Making America Safe on All Fronts

CLEVELAND — Whether someone is killed by a terrorist, a gang member who crossed the border illegally, or a run-of-the-mill U.S.-born criminal, the result is the same to his loved ones.

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Prime-time speakers on the first day of the Republican National Convention made the case that all of those things, as well as America’s policies on international relations and trade, are interconnected. Collectively, those speakers made clear that addressing them all is necessary “Make America Safe Again,” the theme of the convention’s opening day.

“The vast majority of Americans today do not feel safe. They fear for their children and they fear for themselves. They fear for our police officers, who are being targeted — with a target on their back.”

“The vast majority of Americans today do not feel safe,” former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said in a speech that often veered from the prepared text — but also drew some of the loudest ovations of the evening. “They fear for their children and they fear for themselves. They fear for our police officers, who are being targeted — with a target on their back.”

Giuliani reeled off a list of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s failures, from the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, to the nuclear deal with Iran. At one point, the assembled Republicans shouted down a heckler with chants of “USA! USA!” Without missing a beat, Giuliani said, “It means we’re getting to them. It means they’re getting to them.”

The delegates were in a frenzy by the time “America’s Mayor” finished delivering an impassioned defense of police officers.

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“When they come to save your life, they don’t ask if you’re black or white,” he said. “They just come to save you.”

David Clarke, the sheriff of Milwaukee County, reminded viewers that police, in particular, feel vulnerable in Obama’s America. He drew loud applause with his opening line. “Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make something very clear: Blue Lives Matter in America.”

Clarke, who is black, said the unease Americans feel in their communities transcends race, religion, ethnicity or gender. He pointed to a Gallup poll showing 70 percent of African-Americans worry a great deal about crime, suggesting that the greatest fear of most black people — contrary to the narrative of the Black Lives Matter movement — is not police, but crime.

Confronting that criminal threat is a matter of national urgency, he said.

“I believe that this noble mission is not just a requirement, but a prerequisite for achieving this campaign’s goal of making America great again,” he said. “We simply cannot be great if we do not feel safe in our homes, on our streets, and in our schools.”

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Sen. Jeff Sessions, who was an early backer of Trump, added another element to the safety theme of the evening — the need to provide economic safety to Americans.

“For 30 years, our good people have rightly pleaded for an end to the lawlessness, and for sound immigration policies that are fair and advance the national interest,” he said. “To this legitimate plea, our elites have responded with disdain, dismissal, and scorn.”

Sessions said middle-class incomes are $4,000 lower today than in 1999, while the smallest share of the adult population in modern times is working. He blamed those depressing statistics on trade agreements and immigration policies that admit 1.1 million permanent residents and 700,000 guest workers every year.

“These are extreme numbers,” he said. “But the only solution from Obama and Hillary Clinton is to capitulate to the lawlessness and give amnesty and citizenship to all. It will not work.”

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Sen. Tom Cotton took the lead in promoting Trump as commander-in-chief. It is a part of the job that has been sorely lacking under President Obama, Cotton said.

“We’d like a commander-in-chief who speaks of winning wars and not merely ending wars,” he said. “We’d like a commander-in-chief who calls the enemy by its name, a commander-in-chief who draws red lines cautiously, but enforces them ruthlessly,” he added. “And it would be nice to have a commander-in-chief who can be trusted to handle classified information.”

Retired Lt. Col. Micael Flynn, whom Trump considered as a possible running mate, said Obama has made America less safe by releasing terrorists held at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention center. And Clinton, Flynn said, is an “Obama clone” who cannot be trusted with the White House.

“We do not need a weak, spineless president who is more concerned about issuing apologies than in protecting Americans,” he sad. “We do not need a reckless president who believes she is above the law.”