Joe Biden let America’s enemies ‘get away with murder’

Speakers at the first day of the Republican National Convention slam Joe Biden as a weak global leader and soft on law and order.

Donald Trump appears on stage at Charlotte, North Carolina. Picture: AFP

Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has slammed Joe Biden as a weak global leader, saying as vice-president he let Iran, North Korea and China “get away with murder”.

In a keynote speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention Ms Haley contrasted the former vice president’s “failure” on the world stage with Donald Trump’s tougher approach.

“Obama and Biden let North Korea threaten America. President Trump rejected that weakness, and we passed the toughest sanctions on North Korea in history,” she said. “Obama and Biden let Iran get away with murder … President Trump ripped up the Iran nuclear deal.

‘The former vice president has a record of weakness and failure. Joe Biden is good for Iran and ISIS … great for communist China … and he’s a godsend to everyone who wants America to apologise, abstain and abandon our values.”

The speech by Ms Haley was part of a 2½ hour prime time program on Monday (Tuesday AEST) for the opening day of the four-day convention, which also featured a strong political campaign speech by Mr Trump’s eldest son Donald Jr.

Donald Jr painted a bleak picture of America’s future under a Biden presidency. “Biden’s radical left wing policies would stop our economic recovery cold. He’s already talking about shutting the country down again — it’s madness,” he said.

A Biden presidency would attack basic freedoms such as that of religion and speech because it would embrace “cancel culture”.

Nikki Haley speaks on the first day of the Republican National Convention from Washington. Picture: AFP

Donald Jr and Ms Haley accused Mr Biden of being soft on law and order at a time of protests and riots in US cities. Their speeches coincided with riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after police shot black man Jacob Blake in the back as he tried to get into his car.

Mr Trump made only a brief appearance in two taped segments, one talking to frontline workers of the coronavirus pandemic and the other talking to six US hostages released from their captors during his presidency.

Earlier on Tuesday (AEST), Mr Trump warned a Biden presidency would kill the American dream as Republicans renominated him to kick off the convention.

Mr Trump made a surprise appearance at the convention centre in Charlotte, North Carolina, where 336 delegates conducted a roll call of states to formally renominate the President.

“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, you are incredible warriors,’’ he told delegates. “I think we have the greatest base of support anywhere at anytime in any election.”

He said he believed his supporters were even more enthusiastic than they were in 2016. In a largely unscripted speech, Mr Trump said voters needed to be very careful to ensure they turned up to vote on November 3.

“The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” he said, repeating his concern large numbers of mail-in ballots could lead to voter fraud.

He said if Mr Biden were elected he would stack the country’s courts with liberal judges. “The radical left will demand he appoints super-radical-left wild crazy justices going into the Supreme Court,” Mr Trump said.

If that happened, he said, “Your American dream will be dead.”

“Our country can go in a horrible, horrible direction or an even greater direction and before the plague came in from China, that’s where we were going.”

Mr Trump was not scheduled to appear at the party’s formal roll call in Charlotte and the delegates cheered and chanted “four more years” when he walked to the stage. The pared-back roll call ceremony of the 50 states included just 336 delegates delivering proxy votes for more than 2500 others.

They sat at socially distanced tables decorated with bunting and the name of their state.

The roll call was the only event that will take place in Charlotte, which was the site for the convention until the pandemic ruled out a gathering of the large crowds Mr Trump wanted. The rest of the convention will take place in Washington and Baltimore.

Vice President Mike Pence also made a surprise appearance in Charlotte after he was also renominated. “I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m here for one reason and one reason only, and that is not just the Republican Party but America needs four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House,” Mr Pence said.

“We’ve revived this economy through cutting taxes … after years of budget cuts this President rebuilt our military. This President has seen with your support more than 200 men and women confirmed to the federal courts at every level and they are all conservatives who will uphold the God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution like the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.”