CHICAGO \u2014 Welcome to The Campaign Moment, your guide to the biggest developments in the 2024 election, now featuring more Lil Jon on C-SPAN.<\/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 Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night included an energetic, DJ-spun roll call vote of the states (where rapper Lil Jon stole the show for his home state of Georgia), both Obamas and a number of Republicans prosecuting the case against Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
As a reminder, I\u2019ll be with you every night this week when the program ends, offering my takeaways from the convention. Here are Tuesday\u2019s.<\/p>\n
1. The Obamas look to bestow their movement on Harris<\/p>\n
Monday featured some reminders of less-proud electoral times for Democrats, with the headliners including 2016 runner-up Hillary Clinton and the recently nudged-aside President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
Tuesday was devoted to bringing back that winning feeling \u2014 to reclaiming the ethos of the Democrats\u2019 proudest years of the 21st century, the Obama era. Indeed, the Obamas effectively painted Vice President Kamala Harris as their political heir, commandeering their movement. And it was about as far from subtle as possible.<\/p>\n
Both Barack Obama and Michelle Obama spoke and wasted no time in seeking to rekindle the themes for which the Obama era was so well known.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a familiar feeling that\u2019s been buried too deep for far too long,\u201d Michelle Obama began. \u201cYou know what I\u2019m talking about: It\u2019s the contagious power of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cHope is making a comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barack Obama later spoke and began: \u201cI don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019m feeling fired up. I am feeling ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
He quickly added: \u201cI am feeling hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later pulled out: \u201cDo not boo. Vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
When an audience member said of Harris, \u201cYes she can,\u201d Obama responded, \u201cYes she can.\u201d<\/p>\n
And perhaps most strikingly, he alluded to how \u201cthis convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible\u201d \u2014 the idea being that Harris shares those characteristics with him.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s reductive to regard these speeches as mere retreads of past Obama themes; both Obamas made their own case for Harris and against Trump and got huge responses. Michelle Obama\u2019s repeated pleas that Democrats \u201cdo something\u201d rather than sit back and complain landed with particular force, and she went after Trump more strongly than she has in the past. Barack Obama played up Harris as an ally of and advocate for regular Americans, and he painted Trump as a whiner consumed with his own grievances.<\/p>\n
But Democrats are benefiting so much right now from their markedly improving \u201cvibes.\u201d And Tuesday was mostly about keeping that going \u2014 with an assist from the past.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s about whether Harris can take that baton and actually run with it, living up to the hype the Obamas sought to juice.<\/p>\n
2. Republicans delivered strong Trump rebukes<\/p>\n
The program on Tuesday night made a point to feature Republicans, former Republicans and former Trump allies who are now backing Harris.<\/p>\n
Some of the more notable testimonials:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe View\u201d co-host Ana Navarro, who hosted the session, compared Trump to Latin American dictators including Nicaragua\u2019s Daniel Ortega (for calling the media the \u201cenemy of the people\u201d), Cuba\u2019s Fidel Castro (for using office to enrich himself and his family) and Venezuela\u2019s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro (for refusing to accept legitimate election results). Trump has recently suggested without any evidence that Harris will lead the country to communism.<\/span> 3. Harris\u2019s spouse plays up their blended family<\/p>\n Harris got what\u2019s likely to be her most significant character-witness speech of the week Tuesday night from her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff.<\/p>\n And Emhoff\u2019s comments about the challenges involved in their blended family were a particularly potent moment in a Democratic convention that is focused on inclusivity.<\/p>\n \u201cThose of you who belong to blended families know that they can be a little complicated,\u201d Emhoff said. \u201cBut as soon as our kids started calling her \u2018Mamala,\u2019 I knew we\u2019d be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cElla [his daughter] calls us a three-headed parenting machine. Kamala and Kerstin [Emhoff], thank you both,\u201d Emhoff added, shouting out his ex-wife, who was in the crowd.<\/p>\n He referenced a story about a time when Harris appeared deeply focused on something, and he assumed it was her job as vice president \u2014 potentially an international crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cI could see she was focused, and all I knew was that it must be something important,\u201d Emhoff said. \u201cAnd it turns out it was: Ella had called her. That\u2019s Kamala.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. Bernie Sanders made another notable Gaza mention<\/p>\n For the second straight night, the war in Gaza got a fleeting but high-profile mention on the stage \u2014 as demonstrations related to the war have fallen short of organizers\u2019 hopes.<\/p>\n Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), toward the end of his speech, said, \u201cWe must end this horrific war in Gaza, bring home the hostages and demand an immediate cease-fire.\u201d<\/p>\n The comments came a day after President Joe Biden spoke about his work toward a peace deal and added, \u201cThose protesters out in the street, they have a point; a lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.\u201d Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) had also insisted that Harris was \u201cworking tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and bringing hostages home.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders\u2019s comments, notably, were less of an endorsement of Harris\u2019s approach. He argued last week that people shouldn\u2019t withhold votes from Harris over the issue \u2014 because Trump was worse \u2014 but he also said that he aimed to \u201cmove Harris if she becomes president\u201d \u2014 apparently away from Israel.<\/p>\n Few speakers have broached the issue. But it\u2019s clear the convention feels the need to address this elephant in the room and assure the protesters that they are being heard.<\/p>\n 5. A bona fide big-tent (and ironic) moment<\/p>\n The convention this week has largely been defined by efforts to set aside differences and enthusiastically work as one.<\/p>\n And rarely was that in such stark relief as in the middle of Tuesday\u2019s program, when things took an ironic turn.<\/p>\n Shortly after 8:30 a.m. Central time, Sanders echoed his long-standing talking points on combating the influence of billionaires. \u201cBillionaires in both parties should not be able to buy elections, including primary elections,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n The very next speaker: Billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), who spent $350 million of his fortune winning his two campaigns \u2014 including a competitive 2018 Democratic primary.<\/p>\n \u201cTake it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity,\u201d Pritzker said, about 10 minutes after Sanders\u2019s comment.<\/p>\n \u201cIn biggest speech of her career, Harris hopes to tell her story first\u201d (The Washington Post)<\/span> CHICAGO \u2014 Welcome to The Campaign Moment, your guide to the biggest developments in the 2024 election, now featuring more Lil Jon on C-SPAN. (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.) The big moment The Democratic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8243","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\/8243","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=8243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nFormer Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham described Trump as having \u201cno empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.\u201d<\/span>
\nMesa, Ariz., Mayor John Giles (R) said that he felt out of place, but that \u201cI feel more at home here than in today\u2019s Republican Party. The Grand Old Party has been kidnapped by extremists and devolved into a cult \u2014 the cult of Donald Trump. \u2026 John McCain\u2019s Republican Party is gone, and we don\u2019t owe a damn thing to what\u2019s been left behind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nTake a moment to read:<\/h3>\n
\n\u201cKamala Harris allies say plan to ban \u2018price gouging\u2019 has been misconstrued\u201d (The Washington Post)<\/span>
\n\u201cThe \u2018OG\u2019s for Kamala\u2019 raise a glass and enjoy a little I-told-you-so\u201d (The Washington Post)<\/span>
\n\u201cTrump\u2019s AI fakes of Harris and Swift aren\u2019t meant to fool you\u201d (The Washington Post)<\/span>
\n\u201cThe DNC Is a Big Smiling Mess\u201d (Atlantic)<\/span><\/p>\n