Pick your order for the highlight of the Democratic National Convention:
1) Michelle Obama’s speech
2) Tim Walz’s speech (including the reaction of his son)
3) Kamala Harris’s speech
If it’s hard to choose it’s because these were three incredible speeches delivered on three different nights. They weren’t by any means the only excellent examples of talented oratory at the convention, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton also stood out, but they were each spectacular in their own right. And they were each highly likely to have measurably helped defeat Donald Trump. Michelle focused the mind of Democrats on the hard work ahead and ramped up volunteerism. Walz charmed a country that hardly knew him and expanded the appeal of the ticket. And Harris met the eye test for a president and gave people confidence that she’s up to the job.
This was the highest stakes convention in modern history, and the party hit a grand slam.
On a personal level, one of the things that has upset me in recent years is that my spouse and son have come to associate the American flag with Trumpism rather than love of country. I’ve argued that MAGA doesn’t own the flag and they don’t get to define its meaning. The thing is, I don’t feel like I’ve been very convincing. But at the convention, the Democrats did exactly what I wanted, which was to reclaim the flag, the U-S-A chant, and basic American pride. And they did it the right way, not with chauvinism or condescension towards others, but with a message of inclusion and global responsibility.
And maybe best of all, it didn’t come off as contrived or unconvincing, as if they were half-heartedly trying to compensate for a political weakness. It came off as the perfect expression of the moment and of a movement that is laser focused on protecting democracy and preserving America’s reputation and role in the world. It was an expression of love of country and of our neighbors, as Walz so ably framed it in his speech. This is a movement based in confidence and optimism rather than doom and gloom. The left has burst out of its defensive shell.
Meanwhile, the other side is reeling. It has won the popular vote once since 1988, which is kind of amazing when you consider their 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court. And it no longer stands for anything besides Donald Trump’s wounded ego. The Democrats spent some time each night of the convention talking about Project 2025, which is Trump’s roadmap for a second term in office, but Trump keeps disavowing the document. He’s even sending out mailers in Michigan and probably elsewhere explicitly disavowing Project 2025. But it’s the only policy he has. When he debates Harris in a few weeks, he won’t have anything to offer but distraction and bullshit, and once he leaves the stage, the Republican Party will be bereft of even that.
Which means we’re coming to the end of an era that began with Ronald Reagan passed off his conservative revolution to a reluctant Poppy Bush in 1988. Outside of the post-9/11 blip, that was the last time conservatives could win the hearts and minds of a majority of the electorate in a national election. Since that time, as was pointed out by Bill Clinton during his speech at the convention, the country has created 50 million jobs under Democratic administrations and one million jobs under the Bushes and Trump. Which is probably why the effort to keep the Reagan coalition of defense, economic and religious conservatives going finally cracked up on the shoals. Trump is an isolationist who favors tariffs and has never seen the inside of a church on a Sunday. His greatest accomplishment, taking away women’s half-century of reproductive rights, clearly troubles him because he sees it as a giant political vulnerability. He’s backing away from banning the abortion pill or any effort to ban abortion nationally, and desperately suggesting that having the states legalize abortion was his plan all along, which is both unconvincing and unsustainable in holding together his strongest base of support.
If Trump loses, and it’s still an if, the GOP will be nothing more than a smoking husk. There is no telling what will happen then.
There are 75 days left, and if we all “do something,” as Michelle Obama exhorted us to do, we will see that smoking husk soon.
