Former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani gave a fiery speech on the first night of the Republican National Convention and highlighted the theme of the night, “Make America Safe Again.”
At times Giuliani spoke directly to police officers.
“We know the risk you’re taking and we say thank you to every police officer and law enforcement agent who’s out tonight protecting us, black, white, Latino,” Giuliani said.
“When they come to save your life, they don’t ask if you’re black or white, they just come to save you,” he said to loud applause.
The statement comes after a week of attacks on law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas, Texas, resulting in the death of eight police officers.
It also comes after Giuliani made statements last week that the Black Lives Matter movement is “inherently racist,” which he doubled down on in an interview with Jake Tapper before his convention speech.
“When you do not include that all lives matter, when you take someone like the Governor of Maryland and intimidate him after he says ‘all lives matter,’ to say ‘no, black lives matter,’ that’s dividing the country by race,” he said.
Giuliani, New York City’s Mayor during 9/11, also warned about the dangers of “Islamic Radical Terrorism” saying, “You know who you are, and we are coming to get you.”
Giuliani also noted that Trump, from his home state of New York, was supportive of the city in the face of tragedy.
“Every time New York suffered a tragedy, Donald Trump was there to help,” Giuliani said.
The message that he honed in on was a familiar one to the crowd at the RNC: a condemnation of Hillary Clinton’s trustworthiness and a wariness of her ability to protect the nation.
“Who would trust Hillary Clinton to protect them? I wouldn’t. Would you?” he said, soliciting a loud chorus of “No’s” from the audience.
“Hillary Clinton’s experience is the basis for her campaign,” Giuliani said. “Hillary Clinton’s experience is exactly the reason she should not be president of the United States.”
Clinton and Giuliani have worked in similar political circles since Clinton was elected as senator of the state in 2000, but the two never faced off against one another.
Giuliani was one of the more recognizable Republicans to speak on the first day of the convention. Other speakers included Melania Trump, Former Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas), and actors Scott Baio and Antonio Sabato Jr.
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