Cameron denounces ‘anarchists’ tearing up cities in speech to Republican National Convention
Attorney General Daniel Cameron spoke at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night, painting an image of violence in American cities, highlighting his beliefs as a Black conservative and denouncing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as a “backward thinker.”
“Mr. Vice President look at me, I am Black,” Cameron said. “We are not all the same sir, I am not in chains, my mind is my own and you can’t tell me how to vote because of the color of my skin.”
Cameron, who became the first Black man independently elected to statewide office in Kentucky last November, invoked the memory of former President Abraham Lincoln, saying he grew up near Lincoln’s birthplace and valued the 16th president’s values of compassion, self-reliance, freedom, equality and justice.
“Sadly, there are some who don’t believe in this wisdom or in the better angels of our shared American history,” Cameron said from Washington D.C. “As they tear down the statues of people like Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass and even Mr. Lincoln himself.”
Protesters in San Francisco tore down a statue of Grant. It is unclear where protesters tore down a statue of Lincoln, although there was an effort to tear down a statue of Lincoln in Washington D.C., which depicted a slave kneeling before the president.
Cameron’s focus on the protesters seemed telling. Seen as a rising star in the Republican Party and a potential successor to U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Cameron’s office has been tasked with investigating the Louisville police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor in March.
Taylor’s case has gained national attention, with her name and image appearing in protests throughout the country and even on the cover of magazines like Vanity Fair.
Protesters in Louisville and beyond have bristled at how long Cameron’s investigation has taken — some even showing up to perform protests at his home in Louisville — and have called for the release of some information. Cameron has maintained that his office is “committed to a complete and thorough investigation.”
In his speech Tuesday, while he focused on the more violent elements of the protests that have rocked the country, Cameron also said Republicans recognize people who work in peace for justice, mentioning the families of Breonna Taylor and David Dorn, a police officer who was shot during looting during protests in Saint Louis.
“Even as anarchists mindlessly tear up American cities while attacking police and innocent bystanders, we Republicans do work in good faith toward peace, justice, and equality,” Cameron said.
He also used his speech to criticize some of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s gaffes about race, painting those comments in opposition to his “ancestors who struggled for freedom” and decrying a brand of politics that “skin color must dictate your politics.”
“Joe Biden is a backward thinker in a world craving forward looking leadership,” Cameron said. “There’s no wisdom in his record or plan. Just a trail of discredited ideas and offensive statements.”
While he was critical of Biden, Cameron ended his speech by comparing the country to a family.
“Like any family, we care for one another,” Cameron said. “We grieve together. We share our burdens and struggles, and we celebrate our successes. And though we fuss and fight, we are not enemies. We are Americans, united by a collective faith in our Constitution and laws and the fundamental fairness they represent.”
Cameron was not the only Kentuckian who spoke at the Republican National Convention Tuesday. U.S. Senator Rand Paul, who ran for president against Trump in 2016, gave a speech saying he was proud of the job Trump has done as president.
“I don’t always agree with him,” Paul said. “But our occasional policy differences are far outweighed by our significant agreements. But more important than simple agreement is accomplishment.”
He went on to celebrate the Republican tax bill from 2017, Trump’s support for association health plans and Trump’s expressed desire to remove American troops from Afghanistan.
Viewers also heard from Nicholas Sandmann, a Covington Catholic student who rocketed to fame after a viral video of an interaction between him and his classmates — many of whom were wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats — with a group of Native American protesters.
Sandmann’s speech criticized news outlets, saying the “full war machine of the mainstream media revved up into attack mode” in an indictment of what has been called “cancel culture” where intense social media backlash sometime leads to real-life consequences.
“Canceled is what’s happening to people around this country who refuse to be silenced by the far left,” Sandmann said. “Many are being fired, humiliated or even threatened. Often, the media is a willing participant.”
He went on to say that Trump will “challenge the media to return to objective journalism.” Sandmann sued several news outlets and arrived at a settlement with CNN and the Washington Post earlier this year.
Sandmann’s father has testified in front of members of the general assembly in attempts to pass legislation that would ban “doxxing” or releasing identifying information on social media with the intent to harm. The bill did not make it into law.
Sandmann ended his speech by putting on a Make America Great Again hat.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 10:45 PM.
