He was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump in the race for the White House. On Day Two of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Chris Collins will have the honor of seconding the motion that turns Trump from a "presumptive" nominee into the party's official candidate.
Collins, who endorsed Trump back in February, is scheduled to speak shortly after 6 p.m. and will have a three-minute time slot. Speaking to WBFO Albany Correspondent Karen Dewitt in Cleveland, Collins hinted that he'll use his time slot to speak of Western New York's woes over the years caused by bad trade policies.
Among the examples he plans to use is Westinghouse, which once employed about 14,000 people in a Cheektowaga-based plant. Collins says by using a five-to-six multiplier, more than 84,000 Western New Yorkers were adversely affected by a main breadwinner's job loss.
"I think there's an example there of how our jobs were stolen by China and Mexico," Collins said. "We need to bring those jobs back."
Collins' remarks are just some of many that will carry a common theme on the second night of the convention, Make America Work Again.
"It's about time we put America first," Collins said. "It's about time we put American families first and it's about time we had good jobs. When you hear governors fighting with each other about who's got what jobs, it's always the manufacturing jobs, because of the six-to-one multiplier. One manufacturing job ends up with seven jobs."
The congressman has not shied away from the controversy surrounding Melania Trump's opening-night speech, which many have pointed out is quite similar to a speech Michelle Obama delivered at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Collins suggested there's a copywriter on the staff who should be fired for that mistake, but he did not go along with suggestions by critics that Mrs. Trump committed plagiarism.
He also dismissed concerns that it will take away from the more important messages delivered by Mr. Trump.
"Those were general kinds of themes that you would expect to hear from any wife supporting her husband," Collins said in a separate telephone interview with WBFO. "I think they'd call it a red herring. The liberal press, they've jumped on Donald Trump, waiting for any kind of opportunity to jump on him."
After the congressman delivers his portion of tonight's proceedings, the states will speak up one by one. Collins admits there will be opportunities for some Republicans to get one last shot at protesting a Trump nomination before it becomes official.
"We'll hear from anti-Trump forces," he said in an interview with Dewitt. "I'm sure when it gets to Colorado we're not going to hear their delegates pledge Trump. That's OK. He's our nominee. This first round of voting will go, I think, the way we would expect."
