Republicans paint dark picture of future if Trump loses

WASHINGTON — Republicans offered dark warnings about America’s future if President Donald Trump fails to win a second term, opening their scaled-down national convention Monday night by casting the GOP as a protector of religious freedom, the nation’s workers and much more.

A school teacher warned that conservative Christian values were under attack from labor unions. A small business owner charged that businesses across America were facing unwarranted pandemic shutdowns and riotous mobs. And Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida likened the prospect of Democrat Joe Biden’s election to a horror movie.

“They’ll disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home, and invite MS-13 to live next door,” Gaetz declared.

Trump, who was not scheduled to deliver his keynote convention address until later in the week, made multiple public appearances throughout the first day of the four-day convention. And while the evening programming was carefully scripted, Trump was not.

“The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” Trump told hundreds of Republican delegates gathered in North Carolina, raising anew his unsupported concerns about Americans’ expected reliance on mail voting during the pandemic.

Experts say mail voting has proven remarkably secure.

The GOP convention marks a crucial moment for Trump, a first-term Republican president tasked with reshaping a campaign he is losing by all accounts, at least for now.

A deep sense of pessimism has settled over the electorate 10 weeks before Election Day.

Just 23% of Americans think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.