Night 3 of the RNC: Mike Pence Accepts Vice Presidential Nomination and a Celebration of America’s Everyday Heroes

The third night of the Republican National Convention followed a theme of celebrating America’s “everyday heroes” in the police, military, healthcare, business, and in the home. There was  a special emphasis placed on the female heroes of our nation, from the women’s suffrage movement to single moms trying to raise a family. The speakers emphasized the Trump Administration’s role in supporting all of them. Kellyanne Conway, Lara Trump and Mike Pence were main speakers on this night, but there were a host of others along the way.

Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota led off a long list of Wednesday evening speakers by talking about America as a land of hope.

Kayleigh McEnany, the White House Press Secretary, spoke from the heart of her own experience of going through a preventive mastectomy in 2018 in response to a diagnosis that she was suffering from a genetic disorder that gave her an 84% chance of breast cancer. While recovering from surgery, she was surprised to receive phone calls from Ivanka Trump and President Trump, whom she had only met a few times. She argued that Trump stands with those, like her, who have pre-existing medical conditions.

Karen Pence also echoed the theme of the right to vote, including the fight for women’s suffrage. She said that military spouses are hometown heroes. “Thank You,” she told them.  She  celebrated several small businesses created by such spouses, and art therapy for military veterans suffering from stress. “So many examples of everyday Americans reaching out to those in need,” she said.

Kellyanne Conway, the White House Counselor to the president, likewise emphasized the evening’s themes of women’s suffrage, their accomplishments, and her own in particular. She said that women play a major role in the businesses that Trump created, as well as in his administration. “We are on an equal footing with men,” she said. She reminded everyone that she was the first woman to successfully lead a presidential campaign.

“I was raised in an all-woman household,” she said. It wasn’t easy, she reminded viewers, but, “We had an abundance of what we needed most: family, faith and freedom … I learned in America that limited means does not mean limited dreams.”  Conway, who recently announced her resignation from her position at the White House in order to spend more time with her family, highlighted the efforts of nurses, female business owners, and single moms, who Conway called “everyday heroes.”

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Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, and also a senior campaign adviser, took her turn at the podium. She said the Trump family was warm and inviting to her, reminding her of her own family. She pointed out many of the female appointments President Trump has made and emphasized the favorable employment numbers women have experienced during his administration. “I know the promise of America, because I’ve lived it,” she said.

Clarence Henderson, a 1960s Greensboro, North Carolina lunch counter sit-in participant in the fight against segregation, is an African American, a civil rights activist and a Republican. He adamantly defended the racial policies of the Republican Party and Donald Trump. “If that surprises you,” he said, “then you don’t know history.”

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Vice President Mike Pence took center stage for the evening’s keynote address from Baltimore’s Fort McHenry, the scene of the battle in 1814 that inspired the words of our national anthem. “The heroes who held this fort took their stand for life, liberty, freedom and the American flag,” he said.

He then turned to one of the primary purposes for his appearance.

“So with gratitude for the confidence that President Donald Trump has placed in me, the support of our Republican Party, and the grace of God, I humbly accept your nomination to run and serve as Vice President of the United States,” he said. He introduced his family, including his mother, Nancy, age 87.

Pence gave accolades to the President.

“Americans see President Trump in lots of different ways. But there’s no doubt how President Trump sees America. He sees America for what it is: A nation that has done more good in this world than any other, a nation that deserves far more gratitude than grievance; and if you want a president who falls silent when our heritage is demeaned or insulted, he’s not your man.”

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Pence meticulously laid out the Administration’s accomplishments, including efforts to combat the novel coronavirus. “Our hearts are with the families who have lost loved ones,” he said. He described the efforts of Americans who have fought the pandemic as “heroic.” “You have earned the admiration of the American people,” he said.

He addressed the rioting and looting in the nation’s cities. “They will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he promised. His law and order message drew a standing ovation from the assembled guests.

“We are not going to defund the police; not now, not ever,” Pence said, to another ovation.

“Let’s fix our eyes on this land of heroes and let their courage inspire. And let’s fix our eyes on the Author and Perfecter of our faith and our freedom. And never forget, that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. That means freedom always wins,” he concluded.

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