Hollywood actor Robert Davi has played his share of bad guys, including a Bond villain, but he is keen to stress that, hour for hour over his long career, he has played more "good guys, saving lives, than bad guys".
Davi, speaking at the Republican national convention after Donald Trump was declared the party's presidential nominee, says the New York billionaire too has been mischaracterised as a bad guy.
"You can't judge a book by its cover initially. Judging how the public sometimes perceives a talent, I would say look at Donald Trump's children," Davi (who played drugs lord Franz Sanchez in 1989's James Bond: Licence to Kill) told The Irish Times on the convention floor.
Actor Robert Davi, Trump supporter & one-time Bond villain, shares his thoughts on the new GOP nominee #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/2EJJRjWrLz
— Simon Carswell (@SiCarswell) July 20, 2016
“Look at how he built the infrastructure of some of the places in New York... There’s a lot out there that hasn’t come out yet that I hope will be revealed.”
Two of Trump’s children, his eldest son Donald Jr (38) and daughter Tiffany (22) did their father proud in Cleveland with two well-received speeches that the newly crowned nominee will hope will soften up his hard-man image that has alienated so many and help him win over more voters.
Despite their very wealthy father, the Trump children were taught to learn the ropes from the bottom up and to listen to people based on “their character, their street smarts and their work ethic, not simply paper or credentials,” Donald Jr told tens of thousands.
“We didn’t learn from MBAs, we learned from people who had doctorates in common sense,” he said, calling his father “my mentor” and “my best friend” in his speech.
Standing at the back of convention floor, Davi – explaining the success of Trump’s insurgent campaign in the Republican primary – says the billionaire freed people to speak their minds.
“In society today our lips have been stapled shut. Men can’t be men, women can’t be women. They want to sanitise our speech and that’s sanitising our ability to speak,” he said.
“Here comes a guy who unstaples everybody’s lips and everyone is shocked by it because we have been so bound by political correctness that it has crippled us in society.”
The Quicken Loans Arena erupted in cheers and applause, song and dance last night as Frank Sinatra’s anthem New York, New York blasted out after the state put Trump “over the top”.
Standing a few feet from the New York convention floor sign where Donald Trump Jr called victory for his father last night, Republican congressman Pete King told reporters that he first learned of Trump's decision to run while he was stuck in Chicago after missing a plane and in a bad mood.
Watching on television in June 2015, he saw the billionaire descend the gold escalator in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan in his famous campaign launch that many people laughed at.
They’re not laughing now.
"I thought he was going to do it for a few weeks, see what happens, go back to reality TV or Miss America or something," said King, who backed Ohio governor John Kasich in the primary election.
“I knew he had the brains; I just never thought he would do it.”
A few weeks later, King attended his grandson’s baseball game where all everyone wanted to talk about was Donald Trump.
Now the congressman, a co-chairman of the Friends of Ireland congressional caucus, standing just metres from Trump's victorious platform, acknowledges the property developer's landslide victory in 37 states. The businessman has tapped into "a different mood in America," he says.
“The party will be unified and whatever votes we lose as Republicans I believe we will pick up from Democrats and Independents. It is not going to be an easy race, don’t get me wrong,” he said.
“But he has tapped into something and if he can challenge it and harness it and programme it right between now and November 8th he is going to be the next president.”
Across the convention floor among the California delegation, "Doug Pappa" Manchester, a businessman from San Diego, is crying just after Trump was declared the party's nominee.
“He is exactly what we need for America,” he said, through his tears of joy.
"He means leadership. He means solid, incredible leadership for our country and the first capitalist ever to be elected to the White House. "
