Trump depicted as model of conservatism

Vice President Mike Pence, the headliner of the night, took the lead in making the overall case for Trump as a conservative stalwart who projected leadership abroad and oversaw a strong economy before it was battered by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

Trump has governed as a populist with a nationalist foreign policy that has often been at odds with the party's traditional messages on the economy and intervention abroad. Where the party once pushed a message of free trade, Trump has put in place tariffs and embraced protectionist policies. Where his Republican predecessors in the White House have frequently deployed the military abroad, Trump has called for bringing soldiers home.

But the evening, much like the preceding two nights, was expected to sidestep those differences and present the party as unified behind the president on all matters. 

"President Trump places the American people, American liberty, American security and the American Constitution before all else," South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, said. "He honors the fact that the American people provide the 'consent of the governed' on which legitimate government depends."

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said Pence would deliver a "stirring" address late Wednesday night highlighting "what makes America great" - while drawing sharp contrasts between the Trump administration's accomplishments on the economy and foreign policy with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's agenda. 

"He will talk in optimistic tones about our future as Americans," Murtaugh told reporters in a conference call previewing the third night of the GOP convention.

Yet the party's message of strength at home and abroad was delivered against a backdrop of turmoil in parts of the country as a new wave of civil unrest broke out this week after Jacob Blake Jr., a Black man, was shot by a police officer in Kenosha, Wis., and a strong hurricane was soon to make landfall, threatening lives and livelihoods in Gulf Coast states. 

It was unclear how much the unfolding events would alter the convention programming, much of it having been taped in advance. But a major thread throughout the Republican convention has been Trump's fervent support for police, as the president seeks to capitalize on racial unrest in primarily Democratic-run cities and states to warn of urban chaos should he lose the election. 

One of the scheduled speakers was Michael "Mick" McHale, a retired Florida police officer who heads the National Association of Police Organizations. He emphasized that the "overwhelming majority" of U.S. police officers are the "best of the best" and condemned elected officials who McHale argued would not allow the police to do their job of protecting communities nationwide.

The president has yet to directly comment on the shooting of Blake, whose family said he remains in serious condition after the incident Sunday and is paralyzed from the waist down. Two protesters were shot dead amid the escalating demonstrations, and a 17-year-old from neighboring Illinois has been charged with homicide. 

The White House released a statement from press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday night shortly before the convention program began.

"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," she said. "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."

Meanwhile, Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., spoke with the Blake family earlier Wednesday. Biden released a video statement that condemned not only the police shooting but also the violent protests that erupted in its aftermath. 

"You know, as I said after George Floyd's murder, protesting brutality is a right, and absolutely necessary," Biden said, referring to the death of an unarmed Black man in Minneapolis in May when a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. "But burning down communities is not protests. It's needless violence." 

Meanwhile, Hurricane Laura strengthened into a Category 4 cyclone earlier Wednesday and was poised to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. The National Hurricane Center warned that Laura could trigger an "unsurvivable" storm surge that would hit as far as 30 miles inland.

Trump tweeted earlier Thursday that his administration was "fully engaged" with officials in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. 

The lineup on the third night of the Republican National Convention was heavy on lawmakers and senior officials with national security backgrounds, as well as outside supporters of the president's foreign policy agenda.

That included Ric Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence and U.S. ambassador to Germany; Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who is the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate and is locked in a tough reelection bid; Keith Kellogg, Pence's national security adviser; and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, a former Navy SEAL officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and lost his right eye when an IED exploded during one of his deployments.

One of the speakers was exiled Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who was under house arrest in China until his 2012 escape to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and eventually to the United States. He has written in support of the Trump administration's posture toward China. 

The Trump family affair at the convention continued, with Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and an adviser to the campaign, delivering one of the closing remarks. 

Second lady Karen Pence also was scheduled to speak on support for military families.

Other speakers included Noem, the South Dakota governor, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Madison Cawthorne, the Republican nominee for the 11th Congressional District in North Carolina who is poised to become the youngest-ever member of Congress. 

The lineup also included an array of everyday "heroes" - such as Clarence Henderson, a participant in the Greensboro, N.C., sit-ins of the 1960s, and the veteran football coach Lou Holtz - who the campaign said had made significant contributions "to our great American story."

Senior Democratic officials took a swipe at the vice president in advance of his speech, portraying him as subservient to the president and an enabler of the chaos in the Trump White House. 

"Pence is quiet as a little mouse," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a conference call organized by the Democratic National Committee. "He has shown no leadership. He has just been a total acolyte of President Trump's bad policies, misdeeds and, frankly, lying."

Pence was scheduled to deliver his convention address at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, now a historic landmark that was used to defend Baltimore Harbor from the British navy during the War of 1812. That battle is the inspiration for the poem penned by Francis Scott Key that eventually became "The Star-Spangled Banner." 

The site is maintained by the federal government through the National Park Service. 

Questions also continued Wednesday over Trump and the Republican Party's use of government resources and landmarks that critics decry as a blatant violation of federal law meant to maintain a gulf between official government business and political activity. 

The Office of Special Counsel said in a statement Wednesday that it would investigate complaints about violations of the Hatch Act, which bars executive branch employees from participating in politics in their official capacity. But the office emphasized that it has no power to enforce the criminal provisions of the law, which is an issue for the Justice Department.

"OSC's role does not include grandstanding or holding news conferences about potential violations that may or may not occur," said Henry Kerner, a Trump appointee who heads the office. "Ultimately, officials and employees choose whether to comply with the law."

The statement also reiterated that some areas of the White House - including the Rose Garden and the West Lawn - do not fall under the Hatch Act, nor can the president or vice president violate the law. First lady Melania Trump's speech to the convention was delivered in the Rose Garden on Tuesday, and the president will make his remarks Thursday night on the South Lawn, where an audience of at least 1,000 is expected.

White House officials have dismissed Hatch Act concerns, emphasizing that administration employees who appear at the convention - including outgoing White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and current White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany - were doing so in their personal capacities. 

On Wednesday, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows went further, saying critics who alleged Hatch Act violations were going beyond the original intent of the 1939 lawn. 

"What it's really designed to do is to make sure that people like myself and others do not use their political position to try to convince other employees, other federal employees that they need to vote one way, register one way or campaign another way," Meadows said during an event hosted by Politico.