After an opening that set the tone for the coming months of presidential campaigning, the Republican convention moved on to set the tone for the coming four years. A long line of speakers passed before the convention delegates—and some of them frankly felt a bit like slot fillers more than inspired speakers. But among the highlights were three men who clarified the Trump vision of one of the most essential issues for America’s future: immigration.
One of those three was Vivek Ramaswamy. A tech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy has made a name for himself in the public arena. He delivered a speech that clearly electrified the convention delegates:
Donald Trump is the president who will actually unite this country. Not through empty words, but through action. Because you know what: success is unifying. Excellence is unifying. That’s who we are as Americans, that’s who we’ve always been.
Ramaswamy also spoke forcefully against illegal immigration. He promised that “we” will return illegal immigrants to the countries they came from, for the simple reason that they broke the law when entering the United States. It almost sounded like he was running for a cabinet position in a coming Trump administration.
As the son of immigrants from India, Ramaswamy punches above his grade in the public arena. He is young, not even 40 yet, and very successful. He has a positive, inspiring personality, which he worked into his speech. He talked about hope, unity, and commitment to America’s founding values.
Had it stopped there, his speech would have been soon forgotten, but Ramaswamy continued what he did so well while running for president last fall: he connected these values to substance. He explained eloquently that many Americans can look back and see in their personal finances, and their lives in general, that life was better the last time Trump was president.
Personifying successful legal immigration, Ramaswamy made a strong presence on the stage. So did Sam Brown, a captain and veteran of the U.S. Army, who is running for U.S. Senate in Nevada. His focus was a bit different, but it still circled back to national security, which most voters tie to the issue of illegal immigration. Explained Brown:
I’ll work with President Trump to cut taxes for working families and end taxes on tips for struggling Nevada service workers, because life must be affordable for millions, not just millionaires.
The last point relates to Brown’s opponent, incumbent senator Jacky Rosen, whom Brown characterized as an insider millionaire liberal.
He then shifted to a more serious note. Referring to his disfigured face, the result of bad burn wounds suffered while serving in Afghanistan, Brown urged the audience and the viewers:
Look at my face. This is the cost of war. If Joe Biden stays in office, more service members will pay this price. He has brought our nation humiliation, defeat, and to the brink of more war. I have been through the fire. President Trump has been through the fire. But hope has not been extinguished. It has been reignited!
Straddling the immigration and military veteran backgrounds, retired Navy Captain and former SEAL Hung Cao set the audience on fire. Cao, the son of Vietnamese immigrants, is running for U.S. Senate in Virginia.
He started his speech with a sobering and very compelling gesture: he banged his palm on the desk three times. That, he said, was “the last sound” his parents heard before their fathers “were taken away in the middle of the night.” The Vietnamese communists were cleansing the country of opponents and preparing for decades of oppression.
Cao was fortunate: his family narrowly escaped the claws of tyranny. This, he said, is
my family’s real life story. We escaped Vietnam just days before Saigon fell to the communists. We were given a new life in the most generous country on Earth. My name is Hung Cao, and America saved my life!
He “paid back” for what America had done for his family by serving 25 years as a U.S. Navy SEAL. But perhaps the most compelling point of his speech related to immigration:
Under Joe Biden, millions of illegal aliens flood our borders. They fly Hamas flags on our campuses and they shout ‘Death to America.’ As an immigrant to this great country, let me be very clear to everyone who comes here: don’t ask for the American dream if you are not willing to obey the American laws and to embrace the American culture!
The Republican convention continues to build ties between on the one hand the values embraced by the convention delegates and Donald Trump, and on the other hand the life in America today. By marking strongly against illegal immigration by showing the virtues of lawful immigration, the convention has now challenged the Democrats to defend their open-border flood of illegals that the Biden administration has allowed in.
Republican Convention: Immigrants Take Center Stage
U.S. entrepreneur and former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 16, 2024.
Photo: ANGELA WEISS / AFP
After an opening that set the tone for the coming months of presidential campaigning, the Republican convention moved on to set the tone for the coming four years. A long line of speakers passed before the convention delegates—and some of them frankly felt a bit like slot fillers more than inspired speakers. But among the highlights were three men who clarified the Trump vision of one of the most essential issues for America’s future: immigration.
One of those three was Vivek Ramaswamy. A tech entrepreneur and former presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy has made a name for himself in the public arena. He delivered a speech that clearly electrified the convention delegates:
Ramaswamy also spoke forcefully against illegal immigration. He promised that “we” will return illegal immigrants to the countries they came from, for the simple reason that they broke the law when entering the United States. It almost sounded like he was running for a cabinet position in a coming Trump administration.
As the son of immigrants from India, Ramaswamy punches above his grade in the public arena. He is young, not even 40 yet, and very successful. He has a positive, inspiring personality, which he worked into his speech. He talked about hope, unity, and commitment to America’s founding values.
Had it stopped there, his speech would have been soon forgotten, but Ramaswamy continued what he did so well while running for president last fall: he connected these values to substance. He explained eloquently that many Americans can look back and see in their personal finances, and their lives in general, that life was better the last time Trump was president.
Personifying successful legal immigration, Ramaswamy made a strong presence on the stage. So did Sam Brown, a captain and veteran of the U.S. Army, who is running for U.S. Senate in Nevada. His focus was a bit different, but it still circled back to national security, which most voters tie to the issue of illegal immigration. Explained Brown:
The last point relates to Brown’s opponent, incumbent senator Jacky Rosen, whom Brown characterized as an insider millionaire liberal.
He then shifted to a more serious note. Referring to his disfigured face, the result of bad burn wounds suffered while serving in Afghanistan, Brown urged the audience and the viewers:
Straddling the immigration and military veteran backgrounds, retired Navy Captain and former SEAL Hung Cao set the audience on fire. Cao, the son of Vietnamese immigrants, is running for U.S. Senate in Virginia.
He started his speech with a sobering and very compelling gesture: he banged his palm on the desk three times. That, he said, was “the last sound” his parents heard before their fathers “were taken away in the middle of the night.” The Vietnamese communists were cleansing the country of opponents and preparing for decades of oppression.
Cao was fortunate: his family narrowly escaped the claws of tyranny. This, he said, is
He “paid back” for what America had done for his family by serving 25 years as a U.S. Navy SEAL. But perhaps the most compelling point of his speech related to immigration:
The Republican convention continues to build ties between on the one hand the values embraced by the convention delegates and Donald Trump, and on the other hand the life in America today. By marking strongly against illegal immigration by showing the virtues of lawful immigration, the convention has now challenged the Democrats to defend their open-border flood of illegals that the Biden administration has allowed in.
READ NEXT
The Enterprise State
Play the Ball, not the Man: Cancel Culture’s Attempt To Capture Hungarian Academia
Starmer’s War on Farmers: a New Low for Client Politics