As President Trump Prepares To Accept GOP Nomination, Local Delegates Both Praise And Critique Republican Convention
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Thursday is the last and final day of the Republican National Convention. President Trump will accept his party's nomination from the White House before a live audience on the grounds.
Make no mistake; local delegates in both parties wish they could have been at their conventions in person.
"It's the Super Bowl of politics, right, and everybody likes to get out there with their hats, listen to the speeches," says former U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus, a Republican delegate.
Rothfus thinks the GOP has done the best it could under the COVID circumstances.
"The way they have taped this convention versus what we saw with the Democrats last week – there's more that feel, like the rhythm of a convention, speakers coming up to the podium, rather than having this narration that we saw last week with the Democratic convention," Rothfus told KDKA political editor Jon Delano.
Unlike the Democrats, both Vice President Pence on Wednesday night and President Trump tonight are speaking in front of live audiences despite COVID-19 worries.
The Trump campaign says the president will draw a strong contrast between his vision of America and that of Joe Biden who he will describe as "weak" and a "Trojan horse" for what Trump calls the socialist left that, he says, has captured the Democratic Party.
That was a familiar theme throughout this Republican Convention.
Democratic delegates like Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald say it's all nonsense.
"It's like watching the alternative universe, literally making things up about Joe Biden that weren't true," says Fitzgerald.
"They want to say he wants to defund the police. Absolutely not. He has never said that, nor would he. They talk about fracking – he wants to do a fracking ban – absolutely not true," says Fitzgerald.
With competing narratives of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden and contrasting visions for America, the voting public has less than 10 weeks to sort it all out.
