In Convention Address, Kevin McCarthy Promises 'Tough Times Don't Last'

In a recorded message during the Republican National Convention on Thursday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, touted President Trump’s record and vowed that America “will defeat” COVID-19.

McCarthy, the top Californian appearing in the convention program, refrained from bashing his home state as other GOP speakers have taken to in recent days. Instead, he referenced the spread of the coronavirus, a topic that many Republicans have avoided or downplayed over the course of the convention.

“As every American knows, we face an invisible enemy that we didn’t ask for nor invite,” McCarthy said. “But we will defeat it.”

Trump supporters during this week’s convention have been wary of mentioning the virus, which has killed more than 180,000 Americans and led to record numbers of unemployment filings.

During Tuesday’s convention program, Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, spoke of the pandemic in the past tense, on a day in which more than 1,000 Americans died of the virus.

On Thursday, McCarthy didn’t remark on the virus by name, but praised Trump’s economic response to the virus as a “Marshall Plan for Main Street” — which included the signing of the Paycheck Protection Act, a program granting forgivable loans to businesses in order to prevent layoffs.

He also applauded the administration’s strategy of ramping up vaccine production while trials continue, so that if a successful candidate is identified, it can be produced and distributed more quickly.

“Tough times don’t last, tough Americans do,” McCarthy said.

In press appearances leading up the convention, McCarthy took aim at California and its Democratic leadership, and warned that Joe Biden and national Democrats were trying to imbue “San Francisco values” onto the rest of the country, as he told Fox News Radio.

That sentiment spilled over into the first night of the convention, when Kimberly Guilfoyle, adviser to the Trump campaign and former wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, referred to the state as a “land of discarded heroin needles.”

But during his video address, which included footage of his Bakersfield district, McCarthy made no mention of his home state.

His attacks took on more national themes, as he argued the Democratic ticket “will dismantle our institutions, defund our police and destroy our economy.”

House Republicans face an uphill climb to regain control of Congress in November, but McCarthy remains a powerful and loyal supporter of the president. He was an early endorser of Trump’s candidacy and is the official chair of this year’s Republican National Convention.

When Republicans controlled the House during Trump’s first two years in office, McCarthy was a key supporter of the president’s legislative agenda — including a failed repeal of the Affordable Care Act and the successful passage of tax reform legislation.

“No one has done more to protect and advance (the nation) than President Trump,” McCarthy said. “As Republicans, we are proud to stand with him and to work for you. Together, we built the greatest economy the world has ever seen and we will do it again.”

In 2018, seven California congressmembers who followed McCarthy in supporting the repeal of Obamacare lost their bids for reelection.

But McCarthy’s Bakersfield district remains reliably red. In 2016, Trump carried 58% of the vote there.