RNC 2020 live: Pence to headline third night of convention amid growing unrest in Kenosha | US news

Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee senator who just spoke, is what you might call an ultra-conservative. She is a climate change denier who rejects the theory of evolution. She has actually claimed that the Earth is cooling, and voted against the Violence Against Women Act.

She was, recently slammed by Taylor Swift in the documentary “Miss Americana”.

After watching an ad in which Blackburn touts herself as a proud “deplorable”, Swift is shown telling her team: “She votes against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which is just basically protecting us from domestic abuse and stalking. Stalking. She thinks that if you’re a gay couple, or even if you look like a gay couple, you should be allowed to be kicked out of a restaurant. It’s really basic human rights, and it’s right and wrong at this point, and I can’t see another commercial and see her disguising these policies behind the words ‘Tennessee Christian values.’ Those aren’t Tennessee Christian values. I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That’s not what we stand for.”

– Maanvi Singh

Congressman Dan Crenshaw provided one of the only uplifting speeches of the Republican convention so far.

Crenshaw, a veteran, said Americans heroes can be found on the battlefield and in hospitals as nurses and doctors treat coronavirus patients.

“This is what heroism looks like. It’s who we are – a nation of heroes, and we need you now more than ever. We need to remind ourselves what heroism really is,” Crenshaw said. “We must become the heroes that we so admire.”

Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn claimed Democrats were trying to “cancel” law enforcement officers.

“Leftists try to turn them into villains,” Blackburn said. “They try to ‘cancel’ them. But I’m here to tell you that these heroes can’t be cancelled.”

“Cancel culture” has been mentioned many times at the Republican convention so far, as speakers have attempted to inflame culture wars.

The first politician to speak tonight was South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who (like many other speakers) warned: “Our founding principles are under attack.”

“It took 244 years to build this great nation – flaws and all – but we stand to lose it in a tiny fraction of that time if we continue down the path taken by the Democrats and their radical supporters,” Noem said.

“From Seattle and Portland to Washington and New York, Democrat-run cities across this country are being overrun by violent mobs.”

In reality, the recent protests against racial injustice have been mostly peaceful. On MSNBC, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan accused Noem of painting a “caricature” of her city.

Noem’s speech also hit the dark tone conveyed by many other speakers at the Republican convention so far, clashing with the optimistic vision that party leaders promised to deliver this week.

As the third night of the Republican convention started, the White House released a statement on the protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said, “President Trump condemns violence in all forms and believes we must protect all Americans from chaos and lawlessness.

“This is why he is encouraging Democrat Governors to request the National Guard and federal law enforcement to augment their local law enforcement efforts.

“We have assisted Wisconsin in the deployment of almost 1,000 National Guard and over 200 federal law enforcement personnel, which include FBI and U.S. Marshals.”

The third night of the Republican convention is now under way. The blog will have updates and analysis as the night unfolds, so stay tuned.

The Republican national convention is just minutes away, but there are more updates in connection to the protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

The WNBA has just announced its players will also not move forward with the set of games scheduled for tonight.

Elizabeth Williams of the Atlanta Dream said in a statement, “The consensus is to not play in tonight’s slate of games and to kneel, lock arms and raise fists during the national anthem. We stand in solidarity with our brothers in the NBA.”

Williams went on to encourage everyone to register to vote, complete the 2020 census and demand change to address racial injustice.

Amid the protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Vice-President Mike Pence is expected to repeat Trump’s message of “law and order” in his convention speech.

The LA Times reports:

Pence will emerge from President Trump’s long shadow for a night Wednesday, taking the stage at the Republican National Convention to emphasize support for law enforcement as protests are intensifying following the police shooting in Wisconsin of a Black man in the back.

Pence is expected to lionize Trump and join other RNC speakers who have carefully airbrushed the president’s management of a devastating pandemic, double-digit unemployment and growing upheaval over racism and police brutality in numerous communities.

Convention speakers so far have largely ignored the shooting of Blake, as well as the recent police killings of other African Americans including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Instead, most speakers have followed the president’s lead and tried to recast largely peaceful protests against racial injustice as “violent mobs”.

Hello, liveblog readers, and welcome to the third night of the Republican convention.

Mike Pence will deliver his speech tonight to formally accept the Republican vice-presidential nomination, marking the most consequential moment of the convention yet.

The vice-president will speak from Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, and he is expected to tout Donald Trump’s economic accomplishments to make the case for a second term, even though the coronavirus pandemic has driven the country’s unemployment rate into double digits.

As Pence accepts the vice-presidential nomination, protests continue to unfold in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Blake, an African American father of six who was shot multiple times in the back by police officers, has been mentioned only briefly at the Republican convention so far.

Instead, the first two days of the RNC focused on inflaming culture wars by featuring controversial speakers, including the St Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters.

But the shooting of Blake has undeniably upended US politics and sports, with the NBA postponing tonight’s playoff games after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play to protest racial injustice.

Will Republicans address the intensifying protests tonight? The third night of the convention kicks off shortly, so stay tuned.