Republicans start the first night of their convention with Jon Voight-voiced praise for Donald Trump

The first night of Republican National Convention Monday kicked off with a video montage narrated by actor Jon Voight as patriotic and pro-Donald Trump images and clips showed on screen.

The first speaker, Charlie Kirk, who founded conservative student organization Turning Point USA, kicked off the night warning Americans that ‘everything we love’ is at stake in November.

‘Speaking to you in my personal capacity tonight as a 26-year-old, I have a chance to view the state of our country as someone who sees the angst of young people and the challenges facing new parents forming families,’ Kirk said from a podium at the Andrew W Mellon Auditorium in Washington D.C.

‘I am here tonight to tell you – to warn you – that this election is a decision between preserving America as we know it, and eliminating everything that we love,’ he urged.

In an attempt to expand speaking time and to upstage Democrats, the festivities Monday night began a full half-an-hour earlier than Democrats began their convention each night last week. 

Voight, an avid Republican, touted in his monologue narration that Trump was elected because he works ‘tirelessly’ for Americans.

‘We chose a different path,’ Voight said of Trump’s election. ‘A man who is not a politician. A man who cares. A man who loves America, and all Americans. A man who works tirelessly for you. Even tonight during this nomination.’ 

Also on deck for early remarks at the convention kick-off Monday were California public school educator Rebecca Friedrichs, who spoke out against unions and propped up Trump’s pro-school choice agenda; and businesswoman Tanya Weinreis, who owns a coffee shop in Montana and was able to remain in business after receiving the Payment Protection Program grant in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

‘My company was one of the first to get help from the PPP loan and Praise God, it has been a lifesaver for us,’ Weinreis said.

‘I feel for workers and businesses across America, who are under assault from shutdowns, from riots, and now face the terrifying prospect of Joe Biden coming after everything we’ve built,’ she continued of the Democratic nominee.

‘I am so grateful that we have leaders like President Trump standing up for us who understand the good local business do in our neighborhoods and are not afraid to fight for us every day,’ the Mountain Mudd Espresso owner said. ‘Thank you President Trump – it is so exciting to be a part of this great American comeback story.’

Trump plans to make remarks during the 10:00 p.m. hour each night of the four-night convention this week.

There are reports that his remarks on Monday night will be pre-recorded.

They will play after Trump already made a mini-rally speech during a surprise stop in Charlotte, North Carolina – the original site of the RNC – on Monday afternoon.

Trump said during the stop at the in-person convention that Democrats will try to steal the election in November by avoiding sending or accepting mail-in ballots from Republicans.

‘They’re trying to steal the election from the Republicans, that’s what it means,’ the president said to a room full of Republican delegates and party personnel.

‘In a very nice way, I will tell you, they are trying to steal the election just like they did it last time with spying and we caught them.’

‘And that included President Obama and that included Biden,’ he continued as he referred to the 2016 campaign as ‘Spygate.’

The president claimed that Democrats will harvest ballots and stop those coming from Trump voters from being processed as he denounced universal mail-in voting as a ‘fraud.’

‘You get the ballot and then they have harvesting,’ Trump claimed.

He also reenacted a conversation between two voters where one only agreed to turn in the other’s ballot after finding out that they cast their vote for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

‘In fact, harvesting is illegal in your state,’ Trump continued of North Carolina. ‘They wanted to put a Republican, fine man, a pastor, they wanted to put him in jail because he harvested. Now they want to make harvesting legal all of a sudden.’

‘They’ll put him in jail as a Republican, right? If he was a Democrat they wouldn’t be thinking about it,’ he insisted. ‘In California they do the same thing. No repercussion.’

The president made a surprise stop at the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina on Monday afternoon as delegates announced their states’ count to officially nominate Trump to become the party’s candidate in November.

During his remarks he called mail-in voting the ‘greatest scam in the history of politics’ even beyond the U.S.

‘We’re not patriotic by saying this. No,’ Trump said of Democrats pushing for universal mail-in voting for the November election.

‘We voted during World War I. We voted at the voting booth during World War II,’ the president told a room full of delegates and RNC personnel.

‘The pandemic – we’re doing very well, and people know how to handle it,’ he continued. ‘Look at the crowds. They’re doing very well. It’s very safe. it’s going to be very safe.’

Coming out onto the stage to his rally anthem ‘God Bless the USA,’ Trump was greeted by delegates at the scaled-down convention with chants of ‘four more years.’

‘We have to win. This is the most important election in the history of our country,’ Trump said to cheers from a smaller-than-usual crowd.

‘Don’t let them take it away from you,’ Trump urged the end of his nearly hour-long remarks. ‘Don’t let them take it away. North Carolina, we love you. That’s why I’m here… very special people.’

Trump also reiterated that even though he is opposed to states going fully toward mail-in voting, he is a proponent of absentee voting – which he has used to cast his ballot in the past few elections.

‘If you have an absentee ballot where you request it, we’re all in favor of that,’ Trump told the enthusiastic room of Republicans.

‘Absentee, like in Florida, they have absentee is good,’ he said of the state where he recently changed his residency. ‘But other than that, they’re very, very bad. There will be millions of ballots.’

‘But these are small and they can’t control it,’ he said of absentee measures.

He also railed against potential defects with ballots, insisting that nearly one-fourth would be ‘fraudulent.’

‘They said 23 per cent of the ballots were defective. What does defective mean? it means fraud,’ Trump said.

‘It means – it means a lot of things that we won’t get into because I don’t want to be accused – you see all the cameras back there. It’s the fake news. I don’t want to be accused of anything,’ he said pointing to the back of the room in typical rally fashion.

Delegates officially nominated Trump to be their candidate in November during the roll call Monday morning, which was held in-person in Charlotte and contrasted with Democrats’ virtual roll call last week to nominate Joe Biden as their candidate.

Trump interrupted the roll call by showing up for previously unscheduled remarks, which continued with Tennessee following his hour-long speech.

The president plans to speak during the 10:00 p.m. hour all four nights of the convention – and added bonus remarks at the original convention site Monday afternoon in North Carolina.  

During his remarks Monday, Trump lashed out against North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, claiming he felt an ‘obligation’ to speak in Charlotte after he was forced to move other events to different locations.

‘I just want to thank the people of North Carolina because to be honest with you I felt an obligation to be here. You have a governor who’s in a total shutdown mood. I guarantee on November 4, it’ll all open up. It’ll be fine, like most other states,’ Trump said of Cooper, who restricted the convention crowd size, making it so only the delegates were able to convene for the events. 

‘On November 4 – you know these Democrat governors, they love a shutdown until after the election is over because they want to make our numbers look as bas as possible for the economy,’ he lamented.

At the start of the pandemic, millions of Americans lost their jobs – setting all-time high unemployment numbers.

While several events are still being held at the location in Charlotte, the convention is not allowing the usual massive crowd as it has been partially moved to other locations in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.   

The nomination came as Trump’s campaign unveiled earlier in the day its 49-point plan for his second term, including a ‘return to normal’ by next year. 

The plan also focuses on creating 10 million new in 10 months jobs, including bringing 1 million manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. from China.

It also has a whole section dedicated to ‘eradicating COVID-19,’ which includes a ‘return to normal by 2021,’ ‘developing a vaccine by the end of 2020’ and ‘holding China fully accountable for allowing the virus to spread around the world.’

The other points of the plan features sections on healthcare, education, ‘draining the swamp,’ defending police, ending illegal immigration and protecting Americans workers, innovating for the future and his promised ‘America First’ stance on foreign policy.  

The Party is conducting a more business-as-usual convention with many events taking place at the convention site in Charlotte, North Carolina – including the roll call on Monday.

Other than backing Trump, the Republican National Committee has not agreed on any other platform for the 2020 convention as the president is prepared to focus on the accomplishments of his first term rather than presenting plans for a second.

In a new resolution adopted Saturday from the previous 2016 platform, the RNC made six declarations and resolved four issues – but otherwise kept the four-year-old platform the same.

‘RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda,’ the RNC listed.

In a second point it said ‘[t]hat the 2020 Republican National Convention will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention.’

‘Under the emergency procedures set forth under rule 37(e), we will not be adopting an updated version of the rules of the Republican Party until the next convention in 2024,’ Jeff Kent delegate from Washington state said during the first day of the convention Monday morning.  

One of Trump’s unofficial 2020 slogans is, ‘Promises Made, Promises Kept,’ which will be on full display all four nights of the convention. 

‘The RNC enthusiastically supports President Trump and continues to reject the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration, as well as those espoused by the Democratic National Committee today; therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda,’ the RNC 2020 resolution reads.

The quadrennial event this year will also, in part, be put on by two producers who worked on ‘The Apprentice,’ the show where businessman Trump rose to reality television stardom.

Sadoux Kim is a longtime deputy to the show’s creator and is a lead consultant on the production of the convention. He served as a Miss Universe judge in the past when Trump owned the pageant.

Chuck LaBella, a former NBC entertainment executive, is also on the RNC payroll. He helped produce ‘The Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump.’

The convention this year will feature more logistical challenges as several speakers will join from remote locations in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic – similar to the Democratic convention last week.

The speaker line-up, which was released this weekend, is full of staunch Trump allies, both on and off Capitol Hill.

Traditionally, the party’s nominee only delivers remarks one night of the four-night nominating convention.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden did make appearances each night of his nominating events last week, but only made a keynote address on the final night on Thursday.

Initially Trump all the events were scheduled to take place in Charlotte, North Carolina. Once the state’s Governor Roy Cooper decided large gathers would not be permitted in the midst of the pandemic, Trump moved his speech – and most of the marquee events – to Jacksonville, Florida where, at the time, lockdown orders were less restrictive.

As the Sunshine State went back into lockdown after experiencing a spike over the summer, Trump was forced to rethink his plans again.

The president will make his acceptance speech from the White House on Thursday and several other events and remarks during the convention will take place in federal grounds and buildings.

The president’s top campaign aides have spent the last few weeks scrambling to come up with a platform for the next four years as the makeup of the convention changed yet again.

Senior administration officials have admitted that they are learning toward pledging Trump will continue working toward hallmarks of his first term instead of presenting entirely new ideas in order for the president to appeal to his base and respond to criticism from his own party.