U.S. Vice President Mike Pence took center stage at the Republican convention on Wednesday to warn voters that they "won't be safe in Joe Biden's America" and cast Donald Trump as their protector against the "radical left."

Pence was the keynote speaker in a parade of Trump acolytes who sought to uplift the president as a champion of American values and civil rights.

They also spoke of dark forces intent on ending the American dream and said losing to their Democratic rivals is not an option.

Pence addressed the four-day convention from Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the site of an 1814 British bombardment against American revolutionaries that inspired the poem later turned into the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Pence purposely chose such a backdrop to boost patrioticism for Trump's reelection instead of allowing the nation "fundamentally transformed" by a Biden administration in the direction of socialism and decline.

"The hard truth is... you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America," said Pence.

Touting Trump's strong record on the economy before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and his ongoing efforts to revive it, Pence urged voters to ask themselves "who do you trust to rebuild this economy? A career politician who presided over the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression? Or a proven leader who created the greatest economy in the world?"

The address was delivered amid a new flare-up of racial tensions in the United States, with protests spreading over the latest police shooting of an African-American man, Jacob Blake, who was shot in the back seven times by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

Trump has announced he is sending in additional federal forces to quell unrest in the Midwestern city, where two people were shot dead during protests against police brutality on Tuesday.

Addressing the latest unrest – Pence struck a tough tone. "Let me be clear," he said. "The violence must stop whether in Minneapolis, Portland or Kenosha," he said. "We will have law and order on the streets of this country for every American of every race and creed and color."

(With input from Reuters, AFP)