The final line of Vice President Mike Pence's speech today was a cheeky reference to his boss Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.
Welcome back to our live coverage of the Republican National Convention.
The Democrats had their say last week. Now we're up to the Republicans' penultimate day in the spotlight. I know these conventions seem to be going on forever, but rest assured, we are finally nearing the conclusion, with President Donald Trump set to officially accept his party's nomination in a climactic speech from the White House tomorrow.
Today, I'm afraid, your headline act is a little less charismatic. Vice President Mike Pence will address the convention from Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the poem that would become America's national anthem. It should be an impressive setting.
The other major speakers might offer more pizzaz. We'll hear from several high profile Republican politicians, including South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst and Congressman Dan Crenshaw, along with outgoing presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and, for some reason, Eric Trump's wife Lara.
If you missed yesterday's excitement, worry not, because you can catch up on the highlights with our wrap. There was a gutsy speech from First Lady Melania Trump, and a rather baffling one from the President's youngest daughter, Tiffany.
RELATED: What happened on day two of the Republican convention
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OK, with those shameless plugs out of the way, let's get into it. Read on for all the latest news from the US.
We'll leave the blog here for today. But make sure you come back tomorrow for the conclusion of the Republican National Convention, as President Trump delivers his speech from the White House.
As always, there will also be a wrap of the day up sometime this evening, and our US election newsletter will land in your inbox – ahem, assuming you've signed up – this afternoon.
According to Reuters reporter Jeff Mason, the members of the audience at Mike Pence's speech were not tested for the coronavirus beforehand.
As I mentioned before, these people crowded together after the speech to get close to the Trumps and Pences. They were not wearing face masks.
This seems … really unwise? The United States recorded another 44,000 cases of the virus today, and its total number of infections has passed six million. The death toll stands at 184,000.
Members of the audience for @VP Pence’s speech told reporters tonight they had not been tested for COVID before coming. @realDonaldTrump and Pence get tested regularly. They both interacted closely with crowd members after the remarks. pic.twitter.com/Pmd5eiZSHt
— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) August 27, 2020
Supporters turn away from First Couple to take selfies after Pence RNC remarks in Blatimore. Potus and Flotus remain socially distanced but crowd is packed pretty tightly and not many masks. (I don’t know whether the crowd was tested.) pic.twitter.com/2kLLQ0CQCJ
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) August 27, 2020
So we come to the final speech of the night.
Vice President Mike Pence addressed the American people from Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key was famously inspired to write the poem that would become the country's national anthem.
A much grander setting than Joni Ernst's barn, then.
Mr Pence conveyed the seriousness of the occasion with his trademark half-suspicious, half-sultry squint at the camera.
I can't figure out whether he wants to bed me or suspects I stole his wallet.
"The heroes who held this fort took their stand for life, liberty, freedom and the American flag. And those ideals have defined our nation," Mr Pence said.
"But they were hardly ever mentioned at last week's Democratic National Convention. Instead, Democrats spent four days attacking America."
They spent four days attacking Donald Trump. Believe it or not, there is a distinction between those two things.
"Joe Biden said we were living through a 'season of darkness'. But as President Trump said, where Joe Biden sees American darkness, we see American greatness," he continued, pausing for applause.
And it actually came! There hasn't been much of that this year, but because he was speaking outside, Mr Pence did have a live audience.
"In these challenging times, our country needs a president who believes in America. Who believes in the boundless capacity of the American people to meet any challenge, defeat any foe, and defend the freedom we hold dear," he said.
"America needs four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House."
What emotion is this? Satisfaction? Smugness? Concern? Burning desire? Honestly, this guy's face is unreadable.
The Vice President went on to speak about law and order, which has been a bit of a theme today.
"The hard truth is you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America," he told viewers.
"Under President Trump, we will stand with those who stand on the thin blue line. And we're not going to defund the police. Not now, not ever.
"We're passing through a time of testing. But in the midst of this global pandemic, just as our nation had begun to recover, we've seen violence and chaos in the streets of our major cities.
"President Trump and I will always support the right of Americans to peaceful protest. But rioting and looting is not peaceful protest. Tearing down statues is not free speech. And those who do so will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"The violence must stop, whether in Minneapolis, Portland or Kenosha. Too many heroes have died defending our freedom for us to strike each other down. We will have law and order on the streets of this country for every American, of every race and creed and colour."
That line sparked a standing ovation from the crowd.
So did this one, which came right at the end of the speech.
"With President Trump in the White House for four more years, and with God's help, we will make America great again. Again."
Mike's 'nailed it' face.
Donald and Melania Trump showed up for a quick cameo appearance. They joined Mike and Karen Pence on stage as country singer Trace Adkins belted out a rugged version of The Star Spangled Banner.
The two couples then spent some time meeting the crowd, including a group of first responders and military personnel.
The Trumps and Pences mostly stayed at a distance, though the audience itself was not exactly practising social distancing.
Eric Trump's wife Lara, a former TV producer who now works as a senior campaign adviser, continued the concerted effort by tonight's speakers to humanise Donald Trump.
"My seventh grade English teacher used to tell us, 'Believe none of what you hear, half of what you read, and only what you're there to witness firsthand," she said.
Side note – I have witnessed this entire convention firsthand and I still can't quite believe Kimberly Guilfoyle's speech actually happened.
The point Mrs Trump was making when she mentioned this quote was that the Trump family is not what she expected it to be.
"They were warm and caring. They were hard workers. And they were down to earth. They reminded me of my own family. They made me feel like I was home," she said.
Mrs Trump praised the number of female executives she saw employed at the Trump Organisation.
"Gender didn't matter. What mattered was the ability to get the job done. I learned this directly when, in 2016, my father-in-law asked me to help him win my cherished home state, North Carolina," she said.
"He believed in me and supported me. He knew I was capable even if I didn't."
He gave her a job, essentially.
I will note that former Florida attorney-general Pam Bondi gave a very, veeery passionate speech last night railing against the ills of nepotism.
Before signing off, Mrs Trump brought up a quote she attributed to former president Abraham Lincoln.
"Abraham Lincoln once famously said: 'America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves,'" she said.
Abraham Lincoln never said that. According to fact checkers, it's a fake quote from a viral Facebook image.
He did say this, which doesn't quite mean the same thing.
"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reaches us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
I feel compelled to give my third straight shoutout, this time to Senator Joni Ernst, who proved her folksy credentials by appearing in a plaid shirt in front of some hay bales and a tractor.
"Folks, this election is a choice between two very different paths," Ms Ernst said.
"Freedom, prosperity, and economic growth, under a Trump-Pence administration. Or, the Biden-Harris path, paved by liberal coastal elites and radical environmentalists.
"An America where farmers are punished, jobs are destroyed, and taxes crush the middle class.
"That is our choice. And it’s a clear one."
Every time someone mentions "liberal coastal elites", I am obliged by law to remind you that Donald Trump is a rich real estate heir and reality TV host from New York.
Former NFL player Jack Brewer deserves a shoutout as well for his pure, unadulterated dapperness. He rocked a very sharp suit-and-tie-with-glasses combo. Extra marks for the mismatched shirt collar.
"I'm here as a servant of God, a servant to the people of our nation, and a servant to our President," Mr Brewer said.
"I know what racism looks like. I've seen it firsthand. And America, it has no resemblance to President Trump. And I'm fed up with the way he's portrayed in the media (yes, hi), who refuse to acknowledge what he's actually done for the black community.
"It's confusing the minds of our innocent children.
"We are not as divided as out politics suggest. At some point, for the sake of our children, the policies must take priority over the personalities.
"So because you have an issue with President Trump's tone, you're going to allow Biden and Harris to deny our underserved black children school choice?
"Are we so offended by the President's campaign slogan, Make America Great Again, that we're going to ignore that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris has collectively been responsible for locking up countless black men for non-violent crimes?"
I think people were more offended by Mr Trump saying there were "fine people" on "both sides" of Charlottesville, for example.
But Mr Brewer's point about Mr Biden and Ms Harris is a fair one. Mr Biden did help pass a bill which resulted in wider incarceration of African-Americans for non-violent crime. And as a prosecutor, district attorney and attorney-general, Ms Harris did lock people up.
"Are you going to allow the media to lie to you by falsely claiming he said there were very fine white supremacists in Charlottesville? He didn't say that. That's a lie," he continued.
Oh, that's that thing I mentioned. Lest Mr Brewer accuse me of lying to you, let me give you Mr Trump's full quote.
"I think there’s blame on both sides. If you look at both sides – I think there’s blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it, and you don’t have any doubt about it either. And if you reported it accurately, you would say-" Mr Trump said.
"The neo-Nazis started this. They showed up in Charlottesville to protest-" a reporter interjected.
"Excuse me, excuse me," said Mr Trump.
"They didn’t put themselves – and you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group.
"Excuse me, excuse me. I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name."
Mr Trump did not say there were "very fine" white supremacists. However, he did say there were "very fine" people in a group of protesters who marched through the streets of Charlottesville chanting the slogans "blood and soil" and "Jews will not replace us".
He quite clearly suggested a moral equivalence between those people and the people who showed up to protest against them.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik didn't get particularly long to address the convention, or say anything particularly interesting, but I wanted to give her a shoutout for pure enthusiasm.
She had a very Alexander Hamilton, "I was chosen for the Constitutional Convention," vibe.
And if you don't get that reference, get off this thing right now and go watch Hamilton. Honestly.
Apologies for the slight delay between posts here. In my defence, do you have any idea how long it can take to find a new car space in Surry Hills at this time of day? Bloody nightmare.
Outgoing White House adviser Kellyanne Conway was the next big speaker. I'm a little surprised she followed through on her plans to address the convention, given her family dramas – the Conways' daughter Claudia, who is stringently anti-Trump, said she was "devastated beyond compare" by the prospect over the weekend.
Ms Conway and her husband, conservative lawyer George Conway (who is also extremely anti-Trump), have both announced a retreat from public life to focus on their family.
But that's private stuff. Let's get to Ms Conway's speech.
She praised President Trump for taking "unprecedented action" to combat America's drug crisis.
"He told me, 'This is so important Kellyanne. So many lives have been ruined by addiction, and we'll never even know it, because people are ashamed to reach out for help, and they're not even sure who to turn to in their toughest hour,'" Ms Conway said.
"Rather than look the other way, President Trump stared directly at this drug crisis next door."
Not that my opinion matters, but I feel like today's speeches have been pretty effective so far. Ms Conway and Kayleigh McEnany tend to be pretty combative day-to-day, but both of them focused on making a compelling positive case for the President.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany got deeply personal in her speech, describing her decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy after testing positive for the BRCA2 gene.
"When I was 21 years old, I got a call that changed my life. It was my doctor, informing me that I had tested positive for the BRCA2 genetic mutation. A mutation that put my chances of breast cancer at 84 per cent," she said.
"It was the same mutation that my mum had, compelling her to have a preventative double mastectomy.
"For nearly a decade, I was routinely at the cancer centre, getting MRIs, ultrasounds and necessary surveillance."
In May of last year, Ms McEnany followed in her mother's footsteps and had the double mastectomy.
"I was scared. The night before I fought back tears, as I prepared to lose a piece of myself forever," she said.
"But the next day, with my mum, dad, husband and Jesus Christ by my side, I underwent a mastectomy.
"I developed a strength, a confidence that I carry with me."
Ms McEnany told viewers about a phone call she had with President Trump after the surgery.
"During one of my most difficult times, I expected to have the support of my family. But I had more support than I knew," she said.
"As I came out of anesthesia, one of the first calls I received was from Ivanka Trump. As I recovered, my phone rang again. It was President Trump, calling to check on me. I was blown away.
"Here was the leader of the free world, caring about my circumstance. At the time, I had only met President Trump on a few occasions. And now I know him well. And I can tell you this President stands by Americans with pre-existing conditions.
"In fact, President Trump called me this morning – I spoke with him several times today – and he told me how proud he was of me for sharing this story.
"The same way President Trump has supported me, he supports you. I see it every day. I've heard him say the hardest part of his job is writing to loved ones of fallen soldiers. I've seen him offer heartfelt outreach to grieving parents who lost their children to crime in the streets. And I've watched him fight for Americans who lost their jobs.
"President Trump fights for the American people, because he cares about stories like these."
The line about pre-existing conditions will probably rankle Democrats, given the Trump administration's actual healthcare policies, but I reckon this speech was one of the best attempts we've seen to demonstrate Mr Trump's human side.
Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw is a former Navy SEAL officer. He lost his right eye to an IED explosion in 2012.
Mr Crenshaw has dealt with that injury admirably – not to mention the fact that his eye patch makes him look like even more of a badass.
He spoke to the convention from the deck of a Navy ship, with a big-ass gun pointing right at the camera.
"Our enemies fear us because America fights for good, and we know it. It gives us strength," he said.
"When our heroes are trusted and equipped, then freedom prevails. The defeat of ISIS was the result of Americans believing in their heroes; our President having their backs and rebuilding our military, so we'd have what we need to finish the mission."
He said the US military's heroism was reflected in everyday Americans, like nurses caring for coronavirus patients, or parents re-learning algebra to help their kids learn remotely.
"America is the country where the young military wife with two young children answers the unexpected knock at the door, looks the man in uniform in the eye, and even as her whole world comes crashing down, she stands up straight, she holds back tears, and she takes care of her family," said Mr Crenshaw.
"Because she must. This is what heroism looks like. It's who we are. A nation of heroes. And we need you now more than ever.
"Heroism is self-sacrifice. It's not moralising and lecturing over others when they disagree. Heroism is grace, not perpetual outrage. Heroism is rebuilding our communities, not destroying them."
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