Patrick Lynch, who heads the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York labour union, says he is backing Donald Trump because he stands for law and order.

"Like cops across this country, we are staring down the barrel of a public safety disaster," he says.

"Democratic politicians have surrendered our streets and institutions," he continues, saying that politicians in cities have slashed police budgets and made it "impossible for us to do our jobs effectively".

The remarks come as city's across American re-examine their police budgets in the wake of incidents of police brutality and claims of institutional racism in departments.

He paints a bleak picture of a world where the 'leftists' are in power and claims that the Democratic party has abandoned the police, a constituency that has traditionally backed the party.

"The violence and chaos we’re seeing now isn’t a side effect," he continues.

"It’s actually the goal. The radical left doesn’t really want better policing.

"They don’t really care about making the justice system fairer. What they want is no policing."

Image source, Getty Images

The only senior African American in Trump's cabinet begins by mentioning the unrest that has swept Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

"Before I begin, I’d like to say that our hearts go out to the Blake family," says Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson.

"In order to succeed in change, we must first come together in love of our fellow citizens," he says.

He goes on to claim that "Trump does not dabble in identity politics".

"He wants everyone to succeed and believes in the adage, "a rising tide lifts all boats". Many on the other side love to incite division by claiming that President Trump is a racist.

"They could not be more wrong."

Carson ran against Trump for the Republican nomination in 2016, but since then he has been a loyal Trump backer after he joined his cabinet in 2017.

He had earlier found fame as a paediatric neurosurgeon in Baltimore who successfully separated a pair of twins conjoined at the head. He went on to become a best-selling author, building a devoted following among evangelical Christians inspired by his life story.

Some of his beliefs have raised eyebrows in the past and stirred controversy.

He’s previously said that that the pyramids in Egypt were built by Joseph from the Bible to store grain, and that dinosaurs went extinct because “there was no room” on Noah’s Ark.

As we get ready to hear Donald Trump's keynote speech, his Democratic rivals have been accusing him of incompetence and failure.

Presidential candidate Joe Biden accused Mr Trump of refusing to acknowledge there was a racial injustice problem in America.

His running mate, Kamala Harris, condemned the president's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, and the cuts he's made to government health programmes.

Trump has been hitting back on Twitter, saying the Democrats will "allow rampant crime" in major cities like Portland, Oregon.

Image source, Republican National Convention

Ann Dorn is giving one of the most heart-wrenching testimonies so far this evening, telling the story of her husband's murder in June in a friend's pawn shop, amid protests in Kentucky.

"It was a violent night in St Louis," she says. "As I slept, looters were ransacking the shop. They shot and killed Dave in cold blood and live-streamed the execution and his last moments on this earth."

Dorn's story is one of many framing Trump as the law and order candidate, condemning the "mayhem" of recent demonstrations across the US.

"Violence and destruction are not legitimate forms of protest. They do not safeguard black lives. They destroy them," she says. "President Trump understands this"

Her speech is timely. It comes amid ongoing tension in Wisconsin, after Sunday's police shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake.

A number of speakers this evening have sought to deliver the message that Trump has kept the promises he made in 2016 to enact policies to "make America great again". Speakers have been touting his record from trade to foreign policy.

But how many of his vows has he actually made good on in the last four years?

The BBC takes a look

Image source, Getty Images

Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell is speaking with a pre-recorded message from 'Middle America', decrying Democrats as the party that ignores much of the US as "flyover-country".

The Republican Leader of the Senate has has been in office since 1984 and was one of the main political opponents of the Obama administration that preceded Trump.

As Senate majority leader, he decides which bills are debated for possible passage and is widely despised by the liberal wing of the Democratic party.

McConnell’s eventual embrace of Trump in 2016, following a contentious primary season, was considered the moment that the Republican Party officially became the “party of Trump”.

Since then, he has been referred to by critics as Trump’s “enabler-in-chief,” responsible for helping him pass new laws deregulating environmental protections, approving conservative judges to the Supreme Court, and other signature achievements often cited by the president.

His wife is Trump's secretary of transportation, Elaine Chao.

In his speech he says: “Today’s Democratic Party does not want to improve life for middle America."

They would prefer that we “keep quiet so they can tell us how to live their lives”, he says, claiming that the opposition wants free health care for "illegal immigrants", give no protections to "the unborn" and turning the country into a "swamp" like Washington.

The only way to stop that fate, he says, is to "vote for my friend Donald Trump."

Ritu Prasad
BBC News writer, Washington DC

Trump has proclaimed himself the “most fearless pro-life president in American history”, and many of his anti-abortion supporters only backed him in 2016 because they place that issue above all else in importance.

He became the first sitting president to attend the anti-abortion March for Life rally earlier this year, but what else has he done in the last four years?

He has appointed conservative judges across US courts, including the Supreme Court, which has given some anti-abortion activists hope that federal abortion protections could one day be overturned.

He’s stopped taxpayers’ money going to clinics that provide or refer abortions and has stopped public money going to foreign organisations offering abortions.

His Christian evangelical running mate, Vice-President Mike Pence, also brings with him a strong anti-abortion record.

But to some anti-abortion supporters, he still hasn’t done enough.

Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa told the BBC: “He made a big show of speaking at the ‘March for Life’ this year, but then on Monday he released his second term agenda, which contains nearly 50 items, including a moon base, but conspicuously absent was any intention of protecting the unborn or supporting single mothers better.”

Image source, Getty Images

Stacia Brightmon, a US Marine veteran from Texas, has just been speaking. The single mother of two tells of her struggle to make ends meet. She credits an apprenticeship program for women and military veterans with moving to full-time employment.

"I felt empowered that I was learning new skills and able to support my family again," she says, offering a heartfelt endorsement from a working class American.

"I learned what President Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump were doing behind the scenes to make sure people like me had a chance to rise up and succeed."

Congressman Jeff Van Drew, who left the Democrat Party after disagreeing with their impeachment of Trump, is speaking now.

He starts by condemning the so-called Squad - a group of liberal Democratic congresswomen of colour.

"Imagine how I felt after seeing members of The Squad quickly take control of the Democrat Party just weeks after being elected," he says.

"The party had moved from liberal to radical."

"This new Democrat Party wasn't just for higher taxes. Now they were for open border, against our police and against our God-given rights," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

A former Democratic congressman who became a Republican after breaking with his party over Trump’s impeachment, has been given prime billing tonight.

New Jersey’s Jeff Van Drew pledged his “undying support” for Trump in an Oval Office photo op last year to announce his decision. "I'm a proud Republican," he told RNC audiences this evening.

In an op-ed for Fox News ahead of his speech, Van Drew called the Democrats “not the party that once allowed for and encouraged free thought and robust debate.

“Now, it is a mob that drives policy decisions with the goal of starting over with a new system of governance.”

He says the impression many Americans have of the Republican Party is false, and that Democrats and the media are to blame for making many “believe the Republican Party is the sole cause of many societal ills”.

Van Drew is currently running for a second term in his district, which includes the New Jersey shore - one of the most pro-Trump parts of the state.

However, the Cook Political Report, a political analysis site, has recently changed his district from “lean Republican” to “Republican toss-up” possibly indicating that his support his slipping.

Image source, Getty Images

Kevin McCarthy, the ranking Republican in the US House of Representatives, is up now.

He's going over a greatest-hits list of conservative accomplishments, with credit to President Trump.

He created the "greatest economy the world has ever seen", confronted China, took out the world's "top terrorist", Qasem Soleimani, defended the anti-abortion movement, McCarthy says.

He calls Covid-19 the "silent enemy" but says Trump has a plan.

"Tough times don't last. Tough Americans do," he says. "Four years ago, President Trump promised to be your voice. He kept that promise."

Evangelist Christian leader Franklin Graham has just delivered a prayer.

Graham's father, Billy Graham, was among the most influential evangelical Christian figures of the 20th century, and served as a spiritual counsellor for every US president, Democrat and Republican, from Harry Truman to Barack Obama.

However, the younger Graham is one of Trump’s key evangelical backers, and evangelical Christians overwhelmingly voted for the Republican in 2016.

Earlier this month, another top Trump evangelical supporter, Jerry Falwell Jr, was ousted from the Christian Virginia university he led over claims of a sexual affair.

Image source, Getty Images

At a virtual fundraising event tonight, Joe Biden has said he's planning to hit the non-virtual campaign trail again.

In light of America's coronavirus outbreak, so far most of his public appearances have been confirmed to his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, where he also accepted the Democratic nomination last week.

There's no word yet on what these new in-person events will look like, but the presidential hopeful said they would be “consistent with the state rules about how many people can be assembled”.

Tellingly, he's planning to travel to several swing states which will prove crucial to the election - including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

"But we’re going to do it in a way that is totally consistent with being responsible, unlike what [Donald Trump]'s doing," added Mr Biden. "He’s on the White House lawn tonight first of all violating the Hatch Act. Virtually throwing every major rule in the dustbin… he’s totally irresponsible."

Biden's physical absence has been a major attack point for the Trump campaign team. Before the DNC in Wisconsin last week, Team Trump erected billboards in the state which asked "Where's Joe?".

The final day of the Republican National Convention is now under way. It kicks off with a promotional video "celebrating America as the land of greatness" and it's straight into a prayer from Christian evangelical leader Franklin Graham. His father, Billy Graham delivered the benediction at both the Democratic and Republican conventions in 1988, but this year his church is formally endorsing the Republican in the race.

We're now 67 days away from the 3 November 2020 election.

Insight on what to expect from President Trump from political scientist Larry Sabato, speaking to BBC News a little while ago.

Jane O'Brien
BBC News, Washington DC

Loitering on the tarmac outside the front door of the West Wing is a great way to meet people.

A short while ago a group of strapping gents stopped to chat and introduced themselves as retired sports stars. They were a bit bemused I didn’t recognise them but they explained they played “hockey and stuff,” and that the perks of stardom included meeting the president in the Oval Office.

They were joining guests on the South Lawn, where the president will accept his party’s nomination. From my position I can see the scaffolding of the elaborate stage and hear the drums of protesters outside the northwest gate. They’re planning to disrupt his appearance by downing out his speech. With the cicadas doing their best to compete, it’s going to be a noisy night.

By last month, support for Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic had fallen to its lowest point among Republicans, according to data from Ipsos, a leading polling company. The last time a majority of Americans approved of his handling was back in April, the data suggests.

Read more: US Election 2020 poll tracker

Image source, BBC News

Jon Sopel
BBC North America Editor

It is going to be partisan. It is going to be raw. Donald Trump will say Joe Biden’s agenda is the most extreme set of proposals ever put forward by major party nominee. So much for the pre-briefing.

Here is what I will be looking out for: Will the president say the name Jacob Blake? So far he hasn’t. Instead the president and his deputy, Mike Pence, have focused on the lawlessness in Kenosha, rather than the spark for it. This is important. The president believes his election victory runs through largely white, suburban America. And talking about mob rule, anarchy, arson and looting – and pinning it to Democrat-run states is much more effective than talking about police brutality and racial injustice.

But here’s his exposed flank: who’s been the president while this violence has engulfed America? And who was it who said "The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon, and I mean very soon, come to an end. Beginning on January 20 of 2017, safety will be restored?" Yes, it was Donald Trump. And by my calculation he’s had 3.5 years to achieve that.

It’s reported that the president is also going to attack Biden over underestimating the coronavirus threat. But isn’t that a treacherous path, when the president’s own record is hardly beyond reproach? It will be interesting to see how he navigates Covid. One thing we know the president will say is that "At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions and two philosophies." This might be the only thing that Democrats and Republicans can come together and say "Amen".

James Robbins
Diplomatic Correspondent

If Donald Trump wins a second term, the only safe prediction is that relations with Britain will remain utterly unpredictable.

The certainties are that Joe Biden’s promise to take the US back into the Paris Climate Change accord will most definitely not be the path Donald Trump follows. So, British hopes for an ambitious outcome from next year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow - with the US on board again - will be dashed if it’s still President Trump in the White House.

More than that, a naturally divisive Donald Trump - in his second term - will surely not retreat from his open scorn for the global institutions which are the biggest single expression of what was an American-led set of shared values. The longer that remains the case, the more other democracies, including Britain, think they have to lose in competition with the rising power of autocrats and protectionists of varying degree spread around the world.

Publicly, of course, any British prime minister will commit to working very closely with the leader of the United States.

But a second-term President Trump, emboldened by a new mandate and also freed from any constraint imposed by worry over a further electoral test, is hardly likely to be any easier an adversary in the continuing tough negotiations over a new UK/US trade agreement.

Chlorinated chicken will remain firmly on the menu America would like to serve up to the UK consumer.

When Donald Trump takes the stage to accept his party's 2020 presidential nomination, he will (controversially) get as his backdrop the gleaming facade of the White House. He has gone to pay a visit to the South Lawn, to give a final check of the set up.

His previous nomination speech in 2016, at a convention centre in Cleveland before thousands of spectators, had a rather different look.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Here's what the Republican convention looked like in 2016, when it was held in Cleveland, Ohio.

Image source, Getty