcements, such as an unexpected presidential pardon and a citizenship ceremony.