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US President, Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination for president on Thursday, closing out the final night of the Republican National Convention on the South Lawn of the White House.

Facing a country engulfed in racial turmoil, economic collapse and a national health emergency, Trump delivered an optimistic vision of America’s future.

“This election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life, or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it,” the president said.

He blasted Joe Biden, describing him as someone who will endanger Americans’ safety.

“We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years,” Trump said.

“Joe Biden is not the saviour of America’s soul,” he said. “He is the destroyer of America’s jobs, and if given the chance, he will be the destroyer of America’s greatness.”

The president claimed that during Mr. Biden’s career in public office, the former vice president “took the donations of blue-collar workers, gave them hugs, and even kisses.”

“The cost of the Biden shutdown would be measured in increased drug overdoses, depression, alcohol addiction, suicides, heart attacks, economic devastation, job loss, into much more. Joe Biden’s plan is not a solution to the virus, but rather it is a surrender to the virus.”

When Trump finished, a massive fireworks display went off by the Washington Monument, complete with explosions that spelled out “Trump 2020.”

His acceptance speech kicked off the final stretch of the campaign.

Mr. Trump’s acceptance address came as protests continued to roil Kenosha, Wisconsin, where Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot several times in the back by a police officer and a White teenager allegedly shot two people dead at a protest days later.