Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images(CLEVELAND) — Eric Trump said that his father “shattered the expectations of every political pundit” in his rise to win the Republican nomination in a speech endorsing him for the presidency on Wednesday — and coming in the wake of a raucous address by Ted Cruz where he failed to endorse the New York billionaire.
“It’s an honor to be here for a man I love so, so, so much,” Eric Trump started in what would be an impassioned endorsement of his father.
He went on to talk about the “unwavering support” he and his siblings pledged to the Trump campaign, and portrayed his father as a businessman who is fighting with urgency to repair the American dream.
At several points during the speech, Donald Trump could be seen in the crowd, applauding his son’s words.
He talked about the “courageous decision” his father made to put aside his businesses to run for president, and said that Donald Trump was running for the people in America who were struggling, listing examples of single mothers, and men and women who were struggling to pay their rent as examples of people he wanted to help.
It’s time for a president “who understands the art of a deal, and the value of a dollar,” Eric Trump said at one point.
He spoke of his father’s ability to step in and fix “government incompetence,” and finish construction projects ahead of schedule.
“It’s what he does,” he said. “It’s who he is.”
He called his father a man “who truly loves his country, and wants his country to be great again.”
He also attacked Hillary Clinton’s perceived lack of trustworthiness among voters, saying “vote for the candidate who can’t be bought.”
Eric Trump followed in his father’s footsteps, and works in real estate as the Vice President of acquisition at Trump Organization. He also created the Eric Trump Foundation, an organization that gives money to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, something he highlighted in the speech.
Earlier Wednesday, he boasted of having employed “zero” speechwriters for his big speech.
“I think sometimes when you write from the heart, and I’ll certainly deliver it from the heart, the product will be what it will be,” Trump, 32, told Good Morning America Wednesday morning about preparing to give his own speech. “But it will be certainly sincere and full of love and full of emotion and that’s how it’s supposed to be.”
Melania Trump found herself embroiled in a plagiarism scandal earlier this week for similarities between her speech and a speech given by Michele Obama in 2008.
The incident forced her speechwriter to offer a mea culpa about the affair.
Eric Trump did not address Melania’s speech in the lead up to his own, but heaped praise onto his older brother, Donald Trump Jr., and younger sister, Tiffany Trump, who both spoke Tuesday.
“The bar is high,” Trump said, adding his brother did “an amazing job” and his sister “nailed it.”
The siblings, who also include Ivanka Trump, have been close advisers on their father’s presidential campaign. But Trump said he does not imagine the siblings’ moving to Washington, D.C., if their father wins.
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