Trump’s big night: Expect talk of GOP progress, Dem anarchy

With 68 days until the general election, President Trump is hoping to hit a grand slam Thursday with his high-stakes speech on the final day of the Republican National Convention -- but Hurricane Laura is threatening to throw him a curveball.

And as he prepares to deliver his second acceptance speech for the Republican nomination, the president faces a nation in crisis including a pandemic, a fragile economy, racial civil unrest, and a massive storm still devastating the Gulf Coast.

Though he will promise national greatness, there was little expectation he would deliver a message designed to unify a fractured and frustrated electorate.

But the devastating storm wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast as it blasted ashore before dawn Thursday, causing still-untold damage.

Just hours before the most important speech of Trump’s reelection fight, it was unclear whether the storm would overshadow the convention -- or even if Trump might delay the speech.

The president planned to visit the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Thursday as it leads the still-developing response to Laura.

White House advisers said putting off the speech was an option on the table, ABC News reported late Wednesday. But others insisted the speech would go ahead as planned.

Either way, Laura was an unwelcome distraction when Trump and the GOP can least afford it.

Americans were already distracted by the violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin sparked by the police killing of Jacob Blake, an unarmed black man, and the murders of two protesters there by a teenage white vigilante who was seemingly inspired by Trump’s far-right rhetoric.

Trump was trailing Democratic rival by a nearly 10% margin in polls leading up to the two parties’ conventions, a historic gap that he needs to cut into as soon as possible.

The Republicans are hoping their message of law and order amid the Kenosha protests will resonate with voters, especially in suburbs that have been leaning towards Biden.

Democrats were preparing to answer Trump’s speech even before it is scheduled to happen.

Newly minted vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris planned an afternoon speech billed as an attack on Trump’s handling of the pandemic and the sharp economic downturned that is caused.

___

(c)2020 New York Daily News

Visit New York Daily News at www.nydailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.