United States President Joe Biden has delivered the keynote tackle on the primary night time of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, successfully passing the baton to his vice chairman and social gathering nominee, Kamala Harris.
“Are you able to vote for freedom? Are you able to vote for democracy and for America? Let me ask you: Are you able to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as president and vice chairman of america?” he stated on Monday.
Quoting a track, he additionally informed the group, “America, America, I gave my finest to you.”
His remarks got here because the fruits of a starry opening night time, with audio system starting from Nationwide Basketball Affiliation (NBA) coach Steve Kerr to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
However exterior, protests have been raging towards Biden’s international coverage, as he continues to assist Israel’s warfare in Gaza, a battle that has sparked fears of widespread human rights abuses.
Inside, although, the barbs have been aimed toward a distinct goal: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who will face Harris on the poll through the November 5 normal election.
Listed below are the highest takeaways from day one of many conference.
Protests amass exterior the conference
Because the day started, social gathering officers attended press briefings and panel discussions. However exterior the conference halls, a distinct occasion was beneath manner.
Hundreds of individuals gathered in Union Park — simply blocks away from United Middle, the principle conference venue — to protest the Democratic Get together’s failure to stem the move of weapons and help to Israel.
The US has lengthy been a staunch ally of Israel, and President Biden has continued to pledge “unwavering” assist regardless of the spiralling toll of Israel’s warfare in Gaza.
Its navy offensive there has value greater than 40,000 Palestinian lives, with human rights advocates voicing fears of hunger and genocide.
Monday’s protest was largely peaceable, regardless of tensions within the lead-up to the occasion.
Metropolis officers and protest organisers initially clashed over the placement of the occasion. Simply final week, organisers additionally filed a authorized injunction after town tried to dam their use of sound programs, phases and transportable bathrooms.
However the protests unfolded with out a hitch, with demonstrators holding up indicators that learn, “Finish US help to Israel!”
“Are we for mass-murdering infants, or are we towards it? To me, it’s a reasonably easy equation,” one protester, Wealthy Barnes, told Al Jazeera reporter Ali Harb from the protest route.
At one level, a small group of protesters broke off from the principle march and breached the outer perimeter of the conference website, however law enforcement officials shortly swarmed the scene, repelling the breach.
Democrats have fun social gathering variety
It was through the night, although, that the conference’s predominant occasions kicked off.
A lineup of primetime audio system took the stage, touting Harris’s candidacy and the Democratic platform, which was gavelled in with a bunch vote.
The theme of the night time was “For the individuals”, a phrase immortalised in President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Tackle: “That authorities of the individuals, by the individuals, for the individuals, shall not perish from the earth.”
Democrats used that theme as a solution to highlight the range of their social gathering — and slam the Republican candidate, Trump.
For instance, Derrick Johnson — the president of the NAACP, one of the vital distinguished civil rights organisations within the US — took the stage with a quip: “I’m right here to do my Black job.”
It was a reference to the much-criticised remarks Trump made through the June presidential debate, warning that immigrants are “taking Black jobs”.
However whereas Trump was the recipient of quite a few barbs, Democrats centered extra on celebrating what Harris’s election might imply for illustration within the US.
Harris could be the primary lady, the primary South Asian individual and the primary Black lady to occupy the White Home if she wins in November.
“As a Black man, elevating somewhat Black woman on the West Facet of Chicago, I do know that my daughter Braedyn will see not solely a mirrored image of herself within the White Home, however she’s going to expertise the deepest a part of American values,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson informed the group.
Audio system slam Trump’s COVID report
Democrats zeroed in on different factors of perceived weak spot within the Republican ticket, together with Undertaking 2025, a coverage doc authored by former Trump associates.
However one main theme emerged of their assaults on former President Trump: his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Practically 1.2 million individuals within the US finally died from COVID-19, and critics slammed Trump for downplaying the disaster and discouraging social-distancing insurance policies to keep away from transmissions.
A number of politicians took the stage on the Democratic Nationwide Conference to share their tales of heartache through the peak of the pandemic, laying a lot of the blame at Trump’s ft.
“My brother Ron was the second individual to die of COVID within the state of Tennessee,” stated Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant governor of Minnesota, her voice trembling.
“Our communities have been struggling. Our economic system was struggling. And Donald Trump was taking part in video games. Our nation was dropped at the brink by his failure to reply. However the Biden-Harris administration stepped in with fast and decisive motion.”
Consultant Robert Garcia of California defined that his mom labored as a healthcare employee throughout that point.
“That summer season of 2020, my mother and my stepfather each died of the COVID pandemic. And I miss them each single day,” he stated. “So when Donald Trump and his MAGA extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene downplay the horror of the pandemic, it ought to make us all livid.”
AOC tears into Trump’s labour stance
In one of the vital hotly anticipated appearances of the night time, Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York took the rostrum for a fiery speech that tore into the category politics of Trump’s candidacy.
“Six years in the past, I used to be taking omelette orders as a waitress in New York Metropolis. I didn’t have medical insurance. My household was preventing off foreclosures. And we have been battling payments after my dad handed away unexpectedly from most cancers,” she defined.
“We have been bored with the cynical politics that appeared blind to the realities of working individuals.”
Ocasio-Cortez was elected to the Home of Representatives in 2019, within the midst of the Trump presidency. She has since develop into certainly one of his most outspoken critics, representing the progressive left.
“We all know Donald Trump would promote this nation for a greenback if it meant lining his personal pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Road buddies,” she stated from the conference stage, drawing a number of the greatest cheers of the night.
She continued by drawing a distinction between Trump and Harris, whom she described as a champion for the center class.
“I, for one, am bored with listening to about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as extra of a patriot than the lady who fights each single day to raise working individuals out from beneath the boots of greed, trampling on our lifestyle,” Ocasio-Cortez stated.
“The reality is, Don, you can’t love this nation in case you solely battle for the rich and large enterprise.”
Kamala makes shock look to thank Biden
A part of the night time served as a eulogy for Biden’s presidency, because it winds to a detailed after this election.
Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential race on July 21 successfully made him a lame-duck chief, whose tenure is about to run out in January.
Had he stayed within the race, he could be the ultimate speaker of the conference, taking the stage on Thursday night time. As an alternative, he was scheduled to shut out Monday night time, after a sequence of audio system celebrated his legacy.
United Auto Employees (UAW) president Shawn Fain applauded Biden for becoming a member of employees on the picket line in 2023 for the first-ever strike towards the US’s three main carmakers: Ford, Stellantis and Common Motors.
“I wish to say thanks to Joe Biden for making historical past by strolling the picket line with the UAW,” Fain stated.
Harris herself made a shock look on stage to thank Biden personally.
“Joe, thanks in your historic management, in your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you’ll proceed to do. We’re without end grateful to you,” she stated.
Former secretary of state and the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton additionally added her gratitude to the outpouring of affection for Biden.
“Let’s salute President Biden. He has been democracy’s champion, at residence and overseas. He introduced dignity, decency and competence again to the White Home. And he confirmed what it means to be a real patriot,” she stated.
President Biden was launched by his daughter Ashley and spouse Jill, who recalled how her husband needed to “dig deep into his soul” to determine to withdraw from the race.
“With religion and conviction, Joe is aware of our nation’s power doesn’t come from intimidation or cruelty. It comes from the small acts of kindness that heal deep wounds,” Jill Biden stated from the conference stage.
When Biden himself lastly took the rostrum, he was greeted by a standing ovation and repeated chants of “Thanks, Joe.”
Biden’s public appearances have been extremely scrutinised ever since his disastrous appearance within the June presidential debate, the place he repeatedly misplaced his prepare of thought.
However Monday’s look was a comparatively robust displaying from the 81-year-old president, who spoke about inheriting his workplace after the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“I knew then, from the underside of my coronary heart, what I do know now: There isn’t a place in America for political violence. None,” he stated.
Then, he took a jab at his Republican predecessor, Trump, who falsely claimed he misplaced via election fraud. “You can not say you like your nation solely if you win.”
Biden used the occasions of January 6 as a metaphor for the pessimism of the previous — and the optimism that he stated he and Harris have ushered in.
“Now it’s summer season. The winter has handed. And with a grateful coronary heart, I stand earlier than you now on this August night time to report that democracy has prevailed. Democracy has delivered. And now democracy should be preserved.”
He concluded by praising Harris as a good friend and colleague with “monumental integrity”.
“Deciding on Kamala was the very first resolution that I made once I grew to become our nominee,” Biden stated, harkening again to his 2020 marketing campaign. “And it was the most effective resolution I made my complete profession.”
“We saved democracy in 2020. And now we should put it aside once more in 2024.”
