US Presidential Election 2020: Watch as Donald Trump Junior compares Joe Biden to Loch Ness Monster

Opening night of Republican convention sees stark warnings about a Biden presidency.

Donald Trump Jr likened Joe Biden to the Loch Ness Monster.

Donald Trump Junior called Joe Biden the “Loch Ness monster of the swamp” on the opening night of the Republican National Convention.

On the opening night of the four-day convention, Trump Jr, who was joined by girlfriend Kimberley Guilfoyle, made a speech warning about “Biden's radical left-wing policies”, and also referred to the Democratic candidate as “Beijing Biden”.

In the televised address, Trump Jr said: “After eight years of Obama and Biden slow growth, Trump’s policies have been like rocket fuel to the economy and especially to the middle class.

“Biden has promised to take that money back out of your pocket and keep it in the swamp.

“That makes sense though, considering Joe Biden is basically the Loch Ness Monster of the swamp.

“For the past half-century he’s been lurking around in there – he sticks his head up every now and then to run for president, then he disappears and doesn’t do much in between.

“So if you’re looking for hope, look to the man who did what the failed Obama-Biden administration never could do and built the greatest economy our country has ever seen.

“And President Trump will do it again.”

His comments meant the phrases “Loch Ness Monster” and “Nessie” were trending on Twitter.

However, Drew Hendry, SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, welcomed the comparison.

He tweeted: “As #Nessie’s MP, I would say this comparison wins it for Biden.

“He’s effectively saying it’s a choice between a globally beloved and sought-out icon – which has enhanced the reputation of its homeland and continues to enchant billions – or Donald Trump.”

Throughout the GOP's scaled-back convention, a rising generation of Republicans offered an optimistic view of President Donald Trump's leadership, but were undermined by speakers issuing dark warnings about the country's future and distorting the president's record – particularly on the Covid-19 pandemic.

As Trump faces pressure to expand his appeal beyond his loyal supporters, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate's sole Black Republican, and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, sought to cast the GOP as welcoming to Americans of colour, despite the party's overwhelmingly white leadership and voting base.

“I was a brown girl in a black and white world,” Haley said Monday night, noting that she faced discrimination but rejecting the idea that “America is a racist country”. She also gave a nod to the Black Lives Matter movement, saying “of course we know that every single Black life is valuable”.

But the prime-time convention proceedings, which featured a blend of taped and live speeches, focused largely on dire talk about Biden, Trump's Democratic challenger in the November election.

Speakers ominously warned that electing Biden would lead to violence in American cities spilling into the suburbs, a frequent Trump campaign message with racist undertones.

One speaker called Trump the “bodyguard of Western civilisation”.

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