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Cleveland • Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and TV reality star once thought of as a sideshow candidate, accepted the Republican presidential nomination Thursday and attempted to merge his iconic tough immigration and trade rhetoric with a broader pitch to independent voters and disaffected Democrats.

Trump, a candidate widely mocked in the early weeks of his bid and whose brash and unapologetic style worry some conservatives and party elders alike, courted Republicans inside the arena with red-meat talk of the failure of President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but also struck a populist appeal about law and order and job growth.

"My message is that things have to change — and they have to change right now," Trump declared, basking in his victory over the establishment and taking aim at leaders from both parties. "Every day, I wake up determined to deliver for the people I have met all across this nation that have been neglected, ignored and abandoned."

Trump, ditching his usual ad-libbed remarks for a carefully crafted address read off a TelePrompter — a speech that leaked three hours early — though he hit on standard bullet points: build a wall, stamp out terrorism, cut taxes. But he also vowed to jettison bad trade deals, protect the LGBT community and curb excessive college debt.

"I am your voice," he said, looking beyond the GOP delegates to the TV cameras. "So to every parent who dreams for their child, and every child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I'm with you, and I will fight for you, and I will win for you."

He also termed himself the "law and order" candidate and underscored that with a tough-guy approach while portraying the United States as in crisis and awash with crime, violence and terrorist threats.

"I have a message to every last person threatening the peace on our streets and the safety of our police: When I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order to our country," he said.

Trump has defied conventional political wisdom throughout the campaign, playing to the underpaid or out of work and those longing for times long gone.

From the moment Trump rode an escalator at his New York Trump Tower into the presidential race, his unconventional campaign shocked political pundits. Besting 16 rivals for the nomination, Trump lived up to his disgust for political correctness.

He badmouthed journalists, called for barring the one billion-plus followers of Islam from entering the United States and, just recently, said he may not follow through on defensive treaties with allies.

All along, though, his effort picked up steam with ever-growing crowds and his small-staffed and inexperienced campaign signed on veteran consultants.

Still, some former rivals, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, refused to endorse Trump after the nasty primary battle and some Utah Republican officials, like Utah's Reps. Mia Love, Jason Chaffetz and Chris Stewart, declined to attend his convention.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee isn't sure he'll vote for Trump, and the GOP's last presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, called his successor a "phony, a fraud" when vowing that he'd cast his ballot for a third-party candidate or a write in.

Thursday, Trump didn't make a strong play to shore up his standing with conservatives — leaving that mainly to his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who offered up a right-wing agenda the night before ­— but Trump stressed the most endearing factor of his candidacy for some: He's not Hillary Clinton.

"After fifteen years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before," Trump said. "This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness."

Trump railed against Clinton, sometimes reciting criticism by her vanquished Democratic rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"Her bad instincts and her bad judgment — something pointed out by Bernie Sanders — are what caused the disasters unfolding today," Trump said, adding later that Clinton is the candidate of big business, elite media and major donors.

"They are throwing money at her because they have total control over everything she does," Trump charged. "She is their puppet, and they pull the strings. That is why Hillary Clinton's message is that things will never change. But Hillary Clinton's legacy does not have to be America's legacy."

Trump claimed that Sanders' disappointed fans will come his way, "because we will fix his biggest issue: trade deals that strip our country of its jobs and strip us of our wealth as a country."

Trump even made an effort to draw support from Latinos and black Americans, noting that four in 10 black children live in poverty and 2 million more Latinos are in poverty now compared to when President Barack Obama came to office.

But he also reiterated his call to ban immigrants from any nation that has been "compromised by terrorism" until the United States can assure its vetting is solid.

Sticking to the theme of making America "strong," "proud," "safe" and "great again," Trump said America must put itself first and cease policing the world. Safety at home, he said, includes safer neighborhoods, secure borders and protection from terrorism.

"We will be a country of generosity and warmth. But we will also be a country of law and order," Trump said, adding that on inauguration day, "safety will be restored."

Trump, whose flashy lifestyle has been well-known for decades by Americans, had promised the most dazzling convention rather than the traditional scripted affairs. It would be "showbiz."

Instead the convention was marred by delegates fighting, unsuccessfully, to nominate someone else, by allegations of plagiarism for prime-time speeches and, for one night, technical glitches. Cruz was even booed off stage, overshadowing Pence's speech on Wednesday.

"While the final night was far better than the previous three, this was a convention marred by self-inflicted mistakes — fighting with Republican candidates he has already defeated and a botched response to plagiarism being merely two," said Doug Heye, a former Republican National Committee spokesman and GOP strategist. "If the purpose of a political convention is to unite the party, these missteps mean Trump still has a long way to go."

Clinton tweeted shortly after Trump began speaking that he was wrong about who he represents.

"You are not our voice," she said.

Sanders also tweeted that, "Those who voted for me will not support Trump who has made bigotry and divisiveness the cornerstone of his campaign."

The Utah Democratic Party blasted out a fundraising appeal noting that Trump blamed immigrants for America's problems and promoted falsehoods in his speech.

"He acknowledged police deaths without even mentioning the many who have died at the hands of brutality from law enforcement," said the party's executive director, Lauren Littlefield. "I could keep going, but the entire event was a show, an ego stroke for a man who has no real solutions for bettering our country."