乌鸦传媒

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) blamed policies supported by then-senator Biden for the decline of his hometown and also talked about his mother's battle with addiction during a speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

"I grew up in Middletown, Ohio, a small town where people spoke their minds; built with their hands; and loved their God, their family, their community, and their country with their whole hearts," the newly minted Republican vice-presidential candidate said. "But it was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by America's ruling class in Washington."

Vance argued that during Biden's time in the senate he backed one poor trade deal after another, destroying middle-class manufacturing jobs in the process.

As a result of these policies, "our country was flooded with cheap Chinese goods, with cheap foreign labor, and in the decades to come, deadly Chinese fentanyl. Joe Biden screwed up, and my community paid the price," he said.

Vance's mother, a nurse, suffered from addiction issues and eventually lost her nursing license. She was sometimes "neglectful" and "abusive," according to a of his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy.

But Vance's "guardian angel," his grandmother, or "Mamaw" as he called her, kept him in line. When Mamaw found out how much time he was spending with a local kid who was known to sell drugs, she threatened to run over the boy with her car if Vance hung out with him again.

Vance credits his grandmother for his success. He enlisted in the Marines, attended Ohio State University, and later Yale Law School, where he met his wife, Usha. Together they had three children.

Vance's own mother will mark 10 years of sobriety in January, he said. "And if President Trump's okay with it, let's have the celebration in the White House."

Speakers also raised other health and social issues on Wednesday night.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) argued that "under Biden-Harris, America has fallen sicker, lonelier, and poorer. Under Trump, we prospered."

While the absence of substantive discussion about abortion was not surprising -- Trump has -- Callista Gingrich, who served as an ambassador to the Vatican under Trump, seemed to make a veiled reference to the anti-abortion agenda, noting, "During his term, President Trump defended the rights of doctors, nurses, and teachers to act in accordance with their conscience."

Separately, Thomas Homan, former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump, said the Biden-Harris administration "proposed amnesty for millions, along with free healthcare."

"And now we have ... record illegal migration, a record number of women and children being sex-trafficked, a record number of Americans dying from fentanyl, a record number of known suspected terrorists sneaking across our border," Homan said. "This isn't mismanagement. This isn't incompetence. This is by design, and it's a choice. It's national suicide."

Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) also raised questions about the border and claimed that the Biden administration's policies have left hardworking people behind. "They give benefits to illegal immigrants and for our seniors."

Finally, several speakers sought to draw comparisons between Trump's strength and resilience -- highlighting the image of the former president with his fist in the air after being shot at on Saturday -- and what they view as Biden's physical and cognitive decline.

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