| President Trump ended four days during which he asked Americans for four more years with boasts that he accomplished more than any previous president in a single term and would fight to make America great again despite a deadly virus and crisis that has cost one in every 10 American workers their job. As part of an extraordinary show staged on the South Lawn that had the checklist-air of a State of the Union address, Trump told a cheering, mostly mask-free audience that he delivered on his promises despite opposition from Democrats in Congress, progressive mayors and governors and communists in Beijing. As he accepted his party’s nomination during a 70-minute speech that ended with a New York tenor singing opera and a fireworks display that spelled Trump’s name above the Washington monument, the president warned voters that former Vice President Joe Biden would be “the destroyer of American greatness,” if elected. “This November, we must turn the page on this failed American class,” he said. “We’re here and they’re not,” he continued, nodding toward the Truman Balcony and the White House behind him. The Hill: Five takeaways on GOP's norm-breaking convention. Niall Stanage: The Memo: Trump reaches for optimism as weapon against Biden. Discrediting Biden as a possible successor was one of the main goals of Trump’s address. In total, Trump namechecked Biden 41 times, according to the prepared remarks, compared to the zero times Biden mentioned Trump by name a week prior. Continuing a theme set by speakers on previous nights, Trump argued that Biden is a “Trojan horse” and a puppet of the progressive left. “Biden’s record is a shameful roll call of the most catastrophic betrayals and blunders in our lifetime. He has spent his entire career on the wrong side of history,” Trump said. “How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country?” Three times, Trump invoked Biden’s 47 years in politics, particularly his work to help African Americans and blue-collar workers. Twice, Trump mocked Biden for having “empathy” for Americans — a major pillar of his campaign. Summing up his case, the president lashed the Democratic nominee using one of his favorite putdowns. “Joe Biden is weak,” Trump said. “He takes his marching orders from liberal hypocrites who drive their cities into the ground while fleeing far from the scene of the wreckage.” Dan Balz: Trump and Biden look to brutal fall campaign over pandemic, race and the economy The Hill: Trump taunts Democrats in White House speech: “We're here and they're not.” Tim Alberta: What Trump couldn’t bring himself to say: Takeaways from RNC night 4. Unlike the entire Democratic National Convention and most of this week’s GOP confab, the novel coronavirus has played an outsize role throughout the past two weeks. However, if someone hadn’t watched the previous seven days of speeches, they might forget there’s an ongoing pandemic. Almost the entire crowd on the South Lawn appeared maskless. Attendees laughed, chanted and clapped from chairs arranged just inches from one another. The Washington Post reported earlier in the evening that the overwhelming majority of those in attendance were not tested for COVID-19 prior to their entrance, with only those in close proximity to the president receiving screenings. Two attendees told the Post that there were no coronavirus protocols in place for the event. Nonetheless, Trump used his speech to defend the administration’s work to combat the virus despite the 5.8 million confirmed cases and more than 180,000 U.S. deaths since February. “We are delivering life-saving therapies, and will produce a vaccine before the end of the year, or maybe even sooner,” Trump said. “We will defeat the virus, end the pandemic, and emerge stronger than ever before.” The Associated Press: GOP convention takeaways: What virus? Fear motivates. The Hill: Ivanka Trump champions her father in fiery convention speech. The New York Times: Trump heads into general election he casts as a crusade for law and order The president also used the event as an opportunity to throw his weight behind law enforcement amid renewed social unrest in multiple major American cities following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., over the weekend. While lightly discussing peaceful protests, Trump sought to portray the Democratic Party as aiding and abetting violent protests across the country. “During their convention, Joe Biden and his supporters remained completely silent about the rioters and criminals spreading mayhem in Democrat-Run Cities,” Trump said. “If the Democrat Party wants to stand with anarchists, agitators, rioters, looters, and flag-burners, that is up to them. But I, as your president, will not be a part of it.” “We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power,” Trump added. Notably, Trump did not mention Blake or George Floyd during the address. The Hill: GOP convention speakers decry “mayhem,” slam Democrats as anti-police. Peter Baker, The New York Times: During a 40-minute telephone interview this week, Trump strained to define what would distinguish his second term in office. “But so I think, I think it would be, I think it would be very, very, I think we’d have a very, very solid, we would continue what we’re doing, we’d solidify what we’ve done and we have other things on our plate that we want to get done,” he said. “I feel good.” The Hill: Trump’s norm-busting convention used the White House inside and out as an iconic stage — a substitute for a traditional hall filled with Republican Party delegates, lawmakers and GOP donors. About 1,500 rented chairs and Trump supporters filled the South Lawn Thursday night. The former reality TV celebrity who still pores over ratings and crowd sizes, made a choice during a pandemic that his contemporary predecessors would not have envisioned. 
© Getty Images The Hill: Pardoned ex-inmate Alice Johnson praises Trump for First Step Act, urges compassion for “forgotten faces.” The Associated Press: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump attorney and adviser during the president’s impeachment and acquittal, makes no mention of Ukraine. Mark Leibovich: In Trump’s gilded beltway, Giuliani finds a potent reward: Relevance. NBC News: Twitter said on Thursday that a spam operation that pushed messages in the last month from fake accounts about Black people abandoning the Democratic Party was suspended as "specifically, artificially manipulative behavior." Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic: The Flight 93 convention. > Sports and protests: NBA players on Thursday decided to move forward with the playoffs a day after three playoff games were boycotted following the police shooting of Blake in Kenosha, Wis. In a statement, the league said it is “hopeful” to resume play today or this weekend at the very latest. The decision to resume the playoffs came during a players meeting in the Orlando bubble Thursday morning. Elsewhere, the NHL and MLB also canceled games on Thursday. The NHL postponed all three scheduled playoff games, while seven MLB games were postponed due to protests over the Blake shooting. The Hill: Trump rips NBA, calls it “political organization.” The New York Times: Black Lives Matter grows as a movement while facing new challenges. Correction: Morning Report mistakenly referred on Thursday to Jacob Blake as killed following Sunday’s police shooting. He is recovering from multiple gunshot wounds in a Wisconsin hospital. We regret the error. 
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