President Donald Trump is a champion of immigrants and women.

Someone who "will not rest" until the COVID-19 pandemic abates.

A president who ran, won and governs not as a millionaire - but for the common man.

These were the sentiments of speakers championing his second term as they addressed the nation on the second night of a remote convention. 

No one seemed to advocate with as much empathy as the First Lady Melania Trump, speaking from the Rose Garden. It was apparently the first time a First Lady has spoken at a political convention from the White House. 

Melania Trump also was the rare speaker during the RNC to note the toll of the coronavirus, which has claimed nearly 180,000 Americans lives and has upended life for more than five months.

"Our lives have changed drastically," she said. "The invisible enemy, COVID-19, swept across our beautiful country, and impacted all of us. My deepest sympathy goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one."

Mrs. Trump also touched on other delicate issues, including recent racial unrest – that many accuse her husband of long handling far too callously, and even inciting. It may have had the intention of smoothing his edges. 

"Like all of you, I have reflected on the racial unrest in our country. It is a harsh reality that we are not proud of parts of our history. I urge people to focus on our future while still learning from our past."

She added: "I also ask people to stop the violence and looting being done in the name of justice, and never make assumptions based on the color of people’s skin."

To be sure, to many, the First Lady and the President are not always seen as beacons of racial reconciliation, with just one example found long before the 2016 campaign, when each questioned President Obama’s place of birth. 

What the First Lady said ultimately may not be as remembered for posterity as to where she said it. Ditto for other marquee events of RNC Night 2.

Being President has some big political advantages – especially having the White House. 

If that wasn’t clear before, it should have been shortly after 10 p.m. East Coast, when the strains of "Hail to the Chief" beamed into the TV sets or streaming devices of an untold number of undecided American voters.

The President was in the White House – and after a long walk past crisply saluting Marines, he was about to oversee a naturalization ceremony of five people, led by his acting Secretary of Homeland Security, with cameras rolling.

Some suggest the ceremony was a violation of the Hatch Act, generally limiting federal employees from political activity at work. The President is immune from it; other federal employees are not.

It wouldn’t be the first time such concerns of ethics and impropriety were raised about President Trump or the convention to re-elect him; in fact there were at least three other major instances in just two hours of programming, with one sparking a congressional probe.

Tuesday’s convention started with the President pardoning a convicted bank robber – also in a White House ceremony. Then, Melania Trump’s speech at the White House,, which has traditionally been considered non-partisan.

Republicans say the White House venue was to limit the risk of COVID-19. 

"When you're in a pandemic and you're trying to limit movements to the greatest extent possible, it's certainly a viable option," an RNC spokesperson, Cassie Smedile, said in an interview Sunday. "We're doing it in a way that works not just for the logistics piece of it, but in a way that's not an additional expense to the taxpayers."

Another speech drawing notice came not from Washington, but Jerusalem, where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo taped an address to the RNC amid a sensitive diplomatic mission.

His speech came despite his own recent warning to American diplomats that they should not engage in "partisan political activity while posted or on (temporary duty) abroad, even on personal time."

The State Department later said Pompeo spoke at the RNC in his "personal capacity" – though in a news release announcing his remarks, no distinction was stressed.

Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, launched an investigation.

For the Trump campaign, the message was clear: the wow factor would trump the ethical handwringing. 

Challenging the status quo – elites, the press, the "deep state" has always been central to Trump’s appeal. In fact, many love it.

The election may hinge on the undecided voters in a few key states. Will the propriety of the RNC matter to them in fewer than 70 days? It’s unclear.

What is known is that the President seems pleased by how the Convention is going – and it’s only halfway done.

Wednesday, the Vice President is to speak at Fort McHenry, a national monument and historic shrine. 

Thursday, the President speaks again from the White House.

More surprises await.