Address to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

My fellow Republicans. Let's send Joe Biden back to his basement and let's send Donald Trump back to the White House.

Life was more affordable when Donald Trump was president. Our border was safer under the Trump administration, and our country was respected when Donald Trump was our commander in Chief.

Joe Biden has failed this nation. As a veteran, I was appalled when 13 of our service members were killed in Afghanistan due to Joe Biden's dereliction of duty. As a citizen, as a husband, and as a father, I am alarmed that the current president of the United States lacks the capability to discharge the duties of his office. Our enemies do not confine their designs to between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. We need a commander in chief who can lead 24 hours a day and seven days a week. America cannot afford four more years of a weekend at Bernie's presidency.

But let's be honest, let's be honest here. Biden is just a figurehead. He's a tool for imposing a leftist agenda on the American people. They support open borders, allowing millions and millions of illegal aliens to pour into our country and to burden our communities, but just don't send any to Martha's Vineyard. Then they get really upset.

They have unleashed progressive prosecutors across our nation who care more about coddling criminals than about protecting their own communities. They use the unelected bureaucracy to impose their will on us without our consent, and they weaponize political power to target their political opponents like they've done to our own nominee. They want to ban gas automobiles, eliminate second amendment rights, and impose gender ideology on everyone from our infantry men to kindergartners.

They stand for DEI, which really means division, exclusion, and indoctrination, and it is wrong. They mandated that you show proof of a COVID vaccine to go to a restaurant, but they oppose requiring proof of citizenship to cast a vote. They can't even define what a woman is.

Now, Donald Trump stands in their way and he stands up for America. Donald Trump has been demonized. He's been sued, he's been prosecuted, and he nearly lost his life. We cannot let him down and we cannot let America down.

It is the values of this Republican Party that reflect our nation's founding principles. We believe schools should educate, not indoctrinate. We stand for parents' rights including universal school choice. We support law and order not rioting and disorder. We seek a strong focused United States military, not one distracted by a social agenda. We reject entrenched political class and we demand term limits for members of Congress.

We stand for fiscal sanity, for low taxes, and for reduced debt. We seek to reclaim the constitutional government as envisioned by our founding fathers by bringing the administrative state to heal once and for all. We believe that you must be a citizen in order to vote, and that photo ID should be required before casting a ballot. We stand for strong borders and believe that our nation must have a shared civic culture. And we oppose any immigration that stands apart or in contrast to our American values.

We believe in the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence: that our rights come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of the Almighty, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, none of this is easy, but it can be done. For decades, my home state saw elections determined by razor thin margins. Today, due to bold leadership, the Democratic Party lies in ruins. The left is in retreat. Freedom reigns supreme. The woke mind virus is dead, and Florida is a solid Republican state.

Now, electing Donald Trump gives us the chance to do this all across America, and we have a responsibility to step up and make it happen. We have a responsibility to preserve what George Washington called the Sacred Fire of Liberty. This was a fire that burned in Independence Hall in 1776 when 56 men pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to establish this nation. It's a fire that burned at a cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania when our nation's first Republican president pledged this nation to a new birth of freedom. It's a fire that burned at the foot of the Berlin Wall in 1987 when our nation's 40th president stood in front of that wall and said, "Mr. Gorbachev, teared down this wall."

This is not a responsibility we should fear. It's a responsibility we should welcome. After all, if not us, who? And if not now, when? Let's make the 45th President of the United States, the 47th President of the United States. Let's elect Republicans up and down the ballot and let's heed the call of our party's nominee to fight, fight, fight for these United States.

Thank you. God bless you. Let's win in November. Thank you so much.