With DNC speech, Walz shows he and Harris have the integrity and relatability Trump lacks
A month ago, the third night of the Democratic National Convention was supposed to be Vice President Kamala Harris' night. But after President Joe Biden surprised Democrats by dropping out of the 2024 race, Wednesday's event in Chicago will be the moment voters are introduced to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instead.
Lauded by the left for his policies on free school lunches, abortion and the state's "trans refuge" law, Walz has been chastised by conservatives for raising taxes to pay for it all and credit him for the state's lagging economy. Walz's record – military or otherwise – has been a popular talking point since Harris announced her vice presidential pick earlier this month. Will he come out swinging and defend it onstage? Or tone down his "Midwest Nice" "weird" jabs in an appeal to moderate voters?
There are 76 days to go until Election Day, and USA TODAY Opinion columnists have a lot to say about the shake-up on the Democratic ticket. We'll bring you live commentary and analysis alongside on-the-ground coverage from the convention at the United Center.
DNC Day 3 recap: Still on the fence? Here's who you're voting for.
The integrity and class of the Harris-Walz campaign cut a stark contrast against that of the Florida billionaire Republican nominee and his paranoid, racist running mate.
But some undecided voters are still on the fence about whom to support. If you’re one of those people who can’t decide between two presidential nominees as different as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, not to mention their running mates, let me break down who you’re voting for.
In the presidential race:
A former California attorney general, former U.S. senator and sitting vice president of the United States with minimal, if any, scandal to speak of vs. the man found civilly liable for sexually abusing and defaming a woman and criminally liable for falsifying business records of hush money payments to a porn star.
In the VP race:
The guy spewing vitriol about “ethnic enclaves” and grumbling about working-class America who ended up a venture capitalist worth about $10 million vs. a guy who doesn’t own stocks or even a home and was a high school geography teacher and football coach.
If you watched the RNC last month, you saw a good reminder of the kind of president Trump was. His rambling, 90-minute tangent was all about him and didn’t make much sense. His presidency was also all about him and promoting his businesses, which made him lots of dollars.
Do we really want a return to the divisiveness and criminality that were the hallmarks of the Trump presidency?
Maybe President Barack Obama put it best in his speech Tuesday night when he said, “We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse."
— Carli Pierson, USA TODAY
Tim Walz accepts Democratic vice president nomination by being a dad
The first word out of Tim Walz’s mouth as he took the stage in Chicago to accept the Democratic vice presidential nomination was a highly believable “Wow.”
You get the feeling watching the Minnesota governor that he’s truly honored to be running with Vice President Kamala Harris and that he’s getting a heck of a kick out of the whole thing.
With a lead-up that included the football team he coached to a state championship, stuffing their dad bods into jerseys and rallying on the DNC stage, Walz launched into a forceful speech that still maintained his relatable air.
At one point, explaining the things Harris would do if elected president, he instructed: “This is the part, clip and save it and send it to your undecided relatives so they know.”
He spoke of preserving reproductive rights, using his go-to line “We've got a golden rule. Mind your own damn business!”
His son, Gus, was standing up in the crowd, tears in his eyes, shouting, “That’s my dad!”
Simply put, Walz and his family are wildly relatable. I’m not sure precisely what led Harris to choose the former teacher, but his authenticity had to play a part. He is who he is and, as evidenced by his strong polling since he was picked, people appreciate that.
Coach Walz came out Wednesday night with a lot on the line. He didn’t disappoint.
— Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
Pete Buttigieg reminds us what family can be
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took the DNC stage to talk about how we don’t want to return to a Trump presidency.
He spent part of his speech talking about the danger Trump poses and JD Vance's comments on childless people. Buttigieg pointed out that he didn’t have children while serving in the Navy.
I did get a little emotional hearing him talk about his family. He described a scene at his family’s dinner table, complete with messy children and pet dogs.
“The existence of my family is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recently as 25 years ago,” Buttigieg said.
This is something that’s easy to forget when you’re young. It’s also a reminder of what’s at stake in this election if Trump keeps us from moving forward.
— Sara Peque?o, USA TODAY
Oprah speaks to independent and undecided voters: ‘Let us choose the sweet promise of tomorrow’
Queen Oprah Winfrey took the stage in an electric purple power suit, purple-rimmed glasses and purple, very expensive-looking earrings. She had my full attention. She always does.
“We are not so different from our neighbors,” she said.
“These are complicated times, people, and they require adult conversation.”
“Values and character matter most of all.”
“Let us choose loyalty to the Constitution over loyalty to any individual.”
“Let us choose the sweet promise of tomorrow over the bitter return to yesterday.”
What does one even say after Oprah takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention? There’s nothing left to say because she said it all. She said it to Democrats, independents and undecided voters, and she said it better than all the politicians, before and probably after her.
— Carli Pierson, USA TODAY
Bill Clinton took the stage with a hoarse voice and a powerful message
Former President Bill Clinton took the stage with a hoarse voice and a moving message. He acknowledged that there might not be many more DNCs left for him to attend – he just recently turned 78.
And for a man known for being extremely gifted at telling people what they want to hear, his speech felt much more heartfelt, much more sincere, than other speeches I have heard over the years.
I know a lot of folks weren’t excited to listen to him Wednesday night, but when he reminded the audience that electing this team, this “breath of fresh air,” is something we could be proud of for generations, everyone in that room agreed.
— Carli Pierson, USA TODAY
Voters are making one thing clear: Tim Walz is better than JD Vance
As America prepares to formally meet Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz at Wednesday night’s Democratic National Convention, one thing is clear: Voters already like the avuncular Minnesota governor a lot better than increasingly awkward Republican VP nominee JD Vance.
Among those who say they know enough about Walz to form an opinion, he has a +11-point favorability rating, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.
For Vance, again among those who have formed an opinion, it’s a dismal favorability rating of minus 17 points.
Whomp whomp.
Another poll, from the Saint Anselm College Survey Center at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, found that Walz is “far more popular” than Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, “with a 50%-41% favorability rating, making him the best regarded among the four candidates. Vance, who has had a challenging start, is less popular than Trump, with a favorability of 41%-53%.”
The disparity might have something to do with the fact that Walz seems like the neighbor who helps you tune up your lawnmower and Vance seems like the creepy guy next door who calls city hall because your fence is 3 centimeters over the property line.
— Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
With Maren Morris, Mickey Guyton, Jason Isbell, Democrats make a play to the country music crowd
Mickey Guyton performed "All American" during the first night of the Democratic National Convention. Later, Americana artist Jason Isbell took to the stage to sing “Something More Than Free.” Their appearances were a not-so-subtle appeal to working-class country music fans who might have grown tired of Trump’s antics. Smart, to say the least.
For years, while the left has appealed to its diverse base by associating with acts from music’s most “urban” genres (see Megan Thee Stallion’s four-song set at a Kamala Harris rally in Atlanta earlier this month), country music has remained within the sole purview of the right.
It matters that Democrats are attempting to capture and shift the narrative that true, down-home American patriots must rally for the GOP. And amid the onslaught of Monday night’s excitement and celebratory backslapping, Guyton and Isbell's stage turns were rare moments in which the Democrats didn’t preach to a well-established choir.
But while I commend Democrats for attempting to appeal to voters outside their core base, I was confused by the lack of an appeal to disillusioned members within it. Read the full column.
— Andrea Williams, The Tennessean
Georgia Republican gives GOP permission to vote for Harris
Republican former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan took the stage on the Democratic National Convention’s third night and did what more high-profile Republicans need to do: He presented a permission structure for conservatives to vote for Kamala Harris.
Duncan said that after Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election, he saw him as a “direct threat to democracy, and his actions disqualified him from ever, ever, ever stepping foot into the Oval Office again.”
He encouraged “the millions of Republicans and independents sitting at home that are sick and tired of making excuses for Donald Trump” to “dump Trump.”
In a line that brought the house down – a line I can only hope other Republicans will echo – Duncan said, “Let me be clear to my Republican friends at home watching: If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you're not a Democrat, you're a patriot.”
Republicans cannot begin to rehabilitate their party, which has fallen under the spell of a destructive convicted felon, without getting rid of Trump. Many know how dangerous he is but can’t bring themselves to vote for a Democrat.
As Duncan honorably suggested, this is a moment where the country has to come before the party. Here’s hoping his message is heard.
— Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
As DNC Day 3 approached, Trump’s weird MAGA brainworms were on full display
As Democrats prepared for the third night of their national convention in Chicago, the GOP presidential nominee was in North Carolina giving a stream-of-consciousness rant about a lot of things that are absolutely not happening in America.
What follows is a direct quote of Trump’s alternate-reality comments suggesting that South American countries are solving their crime problems by sending all their criminals into America. It’s worth noting that border encounters have plummeted over the past five months, and that crime in America is down dramatically.
“We have a country that's loaded up with many, many criminals right now, of the worst, they emptied their jails. They emptied their jails and prisons. They emptied their mental institutions into our country largely. Now they're continuing to do it. But if you look at many of these countries that we're talking about, frankly, who can blame them? They're dropping their prisoners into the United States of America. They're dropping all of these people into the United States, including their mental institution people. Any terrorists they have, they're dropping them into the United States. We're taking hundreds of thousands of people that were in jail for murder. You take a look at Venezuela, their jails are half. And I'm surprised half, because frankly, I would have worked faster than that. If I were running it, I would have had all of them out of there by now. They go to Caracas. They take all their gang members, all of their killers, their murderers, their drug dealers, they take them and they're putting them into the United States and their crime is down 72%. In fact, next time what we'll do instead of North Carolina, we'll have our next little gathering in Venezuela, because it will be much safer than being in our country. If these people win, you're not going to have any meetings, you're not going to have anything. They'll be chaos in our country.”
– Donald Trump
That, apparently, is the GOP’s counterprogramming to the largely optimistic messages coming from the DNC.
— Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
Planned Parenthood mobile clinic at DNC sends a powerful message about reproductive rights
A few months ago, I was searching the internet for abortion pills for a friend who lives in Florida. I couldn’t find any.
Mifepristone is the first of two pills you need to take for a medication abortion (often called an “abortion pill”). Since the special interest takeover of the Supreme Court, women and girls have been desperately scouring the internet to find them.
When I read that Planned Parenthood had parked its mobile clinic outside the DNC in Chicago and was offering abortion pills and vasectomies, I immediately thought of my grandmother.
Grandma was a Planned Parenthood volunteer until her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease made it too hard to work. Her own family story motivated her to help other young women and men: Her mother died during a botched, illegal abortion in 1936. If abortions had been legal, she wouldn’t have died. Her father wouldn’t have turned to alcoholism and she wouldn’t have had a stepbrother that likely sexually abused her.
A woman being able to make choices about her body has so many far-reaching repercussions on so many others.
If Grandma were here today, she’d be watching every televised minute of the DNC and calling me to ask if I had donated to Planned Parenthood and Kamala Harris. If she were still with us, she’d be glad to have an abortion advocate like Harris running for the presidency.
Grandma, this DNC is for you.
— Carli Pierson, USA TODAY
The only way RFK Jr. could get into the White House is at Trump’s side
It’s been a bumpy summer for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – as both the scion and the bane of one of America’s most legendary political families – as his independent run for president has faltered amid controversy and a slide in polling.
Kennedy’s campaign on Wednesday afternoon announced that he will “address the nation” Friday at an event in Phoenix “about the present historical moment and his path forward.”
Is that path an exit from the race and an embrace of former President Donald Trump’s bid for another term in the White House?
Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, might have dropped a spoiler in that drama Tuesday when she announced on a podcast that their ticket had only two options – press ahead to try to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris or drop out and “join forces” with Trump. Several media outlets are now reporting it will happen.
We know Kennedy met with Trump last month just before the Republican National Convention but found Harris less hospitable when he tried to meet with her recently.
Trump on Tuesday said he would “certainly” be open to giving Kennedy a role in the next administration if Kennedy endorsed him and he won in November.
That demonstrates an inversion of conventional wisdom, because Kennedy was originally seen as a threat to draw votes away from the Democratic nominee for president but more recently was seen as a threat to sap votes from Trump.
— Chris Brennan, USA TODAY
Good for DNC for giving voice to parents of Hamas hostage
I wasn’t expecting to be surprised by much that I heard at the Democratic National Convention.
But I was pleasantly surprised that Democrats invited Chicago natives Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin on the stage Wednesday. They are the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was kidnapped and injured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack at an Israeli music festival.
They received a standing ovation and chants from the crowd of “bring them home,” referring to the 109 hostages still being held by Hamas.
Holding back their emotion, the Polins spoke powerfully to the grief they’ve experienced these past months, knowing their only son remains in the grasp of these terrorists.
Goldberg described her son this way:
“He’s 23 years old. And like Vice President Kamala Harris, Hersh was born in Oakland, California. Hersh is a happy-go-lucky, laid-back, good-humored, respectful and curious person. He is a civilian. He loves soccer, is wild about music and music festivals, and he has been obsessed with geography and travel since he was a little boy.”
These parents’ story serves as a stark contrast to the pro-Palestinian “protesters” wreaking havoc outside the convention area. They’ve breached security fences and burned the U.S. flag, among other bad behavior.
The Polins should be commended for sharing their pain to remind Americans what Oct. 7 was all about.
— Ingrid Jacques, USA TODAY
Michelle Obama talked about race. Good. Get it out of the shadows.
Michelle Obama told the story that needed to be told Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention and put race on the front burner of the presidential election.
Not only did the former first lady offer Americans who don’t understand a glimpse into what it means to be Black and in an important position, she did something that no one else taking the stage could do: She spoke about what Kamala Harris will face as a woman of Jamaican and Indian descent running for president.
“In this race, only Kamala Harris truly understands the unseen labor and unwavering commitment that has always made America great,” Obama said.
“Unfortunately,” she added, “we know what comes next."
Trump made a litany of false claims about former President Barack Obama, including the zany allegation that his administration left the military with no ammunition, that Obama wiretapped him, that Obama was not born in America.
On Tuesday, Michelle Obama summed up those lies about her husband and others this way: “For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us.”
The “us” she referred to is educated African Americans.
That reprehensible pattern is repeating itself. Recently, Trump questioned Harris’ nationality at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago. In an interview that turned hostile quickly, he claimed that he thought she was only of Indian heritage until a few years ago. Read the full column.
— James E. Causey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
In Ohio, idiot and racist Hulk Hogan says he wants to body slam Kamala Harris
While intermittent celebrity appearances at the Democratic National Convention are creating viral moments – particularly Atlanta rapper Lil Jon’s surprise “Turn Down for What” blast during Tuesday’s delegate roll call – one of the bigger names from last month’s Republican National Convention is creating chaos.
Wrestler Hulk Hogan, who spoke glowingly of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump on the final night of the RNC, was at an Ohio event Tuesday night where he asked the crowd if he should “body slam Kamala Harris” and questioned the biracial Democratic presidential nominee’s racial identity, saying, “Is Kamala a chameleon? Is she Indian?”; and then shouted “How!”, a wildly offensive stereotype of a Native American greeting.
Along with demonstrating that he’s both an idiot and a racist, Hogan also showed he doesn’t understand the difference between a person of South Asian descent and a Native American.
All in all, it’s a perfect encapsulation of the top-notch talents Republicans were able to draw into their convention.
Wednesday night at the DNC, according to CNN, John Legend will perform, and Pink will be on stage Thursday. I doubt either will talk about body slamming Trump.
— Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
Does anyone remember Joe Biden is still president?
Something that has struck me so far about the Democratic National Convention this week is just how darn quickly the party faithful have moved on from President Joe Biden.
So quickly in fact, it’s almost easy to forget he’s still president.
Biden was given a Monday night speaking spot, which is unusual for someone of his stature. And he didn’t even get to start talking until well past prime time: 11:30 p.m. ET.
All the attention is being showered on Vice President Kamala Harris, who was very ready to step into the role of presidential candidate once Biden was forced out of the race.
As I wrote in a recent column:
“Didn’t Biden deserve a little better treatment?
He is still president after all, and Harris owes him a lot. She didn’t have to go through the primary process thanks to him, and his moving out of the way so late in the game pretty much sealed Harris' nomination.”
You can read the full column here.
— Ingrid Jacques, USA TODAY
The DNC protests are a required part of our democracy
Thousands of protesters representing 270 groups have marched in Chicago, for the DNC. It followed a weekend of protests in solidarity with Palestinians and will continue into the week. That's a good thing.
Pro-Palestinian protesters are exercising their rights and encouraging an important conversation within the Democratic Party. They are asking us to consider the lives of people who are being killed and injured by U.S.-made weapons.
The best thing for everyone would be to let these protests occur without comparisons with the 1968 DNC. How the party responds could determine whether the energy that Harris has amassed will continue growing.
The right, on the other hand, seems to be waiting for chaos that might never materialize. Hopefully, the entire week will remain peaceful. Read the full column.
— Sara Peque?o, USA TODAY
Trump and Harris fail Econ 101
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have found common ground in rejecting sound economics in favor of populist politics.
Both major party candidates have settled on cringeworthy policies that sound wonderful if Americans suspend brain function and ignore the consequences. Pointing out what voters care about most, James Carville famously noted, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
We should find politicians who actually understand how it works.
Ignore Harris and Biden’s talking points that corporate greed is driving high prices. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco evaluated such claims earlier this year and found “rising markups have not been a main driver of the recent surge and subsequent decline in inflation during the current recovery.”
Truth and politics often diverge where there is a useful scapegoat. Read the full column.
— Cameron Smith, The Tennessean
Are you happy with the Harris campaign? Thank Biden.
If you like what you’ve been seeing at the Democratic National Convention this week in Chicago, you can thank Joe Biden.
If you’re enjoying seeing Donald Trump’s reelection campaign flail and spiral, you can thank Joe Biden.
And if you’re digging the Democrats' joyful message and newfound enthusiasm … well, you know.
None of what’s happening now in the presidential race would be happening without Biden stepping aside and supporting Harris’ ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket.
Harris and her team have done a remarkable job launching her presidential campaign and swinging the polls in her direction. Trump and the Republican Party have done a spectacularly bad job responding. But it all started with what is arguably one of the most selfless decisions in American political history. Read the full column.
— Rex Huppke, USA TODAY
Democrats celebrate abortion access in Chicago
OK, Democrats. We get it. Not only do you want to expand abortion rights around the country. You celebrate abortion, too.
That’s the message being sent from Chicago this week during the Democratic National Convention.
On Monday and Tuesday, the first two days of the convention, attendees had the opportunity to schedule a medication abortion or a vasectomy (for free!) at a “mobile health clinic” courtesy of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers. The group parked its giant RV close to the convention area, and all the appointments got booked.
While giving a tour of the clinic, Dr. Colleen McNicholas acted like she was talking about a hip new bar – not a place where abortions take place.
“Just a regular health care office. Isn’t that exciting?” she says in a video posted to social media.
I don’t know if “exciting” is the word to describe such consequential actions.
On Sunday, during a protest ahead of the DNC’s official start, a group of women dressed as giant abortion pills marched down Michigan Avenue.
And there’s also Freeda (Womb), a giant blow-up intrauterine device (IUD) that will stay in Chicago all week, courtesy of Americans for Contraception, which is on a nationwide tour.
This all seems a bit much, doesn’t it?
— Ingrid Jacques, USA TODAY
Harris can distinguish her campaign by following international law on Gaza
If Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris really wants to distinguish her campaign from President Joe Biden's, she should start by following international human rights law.
In January, the International Court of Justice stipulated that Israel “take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of … the Genocide Convention.”
Israel has not listened.
Human Rights Watch investigations have revealed that Israel continues to use starvation as a weapon of war, which is a war crime. The same goes for attacks on hospitals and schools, and a continued blockade of humanitarian aid ? all of which are illegal under international law.
Protests are part of our democracy: The DNC protests in support of Palestinians need to happen. Why isn't that obvious?
Before Israel's disproportionate retaliation for Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, that country's continued occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, its blockade of Gaza and its closure of Gaza's border were also war crimes, according to the occupying power's responsibilities delineated in the Fourth Geneva Convention.
With more than 40,000 deaths counted by Gaza's Ministry of Health ? expert estimates consider that a grave undercount and place the number of dead four times larger at 186,000 ? Harris has a decision to make.
Harris gets to define the tenor of her candidacy and, hopefully, her presidency. Respecting international human rights law is a good place to start.
— Carli Pierson, USA TODAY
Harris is laying out her policy at the DNC. Republicans should hammer her on it.
Harris has enjoyed a steady rise in the polls, mostly due to the fact that she is not Biden or Trump. She is an alternative voters have said they wanted.
That could very well change this week, though. I believe that change has begun.
As I said in a column earlier this month, Trump and other Republicans should be looking to hit Harris hard on policy. While she hasn’t given Americans much in the way of proposals so far, the DNC began Monday, and it will be one of the first displays of what a Harris administration would seek to accomplish.
The challenge now in front of Harris and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is to sell their progressive policy message to Americans.
Republicans should soon have plenty to work with going forward. Read the full column.
— Dace Potas, USA TODAY
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DNC analysis: Walz caps Clinton, Oprah night by energizing Democrats
