RNC 2024 Day 2 updates: DeSantis says America doesn’t need another ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ presidency

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas defended Trump-era border policies in a speech focusing on immigration.

“Donald Trump said you can’t have a nation without borders and he defended those borders,” Cotton said.

“Joe Biden thinks borders are racist,” Cotton falsely claimed.

“Donald Trump will secure our border once again,” he continued while referring to Biden’s policies as ones of “open borders, amnesty and chaos.”

It’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in the United States.

Several Republican leaders and RNC guests have argued without any evidence that undocumented immigrants are voting in elections.

However, doing so is a federal offense that is punishable by jail time and could lead to deportation.

Although there is no comprehensive database that tracks instances of noncitizen voting on a large scale, there has never been any evidence that proves it has happened on a scale that could have swayed federal elections.

Conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation runs a database that contains a sampling of proven instances of election fraud across the United States. By ABC News’ count, out of 1,499 proven election fraud cases that they list, they document less than 100 cases of noncitizens voting.

A study by the Brennan Center for Justice that looked at 42 jurisdictions, representing 23.5 million votes, found an estimated 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting in 2016.

Florida governor and former Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis ripped into Biden’s age and questions about viability when he took the stage.

“We need a commander-in-chief who can lead 24 hours a day, seven days a week. America cannot afford four more years of a ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ presidency,” he said, referencing the 1989 comedy.

DeSantis claimed that Biden was just the “figurehead” who acts as “a tool for imposing a leftist agenda of the American people.”

During her speech, Nikki Haley made an appeal to those who don’t fully support Trump.

“My message to them is simple. You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him,” she said.

“Take it from me, I haven’t always agreed with the president. But we agree more often than we disagree. We agree on keeping America strong,” she continued.

She said a “unified Republican party is essential” for saving the country. She criticized President Joe Biden as showing “every possible sign of weakness” on foreign policy and Vice President Kamala Harris as contributing to the “border disaster.”

“We are stronger when we welcome people into our party who have different backgrounds and experiences,” she said. “Right now we need to be strong to save America. This is a defining moment, not only for our party but for our country.”