NBC News: “President Donald Trump heads into the Republican National Convention needing to make the greatest sales pitch of his life. He trails Democratic nominee Joe Biden in national and swing-state polling, voters give him low marks for his handling of a coronavirus pandemic that has taken more than 170,000 American lives and led tens of millions to file for unemployment insurance this year, and his lofty plans for a major international peace accord — like a nuclear deal with North Korea — have disintegrated.”

“His onetime aces in the hole have vanished, one by one. His plot to extort Ukraine into announcing an investigation into Biden resulted in his own impeachment. The economy, his strongest political asset just six months ago, has been roughed up by his response to the coronavirus. And, rather than strengthening the nation’s global position, his trade war with China has pummeled elements of his still-loyal base. Democrats spent four days last week declaring that he lacks the competence, character and compassion necessary to defend the U.S. in a time of crisis, as well as any interest in the economy beyond its power to reward him politically and wealthy Americans like him financially. But the story Trump will tell is one of domestic and international success mitigated only by a series of visible and invisible enemies bent on denying him the credit he deserves — and his voters the leader they want. At a time when most voters say they don’t trust what he’s said about the coronavirus, and his own sister is on tape lamenting his broader pattern of “lying,” he and his surrogates will also focus on their latest line of attack on Biden: that he didn’t solve the country’s problems during six terms in the Senate and two terms as vice president.”