CLEVELAND — Declaring America in crisis, Donald Trump pledged to cheering Republicans and still-skeptical voters Thursday night that as president he will restore the safety they fear they're losing, strictly curb immigration and save the nation from a Hillary Clinton record of "death, destruction, terrorism and weakness."
Confidently addressing the finale of his party's less-than-smooth national convention, the billionaire businessman declared the nation's problems too staggering to be fixed within the confines of traditional politics.
A political novice, he completed the greatest step yet in his improbable rise, accepting the GOP nomination to face Clinton, the former first lady, senator and secretary of state.
Trump's address on the closing night of the Republican convention marked his highest-profile opportunity yet to show voters he's prepared for the presidency. He set aside much of his usual bravado.
As the crowd, fiercely opposed to Clinton, broke out in its oft-used chant of, "Lock her up," he waved them off, and instead declared, "Let's defeat her in November."
He offered himself as a powerful ally of those who feel Washington has left them behind.
"I'm with you, and I will fight for you, and I will win for you," he declared. "I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves."
He accused Clinton, his far-more-experienced Democratic rival, of utterly lacking the good judgment to serve in the White House and as the military's commander in chief.
"This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction and weakness," he said. "But Hillary Clinton's legacy does not have to be America's legacy."
In a direct appeal to Americans shaken by a summer of violence at home and around the world, Trump promised that if he takes office in January, "safety will be restored."
As Trump moved into the general election campaign, he stuck to the controversial proposals of his primary campaign, including building a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border and suspending immigration from nations "compromised by terrorism."
But in a nod to a broader swath of Americans, he vowed to protect gays and lesbians from violence and oppression, and said he would ensure that young people in predominantly black cities "have as much of a right to live out their dreams as any other child in America."
He was introduced by his daughter Ivanka who announced a childcare policy proposal that the campaign had not mentioned before.
"As president, my father will change the labor laws that were put in place at a time when women weren't a significant portion of the workplace, and he will focus on making quality childcare affordable and accessible for all," she said.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full coverage.