Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The Republican National Convention wraps up tonight with an acceptance speech from the party's nominee for President Donald Trump.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The speech comes less than a week after the former president was wounded in an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania. After the attack, he said he rewrote the speech he'll deliver at the RNC. The big moment at the convention last night came when Trump's running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, addressed the delegates.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
J D VANCE: I officially accept your nomination to be vice president of the United States of America.
(CHEERING)
MARTIN: NPR national political correspondent Don Gonyea was there - stayed up late for us. Thank you for that. And he is with us now.
DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Hi there.
MARTIN: Hi. So Vance has been in the Senate for less than two years. He's 39. You know, he is the author of that bestselling memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," that was later made into a movie. It gives his perspective on his childhood in rural Ohio. But I don't know whether that means that most potential voters know who he is. So what did he talk about in the speech?
GONYEA: Well, a lot of people read the book, but that doesn't mean voters really know him. He did talk at length last night about his family's struggles, including opioid abuse and addiction and how there was so much of all of that all around him in the town. He survived it and joined the Marines and served in Iraq. And then, after that, it was off to Ohio State University on the GI Bill and then eventually on to law school. But even with his success today, he talked last night about how that life still feels present.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VANCE: Every now and then, I will get a call from a relative back home who asks, did you know so-and-so? And I'll remember a face from years ago, and then I'll hear they died of an overdose.
MARTIN: I understand his mother was in the audience.
GONYEA: Beverly Vance was there. She has dealt with drug addiction in her life. But introducing her, he said his mom is almost 10 years clean. He was not raised by her. His grandparents raised him, and he credited his grandmother last night. He was also introduced by his wife, Usha, who is an attorney. They met at Yale Law School as students. So these were all the prominent women in his life whom he really called out and spoke about in the speech.
MARTIN: So does he relate all of that family history back to the campaign?
GONYEA: He said it all shapes who he is. Expect him to hold a ton of events in working-class areas of Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - battleground states all. He mentioned them repeatedly last night. And he did this thing where he ties policy decisions over the years - ones he sees as bad decisions by politicians - to his youth. And it reminds people that he is of a new generation of leaders. Give a listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
VANCE: When I was in the fourth grade, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported NAFTA, a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to Mexico.
(BOOING)
GONYEA: You hear the booing there. That line goes on to blame Biden, who was a U.S. senator. He mentions bad trade deals with China. He mentions Biden's support for the Iraq War - that's when he was in 12th grade. So that's kind of the pitch he's giving.
MARTIN: OK. What do we expect to hear from Trump tonight?
GONYEA: We all know about Trump's speeches by now. They're in your face - you know, tons of self-promotion, attacks on political opponents. But Trump has said, since the assassination attempt just five days ago, that he's reworked the entire speech - that it'll be more introspective, more inclusive. We'll see if it actually does seem like a different kind of Trump speech.
MARTIN: That is NPR's national political correspondent, Don Gonyea. Don, thank you.
GONYEA: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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