(NEW YORK) — As schools and libraries across the country face record-breaking attempts to remove books from shelves, most Americans are opposed to book restrictions in public schools, according to a new survey.
In 2023, the American Library Association (ALA) documented 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship, as well as 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials and resources.
The targeting of unique book titles increased by 65% from 2022 to 2023, reaching the highest level ever documented by ALA.
These efforts have increased alongside state legislation restricting certain school content on topics like race, sex, gender and more.
However, a new study by the Knight Foundation — a nonprofit that provides grants for journalism and the arts — found that two-thirds of Americans oppose efforts to restrict books. There are more strong opponents than strong supporters of book restrictions, with a 3-1 divide among respondents.
The study found that 62% of Americans oppose their state government legislating what content is allowable in school books.
Public school parents are more likely to be in favor of book restrictions, but more than half of parents (59%) still oppose book restrictions. This is lower than the 67% opposition rate among non-parents.
About 7% of parents with reading-age children reported their child reading an age-inappropriate book from school, and 25% of pre-K-12 parents are concerned about this happening in the future.
Classroom or library content restrictions are often based on concerns about what is deemed “age-appropriate” for certain ages — as is the case in legislation in Florida, Utah, Texas and other states.
More survey participants said it is a bigger concern to restrict students’ access to books that have educational value than it is for them to have access to books that have inappropriate content, especially when it comes to students in middle school and high school.
Six in 10 survey respondents saw age appropriateness as a legitimate reason to restrict students’ book access. However, the report found that far fewer say it is legitimate to block access to books that contradict parents’ political views, religious beliefs or moral values.
Most public school parents are confident in the appropriateness of their school’s book selections. The study also found that 78% of all adults say they are confident that their community’s public schools select appropriate books for students to read.
Though the public feels strongly about the issue — 62% call it highly important — very few have taken action themselves on the issue. Only 3% have personally engaged in the debate, according to the report — 2% engaging to maintain access and 1% to restrict access.
Conservatives are over-represented in the support for book restrictions, making up 57% of book restriction supporters but only 27% of all adults, according to the Knight Foundation. Conservatives are also less likely to feel politically represented in public school books.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota and Democratic vice-presidential nominee, during a campaign event at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. (Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Harris-Walz campaign effort to calcify the renewed enthusiasm from their party at the top of the ticket is seeing their biggest week of mobilization of the entire election cycle as the party’s national convention charges on in Chicago.
Ahead of the convention, the campaign launched what they characterize as a “weekend of action,” where over 10,000 volunteers barnstormed battlegrounds, making near 900,000 calls and knocking on more than 100,000 doors, contacting in sum over a million voters, per details first shared with ABC News. The campaign says that they were able to recruit over 24,000 volunteers.
Yet the most ambitious investments in organization will come at the latter half of the week — with the campaign hosting its largest telephone banking night of the cycle Wednesday, planning to launch 4,000 volunteers to work the lines.
On Thursday, the campaign will host 500 watch parties across the country in every state as Vice President Kamala Harris delivers her formal acceptance speech as the party’s newly minted nominee, a process that has come together in the short span of a month.
The campaign also held volunteer trainings and launched organizing resources on Monday and Tuesday.
“This week, Vice President Harris’ vision and story will be on full display for millions of American voters in key states. But our campaign isn’t stopping there— in fact, we’re redoubling our efforts to aggressively earn the support of the voters that will decide this election.” Battleground States Director Dan Kanninen said in a statement first sent to ABC News.
“On the stage at the Democratic National Convention and on the ground via thousands of organizing trainings, phone banks and watch parties across the country, this campaign is leveraging the moment to break through and meet voters where they are — exactly the work needed to win a tough and close election this November,” the statement continued.
These efforts are part of the campaign’s new efforts to mine the honeymoon buzz around Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, moving on turning any energy into action; mission critical with what continues to be a dead-heat race between Harris and former President Donald Trump several major battleground polls. This also comes as several grassroots voter groups host large-scale virtual telethons of sorts drawing big celebrity names to recruit volunteers and entice hefty donations, often netting millions of dollars each call.
Per a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, Harris and Walz lead former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance by 50-45% among all adults. Among those now registered to vote, it’s 49-45%, a slight Harris advantage.
In a sharp swing from when President Joe Biden was the nominee, 60% of Harris’ backers support her strongly, matching Trump’s strong support and compared with just 34% strong support for Biden last month, ABC News/Ipsos found.
(MOSCOW) — In what is one of the largest drone attacks since the Russia-Ukraine war began, Moscow officials said they shot down at least 12 drones on Wendesday.
The Air Defense Forces of the Ministry of Defense shot down 10 UAVs Tuesday night and two more Wednesday morning, local time, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.
It was not clear how many drones and missiles were launched in total. Unverified videos published online showed explosions in the sky over Russia. Sobyanin said some of the drones were destroyed in the region surrounding Moscow, brought down by the city’s layered air defense.
Russian authorities said that around 60 more drones were launched into Russia. Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the attack.
Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a pre-recorded message during the second day of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024 in Chicago. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago has wrapped.
Here’s a look at some of the key moments in a night that saw highly-anticipated prime-time speeches from Barack and Michelle Obama and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, along with a few surprise guests:
Barack Obama passes the torch
Former President Barack Obama delivered the keynote speech a day after the DNC saw an emotional tribute to his vice president, President Joe Biden.
“Now the torch has been passed,” Obama said, turning to Harris’ candidacy and her campaign against former President Donald Trump.
“Now it is up to all of us to fight for the America we believe in,” he added. “And make no mistake, it will be a fight.”
Obama went on to slam Trump as a “78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rose down his golden escalator.”
“As we gather here tonight, the people who will decide this election are asking a very simple question: Who will fight for me? Who’s thinking about my future, about my children’s future, about our future together?” he asked. “One thing is for certain, Donald Trump is not losing sleep over that question.”
After more than 30 minutes on stage, Obama had a simple message for convention-goers.
“As much as any policy or program, I believe that’s what we yearn for, a return to an America where we work together and look out for each other,” Obama said.
“That is what this election is about,” he added.
Michelle Obama: ‘We cannot get a Goldilocks complex’
Former first lady Michelle Obama was greeted with an enthusiastic standing ovation as she took the stage as the penultimate speaker.
She said until recently she had mourned the “dimming” of hope felt in the country following the recent developments in the country and the loss of her mother.
However, she said she recently felt it spreading again.
“America, hope is making a comeback,” she said.
She took subtle but biting jabs at Trump, contrasting his past scandals with Harris’ years of accomplishment.
“She understands that most of us will never be afforded the grace of failing forward we will never benefit from the affirmative action of generational wealth,” she said.
“If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis, we don’t get a second, third, or fourth chance,” she added.
In her closing remarks, she warned that a handful of votes in select states would decide the election and pushed Americans to come out to the polls.
“So, we need to vote in numbers that erase any doubt we need to overwhelm any effort to suppress us. Our fate is in our hands,” she said.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff gets personal
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff reintroduced himself to America in a personal, down-to-earth speech as Harris makes a historic bid for the White House that, if elected, would make him the first-ever first gentleman.
He talked about having a “typical suburban childhood” and his fantasy football league that’s named after the band Nirvana. He touched on major life moments: going to law school, becoming a father to son Cole and daughter Ella, getting divorced and then getting set up on a blind date with Harris.
On his wife, he said she “finds joy in pursuing justice.”
“She stands up to bullies — just like my parents taught me to. She likes to see people do well — and hates when they’re treated unfairly. She believes this work requires a basic curiosity in how people are doing. Her empathy is her strength,” he said.
He talked about Harris coming to synagogue with him and making a “mean brisket for Passover.” He said Harris encouraged him as second gentleman to fight against antisemitism.
“Kamala is a joyful warrior,” he said. “It’s doing for her country what she has always done for the people she loves. Her passion will benefit all of us when she’s our president.”
Angela Alsobrooks puts spotlight on key Senate race
Democrats picked Angela Alsobrooks to give a lengthier speech than others as she runs for Senate in Maryland, a race once considered sleepy. But with popular former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan as the GOP nominee, the race is more competitive, and Democrats are desperate to keep the seat of outgoing Sen. Ben Cardin in their column.
Alsobrooks spoke about her friendship with Harris and how she looked up to her as a mentor.
Alsobrooks said when she ran for state’s attorney in 2009, she discovered Harris’ work as district attorney piloting a program to help low-level offenders get job training, GED help and more.
“After reading about this super-bad district attorney, I talked non-stop about her on the campaign trail,” she said. “Two days after I won the election, my phone rings. It’s Kamala Harris, calling to congratulate me and ask how she could help. She helped me bring Back on Track to Maryland. Crime went down, and economic growth went up. Back on Track is now a national model.”
Alsobrooks went on to tout Harris’ prosecutorial record against big banks, gangs and more.
“Kamala Harris knows how to keep criminals off the streets,” she said. “And come November, with our help, she’ll keep one out of the Oval Office.”
Illinois Gov. Pritzker on ‘weird’ GOP
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker repeated comments made by Democrats calling Trump and other Republicans “weird” over their rhetoric and actions.
He took the sentiment further, citing instances when Black or brown-skinned Americans are “derided as a DEI hire for the sin of being successful while not white.”
“Let’s be clear, it’s not ‘woke’ that limits economic growth, it’s ‘weird,'” the governor said.
“These guys aren’t just weird, they’re dangerous,” Pritzker added.
The “weird” labeling of Republicans was first adopted by Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and used widely as a tactic to label the party’s platforms and attacks.
Former Trump official touts Harris
The DNC is highlighting several former supporters of former President Donald Trump this week, including everyday Americans who previously voted for him who are now backing Harris.
But Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary, was the first of several former Trump officials slated to speak at the convention. She described herself not only as a former supporter of Trump but as a “true believer” who has since changed her tune.
“He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth,” she said of Trump.
“When I was press secretary, I got skewered for never holding a White House briefing,” Grisham added. “It’s because, unlike my boss, I never wanted to stand at that podium and lie. Now, here I am behind a podium advocating for a Democrat. And that’s because I love my country more than my party.”
Festive ceremonial roll call
A lively ceremonial roll call before the prime-time slot got the crowd energized as delegates cast their votes for Harris while songs from artists from each state blared through the arena.
The roll call featured some surprise cameos alongside more expected political leaders from their respective states, including rapper Lil Jon (Georgia) actor Sean Astin (Indiana), director Spike Lee (New York) and actress Eva Longoria (Texas).
The roll call ended with Harris addressing the crowd from a rally in Milwaukee and thanking the delegates for nominating her as the Democratic presidential nominee.
“This is a people-powered campaign, and together we will chart a new way forward,” she said.
Divers of the Vigili del Fuoco, the Italian Corps. of Firefighters, get ready in Porticello near Palermo, on August 21, 2024 two days after the British-flagged luxury yacht Bayesian sank. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON and ROME) — Rescue teams are facing a “very hard” operation to find those still missing following the sinking of a superyacht off the coast of Sicily on Monday, a spokesperson for the onsite fire brigade teams has told ABC News.
Luca Cari said that the rescue operation for the six people still missing from the U.K.-flagged Bayesian yacht is ongoing as of Wednesday morning. The vessel was lost early on Monday in stormy weather around half a mile from the fishing village of Porticello, close to the city of Palermo.
Fifteen people have so far been rescued and one body has been recovered.
“For us, it remains a rescue operation,” Cari told ABC News when asked if emergency services were transitioning to a recovery operation.
Asked if there was any hope that the missing may be surviving thanks to air pockets inside the sunk vessel, Cari responded: “One can never exclude anything but it seems rather improbable.”
Cari said that 12 of the 18 divers leading rescue efforts on Wednesday are specialized cave divers who have extensive experience working inside caves.
Divers have been operating inside the yacht for two days, he added.
“But the job is very hard because there are large obstacles and [we] have to work in very narrow spaces,” he noted.
“It’s a long process and we can only operate in short spells,” Cari added.
Divers have to be rotated constantly, with each only able to stay underwater for around 12 minutes, he said.
Two Americans — Christopher and Neda Morvillo — are among the six people still missing, ABC News confirmed on Tuesday.
Christopher Morvillo is a partner at law firm Clifford Chance and represented the yacht’s owner — British tech tycoon Mike Lynch — in his recent fraud case brought by Hewlett Packard. He is a former assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah are believed to also be among the missing.
Russian journalist and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza addresses a press conference on August 2, 2024 in Bonn, Germany, one day after being released from Russia as political prisoner in one of the biggest prisoner swaps between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. (Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — When the United States’ prisoner exchange with Russia, the largest since the Cold War, happened in early August, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s harshest critics became a free man. Vladimir Kara-Murza had been sentenced to 25 years in prison on treason charges after speaking out about the war in Ukraine.
Kara-Murza spent two and a half years locked up in different Russian prison colonies, spending 11 months of that time in solitary confinement. On Aug. 1, in a multi-country prisoner swap, the Russian-born Kara-Murza was freed along with Americans Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva — all of whom were sentenced on espionage charges and for allegedly spreading false information.
On Monday, in his first interview with ABC News since being released, Kara-Murza spoke to ABC News Live anchor Diane Macedo about how he is adjusting to a life of freedom.
“It still feels very unreal … just a few weeks ago, I was so confident that I would end my life in Putin’s Siberian prison,” he said. “And now I’m at home with my family, so it’s … something out of the books.”
That choice of words was appropriate, given Kara-Murza’s education as a historian and his study of the Soviet dissident movement. He highlighted President Joe Biden’s role in the exchange and what it tells us about the reality of politicians’ work versus the public perception.
“Only four American presidents in history — two Republicans, Ford and Reagan, and two Democrats, Carter and now Biden — have negotiated such prisoner releases, prisoner exchanges, to help save prisoners of conscience from the Soviet or Russian gulag,” he said.
“In this day and age, when there is a sort of cynical stereotype that all politics is about expediency and realpolitik, and that there’s no room for principle or value anymore, I think it is important to sort of pause and note that sometimes the leaders of Western democracy don’t just pay lip service to protecting human rights, but actually do it in practice too,” he added.
Kara-Murza may be free, but he noted that adjusting to that reality has been challenging — especially since he spent nearly 11 months straight in solitary confinement.
“By international law, by the United Nations, a minimum standard rules on the treatment of prisoners, solitary confinement longer than 15 days is officially considered to be a form of torture — degrading and inhumane treatment — because [the philosopher] Aristotle said that human beings are social animals,” he said. “We need human interaction just as much as we need oxygen to breath or food to eat or water to drink.”
He was also forbidden from calling his wife and three children, or going to church, he said. He compared the experience to the 1993 movie Groundhog Day, where a character is trapped and forced to repeat the same day over and over.
“It’s endless, meaningless and exactly the same. Wake up at 5 o’clock in the morning … you attach your bunk to the wall. And then essentially, you just sit in your small cell,” he said of this period of confinement.
Kara-Murza said he was allowed out for 90 minutes for a “small so-called walk” around a covered prison courtyard that wasn’t much bigger than his cell, he noted. Beyond that, he told ABC he was given a pen and paper for only 90 minutes each day — the only window of time he had to prepare for court hearings, read and write letters to family, friends and journalists.
Even though he was fortunate enough to be part of the prisoner exchange, Kara-Murza noted that hundreds remain in Russian prisons for “publicly opposing Putin’s dictatorship and his aggressive war against Ukraine” along with thousands of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Kara-Murza highlighted the fact that this August marks the 25th anniversary of Putin being appointed as Russia’s acting prime minister by then-President Boris Yeltsin.
“So there’s an entire generation of people in my country, in Russia, that have grown up not knowing any other political reality,” he said. “And … we know what it entails to be in opposition to Vladimir Putin’s regime.”
Kara-Murza said he was poisoned twice by agents of Russia’s FSB (Federal Security Service), prior to being sentenced to 25 years in prison.
“I care about my country. I love my country,” he said. “And I think Russia deserves a much better future than to be in the hands of an authoritarian, aggressive, murderous, illegitimate dictatorship.”
In this image that was posted to social media, Maria Branyas is shown. (@MariaBranyas112/X)
(NEW YORK) — A woman classified by Guinness World Records as the oldest person in the world died on Aug. 19 at the age of 117, her family confirmed to The New York Times.
According to Guinness World Records, Maria Branyas Morera died in Spain at the Residència Santa María del Tura nursing home in Olot, Catalonia, where she has lived since 2000.
Guinness World Records passed on the title of “oldest woman living” to Branyas Morera when Lucile Randon, a nun also known as Sister André, died in 2023 at the age of 118.
Branyas Morera, according to Guinness World Records, was born March 4, 1907, in San Francisco but moved to Catalonia with her family and later called Barcelona home. She was married in 1931 to Joan Moret, a doctor, who preceded her in death in 1976. They had three children, two daughters and a son.
“Maria Branyas has left us. She has died as she wanted: in her sleep, peacefully and without pain. A few days ago she told us: ‘One day I will leave here. I will not try coffee again, nor eat yogurt, nor caress the Fairy… I will also leave my memories, my reflections,'” her family wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Catalonia’s regional president, Salvador Illa, re-shared the post and expressed his condolences, adding in part, “We lose an endearing woman, who has taught us the value of life and the wisdom of the years.”
(NEW YORK) — After nearly two and a half months of searching, law enforcement officials zeroed in on fugitive Joshua Zimmerman, who has been on the run since escaping from the DeSoto County Circuit Court Building in Mississippi on June 14.
The United States Marshals Service located Zimmerman at a restaurant in Chicago on Tuesday, authorities said, where he barricaded himself inside. The standoff was ongoing as of late Tuesday night, with the restaurant surrounded by the Chicago SWAT team.
The investigation into Zimmerman’s escape has been extensive, with contributions from federal, state and local agencies.
“We have been working diligently for 68 days, alongside various organizations, to bring this case to a close,” a DeSoto County spokesperson noted. “We appreciate the public’s patience as we have intentionally kept details quiet to avoid spreading misinformation.”
Officials said they remain focused on extradition plans and are hopeful for a resolution soon.
“We are eager to return Zimmerman to our detention facility so we can thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding his escape,” the spokesperson said.
The high-profile case has garnered significant media attention, with major networks and public figures such as Dog the Bounty Hunter following the developments closely.
The spokesperson acknowledged the broad interest in the case, saying, “This is a significant event, and we are committed to bringing it to a successful conclusion.”
Zimmerman was charged with murdering a woman in Houston, Texas, in 2023. He was arrested on Sept. 29, 2023, by law enforcement in Mississippi on separate felony charges, as reported last year by ABC News’ Houston station KTRK-TV.
The additional charges included attempted murder, armed robbery, felon in possession of a firearm and a charge in relation to the theft of a car.
Zimmerman escaped custody while being brought to the De Soto County courthouse for a hearing along with several other inmates.
De Soto County District Attorney Matthew Barton explained that Zimmerman was able to slip away from the group, change clothes and remove his shackles. Surveillance cameras recorded Zimmerman leaving the courthouse wearing khaki pants and a white shirt.
(NEW YORK) — A former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the death of George Floyd was released from prison Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to ABC News.
Thomas Lane, 41, pleaded guilty in May 2022 to state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss charges against him for aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder.
He was sentenced to three years in prison for the state charges.
Previously, in February 2022, a federal jury convicted Lane — as well as two other former officers — for violating Floyd’s civil rights when they failed to intervene in his murder in May 2020.
He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for the federal charges.
Lane served the two sentences concurrently at FCI Englewood in Colorado. His sentence on federal charges expired earlier this year, according to a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson, while his sentence on state charges ended Tuesday.
Lane will spend the next year on supervised release, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Corrections told ABC News.
Derek Chauvin — the officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, killing him — was convicted on murder charges and sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.
In a move unrelated to Lane, Chauvin was moved to a federal prison in Big Springs, Texas, on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the situation. Chauvin was stabbed at a federal prison in Phoenix last November.
In the wake of Floyd’s murder, protests against racial injustice and police brutality broke out across the U.S. and even internationally, drawing millions.
“Thomas Lane served his time and paid his debt to society. I wish him well in his re-entry into his community,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement to Duluth ABC affiliate WDIO-TV.
Former US President Barack Obama speaks during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — Barack and Michelle Obama used their star power to lift up Vice President Kamala Harris — and eviscerate her opponent.
Representing Democrats’ modern version of political royalty, the former president and former first lady brought a raucous Chicago crowd to its feet with their distinctively soaring rhetoric. But compared to past speeches, these were different.
“When they go low, we go high,” Michelle Obama famously said during her 2016 Democratic National Convention speech.
On Tuesday, they did both.
Both praised Harris Tuesday as someone uniquely capable of connecting with the American people and deserving of a groundswell of support, issuing calls to action for Democrats to get out to the polls this November.
“Kamala Harris won’t be focused on her problems, she’ll be focused on yours. As president, she won’t just cater to her own supporters, punish those who refuse to kiss the ring or bend the knee. She’ll work on behalf of every American. That’s who Kamala is,” Barack Obama said.
“We cannot afford for anyone to sit on their hands and wait to be called upon. Don’t complain if no one from the campaign has specifically reached out to ask for your support. There is simply no time for that kind of foolishness. You know what we need to do. So, consider this to be your official ask: Michelle Obama is asking you, no I’m telling y’all, to do something,” Michelle Obama said to cheers in her speech introducing her husband.
Beyond promoting Harris, they also touted a vision of a country united, where citizens give each other the benefit of the doubt and can even learn from each other.
“Democracy isn’t just a bunch of abstract principles and dusty laws in some books somewhere. It’s the values we live by. It’s the way we treat each other, including those who don’t look like us or pray like us or see the world exactly like we do,” Barack Obama said. “To make progress on the things we care about, the things that really affect people’s lives, we need to remember that we’ve all got our blind spots and contradictions and prejudices.”
They also held nothing back in going after former President Donald Trump.
Both criticized Trump in sweeping terms, with Michelle Obama calling his style of politics “small,” and questioning ” Why would we accept this from anyone seeking our highest office?” and Barack Obama saying that Americans “do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos.”
But they also went after Trump in specific ways that were both cutting and, at times, below the belt.
“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs?'” Michelle Obama said in likely the most memorable line of the night, referencing Trump’s claims that immigrants are taking jobs away from Black citizens.
And Obama knocked Trump for his “weird obsession with crowd sizes,” measuring out his hands in a way that some on social media interpreted as a reference to genitalia size.
Each time, the crowd roared.
Democrats hailed the speech, arguing it’s just what the doctor ordered.
The speeches were “great bookends,” said Pete Giangreco, a Democratic strategist who worked on Obama’s campaigns. “Instead of making Trump big and ominous, they made him small and petty and his gripes old and tired.”
“This was just a grand slam,” added veteran Democratic strategist David Brand. “I just think that they prosecuted the case against the convicted felon so marvelously and showed that America needs to get back to normalcy and away from the chaos that is Trumpism.”
The tone of the speeches, both optimistic and critical, inspiring and combative, underscored precisely where the Democratic Party finds itself this year.
The party is jubilant over Harris’ rise to the top of its ticket, particularly after President Joe Biden’s disastrous June debate left Democrats feeling hopeless about their electoral chances in November. The United Center this week, like the party base, has been electrified.
“I am feeling fired up. I am feeling ready to go,” Barack Obama said, echoing an old campaign slogan. “I am feeling hope because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible. Because we have a chance to elect someone who has spent her entire life trying to give people the same chances America gave her.”
But lingering fears of a Trump comeback loom over the euphoria, with attendees repeatedly bringing up the 2016 election cycle, when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, another historic female candidate who Democrats were confident would win.
“People saw what happens when voters are complacent. Complacency handed us Donald Trump,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, D, told ABC News Tuesday.
With that fear, Democrats are leaving nothing to chance, unwilling to dull their rhetorical knives’ edges in the face of what they describe as nothing short of a risk to democracy in the form of Trump’s comeback bid.
“We’re talking about people who beat police officers with sticks and the American flag on Jan. 6 trying to steal a free and fair election. I’m sorry, I totally reject that,” Brand said when asked about if the Obamas’ rhetoric violated the rule of going high and not low.. “I don’t have patience for that argument about their feelings.”
