Melania Trump Ends Night of Rancor With Note of Empathy on Virus

(Bloomberg) -- First lady Melania Trump capped the second night of the Republican convention by attempting to soften the image of her highly divisive husband, forgoing attacks on Democrat Joe Biden to focus on the ravaging toll of coronavirus and the nation’s tortured racial history in a way Donald Trump usually avoids.

She acknowledged the deaths of more than 178,000 Americans and called for national unity in response -- a departure from the president’s customary handling of a virus he first downplayed and now seeks to put behind him. In between, Melania Trump called on the nation to see the president as she does, as a leader devoted to the safety of the country and deserving of a second term.

“America is in his heart,” she said in an address delivered in the newly redesigned Rose Garden at the White House. “So while at times we only see the worst of people and politics on the evening news, let’s remember how we come together in the most difficult times.”

The speech was a marked shift from the incendiary partisan tone and revisionist praise of Trump’s first term served up by the almost five hours of events that came before it. Just minutes before the first lady spoke, Donald Trump’s son Eric unleashed a barrage of attacks on Democrats, saying radicals want to “erase history,” and “burn the Stars and Stripes that represent patriotism and the American dream.”

He misstated Biden’s positions, saying that the Democratic nominee “has pledged to defund the police and take away your cherished Second Amendment” -- neither of which are positions Biden holds.

Tuesday’s event also included stark appeals to key facets of the conservative base, including from a former Planned Parenthood worker who offered a graphic description of an abortion she witnessed that led her to become an anti-abortion-rights activist.

The convention’s second night was aimed less at lionizing the president’s achievements and more at making the case for his re-election by attempting to shore up weaknesses among crucial voting groups. It included lengthy testimonials that sought to cast him as a champion of legal immigrants and women, a group that is favoring Biden by double digits nationally. The campaign chose speakers from a map of states he needs to return to the White House -- a lobsterman from Maine, a dairy farmer from Wisconsin, a Minnesota mayor and Iowa’s governor, Kim Reynolds.

The unusually lengthy remarks from a first lady who often cedes the spotlight to the president also served to acknowledge another reality: He will need to at least rebuild his winning 2016 coalition, even as some voters have drifted away from Trump due to his handling of coronavirus.

The U.S. leads the world in publicly confirmed coronavirus cases, at nearly 5.8 million. Trump waffled early on about the seriousness of the virus, before ramping up daily public briefings, shutting them down and then later bringing them back. He has regularly sought to minimize the virus and explain the death toll by saying it could be much worse.

Melania Trump struck a different tone.

“I know many people are anxious and some feel helpless, I want you to know you’re not alone,” she said. “Donald will not rest until he has done all he can to take care of everyone impacted by this terrible pandemic.”

The first lady, a 50-year-old immigrant from Slovenia, acknowledged rolling protests and calls for racial justice in the U.S., while Monday’s convention included repeated warnings that “mobs” were coming to destroy the American way of life.

“Like all of you, I have reflected on the racial unrest in this country,” she said. “We must remember that today we are all one community comprised of many races, religions and ethnicities. Our diverse and storied history is what makes our country strong and yet we still have so much to learn from one another.”

Core to Trump’s re-election path is persuading voters to overlook his tweets and highly partisan attacks and still back him, a tension the first lady acknowledged.

“We all know that Donald Trump makes no secret in what he feels about things. Total honesty is what we deserve from our president,” she said. “I believe that we need my husband’s leadership now more than ever in order to bring us back once again to the greatest economy and the strongest country ever known.” An administration official said that her speech was not reviewed in advance by her husband’s aides.

Other speakers also offered an olive branch to Republicans who may be tiring of the president.

“I don’t always agree with him, but our occasional policy differences are far outweighed by our significant agreements,” said Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The second night of the convention was not without controversy. One speaker whose son was killed by a drunk driver in the country illegally was dropped at the last minute after tweeting a thread of anti-Semitic statements.

The administration has also dispensed with any notion of separating his campaign and government -- including the first lady’s speech in the Rose Garden.

On Tuesday, Trump pardoned a thrice-convicted criminal at the White House and summoned his acting Homeland Security secretary to conduct a naturalization ceremony -- each for videos that appeared during the convention later that night. And Secretary of State Michael Pompeo delivered an address during an official trip to Jerusalem, drawing criticism because the speech appeared to violate State Department guidance that prohibits political activity while on official travel. It’s also a departure from past secretaries who steered clear of political conventions.

The department said he was delivering the speech as a private citizen.

“The president has held China accountable for covering up the China virus and allowing it to spread death and economic destruction in America and around the world,” Pompeo said. “And he will not rest until justice is done.”

The speech from Melania Trump was the latest major stage handed to a Trump family member. Besides the first lady, two of the president’s sons, one daughter and his son’s girlfriend have already delivered lengthy speeches through the first half of the convention.

Larry Kudlow, the chief White House economic adviser, came the closest so far in the convention to detailing plans for a second Trump term, though it was still vague.

“More tax cuts and regulatory rollback will be in store, payroll tax cuts for higher wages, income tax cuts for the middle class, capital gains tax cuts for investment, productivity and jobs, much more regulatory relief for small businesses,” he said. “There can’t be better economic policies than we have had in recent years.”

Melania Trump’s confrontation of the pandemic was in stark contrast to Kudlow, who suggested it had passed.

“It was awful,” Kudlow said. “Health and economic impacts were tragic, hardship and heartbreak were everywhere.”

Vice President Mike Pence will headline the third night of the convention on Wednesday.

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