DNC DAY 1: Democrats Come Out Swinging

When they go low, Democrats put on brass knuckles & a tan suit. This isn't your daddy's Democratic National Convention. This is a party embracing fight, passion, and the will to go forward, not back.

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This isn’t your daddy’s or grandma’s Democratic National Convention.

This is a multiracial coalition that is sick and tired of being asked to go high while Donald Trump and MAGA go low. This generation of Democrats isn’t afraid to wear brass knuckles along with heels, earrings, and a fabulous tan suit.

This is the majority that has finally decided to unleash hell against a right-wing authoritarian force that needs us to suffer in order to temporarily feel great again.

I covered the 2016 DNC for Huffington Post and heard “Fight Song” so often that each time I hear a few notes my eye begins to involuntarily twitch. (Thank you, Democrats, for choosing Beyonce’s “Freedom” for 2024.) Hillary Clinton was supposed to break the glass ceiling and become the first female President. I was there at Javitz Center in NYC on election day where the assembled crowd was waiting for the balloons to drop from the ceiling after Clinton had achieved the magic number of 270.

That moment never arrived.

I went back to the Huffington Post office and consoled several young women who were in tears, overcome with shock and disbelief that this country would elect a lifetime criminal and vulgarian who ascended to the White House thanks to 40,000 votes across three states.

In 2022, Republicans and their corrupt extremist operatives on the Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v Wade and impose restrictive abortion bans on their pathway to creating MAGA Handmaid’s Tale. Well, hold onto your butts, Republicans, because generations of women remember that wound and that pain, and they’re not going back. There was a rousing fighting spirit on Day 1 of the DNC that has been sorely missing from Democrats for years. The establishment has instead opted for timid civility to placate and win over centrist and swing state voters. That strategy is apparently in the dustbin.

State Senator Mallory McMorrow, a rising star for Democrats who Left Hook readers know from our conversation last week, brought the fire alongside a ginormous Project 2025 book which she slammed on the podium before warning Americans about the GOP blueprint for a Trump dictatorship.

Congresswoman AOC was finally given more than 90 seconds to make a primetime appearance. She brought the house down with a passionate endorsement of VP Harris and a searing takedown of Donald Trump, whom she said, “would sell this country for a dollar if that meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his wall street friends. I, for one, am tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people from under the boots of greed tramping on our way of life.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin reminded Americans about Trump inciting a violent insurrection and his promises to terminate the Constitution. He referred to Trump as a “sore loser who doesn't who doesn’t know how to take no for an answer from the American voters, American courts, or American women.” He also referred to JD Vance as his “pet chameleon.” Well done, Raskin, well done, sir.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas compared the resumes of Trump and VP Harris and concluded, “she became a career prosecutor, while he became a career criminal. With 34 felonies, two impeachments, and one porn star to prove it.” She also related a story of how VP Harris wiped away her tears, comforted her, and gave her encouraging words during their first meeting.

The evening also served as a tribute and unsubtle farewell to Joe Biden even though he still has five months left as President. His hand was forced by Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats, but nonetheless he had the courage and humility to sacrifice his personal ambitions for the betterment of the country and hand the baton to VP Kamala Harris. His decision was acknowledged by a rapturous audience that chanted, “Thank you, Joe” for several minutes and interrupted his speech with, “We love Joe!”

President Biden gave his best speech in months and accomplished three important goals: 1) reminding Americans of the chaos he inherited from Donald Trump, a hateful racist and lying criminal who is an enduring threat to American freedom and democracy, 2) promoting his successful policies, and 3) acknowledging VP Harris as his partner and endorsing her to be the next President of the United States.

I believe President Biden's term will be positively remembered for several policy accomplishments that benefitted Americans and the fact he held MAGA at bay. His moral failure will be Gaza, a shameful stain. But on Day 1 of the DNC, he acknowledged the anti-war protestors and said, “they have a point,” with their demand of a ceasefire to a war that has killed 40,000 Palestinians and created a man-made famine in Gaza. The bar is very low, folks, but it was a very welcomed comment.

With all that said, his greatest legacy I believe will be as an elder, white statesman standing beside the first Black President, and then turning around to hand the baton to the first Black female President.

That's an undeniably powerful and symbolic image that will inspire generations for decades. Let’s hope it keeps animating Democrats to keep fighting until November and beyond.