Politics

WATCH: Fallin Says Trump Can Restore Unity, Calm Americans' Fears During RNC Speech

KGOU | By Brian Hardzinski

Published July 22, 2016 at 8:12 AM CDT

Gov. Mary Fallin speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Thursday.

Gov. Mary Fallin says Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump can end the country’s divisions and restore a sense of optimism.

Fallin delivered a primetime address Thursday during the final evening of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. She described Trump as a bold and courageous leader who speaks truth to power.

https://youtu.be/b0bVAB_gSQA

“Our country has united time and time again on our core values of freedom, and individual liberty, and justice for all people,” Fallin said. “The principles which made our country great, and which it was founded upon. And Donald Trump unapologetically stands for those values.”

Repeating the refrain “Make America One Again,” Fallin said the U.S. needs to address the national debt, protect the borders, and promote fair trade.

She also made a push for party unity with a quote from President Ronald Reagan, saying even a person who only agrees with you 80 percent of the time is still a friend and an ally. The governor said said even though she believes many Americans are afraid and spirits are broken, it won’t become the new normal if Trump becomes the 45^th president.

Fallin opened her seven-minute speech by talking about her childhood, and described watching her neighbors overcome gender and racial discrimination in Tecumseh during the 1950s and ‘60s.

"When I look back on my childhood, my America, I don’t see a perfect place, but we were united by a simple belief that no matter who you were, or where you came from, better days were ahead for America,” Fallin said.

Fallin’s speech also touched on the economy, foreign policy, and abortion.

Her name had been floated as a possible vice presidential candidate earlier this summer before Trump ultimately decided on another Republican governor – Indiana’s Mike Pence.

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