By LIBBY CATHEY, ABC News

(WASHINGTON) — The Republican National Convention continues Wednesday under the theme “America, Land of Heroes” with Vice President Mike Pence closing out the evening from Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the site of a battle during the War of 1812 that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Though Republicans promised an optimistic convention that would be a sharp departure from the “doom and gloom” virtual gathering they said Democrats put on last week, the RNC has so far sprinkled in apocalyptic language to cast the country as a place on the brink of violence and corruption in its pitch to Americans to reelect the man currently in charge.

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9:15 p.m. Mother talks about how school choice helped her son

Tara Myers shared how school choice helped her son, Samuel, who has Down syndrome:

“Unlike the doctor who told me to end Samuel’s life before it began, President Trump did not dismiss my son,” she said.

Tara Myers shares about how school choice helped her son, Samuel, who has Down Syndrome: “Unlike the doctor who told me to end Samuel’s life before it began, President Trump did not dismiss my son … President Trump gave Samuel an equal seat at the table.” https://t.co/ZePT7JW1mc pic.twitter.com/9Qu8C34f2f

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 27, 2020

“Tonight I would like to extend my thanks to President Trump and his administration for their work toward making every student’s dream of a meaningful education a reality,” she continued. “And for fighting to ensure every child in America has an equal seat at the table of education freedom and an equal opportunity in life. Thank you.”

9:09 p.m. Retired general offers defense of Trump’s foreign policy

Ret. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg offered a defense of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy.

He said he has “witnessed every major foreign policy and national security decision” by the president and “I saw only one agenda and one guiding question when tough calls had to be made: Is this decision right for America?”

Ret. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg says he has “witnessed every major foreign policy and national security decision” by President Trump: “I saw only one agenda and one guiding question when tough calls had to be made: Is this decision right for America?” https://t.co/ZePT7JW1mc #RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/2Ay8yiV6hc

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 27, 2020

9:04 p.m. Sen. Marsha Blackburn claims ‘leftists’ want to ‘cancel’ law enforcement, armed services heroes

Sen. Marsha Blackburn claimed that “leftists” want to “cancel” the “heroes of our law enforcement and armed services.”

“I’m here to tell you these heroes can’t be cancelled,” she said Wednesday night.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn claims that “leftists” want to “cancel” the “heroes of our law enforcement and armed services.”

“I’m here to tell you these heroes can’t be cancelled.” https://t.co/ZePT7JW1mc #RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/U0TrDy0VH3

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 27, 2020

9 p.m. Rep. Dan Crenshaw on American greatness, strength and values

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, a veteran of the War in Afghanistan, opened his remarks at the RNC to describe a teammate who laid down cover fire against Taliban insurgents so that Crenshaw could walk to a medevac helicopter — blinded and bloodied — and survive. His teammate did not.

“But he didn’t. Dave Orson was killed two months later. He died a hero to this great country,” Crenshaw said. “Here’s the truth about America: we are a country of heroes. I believe that. So should you. We are a people with a common set of ideals, conceived in liberty. People that have sacrificed, time and time again, for the freedom and freedom of others — that’s something that no country ever, anywhere can claim.”

America’s heroes are not limited to the battlefield, he said.

“Every single day we see them, if you just know where to look. It’s the nurse who volunteers for back-to-back shifts caring for COVID patients because she feels that’s her duty. It’s the parent who will relearn algebra because there’s no way they are letting their kids fall behind while schools are closed. And it’s the cop that gets spit on one day and will save a child’s life the next. America is the country where the young military wife of two young children answers the unexpected knock at the door, looks the man in uniform in the eye and even as her whole world comes crashing down, she stands up straight, she holds back tears and takes care of her family because she must,” said Crenshaw.

"America's heroism isn't relegated to he battlefield," Rep. Dan Crenshaw says.

"It's the nurse who volunteers for back-to-back shifts caring for COVID patients…It's the cop that gets spit on one day and will save a child's life the next." https://t.co/ZePT7JW1mc pic.twitter.com/NEUkCNdp72

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 27, 2020

“This is what heroism looks like, it’s who we are, a nation of heroes. And we need you now more than ever,” he continued. “We need to remind ourselves what heroism really is. Heroism is self-sacrifice. It’s not moralizing and lecturing over others when they disagree. Heroism is grace, not perpetual outrage. Heroism is rebuilding our communities, not destroying them.”

8:49 p.m. South Dakota governor lauds Trump on 4 key issues

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem contrasted the president and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

“I’m here tonight because I believe America is an exceptional nation, founded on three principles: equality, freedom, and opportunity. But today, our founding principles are under attack. This year the choice for Americans is between a man who values these ideals, and all that can be built because of them, and a man who isn’t guided by these ideals and coincidentally has built nothing,” she said.
“It took 244 years to build this great nation, flaws and all. But we stand to lose it in a tiny fraction of that time, if we continue down the path taken by the Democrats and their radical supporters. From Seattle and Portland to Washington and New York, Democrat-run cities across this country are being overrun by violent mobs,” she continued. “The Republican party’s commitment to individual rights and self government is as necessary today as it was in 1860, when we won our first presidential election. Our party respects individuals based on who they are. We don’t divide people based on their belief or their roots. We don’t shun people who think for themselves. We respect everyone, equally, under the constitution, and we treat them as Martin Luther King Jr. wished, according to the content of their character, not the color of their skin.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem: “There is another American hero to be recognized and that is the common American. This is who President Trump is fighting for. He’s fighting for you.” https://t.co/ZePT7JW1mc #RNC2020 pic.twitter.com/m21pSwB4hl

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 27, 2020

She also lauded the president’s leadership on what she referred to as four key issues.

“In just four years, President Trump has lifted people of all races and backgrounds out of poverty. He shrunk government. He put money back into the pockets of hard-working, ordinary Americans. He has advanced religious liberty, he protected the second amendment. You can look back 50 years, you won’t find anyone that has surpassed President Trump’s success on these four issues alone,” she said. “History chooses its heroes for the time in which they live. At our founding, Madison was one of the chosen. When the nation’s very existence was challenged it was Lincoln’s turn. Thanks to these men, America is a land of hope. Their examples have been repeated in countless ways by simple Americans following their conscience. But there is another American hero to be recognized. “And that is the common American. This is who president Trump is fighting for. He’s fighting for you.”

7:14 p.m. Republican National Convention should be about America, not Donald Trump: GOP strategist Frank Luntz

The Republican National Convention should focus more on the story of America and less on the story of President Donald Trump, veteran GOP strategist and pollster Frank Luntz said on ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast Tuesday.

“Donald Trump’s single best line in the 2016 convention is when he said, ‘I will be your voice.’ Now, in 2020, everything is about his voice…his victimhood, his grievances, how he’s been mistreated,” Luntz told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl and Political Director Rick Klein.

Luntz said that part of the president’s success in 2016 boiled down to the fact that Americans felt they were being heard by the then-candidate.

“I believe he has lost some of that now. It’s been too much about him and not enough about them. And that’s what I’m listening for every night: Is this a speech about America, or a speech about Donald Trump? If it’s about America he once again can recapture exactly what he needs,” he said.

Click here for more from Luntz on ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast.

— ABC News’ Meg Cunningham

7:00 p.m. Those scheduled to speak on Wednesday night include:

  • Vice President Mike Pence
  • Second lady Karen Pence
  • Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn
  • Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst
  • South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem
  • Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw
  • New York Rep. Elise Stefanik
  • New York Rep. Lee Zeldin
  • Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell
  • Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway
  • National security adviser to Pence Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg
  • Madison Cawthorn, Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District
  • Clarence Henderson, civil rights activist
  • Lara Trump, Trump campaign adviser and wife of Eric Trump

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