2026-09-11T04:44:26.624Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/11/politics/takeaways-from-night-2-of-gop-midterm-convention
当地时间周四晚间，副总统JD·万斯向共和党人展现了该党未来的可能性：他围绕中期选举主题发表演讲，向不满现状的选民示好，以个人视角提出支持家庭的主张，并对民主党发起大量直击要害的抨击。
随后总统唐纳德·特朗普登台。
他停留了超过25分钟，侃侃而谈自己最喜爱的歌剧演唱者，吐槽得克萨斯州联邦参议员共和党候选人肯·帕克斯顿“有多丑陋”，还一度敦促与会者“拼命作弊”以确保共和党掌控国会——而就在前一晚，他刚刚在一场热闹的演讲中谈及了诸多相同话题。
特朗普带领共和党代表大会群体宣誓投票并“拼命作弊”
当地时间周四晚间，唐纳德·特朗普总统在共和党中期代表大会的收尾环节，呼吁与会者投票并承诺“拼命作弊”，以帮助共和党保住国会控制权。
0:44 • 来源：CNN
特朗普带领共和党代表大会群体投票宣誓并喊出“拼命作弊”
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https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/10/politics/video/trump-leads-gop-convention-crowd-in-pledge-to-vote-and-cheat-like-hell-digvid-vrtc
这场在达拉斯举办的共和党非常规两日制中期代表大会，在距离美国选民决定共和党能否保住众议院和参议院多数席位、还是将权力交予民主党以度过特朗普任期最后两年的选举不到两个月之际，以如此一幕仓促收尾。
面对不受欢迎的总统、推高汽油价格的对伊战争以及历史遗留的不利因素，共和党正试图将中期选举的焦点对准民主党——甚至将关键选区的温和派共和党候选人也描绘成受进步派激进势力裹挟的对象。
“这关乎向民主党传递一个信息：如果你们派出疯子，我们就会把你们赶下台，”万斯在谈及11月选举的重要性时说道。
但自特朗普十年前入主政坛以来，每当他的名字未出现在选票上时，共和党在多场选举中表现不佳。因此，尽管一些竞争激烈选区的共和党候选人试图将选民注意力从总统身上转移，特朗普周四晚间仍呼吁党内忠实支持者假装今年的选票上有他的名字。
他带领群体进行了一场冗长的投票宣誓，要求他们承诺“走出家门，带上我的家人、朋友……我不管自己有没有登记投票，我要拼命作弊，就像他们（民主党）那样”。
“你们知道不投票会怎样？”特朗普说，“你们会下地狱。”
以下是共和党中期代表大会最后一晚的关键要点回顾：
正如万斯周四晚间的主旨演讲内容一样重要的是，他被安排在特朗普出场之外最重要的时段发表演讲。
2028年美国总统大选将在中期选举结束后立即启动。万斯尚未宣布是否参选，但许多共和党人将他视为特朗普的接班人。
这一点在场的观众心知肚明。万斯演讲期间，部分共和党人一度喊起了“48”的口号。接任特朗普的总统将是美国第48任总统。
“我们必须在11月完成任务。之后我们再操心接下来的事，”万斯笑着对观众说道。
从万斯在演讲中频繁提及妻子乌莎、他们的孩子以及祖父，到他讲述的笑话风格，这位副总统与特朗普之间的风格差异显而易见。
与特朗普一样，他积极投身文化战争，但与特朗普不同的是，他将演讲重点放在信仰和家庭价值观上——详细阐述了他想为刚出生的儿子打造的国家。
“我想给我家人的东西，我也想给你们的家人，”万斯说道。
万斯演讲中最引发观众热烈反响的时刻之一是一个即兴片段。一名抗议者打断了副总统的演讲，万斯向现场观众指出，抗议者手持墨西哥国旗。
“如果你那么爱墨西哥，滚回那里去。我给你买机票，”万斯说道，全场随即响起“美国”的口号声。
在为期两天的代表大会上，大多数共和党演讲者都回避了特朗普政府最具争议的举措，包括对伊战争、未能平抑高物价、关税政策以及大规模驱逐行动——许多选民认为这些政策已经走得太远。
相反，他们着重强调极左翼进步派和民主社会主义者的崛起，并将他们的部分立场——包括涉及跨性别群体的政策、“ defund the police”（解散警察部门）的呼吁以及废除美国移民与海关执法局的努力——归咎于整个民主党。
“不要因为碰巧在某一项政策上与我们存在分歧，就将国家交给一群疯子，”这位副总统呼吁听众，“我不是要求你们完全认同本届政府的每一项政策；我只是要求你们认清与激进分子的区别，认可过去18个月的成就。”
总统的长子小唐纳德·特朗普重点提及了民主社会主义者的崛起：他们在若干众议院选区初选中获胜，且大多是深蓝选区，还拿下了佛罗里达州的民主党参议院提名。
“我们应该直言不讳：这就是共产主义，”小特朗普说道。
卫生与公众服务部长小罗伯特·肯尼迪援引家族背景，辩称民主党已经背弃了他的叔叔——总统约翰·F·肯尼迪——以及他父亲罗伯特·肯尼迪的价值观。
“我深感遗憾的是，我的父亲和叔叔都不会认出如今的民主党，”他说道。
阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德和哈森·皮克尔成9/11周年纪念日前焦点人物
周四晚间被共和党提及次数最多的民主党人是密歇根州联邦参议员候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德。
这并不令人意外：民主党想要拿下4个席位以掌控参议院，部分取决于埃尔赛义德能否保住即将退休的民主党参议员加里·彼得斯的席位。而当共和党试图将民主党描绘得过于极端时，他们将这位激进的进步派人士、以色列政策的尖锐批评者作为典型攻击对象。
共和党人多次将埃尔赛义德与极左翼Twitch主播哈森·皮克尔联系起来。皮克尔曾与埃尔赛义德一同竞选，包括在密歇根州民主党初选的前一天与他共同亮相。
皮克尔是亲巴勒斯坦活动人士，也是哈马斯2023年10月7日袭击事件后对以色列政府轰炸加沙地带抨击最激烈的人士之一。他曾发表过美国“活该遭受9/11袭击”的言论——之后他承认这些言论“不当”，并表示当时试图表达关于美国外交政策的更复杂观点。随着大选竞选活动展开，埃尔赛义德已经与这位主播划清界限。
在2001年9月11日恐怖袭击25周年纪念日的前一天，共和党演讲者多次提及皮克尔的这些言论，并将埃尔赛义德与他联系起来。
“我从未想过在9/11事件25年后，我会与一个和哈森·皮克尔一起竞选的人对决，而皮克尔认为美国活该遭受袭击，”埃尔赛义德的对手、共和党前众议员迈克·罗杰斯说道。
“埃尔赛义德最大的支持者，一个名叫哈森·皮克尔的人，他说过，我引述：‘美国活该遭受9/11袭击’。女士们，先生们，我妈妈有句老话：‘近朱者赤，近墨者黑’，让我告诉你们，哈森·皮克尔就是阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德的同类人，”密歇根州众议员丽莎·麦克莱恩说道。
万斯也在演讲中用了数分钟时间谈及他与埃尔赛义德的争执。
上月，万斯在一场演讲中曾调侃，他很难向已故祖父——他称之为“帕波”——解释如今的民主党。万斯在此次演讲中还虚假指控身为执业穆斯林的埃尔赛义德想要推行伊斯兰教法。
埃尔赛义德随后在X平台上回应了这场演讲，写道：“我们是不是认为万斯会带着乌莎回到过去见帕波？”此处的乌莎指万斯的妻子，她是印度裔美国人，在印度教家庭中长大。
万斯周四晚间详细说明了双方的争执，并表示“这就是他对我祖父的看法”。
“阿卜杜勒看着他，看到他的肤色、他的背景，就认定他永远不可能爱我的妻子，”万斯说道，“阿卜杜勒自己是由白人继祖父母抚养长大的。他完全清楚这种纽带以及家庭中的模样，但他还是选择声称像我祖父这样的人，不可能从心底里爱上一个外貌像乌莎的人。”
埃尔赛义德此前在接受CNN记者凯特兰·柯林斯采访时，回应了万斯的反驳。
“我相信这样的美国：我们任何人——我、他的妻子，任何肤色不同、信仰不同的人——都可以像JD和他的帕波一样，完完全全是美国人，”埃尔赛义德说道，“但他并不是在表达这个观点。他喜欢用这些暗示性的狗哨言论，但当你真正指出这点时，他又装作自己从未将这类事情引入政治对话，尽管他和他的老板每天都在这么做。”
特朗普周四晚间再次提及他在周三晚间演讲中提出的、令大会新闻报道占据头条的意外承诺：如果共和党在11月保住参众两院多数席位，将向每位美国成年人发放5000美元。
更值得注意的是，他的副手万斯从未提及过这一想法。
整个大会第二晚的其他共和党演讲者也都没有提及——他们中的大多数人很可能在特朗普的提案震惊其政府内众多官员之前，就已经准备好了讲稿。
特朗普的这项提案引发诸多争议：民主党谴责这是赤裸裸的买票行为。经济学家警告此举将加剧通货膨胀。特朗普周四在采访中摇摆不定，未明确说明支票是否需要国会批准。也无人知晓特朗普将如何为该提案买单。他表示资金将来自关税收入，但相关收入远不足以覆盖这类支票所需的1万亿美元支出。
“我们可以做到，因为我们的国家从未如此繁荣。我们的国库涌入数万亿美元，”特朗普周四晚间说道，这番话大幅夸大了关税收入。
为期两天的共和党代表大会大部分内容都直击要害：抨击民主党，宣扬特朗普标志性的政绩，旨在激发党内基础选民的热情，全力冲刺11月的选举。
图集：首届共和党中期代表大会
当地时间9月10日周四，唐纳德·特朗普总统抵达达拉斯美国航空中心，为共和党中期代表大会收尾。特朗普在大会收尾环节，反复恳请与会者投票，并要求支持者将11月的选举视为自己也在参选的选举。
但纽约州众议员迈克·劳勒——三位代表了前副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯2024年胜选选区的共和党众议员之一——将目标瞄准了截然不同的群体：无党派人士和温和派民主党人。
或者用劳勒的话来说，是“深切担忧左翼社会主义和极端主义抬头，但又并未完全认同共和党”的选民。
他利用自己与特朗普公开和私下的分歧来阐述观点。他承认特朗普曾称他是“眼中钉”，还惟妙惟肖地模仿特朗普嘲讽他的样子。
劳勒主张取消联邦所得税申报中州和地方税抵扣额度的上限——这一问题对纽约等高收入州至关重要。他威胁称，如果该条款未被纳入法案，他将反对特朗普的“One Big Beautiful Bill Act”（统一宏伟法案）。
“事实是，总统和我并非总能达成一致，这没关系。毕竟我们都是纽约人。我们会争论，会坦诚交流各自的想法，”劳勒说道，“甚至还会说些脏话。”
“我在私下里了解到，只要你愿意阐述自己的观点、为信仰而战，特朗普总统愿意倾听，”他说道。
这场演讲显得尤为罕见：在整个代表大会上，这是极少数共和党候选人承认自己与特朗普存在分歧的例子。在大多数情况下，演讲者要么对总统大加赞赏，要么干脆不提他，转而攻击各自的民主党对手。
周四是枪支枪手在犹他州大学校园的“转向点美国”活动中枪杀保守派活动家查理·柯克一周年纪念日。
特朗普周三晚间向柯克的遗孀埃丽卡·柯克致以敬意。周四，多位演讲者也缅怀了柯克。
“历史将记载，你的父亲是一位伟大的人物，”万斯在向柯克的子女致辞时说道。他称柯克是朋友，并回忆起2024年接受副总统提名后，他上次在共和党代表大会上演讲时，柯克曾为他加油助威。
小特朗普表示柯克是一位好朋友，称他“已经激励了数十万年轻人投身自由事业并为之奋斗”。
包括肯尼迪和前白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·利夫特在内的其他演讲者也缅怀了柯克。
他共同创立的组织的领导人誓言将继续推进他的使命。
“一年后的今天，他的声音并未减弱——反而愈发响亮，这本身就充满了反抗精神，”“转向点美国”副主席卢卡斯·迈尔斯在代表大会上说道。
Trump steps on Vance’s primetime moment and other takeaways from RNC convention’s second night
2026-09-11T04:44:26.624Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/11/politics/takeaways-from-night-2-of-gop-midterm-convention
Vice President JD Vance offered Republicans a glimpse of what could be the party’s future on Thursday night, as he hammered home a midterm message with overtures to disaffected voters, a pro-family pitch in personal terms, and plenty of red-meat attacks on Democrats.
Then President Donald Trump stepped on stage.
And he stayed there, for more than 25 minutes, riffing about his favorite opera singers, how ugly he thinks Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton is and urging attendees at one point to “cheat like hell” to keep Republicans in control of Congress – all a night after he covered many of the same topics in a rollicking speech of his own.
Trump leads GOP convention crowd in pledge to vote and ‘cheat like hell’
President Donald Trump closed out the GOP’s midterm convention Thursday night by calling on its attendees to vote and pledge to “cheat like hell” to help Republicans keep control of Congress.
0:44 • Source: CNN
Trump leads GOP convention crowd in …
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https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/10/politics/video/trump-leads-gop-convention-crowd-in-pledge-to-vote-and-cheat-like-hell-digvid-vrtc
It was a jarring end to the GOP’s unusual two-day midterm convention in Dallas, which came less than two months before Americans will decide whether the party will retain its House and Senate majorities or hand Democrats power for the last two years of Trump’s term.
Faced with an unpopular president, a war with Iran that has sent gas prices rising and historical headwinds, Republicans are seeking to make the midterm elections about the Democrats — casting even the party’s more moderate nominees in key races as beholden to its progressive insurgency.
“It’s about sending a message to the Democratic Party that if you send your crazies, we’re going to send you packing,” Vance said of the stakes of November’s elections.
But since Trump’s ascension a decade ago, Republicans have performed poorly in many elections when his name hasn’t been on the ballot. So even as some GOP candidates in competitive races seek to shift voters’ focus away from the president, Trump urged the party faithful on Thursday night to pretend he is on the ballot this year.
He led the crowd in an extended pledge to vote, asking them to promise to “go out with my family, my friends … I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try and cheat like hell, like they (Democrats) do.”
“You know what happens if you don’t vote?” Trump said. “You go to hell.”
Here are key takeaways from the final night of the GOP’s midterm convention:
Just as important as what Vance said in his keynote speech closing Thursday night is that he was chosen to fill the most important slot on the schedule aside from Trump’s appearances.
The 2028 presidential race will kick into gear immediately after the midterms. Vance hasn’t yet said whether he will run, but he is viewed by many Republicans as Trump’s heir apparent.
It was on the crowd’s mind. At one point during his speech, some Republicans broke into a “48” chant. The president who succeeds Trump will be the nation’s 48th.
“We’ve got to take care of business this November. Then we’ll worry about what comes next,” a laughing Vance told them.
From the personal references Vance peppered about his wife, Usha, their children, and his grandfather, to the kinds of jokes he delivered, the stylistic differences between the vice president and Trump were obvious.
Like Trump, he waded eagerly into culture wars. But unlike Trump, he focused his message on faith and family values — detailing at length the nation he wants for his newborn son.
“What I want for my family, I want for your family, too,” Vance said.
One of the strongest crowd reactions to Vance came in an unscripted moment. A protester interrupted the vice president’s speech, and Vance told viewers at home that the protester was holding a Mexican flag.
“If you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there. I’ll buy you a plane ticket,” Vance said, as the crowd erupted in a “USA” chant.
Throughout the two-day convention, most Republican speakers skirted by the Trump administration’s most controversial moves, including the war with Iran, a failure to roll back high prices, and tariffs and mass deportation efforts that many voters say have gone too far.
Instead, they highlighted the ascendance of far-left progressives and democratic socialists, and ascribed some of their positions — including policies involving transgender people, calls to defund the police and efforts to disband US Immigration and Customs Enforcement — to the entire Democratic Party.
“Don’t give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there,” the vice president pleaded with those listening to his remarks. “I’m not asking anybody to agree on every single policy of the administration; what I am asking you to do is to recognize the contrast with the radicals and recognize the achievements of the last 18 months.”
The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., highlighted the rise of democratic socialists who have won a handful of House primaries, mostly in deep-blue districts, as well as the Democratic Senate nomination in Florida.
“We should call it what it is: communism,” Trump Jr. said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drew on his family lineage as he argued Democrats have abandoned the values of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and his father, Robert Kennedy.
“I mourn the fact that neither my father nor my uncle would recognize the Democratic Party of today,” he said.
Abdul El-Sayed and Hasan Piker focal points ahead of 9/11 anniversary
The most mentioned Democrat of the night Thursday was Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Senate nominee.
His prominence is no surprise: Democrats’ hopes of netting the four seats they need to take control of the Senate depend in part on El-Sayed retaining the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. And as Republicans look to cast Democrats as too extreme, they’ve zeroed in on the progressive firebrand and strident Israel critic as their favorite example.
Repeatedly, Republicans linked El-Sayed to far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has campaigned with El-Sayed, including appearing with him the day before Michigan’s Democratic primary.
Piker is a pro-Palestinian activist and one of the loudest critics of the Israeli government’s bombardment in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks. He once said the United States “deserved 9/11” – comments he later acknowledged as “inappropriate,” and said he was trying to make a more nuanced point about US foreign policy. El-Sayed has distanced himself from the streamer as his general election campaign has gotten underway.
The day before the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, GOP speakers repeatedly invoked those remarks and linked El-Sayed to Piker.
“I never imagined that 25 years after 9/11, I would be running against somebody that campaigns with Hasan Piker, who thinks America deserved it,” said El-Sayed’s opponent, Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers.
“El-Sayed’s biggest booster, a man named Hasan Piker, he said, and I quote: ‘America deserved 9/11.’ Well, ladies and gentlemen, my mom has a saying: ‘You are who you hang with,’ and let me tell you, Hasan Piker is who Abdul El-Sayed hangs with,” said Michigan Rep. Lisa McClain.
Vance also dedicated several minutes of his remarks to an ongoing feud with El-Sayed.
The vice president had mused in a speech last month that he’d have difficulty going back in time and explaining the current Democratic Party to his late grandfather, who he called “Papaw.” Vance in the speech also falsely accused El-Sayed, a practicing Muslim, of wanting to impose Sharia law.
El-Sayed later responded to the speech on X, writing: “So do we think JD is taking Usha with him back in time to meet Papaw, or no?” in reference to Vance’s wife, who is Indian American and was raised in a Hindu household.
Vance on Thursday night detailed the back-and-forth and said that “that is what he thinks of my grandfather.”
“Abdul looks at him, sees the color of his skin, sees his background, and decides that he could never have loved my wife,” Vance said. “Abdul himself was raised by his own white step-grandparents. He knows exactly that kind of bond and what it looks like in a family, and he chose anyway to say that a man like my grandfather couldn’t have loved from the bottom of his heart someone who looks like Usha.”
El-Sayed previously addressed Vance’s response to his critique in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“I believe in an America where any of us — me, his wife, any of us with different-colored skin or who pray different ways — can be just as American as JD and his papaw,” El-Sayed said. “But he’s not making that argument. He likes to dog-whistle about these things, but when you actually call him out on it, he acts like he would never bring anything like that into our political conversation, despite he and his boss doing that every single day.”
Trump on Thursday night re-upped the surprise pitch he included in Wednesday night’s speech — one that dominated news coverage of the convention: $5,000 for every American adult if Republicans retain their House and Senate majorities in November.
Perhaps more notable is that his vice president didn’t once mention the idea.
Nor did other Republican speakers throughout the convention’s second night — most of whom had likely prepared their remarks before Trump blindsided many of his administration’s own officials with his proposal.
Trump’s proposal ignited controversy for a number of reasons: Democrats decried it as a blatant attempt to buy votes. Economists warned it would cause inflation. Trump vacillated in interviews Thursday about whether or not the checks would need the approval of Congress. And no one knew how Trump would pay for the proposal. He said it would come from tariff revenue, but those revenues don’t come close to covering the $1 trillion bill for such checks.
“We can do that because our country has never done better. We are taking in trillions of dollars,” Trump said Thursday night, dramatically inflating tariff revenues.
Most of the two-day GOP convention was red meat — attacks on Democrats and pitches for Trump’s signature achievements, aimed at ginning up the party’s base for the sprint to November.
In pictures: The first-ever Republican midterm convention
President Donald Trump arrives to close out the GOP midterm convention at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Thursday, September 10. Trump closed out the GOP midterm convention by repeatedly pleading with attendees to vote and asked supporters to treat November’s elections as if he were on the ballot.
But New York Rep. Mike Lawler, one of three GOP House members who represents a district former Vice President Kamala Harris won in the 2024 election, had a much different target in mind: Independents and moderate Democrats.
Or, as Lawler put it, voters “who are deeply concerned about the rise of socialism and extremism on the left, but they aren’t exactly sold on Republicans either.”
He used his own public and private disagreements with Trump to make his case. He acknowledged that Trump had called him a “pain in the ass” and even did a convincing impersonation of Trump mocking him.
Lawler advocated for lifting the cap on the amount of state and local taxes residents could deduct on their federal income tax returns — an issue that matters to high-income states like New York. He threatened to oppose Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act if the measure was not included.
“The truth is that the president and I don’t always agree, and that’s OK. After all, we’re both New Yorkers. We argue. We tell each other what we think,” Lawler said. “There’s even some profanity.”
“What I learned about President Trump behind closed doors is that if you’re willing to make your case and fight for what you believe in, he’s willing to listen,” he said.
The speech stood out as a rare example of a Republican candidate even acknowledging any daylight between themselves and Trump at the convention. For the most part, speakers either lavished praise on the president or avoided mentioning him and attacked their own Democratic opponents in this year’s elections.
Thursday marked one year since a gunman shot and killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk during a Turning Point USA event on a college campus in Utah.
Trump paid tribute to Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, on Wednesday night. And several speakers acknowledged Kirk on Thursday.
“History will record that your father was a great man,” Vance said in a message aimed at Kirk’s children. He called Kirk a friend, and recalled him cheering Vance on when he last spoke at a Republican convention, after accepting the vice presidential nomination in 2024.
Trump Jr. said Kirk was a good friend, and said he “had already inspired hundreds of thousands of young people to take up the cause of liberty and to fight for it.”
Other speakers, including Kennedy and former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, also remembered Kirk.
Leaders of the organization he co-founded vowed to continue with his mission.
“One year later there is something wonderfully defiant about the fact that his voice has not grown quieter — it has multiplied,” Lucas Miles, the vice president of Turning Point USA, said at the convention.