Local President Trump delegate and Madison County Board member Tom McRae called last week’s Republican National Convention an “overwhelming success.”
Elected in the March Republican primary to serve as a Trump delegate from the 12th congressional district, McRae said the four-day convention highlighted many of the Trump administration's policy wins and offered a promise of an economic boom during the next four years.
McRae said he had planned for months to attend the national convention originally scheduled for Charlotte, N.C., which later changed to the alternate city of Jacksonville, Fla.
Eventually, delegates such as McRae cast their votes to nominate Trump virtually to due to COVID-19 concerns.
“Although I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to cast my vote in person for President Trump at the national convention, I was thrilled to be able to vote for him by proxy,” McRae said. “I’ve taken many difficult votes during my tenure as a Wood River Township Trustee and now a County Board member. Voting for Donald Trump as a delegate was perhaps the easiest vote I’ve ever taken”.
McRae noted that the week began with a lineup of speakers that included former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Republican South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.
He said Senator Scott spoke powerfully of his journey growing up as an African American in the racially divided south, quoting Scott: “Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime.”
Later in the week speakers included Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who spoke from Jerusalem the capital city of Israel, presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway, Vice President Mike Pence, football legends Herschel Walker and Lou Holtz. Melania Trump spoke of her dream of coming to America from Slovenia and her 10-year journey toward legal citizenship.
Trump was introduced on Thursday night by his daughter Ivanka Trump, who spoke about the personal side of her father and how he had a deep love for his children and grandchildren and for all Americans.
McRae noted that the crowd on the South Lawn erupted when Ivanka said, “Washington didn’t change Donald Trump. Donald Trump changed Washington”.
He said that Trump described the “super charged economy” that his administration had built that included a pre COVID-19 unemployment rate that was the lowest in 50 years. Other accomplishments Trump spoke about were the rebuilding of the U.S. military, the destruction of ISIS and putting America first in getting tough on China in trade negotiations.
“The Republican National Convention, which centered on opportunity, American exceptionalism and law and order was a stark contrast to the doom and gloom we saw the previous week in the Democrat National Convention” McRae said. “At the DNC they talked of raising taxes, catering to illegal immigrants and the disastrous Green New Deal. Unlike the RNC where President Trump was seemingly ever present, Joe Biden was barely mentioned and largely hidden at the DNC”.
McRae also noted the convention’s close with a memorable performance by opera singer Christopher Macchio and a “magnificent” fireworks display over the Washington Monument that twice spelled out “Trump 2020” in the nighttime sky.