RNC 2020 Live: Mike Pence headlines from battlefield in Maryland, Kellyanne Conway slated to speak

Official White House Photo by Andrea HanksBy LIBBY CATHEY, ABC News

(WASHINGTON) — The Republican National Convention continues Wednesday under the theme “America, Land of Heroes” with Vice President Mike Pence closing out the evening from Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the site of a battle during the War of 1812 that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Though Republicans promised an optimistic convention that would be a sharp departure from the “doom and gloom” virtual gathering they said Democrats put on last week, the RNC has so far sprinkled in apocalyptic language to cast the country as a place on the brink of violence and corruption in its pitch to Americans to reelect the man currently in charge.

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7:14 p.m. Republican National Convention should be about America, not Donald Trump: GOP strategist Frank Luntz

The Republican National Convention should focus more on the story of America and less on the story of President Donald Trump, veteran GOP strategist and pollster Frank Luntz said on ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast Tuesday.

“Donald Trump’s single best line in the 2016 convention is when he said, ‘I will be your voice.’ Now, in 2020, everything is about his voice…his victimhood, his grievances, how he’s been mistreated,” Luntz told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl and Political Director Rick Klein.

Luntz said that part of the president’s success in 2016 boiled down to the fact that Americans felt they were being heard by the then-candidate.

“I believe he has lost some of that now. It’s been too much about him and not enough about them. And that’s what I’m listening for every night: Is this a speech about America, or a speech about Donald Trump? If it’s about America he once again can recapture exactly what he needs,” he said.

Click here for more from Luntz on ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast.

— ABC News’ Meg Cunningham

7:00 p.m. Those scheduled to speak on Wednesday night include:

  • Vice President Mike Pence
  • Second lady Karen Pence
  • Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn
  • Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst
  • South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem
  • Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw
  • New York Rep. Elise Stefanik
  • New York Rep. Lee Zeldin
  • Former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell
  • Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway
  • National security adviser to Pence Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg
  • Madison Cawthorn, Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District
  • Clarence Henderson, civil rights activist
  • Lara Trump, Trump campaign adviser and wife of Eric Trump

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