by Andrew BEATTY
CLEVELAND, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump will promise fearful Americans that “safety will be restored” if he is elected president, as he accepts the Republican Party’s White House nomination Thursday.
“I have a message for all of you: The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end,” Trump will say, according to prepared remarks.
In a speech that evokes recent racially-tinged shootings and seemingly indiscriminate terror attacks, Trump will present himself as the law and order candidate.
“Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of violence in our streets and the chaos in our communities,” he will say.
“Beginning on January 20, 2017, safety will be restored.”
His tough on crime tone are reminiscent of Richard Nixon’s election-winning strategy in 1968, and he contrasts the dark mood with a bold promise for better times come inauguration day.
Trump’s acceptance speech will be his first major primetime address to the nation and an opening salvo of November’s general election.
Trump will hope to put a wretched party convention behind him, one that has been dogged by scandal and rare shows of Republican discord.
Nationwide polls put the New York mogul, who has never held elected office, almost neck and neck Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state heavily criticized over an email scandal.
Clinton, who will formally accept the Democratic nomination at her own convention next week, is expected to steal the limelight on Friday or Saturday by announcing her vice presidential running mate.
Riven with doubts
Team Trump will try to paint its candidate as a sheriff and his general election foe as worthy of the local slammer.
Throughout the four-day convention Republicans have rallied around chants of “lock her up.”
Speakers lined up to denounce Clinton for the deaths of their loved ones, for dodgy foreign policies and for putting national security at risk by using a private email server for sensitive government information.
Trump will accuse the former secretary of state as being a political insider with “bad instincts” and “bad judgment.”
“My message is that things have to change — and they have to change right now.”
“I’m with you, I will fight for you, and I will win for you.”
It remains unclear if that message will be enough to unite a Republican Party riven with doubts over his candidature.
On Wednesday those doubts were laid bare when his primary rival Ted Cruz pointedly refused to endorse him.
“Vote your conscience,” Cruz said, leading to a chorus of boos.
Cruz had at one point pledged to support the eventual nominee, but he was defiant Thursday: “That pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi, that I’m going to nonetheless come like a puppy dog and say thank you very much for maligning my wife.”
Before Trump takes to the stage, his daughter Ivanka will try to warm up the crowd and soften her father’s image.
In a slew of emails to supporters Thursday, she spoke of a loving dad who encouraged his young daughter to succeed, of an inspirational leader and a crack negotiator destined to win.
“My father is someone you want fighting for you,” she wrote. “He will outwork everyone in the room. He will always stay one step ahead of his competitors.”
Unorthodox campaign
Trump’s campaign has defied political norms — fueling ethnic tensions, offending key voting blocs, eschewing big-spending ad buys or campaign infrastructure and relying on heavy media coverage.
His roller-coaster campaign defeated 16 rivals and steamrolled stubborn party opposition after being written off as a joke.
He has shocked foreign leaders by questioning key pillars of American foreign policy.
On Wednesday he qualified normally sacrosanct support for NATO allies, warning it would depend “if they fulfill their commitments to us.”
Responding to the comments, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told AFP there was a need for solidarity.
“I will not interfere in the US election campaign, but what I can do is say what matters for NATO,” he said.
“Solidarity among allies is a key value for NATO. This is good for European security and good for US security. We defend one another.”
It was left to Trump’s pick for vice president, the socially conservative Indiana Governor Mike Pence, to try to overcome the Cruz debacle in delivering a speech introducing himself to voters.
He fed the crowd self-deprecating jokes and a clear conservative message, defending Trump as a man “who never quits, who never backs down” in a message given a standing ovation.
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