Trump Praises His Administration's COVID-19 Response in RNC Acceptance Speech

The Republican National Convention wrapped up Thursday night with President Donald Trump formally accepting the party's presidential nomination. And his speech was littered with both predictable and misleading statements.

While speaking from the South Lawn of the White House, Trump addressed everything from cancel culture to the so-called "socialist agenda" to the perceived weaknesses of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden. But make no mistake, his speech was entirely negative. He also took the time to praise his administrations' handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in more than 180,000 American deaths. The U.S. leads the world in both COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Interestingly, many people did not wear masks at the RNC event, as many online pointed out.

"America has tested more than every country in Europe put together, and more than every nation in the Western Hemisphere combined. We have conducted 40 million more tests than the next closest nation," he said. "... The United States has among the lowest case fatality rates of any major country in the world ... When I took bold action to issue a travel ban on China, Joe Biden called it hysterical and xenophobic. If we had listened to Joe, hundreds of thousands more Americans would have died."

The New York Times was among the many outlets that conducted real-time fact-checking of Trump's speech. The publication pointed out that Biden's camp has said the former vice president supports travel bans that are "based on science," and that he never used the terms "hysteria" and "xenophobia" when referring to Trump's COVID-19 travel ban. Rather, he accused the president of having a "record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering."

Trump also stressed the importance of law and order, and suggested he would continued to "defend the American way of life" from "a radical movement." He then defended the nation's law enforcement before condemning the nationwide protests against police brutality.

"We must remember that the overwhelming majority of police officers in this country are noble, courageous and honorable," he said. "We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power. They are afraid to act. They are afraid to lose their pension. They are afraid to lose their jobs, and by being afraid they are not able to do their jobs. And those who suffer most are the great people who they want so desperately to protect.

"When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will. But what we can never have in America – and must never allow – is MOB RULE. In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago, and New York."

Many viewers also noted that Trump did not specifically mention Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old Black man who was shot seven times by Wisconsin police earlier this week.

The convention eventually ended in a massive display of fireworks that at one point spelled out Trump's name.