Biden would be nothing more than 'Trojan horse' for radical left: Pence

Seeking re-election, US Vice President Mike Pence has launched a frontal attack against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, saying he has been a "cheerleader" for communist China and would be nothing more than a "Trojan horse" for a radical left.

Pence, 61, formally accepted the Republican Party's vice-presidential nomination on the third night of the National Republican Convention on Wednesday as a crowd in Baltimore, Maryland, cheered, "Four more years." “The choice is clear to bring America all the way back, we need four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House,” Pence said in his acceptance speech.

Trump and Pence are being challenged by Biden and his running mate Indian-origin Senator Kamala Harris from the Democratic Party in the November 3 presidential election.

“Joe Biden has been a cheerleader for communist China wants to repeal all the tariffs that are levelling the playing field for American workers and actually criticised President Trump for suspending all travel from China at the outset of this pandemic,” Pence said in his address from Fort McHenry in Baltimore.

President Donald Trump along with the First Lady Melania made a surprise attendance at the event. In his address, Pence tore apart each and every policy of Biden, who has nearly five decades of public life including decades as US Senator and eight years as vice president of the United States. Pence called Biden “nothing more than a Trojan horse for a radical left.” And he said if voters want a president who “falls silent when our heritage is demeaned or insulted,” Pence said, then Trump is “not your man.”

“When you consider their agenda it’s clear: Joe Biden would be nothing more than a Trojan horse for a radical left. The choice in this election has never been clearer and the stakes have never been higher,” Pence said.

“My fellow Americans you deserve to know, Joe Biden criticised President Trump following his decision to rid the world of both of those terrorists. But it’s not surprising because history records that Joe Biden even opposed the operation that took down Osama Bin Laden,” he said.

“It's no wonder Bob Gates, secretary of defence under the Obama Biden administration said Joe Biden had been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades, So, we’ve stood up to our enemies and we’ve stood with our allies,” Pence said.

President Trump kept his word and moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of the state of Israel, setting the stage for the first Arab country to recognise Israel in 26 years, he said. Last year, American armed forces took the last inch of ISIS (the Islamic State) territory, crushed their caliphate and took down their leader without one American casualty, he added.

“Earlier this year, I was there when President Trump gave the order to take out the world’s most dangerous terrorist. Iran’s top general will never harm another American again because Qassem Soleimani is gone,” he said.

“Last week, Joe Biden said democracy is on the ballot but the truth is… our economic recovery is on the ballot, law and order is on the ballot. But so are things far more fundamental and foundational to our country. It’s not so much whether America will be more conservative or more liberal, more Republican or more Democrat,” he said.

Pence said the choice in this election is whether America remains America.

"It’s whether we will leave to our children and our grandchildren a country grounded in our highest ideals of freedom, free markets, and the unalienable right to life and liberty or whether we will leave to our children and grandchildren a country that is fundamentally transformed into something else,” Pence said.

Noting that the country as its crossroads, Pence said that while Trump set the nation on a path to freedom and opportunity from the very first day of this administration, Biden would set America on a path of socialism and decline.

“Joe Biden would double down on the very policies that are leading to unsafe streets and violence in America’s cities. The hard truth is... you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.

"Under President Trump, we will stand with those who stand on the Thin Blue Line, and we’re not going to defund the police – not now, not ever,” he said.

He said America is passing through a time of testing.

"Soon, we will come to a time for choosing. Joe Biden has referred to himself as a 'transition candidate'. But many are asking: A transition to what? Last week, Democrats didn’t talk much about their agenda, and if I were them, I wouldn’t want to either,” Pence said.

At the root of their agenda, Pence alleged, is the belief that America is driven by envy, not aspiration — that millions of Americans harbour ill-will toward their neighbours, instead of loving neighbours as themselves.

“The radical left believes the federal government must be involved in every aspect of our lives to correct those American wrongs. They believe the federal government needs to dictate how Americans live, how we should work, how we should raise our children and, in the process, deprive our people of freedom, prosperity, and security,” he said.

“Their agenda is based on government control; our agenda is based on freedom,” Pence said. “Where President Trump cut taxes Joe Biden wants to raise taxes by nearly USD4 trillion,” he added.