Trump launches election showdown with Clinton

CLEVELAND, Friday

Donald Trump rallied Republicans by vowing he alone could fix a nation adrift in a dangerous world, storming into an election showdown with Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee determined to become America’s first woman president.

The billionaire and former reality TV star electrified the Republican National Convention by delivering the speech of his life, promising to restore security, clamp down on immigration and put America first.

Nationwide polls suggest the New York mogul, who has never held elected office, is almost neck and neck with Clinton, the former secretary of state mired in an email scandal yet propelled by ardent fund-raisers.

A CNN straw poll suggested that 75 per cent of respondents found Trump’s speech positive and 56 per cent were more likely to vote for him — balanced out by 42 per cent either less likely or unmoved.

But eyes will now pivot to Clinton. She is expected to unveil her pick for vice-president by Saturday, then accept the Democratic nomination at her party’s convention in Philadelphia next week.

Between chants of “U-S-A” and “Trump, Trump, Trump”, the Republican’s candidate cast himself as the “law and order candidate” who would champion “people who work hard but no longer have a voice”.

“I am your voice,” he declared pointing into the cameras, promising better times with “millions of new jobs and trillions in new wealth”.

Exploiting angst over racially tinged shootings and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Trump offered a tough-on-crime message that was reminiscent of Richard Nixon’s election-winning strategy in 1968.

Dayna Dent, 69, a retiree and alternate delegate from Washington state told AFP she was “thrilled” by the speech. “I think Donald is very real, and I like that about him,” she said.

But speaking for over an hour, he also stuck to many of the hard right themes from a bruising primary campaign, showing why he is one of the most controversial US politicians in living memory.

Foreigners from terror-linked countries would be banned, a wall built on the Mexican border and trade deals ripped up and renegotiated.

“I alone can fix it,” he claimed, not impressing Democrats.

“We are better than this,” tweeted Clinton. Her former presidential rival Bernie Sanders, who galvanised young people with his call for free college education and universal health care, also took umbrage.