[WATCH] Trump Accepts GOP Nomination for President, Wraps up RNC in Cleveland

Quote of the day “I’m not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father” – Ted Cruz at a morning-after briefing explaining his refusal to endorse Trump in his convention speech on Wednesday night.

When delegates were asked on the convention floor to name something they’ve learned about Trump this week – a man who has been in the public eye for decades – there was little mention of policy.

Cruz halted his campaign two months ago, having outlasted all but Trump in a field that once numbered 17 candidates.

Republican candidates had pledged during the primary process to support the party’s eventual nominee, but, he said: “That pledge was not a blanket commitment that if you go and slander and attack Heidi that I’m going to nonetheless come like a servile puppy dog and say “thank you very much for maligning my wife”. “Nobody knows the system better than me-which is why I alone can fix it”.

In a direct appeal to Americans shaken by a summer of violence at home and around the world, Mr Trump promised that if he takes office in January, “safety will be restored”.

He said: “Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation”.

Displays of disunity surfaced even before the first gavel fell, as Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort trashed the host governor, Ohio’s John Kasich, as an “embarrassment” for refusing to back Trump or appear at the convention.

The convention has been marred by the plagiarism episode, a gaffe made worse by his campaign’s delayed response. She also compiled a list of inaccurate or misleading statements in Trump’s speech.

On Thursday, Trump looked to wash away those concerns with his signature charisma and confidence. Trump echoed his call to “build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration” and devoted a lengthy section of his speech to discussing Americans who had been killed by immigrants.

Throughout this week’s convention, pro-gay Republicans hailing Trump as the most supportive nominee in the party’s history have had their elation tempered by the stark realization that their party is still pushing a very different message. Still, the convention has repeatedly displayed the discord that plagued the GOP throughout its acrimonious nominating battle – and since. Trump said. “That is why Hillary Clinton’s message is that things will never change”.

Trump said the “legacy” of the former secretary of state is “death, destruction, terrorism and weakness”.

Trump reinforced his position from the convention stage, saying the United States has been “picking up the cost” of NATO’s defenses for too long.

Jerry Falwell Jr., the president of Liberty University, spoke early in the evening.

The theme of the night was “Make America One Again”, but Trump would have to first try to unite the divided party for a chance of winning in the coming general election.

Falwell, in a nod to the discord, warned Republicans that if they failed to vote for Trump, they were risking the future of the Supreme Court.

Those of us who love Ted Cruz and who wish to defeat Hillary Clinton have been forced to pick which is more important.

Toward the end of his remarks, Trump said Americas is “a nation of believers, dreamers, and strivers” being led by “censors, critics, and cynics”. “But fake culture wars only distract us from our economic decline”.

“I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves”, Mr Trump said. One Illinois delegate, Jim Fisher, walked out of the delegation’s meeting on Thursday after somebody said it was fun booing Cruz.

“At my father’s company, there are more female than male executives”, she said.

Trump has consistently fared poorly among women in polls.

In the 2012 election, married women preferred Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama 53% to 46%, exit polls showed.

According to a leaked draft speech transcript published by the website Politico.com, Trump seldom went off script and when he did, he often repeated what he had just said and added an exclamation point.