Here Is Donald Trump's Epic Speech at the Republican National Convention
Donald Trump's speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention - the week's grand finale - went on for more than hour, standing out as the longest convention speech since at least 1972. It was, as political commentators on many of the networks said, a speech unlike any other they've heard. Trump made sweeping promises to curb violent crime, stick up for forgotten Americans, and, of course, make America great again.
"All we need to do is start believing in ourselves and our country again. Start believing," he said. "It is time to start showing the whole world that America is back - bigger and better and stronger than ever before."
The speech bounced across a diverse range of topics, from attacks on Hillary Clinton, pledges that he's the "law and order candidate," overtures to Bernie Sanders supporters to vote for him, even a pledge to protect the LGBTQ community, to name just a few.
Despite the speech's length, the audience at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland was fired up nearly the whole time, breaking into chants like "U-S-A," "build that wall," and, near the end, "yes, you will," after Trump promised he was going to do everything he's promised.
A major focus of the speech was safety, with Trump painting a picture of a country under siege from illegal immigrants and violent crime. "When I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order to our country, believe me, believe me," he said.
He talked at length about immigration, promising to build a wall between America and Mexico and stop immigration from countries that support terrorism. "I will immediately suspend immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism until proven vetting mechanisms have been put in place," he said. "We don't want them in our country."
Another area of focus was the people Trump said America has forgotten. "I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves," he said. "No one knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it."
Bernie Sanders supporters and "millions of Democrats," he said, will join his "movement" - he continually referred to his campaign as a movement - "so that the system works fairly."
Hillary Clinton "will keep our rigged system in place," he added.
Trump also mentioned violence against the LGBTQ community. "I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens." The crowd cheered this idea, and Trump made a point of saying he was glad to hear this audience applaud such a notion.
Despite Trump's owns words about the LGBTQ community, Republicans refused to include an amendment to the official party platform that said ISIS specifically targets LGBT. In fact, the Republican Party Platform is mostly anti-LGBT, standing against gay marriage, gay parenthood, and transgender people using the bathroom of their choice.
The evening was interrupted once by a Code Pink protester. Trump paused, unfazed as a protester was led from the arena, and said, "How great is our police and how great is Cleveland." The crowd erupted in applause, as it did frequently throughout his speech.
Once the speech finally wrapped up, with Trump telling the audience "I love you," his family joined him on stage as the crowd, on its feet, cheered them on. The song "All Right Now" blasted from the speaker. And the Republican National Convention - a wild affair that included a plagiarism scandal and raucous booing of one of its speakers - finally wrapped up.
