Democrats leave Chicago with big energy
Harris: Trump is only running for 'himself'
Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for August 23, 2024:
Kinzinger helps Democrats carry the case against Trump.
RFK Jr. reportedly ready to back Trump.
Trump and Gov. Kemp try to be friends again.
From Chicago, Illinois -
DNC. Five weeks ago today, Republicans flew home from their convention in Milwaukee convinced that Donald Trump was the clear favorite over President Joe Biden. Some in the GOP were even talking about a landslide victory. But as Democrats leave Chicago, the switch from Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris has given Democrats the confidence that they can win in November.
MOOD. Some of you will immediately say - well, of course the Democrats are optimistic after their convention, that’s normal. But let me make it very clear - there was a positive, frenetic energy among Democrats this week which certainly wasn’t there when Joe Biden was leading the ticket. It should worry the GOP.
BREAKFAST. The final state delegation breakfast meetings were a perfect example. Usually by Thursday morning, attendance is spotty. People are tired. But yesterday was different. You could literally hear the cheers erupting out of various delegation meetings like it was a college football game day.
ENERGY. When Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) spoke to his home state delegates, there was applause coming from rooms on either side of where the Virginia delegation was meeting. "I haven't seen this level of excitement and energy among fellow Democrats since 2008,” Connolly said.
MAYOR. "Today is a day like none other," said Andre Dickens, the Mayor of Atlanta. After a few minutes of exhorting Georgia Democrats, the Mayor had delegates ready for action. "We’ve got 75 days to go," Dickens thundered.
WORK. But even with all of the excitement among delegates, party officials realize a lot of work lies ahead before November 5 - as no one expects a blowout. "We are going to take the energy here in Chicago and take it with us back home," said California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks.
HARRIS. The Democratic convention reached its crescendo last night as Kamala Harris accepted her party’s nomination - one month and one day after Joe Biden had stepped aside. "The path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected," Harris told delegates. "But I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys," as she recounted her mother leaving India at age 19 to come to the United States.
INTRODUCTION. Remember what I reported this week - that even though she's been Vice President, Harris aides said most Americans don't really know that much about her. So, she used a chunk of her speech to talk about her childhood and her mom. “She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it.”
ECONOMY. Harris vowed to delegates that she would look out for average Americans. "This is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from," Harris said, as she vowed to create an 'opportunity economy, where everyone has the chance to compete and a chance to succeed."
ABORTION. In her speech, Harris very specifically brought up the issue of abortion and the new limits in many Red states. "Let's be clear about how we got here," Harris said. "Donald Trump hand picked members of the United States Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom. And now he brags about it."
HIMSELF. We've heard Democrats talk about how Harris will use her background as a prosecutor to go after Trump. She did that last night by talking about how she worked 'for the people' as a district attorney. "Instead, he fights for himself and his billionaire friends," Harris said.
REPUBLICANS. On their final convention night, Democrats again featured Republicans speaking out against Donald Trump, as one of the final speeches before Harris came from ex-GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. "Donald Trump is a weak man," said Kinzinger, who was part of the Jan. 6 committee. "Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party.”
JAN. 6. Kinzinger led another night of attacks on Trump over Jan. 6, as he called Trump, "too fragile, too vain, and too weak to accept defeat." Harris addressed that in her own remarks, citing Trump's never-ending lies about election fraud in 2020. "Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes."
SPECIAL GUEST. All day, there was talk around the convention hall of a 'special guest' who would show up. The rumors were everything from Taylor Swift to Beyoncé - and even former President George W. Bush. In the end, there was no special guest. No one. Nada. Zip. Zero.
PROTESTS. Nada, zip, and zero are also good words to describe the impact that anti-Israel demonstrators had on the Democratic National Convention this week. While they may have dreamed of a 1968-like showdown with Chicago police - it didn't happen - as demonstrators decided against a showdown in the streets.
UNDECIDED. Meanwhile, Harris refused to knuckle under to some undecided Democratic delegates who wanted to have a pro-Palestinian speaker address the convention. It left critics of Israel fuming. "We deserve to be heard," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). "Stop erasing Palestinians."
WHAT'S NEXT. Now that the conventions are over, the next big political inflection point will be the first Trump-Harris debate, which is set for September 10.
JOE BIDEN. Let’s remember one thing - there is really only one reason that Democrats find themselves in a good position as they leave Chicago today - and that’s courtesy of President Biden. If not for his decision to drop out of the race on July 21, there is no way the Democrats would have seen this kind of enthusiasm surge. You can read more in my column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
SUPPORT. From California, Biden spoke with Harris a few hours before her speech. "She will be an outstanding President because she is fighting for our future," the President said. "Kamala and Tim will inspire a generation and lead us into the future."
PELOSI. In Q&A sessions with reporters this week, ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly brushed aside questions about how she pressed Biden to drop out. Was she bothered that Biden might be mad at her? "What bothers me would have been the reelection of Donald Trump as President," Pelosi shot back.
TACTICS. A number of Democrats admit the cold reality was that Biden was not going to win - and that's why Democrats rallied so quickly behind Harris. "I think it was the challenge of beating Donald Trump,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), “and understanding what's at stake."
CLYBURN. Many more veteran Democrats have made sure this week to always salute Biden for that decision. “I think Joe Biden is going to go down in history as one of the most consequential Presidents,” said Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) - a key figure who helped Biden win the 2020 nomination.
SECURITY. No one was taking any chances this week with security, and I witnessed one of those moments on Thursday at the Tennessee delegation breakfast. I never was able to figure out exactly what happened, but suddenly a group of U.S. Capitol Police officers rushed up to the door. They had been told something bad happened inside - but everything was just fine.
GEORGIA. As Kamala Harris was getting ready to speak last night, Donald Trump and Brian Kemp, the GOP Governor of Georgia, were suddenly trying to mend their political fences. You might remember that earlier this month, Trump attacked Kemp on social media and by name at an Atlanta rally, spurring days of GOP infighting.
POST. "Thank you to Brian Kemp for all of your help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important to the success of our Party and, most importantly, our Country," Trump wrote on his Truth Social website after Kemp promised to work together during an interview on Fox News.
COUGH COUGH. Why now? Trump and Kemp might have seen the unity among Democrats this week - as well as recent poll numbers - and they know losing in Georgia is not a recipe for victory. Just a few weeks ago, Trump said of Kemp, "He's a bad guy. He's a disloyal guy. And he's a very average governor."
DEMS. All week, Democrats have hit Trump about his effort to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia, by asking elections officials to give him the votes he needed to win. "Donald Trump is still running around looking for 11-thousand-some-odd votes," cracked Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
RFK. Donald Trump is scheduled to have a special guest today at a campaign rally in Arizona. It's anticipated that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be that guest, and that he will use the appearance to endorse Trump - and drop his independent bid for the White House. That rally is scheduled for 6 pm EDT.
POLLS. Would an RFK endorsement of Trump really change the race in November? Not really to any great degree. I do think RFK Jr. took votes away from Trump - but the RFK vote share has been steadily dropping. It will be interesting to see how many votes he gets in states where he stays on the ballot.
SOCIAL MEDIA. I want to wrap up my 2024 convention coverage by looking at one newfangled thing that Democrats did this year. When I went to my first convention in 1988, TV cameras used to dominate. But now, social media influencers get a lot of attention. And that was obvious inside the United Center.
TAKE A SELFIE. Around the main level of the arena, there were multiple areas which had been roped off - with very nice backdrops - where people could do interviews, film their own short videos, or take selfies. Democrats were doing all they could to get good press basically.
MESSAGE. Democrats did something in this convention that really caught my eye. They used the word 'freedom' repeatedly in pressing their election year arguments, and also kept returning to a theme of patriotism, mixed with calls for a strong defense, and opposition to isolationism.
FLAGS. If you had blindfolded me and asked which convention I was watching - where people were holding USA signs and waving American flags, of course the answer would be the GOP convention. Nope - not this time. Democrats were the ones using those scenes on their final convention night.
COACH WALZ. As for Harris’s running mate, Republicans tried hard over the past two weeks to body slam Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota - but Walz leaves this Democratic convention in an even stronger position. His poll numbers remain high, and you could tell how much the delegates like him.
GUS. Meanwhile, some conservatives spent Thursday saying nasty things about Walz's 17-year-old son Gus, who deals with a series of social disorders. "The kid might have mental problems, but he’s acting just like Tim Walz," said Dinesh D'Souza, who produced a book and movie filled with lies about the 2020 elections.
MORE. Conservative activist Ann Coulter also made fun of Walz's son. "Talk about weird," she wrote, with a picture of him. Coulter later backtracked and deleted her tweet.
RADIO FREE DUPREE. With this DNC in the books, I have now covered 17 national party conventions - my first was in Atlanta in 1988. If you’re keeping score, that’s 9 for the Democrats and 8 for the GOP. I was here in Chicago in 1996 and back in 2024 - ironically working from the same parking lot and the same hotel.
RAP SHEET. A Michigan man has been arrested for his violent actions on Jan. 6. Nathan Thornsberry was seen on video fighting with police officers as rioters overran police barricades. Thornsberry gave the feds evidence for his prosecution in a most unusual way - he wrote a book about his experiences at the Capitol under a fake name.
MUSE OF HISTORY. August 23, 1842. On this date, a resolution was introduced in the House to allow experiments to be conducted by Samuel Colt on his 'submarine battery.' It wasn't a battery like we know it - but a way to detonate underwater explosives to destroy hostile vessels, as part of a coastal defense system. Colt demonstrated it several times, but never won government approval.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House is back for votes on September 9.
The Senate returns on September 9.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.
Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
If you want to say ‘thanks’ - you can buy me a cup of coffee.
So GOP types decide to make fun of Gus Walz. How would that have gone over if liberals made fun of Barron Trump? It's WRONG. They should be ashamed of themselves. The problem is, they are not! It reminds me of the time Trump made fun of that disabled reporter way back in 2016. Deplorable. They got that nickname for a reason.
Thank you for another successful convention, Jamie. Your coverage always gives me something I don't see in the "mainstream" media.
The surge of social media posts from young content creators at the DNC this week has been nonstop. I’m not sure you would have seen that at a Biden convention. They’re all in for Harris and seem determined to get young people invested in this historic election on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Threads.
I’m not seeing that amplification of youth voice on the other side unless you count the same half dozen 20-something “undecideds” the NYT keeps interviewing. These social media savvy Harris supporters going viral could have a far bigger impact on this race than any endorsement from RFK Jr.