President Donald Trump has officially been renominated as the Republican nominee for the highest office in the land.
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Trump, who is seeking a second term as president, received his party’s backing on Monday during a roll-call vote at Republican National Convention taking place mostly at the Charlotte Convention Center. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit at the scaled-down convention in North Carolina to accept the nomination, ABC reports.
The president reached the required 1,276 delegates on the convention’s first day with the planned overall theme of “Honoring the Great American Story,” which is still largely being held in person.
Due to the coronavirus, delegates had to wear masks to the Charlotte Convention Center and were required to take a COVID-19 test. Only 336 delegates were ultimately allowed inside and restricted to six a state.
The president will officially accept the nomination during a speech Thursday night from the White House South Lawn. He emphasized the importance of the November 3 election in remarks after reaching the largely symbolic milestone.
Trump ran unopposed and there was no doubt that he would receive enough delegates in his bid to once again represent the Republican party. He was greeted by chants of “Four more years” by fellow Republicans as he took to the stage.
“If you want to really drive them crazy, you’ll say ’12 more years,” the president said.
Trump stressed the importance of the 2020 election and claimed that the country was at stake.
“This is the most important election in the history of our country,” he said. “We have to be very careful and we have to win. Our country is counting on us.”
Trump also criticized the use of mail-in ballots which are being relied upon due to the ongoing pandemic.
“This is the greatest scam in the history of politics, I think, and I’m talking about beyond our nation. They act like they are aggrieved by saying this, saying such a horrible thing, we are not patriotic by saying this. No,” Trump said.
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“We voted during World War I. We voted at the voting booth during World War II. The pandemic we are doing very well — and people know how to handle it — look at the crowds. They are doing very well. It’s very safe.”
Pence was also renominated again to be vice president and addressed those gathered.
“I want to thank you for the honor of this day,” Pence said. “I am 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.”
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