Donald Trump brought out Scott Baio on Monday for Republican National Convention’s “Make America Safe Again”-branded opening night. The former Happy Days star gave a rambling four-minute speech before introducing former Texas governor and two time republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry
“I can’t tell you how much of an honor it is to stand up here and talk about a man that I trust with the lives of my family and the health of our country,” Baio said of presumptive nominee Donald Trump. “America — the greatest country God ever created.”
Baio took aim at democrat-backed entitlement programs and hinted that many “new” voters are looking for handouts. “For you first time voters, it’s important for you to know what it means to be an American,” Baio said. “It doesn’t mean getting free stuff. It means sacrificing, winning, losing, failing, succeeding, and sometimes doing the things you don’t want to do, including the hard work, in order to get where you want to be. And that’s what it means to be an American.”
He also spoke to the night’s theme, bringing up issues of law and order. “Folks, our country right now is in a very bad spot,” he said. “You can feel it and you can see it everywhere.” Stating that the country has no stability, “nothing seems right,” and that the conservative way of life is under attack, Baio assured the audience that Donald Trump would be able to turn everything back around. “We need Donald Trump to fix this,” Baio said. “Is Donald Trump a messiah? No. He’s just a man. A man who wants to give back to his country, America. The country that has given him everything. A country that has also given all of us so much. And now it’s time to give back to her.”
Baio then set his sights on Hillary Clinton, whom he accused of a favoring policies that are “wrecking” the country and “make us unsafe.” Stating that Clinton “feels that she’s somehow entitled to the presidency,” Baio claimed that Trump’s motives were exactly the opposite. “Hillary Clinton wants to be president for Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump wants to be president for all of us,” Baio said.
Baio ended his speech with a head scratcher: “So of course let’s make America great again, but let’s make America … America again.”