CHICAGO \u2014 Welcome to The Campaign Moment, your guide to the biggest developments in the 2024 election, where the Democratic National Convention so far is largely about Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
(Make sure you are subscribed to this newsletter here. You can also hear my analysis weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.)<\/p>\n
The convention kicked off Monday with President Joe Biden speaking approximately 72 hours earlier than he and we would have expected a month ago. (The new nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, speaks Thursday.)<\/p>\n
Former secretary of state and former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also spoke, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) delivered a barn-burner.<\/p>\n
But they weren\u2019t the only stars of the show. So too was Trump, whose name was uttered more than 150 times and who was frequently featured in video packages.<\/p>\n
Below are some takeaways from Night 1.<\/p>\n
1. Biden\u2019s big send-off<\/p>\n
Democrats were pulled in two directions at the end of Monday\u2019s program. On the one hand, they wanted to send Biden off with a moment he could be proud of and a focus on his legacy; on the other, this convention is about the race ahead, and Biden is an unpopular president.<\/p>\n
So Biden\u2019s swan song sought to thread the needle between promoting his own record and framing up the 2024 race. Biden went into extensive detail about his proudest accomplishments, while interspersing attacks on Trump and playing up Harris\u2019s contributions. And he sought to downplay any hard feelings about being ushered out of the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of you, we\u2019ve had one of the most extraordinary four years of progress ever, period,\u201d Biden said. \u201cWhen I saw \u2018we,\u2019 I mean Kamala and me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Biden mentioned Harris\u2019s help in capping insulin at $35 a month and passing a significant gun safety bill. He talked about working on reopening schools and businesses with Harris. He noted she cast a key tie-breaking vote in the Senate on prescription drugs.<\/p>\n
The speech was otherwise a mostly standard-issue campaign address lined with Biden\u2019s accomplishments. But the crowd clearly made an effort to show Biden gratitude.<\/p>\n
Biden entered the stage while dabbing at his eyes after being introduced by his daughter, Ashley Biden. The crowd applauded for minutes, chanting \u201cThank you, Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Biden didn\u2019t shy away from the elephant in the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the job, but I love my country more,\u201d Biden said, before adding: \u201cAnd all this talk about how I\u2019m angry at all those people who said I should step down, that\u2019s not true. I love my country more. And we need to preserve our democracy in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps the biggest applause line came near the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerica, America, I gave my best to you,\u201d Biden said. \u201cI made a lot of mistakes in my career. But I gave my best to you for 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s coming out party<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s to be a lasting moment from a politician in Monday\u2019s program \u2014 beyond Biden\u2019s de facto farewell after a lifetime in politics \u2014 it\u2019s likely to be Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s rousing speech.<\/p>\n
Ocasio-Cortez cast Trump as no ally of working people, saying he would \u201csell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
She targeted Republicans who like to attack her for being a former bartender. She said she would be happy to go back to that occupation \u201cany day of the week, because there is nothing wrong with working for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crowd absolutely ate it up. It seemed to be the moment that Ocasio-Cortez completed her journey from left-wing \u201cSquad\u201d provocateur \u2014 and a thorn in the side to her party\u2019s leaders in the past \u2014 to being a bona fide Democratic establishment star.<\/p>\n
It wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see clips of the speech for years to come.<\/p>\n
3. Abortion and covid feature prominently<\/p>\n
Perhaps the two most notable attacks on Trump on Monday night involved abortion and the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
The program in primetime featured three women who faced arduous circumstances related to abortion. One was a rape survivor whose stepfather impregnated her when she was 12; another waited three days for an abortion for a nonviable pregnancy; another was turned away from emergency rooms despite miscarrying. The latter two stories involved severe pain.<\/p>\n
The rape survivor, Hadley Duvall, noted Trump has called the patchwork of state abortion laws \u201ca beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent\u2019s child?\u201d Duvall said.<\/p>\n
Abortion bans are a major liability for the GOP right now. Trump has sought to emphasize states\u2019 rights and leave it at that. But the program emphasized how far red states have taken things after Trump-nominated justices overturned Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n
(Duvall\u2019s pregnancy pre-dated the end of Roe, but Kentucky doesn\u2019t currently have a rape exception in its abortion ban.)<\/p>\n
The pandemic was a more surprising focus \u2014 but also one with a personal touch. Speakers spoke about Trump\u2019s lack of leadership, his efforts to downplay the threat and his conspiracy theories. And more than one speaker spoke from the heart as the relative of someone who died.<\/p>\n
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) mentioned the deaths of his health-care-worker mother and stepfather and added, \u201cWhen Donald Trump and his MAGA extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene downplayed the horror of the pandemic, it should make us all furious.\u201d<\/p>\n
An emotional Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D) spoke of her brother\u2019s death and said, \u201cOur communities were suffering. Our economy was struggling. And Donald Trump was playing games. Our country was brought to the brink by his failure to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Covid was a significant liability for Trump when he left office, with a poll showing Americans disapproved of his handling of it 63 percent to 34 percent.<\/p>\n
4. Few signs of major divisions so far<\/p>\n
The move from Biden to Harris has been about as seamless as Democrats could have hoped, and enthusiasm is off the charts. But a big question this week is whether any divisions might emerge in the bright spotlight.<\/p>\n
So far, there\u2019s little sign of that \u2014 even aside from Biden\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n
Pro-Palestinian protests near the convention loom, particularly with organizers suggesting tens of thousands would show up. But the actual turnout thus far appears quite a bit lower.<\/p>\n
A small group of the protesters briefly broke away from a planned march Monday, creating a tense standoff with police. Some apparently uncommitted delegates unfurled a banner during Biden\u2019s speech. And Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), meanwhile, suggested Harris should be unafraid to differentiate herself from Biden\u2019s long-standing pro-Israel stance.<\/p>\n
There is also some question about whether there might be any hard feelings about the very public effort to nudge Biden aside.<\/p>\n
A leader of that effort, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), had some blunt comments for anyone looking backward. She said on CNN on Monday that if people are upset, \u201cI\u2019m sorry for them. But the country is very happy \u2026 I don\u2019t know who they are, but, you know, that\u2019s their problem, not mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Democratic Party is indeed very happy. And polls suggest few harbor ill feelings about the switch. A poll shortly after Biden dropped out showed just 4 percent of Democrats strongly opposed it.<\/p>\n
5. An attack is born: \u201cTrump\u2019s a scab\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump has sought to appeal to labor unions, even featuring Teamsters President Sean O\u2019Brien prominently at the Republican National Convention last month.<\/p>\n
But a comment Trump made last week on the subject led to one of the biggest rallying cries Monday night. And it would seem likely to feature plenty moving forward.<\/p>\n
During an X event last week, Trump praised Elon Musk for firing striking workers. The comment drew O\u2019Brien (who hadn\u2019t endorsed Trump despite his speaking slot) to accuse Trump of \u201ceconomic terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n
United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain spoke Monday night and unveiled a red t-shirt that read, \u201cTrump is a scab. Vote Harris.\u201d The crowd responded by lustily chanting, \u201cTrump\u2019s a scab! Trump\u2019s a scab!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ocasio-Cortez spoke right after Fain and called Trump \u201ca two-bit union buster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Labor union members have drifted somewhat toward Trump, making Trump\u2019s comment low-hanging fruit for Democrats.<\/p>\n
\u201cFBI concludes Iran tried to hack campaigns of Trump, Biden-Harris\u201d (Washington Post)<\/span> CHICAGO \u2014 Welcome to The Campaign Moment, your guide to the biggest developments in the 2024 election, where the Democratic National Convention so far is largely about Donald Trump. (Make sure you are subscribed to this newsletter here. You can also hear my analysis weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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