For years, Democrats have been criticized for refusing to stand up for themselves. They’ve gotten flak for going high when their Republican rivals go low.
The Democratic Party faithful simply want their leaders and allies to, as one Beyoncé song goes, twirl on their haters.
And this week, they did. Their approach seemed tactical — a way to harness the vibes that the party has been generating since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July, and potentially boost voter turnout.
“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man,” Harris said, archly. “But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.”
And Harris, on Project 2025 and Republican leaders’ war on the right to abortion: “Simply put, they are out of their minds.”
Harris used her big speech to reintroduce herself to a country that may have forgotten who she is.
The convention featured several GOP members, including John Giles, the mayor of Mesa, Arizona, who said he doesn’t feel at home in his party.
““I have an urgent message for the majority of Americans, who, like me, are in the political middle,” he said on Tuesday. “John McCain’s Republican Party is gone, and we don’t owe a damn thing to what’s been left behind.”
Oprah Winfrey got her opportunity to speak on Wednesday.
“When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted,” said Winfrey, who, though she’s an independent, is also a longtime Democratic supporter. “We just do the best we can to save them. And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out, too.”
The billionaire media mogul’s comment was a dig at Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio. In a resurfaced clip, he said that the country is governed by Democrats who are “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”
But maybe the biggest moments from this week occurred on Tuesday, when the Obamas — paragons of propriety — showed that they, too, can clap back.
“There’s the childish nicknames. The crazy conspiracy theories. This weird obsession with crowd sizes,” Barack Obama said, scoffing at Trump while he made an obvious hand gesture. “It just goes on and on and on.”
Before the former president spoke,” Michelle Obama, who in 2016 famously advocated for taking the high road, delivered some barbs to her husband’s successor.
“I want to know who’s going to tell him that the job he is currently seeking might just be one of those Black jobs?” she asked, jokingly, referencing Trump’s claim in June that immigrants are taking “Black jobs.”
“We Can Be Something Else”
But the fiery tone this week also seemed strategically designed to lock in the momentum that Harris and Walz have produced over the past few weeks, as their electoral prospects have improved.
“This feels like 2008. And part of that is that people have something to be hopeful about.” Adrianne Shropshire, the executive director of BlackPAC, a national organization focusing on political engagement, told Capital B.
Jovita Lee, the policy director of Advance Carolina, a Black-led grassroots organization, underscored the parallels between 2008 and our present day.
“Much of that same energy is present — that hope that people had in 2008 and again in 2012, that sense that there’s something to look forward to and someone to rally behind,” she said. “Before Biden dropped out, things were getting darker and darker, to be honest.”
Lee highlighted that her group hopes to sustain this joy by helping volunteers plug into already-existing organizing networks and systems.
“We’re capitalizing on the enthusiasm by getting folks to participate in things such as phone banking and canvassing, and training them on being poll workers,” she explained. “Everyone’s excited, but we have to turn that into something productive.”
But Harris made plain on Thursday that she’s the underdog, and that winning on Election Day won’t come without a struggle.
This story has been updated.
