United States President Joe Biden has delivered the keynote handle on the primary night time of the 2024 Democratic Nationwide Conference, successfully passing the baton to his vp and celebration 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 vp of the USA?” he mentioned on Monday.
Quoting a track, he additionally informed the group, “America, America, I gave my finest to you.”
His remarks got here because the end result 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 had been raging in opposition to Biden’s overseas coverage, as he continues to help Israel’s warfare in Gaza, a battle that has sparked fears of widespread human rights abuses.
Inside, although, the barbs had been geared toward a special goal: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who will face Harris on the poll through the November 5 basic election.
Listed here are the highest takeaways from day one of many conference.
Protests amass exterior the conference
Because the day started, celebration officers attended press briefings and panel discussions. However exterior the conference halls, a special occasion was beneath approach.
1000’s of individuals gathered in Union Park — simply blocks away from United Heart, the principle conference venue — to protest the Democratic Celebration’s failure to stem the circulate of weapons and assist to Israel.
The US has lengthy been a staunch ally of Israel, and President Biden has continued to pledge “unwavering” help 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 situation of the occasion. Simply final week, organisers additionally filed a authorized injunction after the town tried to dam their use of sound methods, phases and transportable bathrooms.
However the protests unfolded with no hitch, with demonstrators holding up indicators that learn, “Finish US assist to Israel!”
“Are we for mass-murdering infants, or are we in opposition to it? To me, it’s a reasonably easy equation,” one protester, Wealthy Barnes, informed 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 web site, however cops rapidly swarmed the scene, repelling the breach.
Democrats have fun celebration variety
It was through the night, although, that the conference’s major 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 folks”, a phrase immortalised in President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Deal with: “That authorities of the folks, by the folks, for the folks, shall not perish from the earth.”
Democrats used that theme as a solution to highlight the variety of their celebration — and slam the Republican candidate, Trump.
For instance, Derrick Johnson — the president of the NAACP, one of the vital outstanding 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 may 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 a bit Black woman on the West Aspect of Chicago, I do know that my daughter Braedyn will see not solely a mirrored image of herself within the White Home, however she is going to expertise the deepest a part of American values,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson informed the group.
Audio system slam Trump’s COVID file
Democrats zeroed in on different factors of perceived weak point within the Republican ticket, together with Venture 2025, a coverage doc authored by former Trump associates.
However one main theme emerged of their assaults on former President Trump: his dealing with of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Practically 1.2 million folks 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 top 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,” mentioned Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant governor of Minnesota, her voice trembling.
“Our communities had been struggling. Our financial 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 time of 2020, my mother and my stepfather each died of the COVID pandemic. And I miss them each single day,” he mentioned. “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 health insurance. My household was preventing off foreclosures. And we had been fighting payments after my dad handed away unexpectedly from most cancers,” she defined.
“We had been uninterested in the cynical politics that appeared blind to the realities of working folks.”
Ocasio-Cortez was elected to the Home of Representatives in 2019, within the midst of the Trump presidency. She has since turn out to be one in all 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 Avenue buddies,” she mentioned from the conference stage, drawing a number of the largest 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 uninterested in 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 elevate working folks out from beneath the boots of greed, trampling on our lifestyle,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned.
“The reality is, Don, you can not love this nation if you happen to solely combat for the rich and massive 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 resolution 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 collection of audio system celebrated his legacy.
United Auto Employees (UAW) president Shawn Fain applauded Biden for becoming a member of staff on the picket line in 2023 for the first-ever strike in opposition to the US’s three main carmakers: Ford, Stellantis and Basic Motors.
“I wish to say thanks to Joe Biden for making historical past by strolling the picket line with the UAW,” Fain mentioned.
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 perpetually grateful to you,” she mentioned.
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 mentioned.
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 mentioned 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 look within the June presidential debate, the place he repeatedly misplaced his practice of thought.
However Monday’s look was a comparatively sturdy 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 is no such thing as a place in America for political violence. None,” he mentioned.
Then, he took a jab at his Republican predecessor, Trump, who falsely claimed he misplaced via election fraud. “You can not say you’re keen on your nation solely while you win.”
Biden used the occasions of January 6 as a metaphor for the pessimism of the previous — and the optimism that he mentioned he and Harris have ushered in.
“Now it’s summer time. 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 have to be preserved.”
He concluded by praising Harris as a pal and colleague with “huge integrity”.
“Deciding on Kamala was the very first resolution that I made after I turned our nominee,” Biden mentioned, harkening again to his 2020 marketing campaign. “And it was the most effective resolution I made my entire profession.”
“We saved democracy in 2020. And now we should put it aside once more in 2024.”