The GOP sought to soften Trump's edges while vilifying Biden at a convention focused on winning suburban voters

Republicans wrapped up their four-day convention Thursday having achieved much of what they sought to do: renominating President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on the November ballot, energizing the party's base and portraying Democratic nominee Joe Biden as a pawn of a leftist movement that would destroy America."This election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life, or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it," Trump said Thursday on the South Lawn of the White House as he accepted his party's nod.After a convention that spent as much time bashing Biden as it did extolling Trump, the president hopes for a boost in several of the battleground states where polls show him trailing his Democratic rival.Here are five takeaways from the GOP convention and what they mean for the 66 days left before the election Nov. 3:Trump has cultivated an image as a take-charge, bombastic tough guy who has been called a "bodyguard" for conservative ideals.Convention speakers also painted the president as a man of compassion, someone who reached out personally to cancer victims, cares deep down about the plight of the farmers, miners and steelworkers struggling economically, and has an abiding love for his country.More:'Firewall against Nancy Pelosi’s agenda': How Mitch McConnell became one of Donald Trump's key confidantes"More than any president in my lifetime, he's acknowledged the importance of farmers and agriculture," said Cris Peterson, a dairy farmer whose business was helped by Trump's policies."From the day that I met him, he has only wanted to make this country the best it can be," first lady Melania Trump said in her Rose Garden speech Tuesday.