MILWAUKEE — Republicans Tuesday night accused Democrats of being weak on crime and not backing law enforcement — while simultaneously praising their nominee, convicted criminal Donald Trump, and disparaging the prosecutors and judges holding him to account.
“We in the Republican party are the law and order team. We always have been, and we always will be, the advocates for the rule of law,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, of Louisiana.
“Donald Trump stands with the people and the police, our men and women in blue, not with the criminals and rioters,” added Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer.
And New York Rep. Elise Stefanik accused federal and state prosecutors who have brought indictments against him of doing so only to help President Joe Biden. “Corrupt Democrat prosecutors and judges wage illegal and unconstitutional lawfare against Trump,” she said.
They and other speakers during the Republican National Convention’s “Make America Safe Once Again” night were cheered on with “back the blue” chants from delegates waving placards printed with the same message.
One retired police officer finished his remarks on stage with a salute to Trump, who is now a convicted felon awaiting a possible prison sentence. Trump, sitting in his special section of the arena, stood and saluted back.
The show enraged police officers who were beaten and gassed by Trump’s followers after he incited them into attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop the certification of Biden’s election win.
“Donald Trump and his Republican Party destroyed my life and stole my livelihood,” said Michael Fanone, a former Washington, D.C., police officer who was shocked by Trump’s mob with a Taser until he suffered a heart attack. “His supporters spit in my face and threaten the lives of me and my family members. All because I was a cop doing his job on Jan. 6th and then had then balls to speak the truth about it.”
Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer who was also assaulted that day (and who, like Fanone, spoke to HuffPost by phone), pointed out that Trump continues to lie about the election that led to the riot.
“Just yesterday their nominee, after calling for unity and ‘taking down the temperature,’ referred to Jan. 6 as the Jan. 6 hoax,” Dunn said. “The first step about lowering the temperature is being honest about what got us here, and that includes being honest about Jan 6.”
The Republicans gathered to make Trump their presidential nominee for the third straight presidential election cycle did not seem bothered by any of the criminal charges against him.
“I don’t believe that they’re legit,” said Renae Wall, from Sterling, Alaska.
Nicole Palmieri, a 44-year-old family court clerk from Connecticut, said she doesn’t think voters will care about Jan. 6 or any of the criminal cases. “I really think people are sick of hearing about it,” she said.
And Ernie Wheeler, an 80-year-old retiree from Texas, questions whether police officers were actually assaulted on Jan. 6 at all. “Were there police officers beat up? Are we sure?” he said.
The revisionist history of Jan. 6 has been a key element of Trump’s campaign to regain the presidency. He now claims that neither he nor any of his followers did anything wrong that day, and now on occasion opens his rallies by standing at attention and saluting those behind bars for assaulting police officers on Jan. 6.
In reality, 140 officers were injured that day, some gravely. One died hours later. Four more took their own lives in the coming weeks and months.
Trump was indicted by federal prosecutors for his actions leading up to Jan. 6 coup attempt and by Georgia authorities for his effort to overturn his election loss in that state. A second federal indictment for his refusal to return secret documents he took with him to his South Florida country club upon leaving office was dismissed this week by the trial judge, but that ruling will soon be appealed and could be reversed.
Trump has already been convicted on 34 felony counts after a trial in New York City for falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to a porn actor in the days before the 2016 election. Sentencing in that case could take place as early as September.
At the RNC convention, though, attendees and speakers both diminished the importance of any of that.
“Donald Trump has only one conviction that matters, and that conviction is to make America great again,” said reality TV personalitySavannah Chrisley from the stage.
