Rioters must not be allowed to destroy our cities. Human, sex, drug traffickers should not be allowed to cross our border.

People of faith are under attack.

Look at whats happening in Americas cities all run by Democrats . Crime, violence, mob rule. Democrats refuse to denounce the mob.

Those were all comments from speakers on Monday, the opening night of the Republican National Convention, which GOP aides had promised would be very optimistic and upbeat .

The tone was certainly not that. It seems President Donald Trump had not yet made America great, because speaker after speaker had plenty of grievances with the state of things. And all of these problems, they warned, would get exponentially worse if former Vice President Joe Biden defeats Trump in November.

President Trump is fighting against the forces of socialism, communism and totalitarianism. And he will continue to do just that, said Maximo Alvarez, a Florida businessman whose family fled Cuba. And what about his opponent and the rest of the D.C. swamp? I have no doubt they will hand the country over to those dangerous forces.

Socialism came up multiple times Monday night. Former United Nations Amb. Nikki Haley said that Biden would be taking his marching orders from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the group of progressive lawmakers known as the Squad.

Their vision for America is socialism, Haley said. And we know that socialism has failed everywhere.

The first night of the Republican National Convention underscored that the GOP is running once again on a strategy of fear rather than hope.