UPDATE - Trump formally accepts renomination, slams Biden

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump formally accepted his party's renomination for president Thursday evening, vowing that another four years with him in office would leave the US with a "bright future."

Addressing the Republican National Convention on its final night from the White House, and in so doing again breaking with a tradition of presidents not using the people's house for overtly partisan purposes, Trump said a new term would allow him to "again build the greatest economy in history," painting Democratic nominee Joe Biden as a threat to American "greatness."

"We understand that America is not a land cloaked in darkness. America is the torch that enlightens the entire world," Trump told a crowded gathering on the White House's South Lawn, where attendees were tightly packed and not all wearing masks despite the US being in the midst of the worst coronavirus outbreak worldwide.

"And yet, despite all of our greatness as a nation, everything we have achieved is now in danger. This is the most important election in the history of our country," he said. "This election will decide whether we save the American Dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny."

Trump is facing a daunting uphill battle against Biden with just over two months to go before the US's Nov. 3 presidential election. A Hill-HarrisX poll released Wednesday had Trump trailing the former vice president by nine points, the same margin seen in an Economist/YouGov survey released the same day.

Trump continued the broadside against Biden he has long embarked on, saying the Democratic nominee is a "destroyer" of American jobs and "greatness," building on the mantra, and claiming he is a pawn of China.

“In the left’s backward view, they do not see America as the most free, just and exceptional nation on Earth. Instead, they see a wicked nation that must be punished for its sins. Our opponents say that redemption for you can only come from giving power to them. This is a tired anthem spoken by every repressive movement throughout history," he said.

“Joe Biden is not a savior of America’s soul. He is the destroyer of America’s jobs, and if given the chance, he will be the destroyer of American greatness," he added. "Joe Biden's agenda is made in China. My agenda is made in the USA."

Biden replied to the president's charges on Twitter, pointing to the historic job losses seen under Trump's watch and slamming Trump for his handling of the US's coronavirus outbreak, which has long been the worst in the world.

"Donald Trump didn't build a wall around America, the world built a wall around us," he said, referring to travel restrictions on Americans caused by the daunting outbreak.

"When President Trump took office, he inherited a growing economy from the Obama-Biden administration. And just like everything else he’s inherited in his life, he squandered it," he added.

His post was accompanied by a graph on US unemployment, which sits above a staggering 10%, largely caused by business closures and resulting layoffs caused by the virus.