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      Hillary Clinton takes jabs at Trump and pins hope on Harris to ‘break through’ glass ceiling

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      Hillary Clinton gave one of the most powerful speeches of her career in politics on Monday as she implored American voters finally to crack the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” that had eluded her so bitterly eight years ago.In a rousing 15-minute speech at the Democratic national convention in Chicago, Clinton returned to the theme that she intended to invoke in a victory speech on election night, 8 November 2016. That speech was never delivered, the glass ceiling standing firm in the wake of her shock defeat to Donald Trump.But what she had failed to attain was within the grasp of Kamala Harris, only the second woman to be nominated at the top of a major party presidential ticket.And the man who had derided and humiliated Clinton on the campaign trail back in 2016, mocking her as “Crooked” and “Lyin’ Hillary”, was now on the defensive. “We have him on the run now,” Clinton said.Reveling in the chance to turn the tables on Trump, Clinton drew a parallel between the slights she endured at the hands of the Republican candidate in 2016 and the insults he continues to hurl at Harris in 2024. “It is no surprise that he is lying about Kamala’s record, he is mocking her name and her laugh. Sounds familiar?”Clinton compared Trump’s record as a convicted felon with Harris’s as a former prosecutor. “As a prosecutor, Kamala locked up murders and drug traffickers. Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial.”At that moment the thousands of Democratic delegates amassed on the DNC floor spontaneously burst into chants of “Lock him up! Lock him up!”. It was an ironic echo of the chant that was repeatedly directed against Clinton by Trump supporters, with his blessing, in 2016.Clinton, with the diplomacy behoving a former secretary of state, made no comment. But the way she nodded her head in synch to the chants spoke volumes.Clinton made little effort to hide that for her the hope of pushing Harris into the White House as the first female US president was profoundly personal. “We are so close to breaking through once and for all,” she said, conjuring up the image of Harris raising her hand “on the other side of that glass ceiling” to take the presidential oath of office.“This is our time America. This is when we stand up, this is when we break through.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBut her vision was also historical. She set it in the context of her mother, Dorothy Howell, born in 1919 a year before American women got the vote.She name-checked Shirley Chisholm, who in 1972 became the first woman to run for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination. And she recalled taking her daughter Chelsea Clinton in 1984 to see the first female vice-presidential nominee of a major US party, Geraldine Ferraro.Then Clinton directly faced up to her own excruciating disappointment in losing to Trump eight years ago. In what came across as a conscious effort finally to heal that terrible wound, as much for herself as for Harris and other American women who come after her, she portrayed the defeat as only a beginning.“We refused to give up on America. Millions marched, many ran for office, we kept our eyes on the future of America,” she said. “When a barrier falls for one of us, it falls for all of us.” More

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      The Guardian view on the Democratic convention: Kamala Harris must be the candidate of change as well as continuity | Editorial

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      A month ago, Joe Biden and his aides were beginning to draft a closing speech with which, on Thursday, he would top off this week’s Democratic convention in Chicago. The speech would seal Mr Biden’s bid for a second White House term and send his party out to do battle with Donald Trump in November. Instead, on Monday, Mr Biden did not deliver the convention’s closing address. He delivered his own.Mr Biden’s convention speech is one of his last big moments in the political spotlight, and the start of his withdrawal from the US political field after half a century. From today, the Democratic party belongs to Kamala Harris. It is she who matters now. For the next few days, Mr Biden will not be in Chicago or on the campaign trail, but on holiday.If Mr Biden had not withdrawn from the race, as he did last month, Democrats would undoubtedly have greeted him in Chicago with enthusiasm. But the misgivings about his age, his grasp and his ability to serve four years would never have been far away, not least in the media coverage. Nor would the growing and gut-wrenching expectation of defeat in November’s general election, a defeat that could change the United States – and the world – for ever, in irreparable ways.By stepping down, Mr Biden has turned that situation around, at least for now. Ms Harris has moved smoothly into the campaign driving seat. The party has quickly united behind her and Governor Tim Walz. They have been rewarded with a huge influx of cash and a Democratic poll uptick, both nationally and in swing states. Down-ballot Democrats are relieved too. Mr Trump still seems nonplussed. Expectations of a Democratic defeat have been replaced by expectations of a competitive contest that is winnable once again.All of this will have assured Mr Biden of a hero’s welcome in the appropriately named United Center on Monday night. The cheering comes from the party’s heart, and it is overwhelmingly deserved, the more so because it involved Mr Biden doing something he manifestly did not want to do. But he did the right thing. He deserves the plaudits.It will, however, be Ms Harris, more than Mr Biden, who defines the convention. Both have rightly made Mr Trump’s unquestionable threat to democracy and liberty the centre of their pitches. But the other key question for the week is how well Ms Harris positions herself as the candidate of change as well as continuity.Mr Biden, showcasing his achievements as he passes the baton to Ms Harris, implicitly casts her as the latter. Her own task, while embracing the Biden administration’s record, is to turn the page and become the former. The argument about Gaza, which is dominating Chicago streets as the convention starts, is the most emotive issue where this matters, but it is not the only one. A truncated campaign means Ms Harris arrived in Chicago with enthusiastic backing, but still without a domestic policy manifesto on her campaign website.Mr Biden has been a pivotal figure in the divisive 21st-century politics that emerged out of the Reagan era, 9/11, the banking crash, the rise of China and Black Lives Matter. He is also the man who saved his country once, by standing against Mr Trump in 2020, and may perhaps have done it again, by not standing against him four years later. As he leaves the stage, the US – and the world – should salute him. Ms Harris, however, must use this week to speak to America’s future too. More

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      Biden lands in Chicago ahead of Democratic convention speech as thousands protest Gaza war near venue – live

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      Joe Biden has arrived in Chicago, where he is scheduled to this evening address the Democratic national convention.After arriving on Air Force One at O’Hare international airport, the president flew on the Marine One helicopter to Soldier Field, just south of downtown:Biden’s speech this evening will be one of the last major appearances in his more than half-century career in politics, after he last month opted to end his bid for a second term and allowed Kamala Harris to take his place atop the Democratic ticket.In addition to Biden, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are also scheduled to address the convention in the coming days.The protest march against the Democratic national convention has alighted at a city park within sight of the United Center in Chicago.“What does Harris stand for? Genocide and war. We know what that meeting’s for. Genocide and war”, protesters chanted, facing the convention center. “If we don’t get no justice, then they don’t get no peace.”Speaking to the Guardian after the podcast recording, congresswoman Becca Balint of Vermont said her young constituents are fired up and ready to work to elect Kamala Harris in November.“The people that you should be centering in the work that you do back home are those folks who are going to be the future leaders in those communities and those organizations,” Balint said.Asked whether she thought Harris had done an effective job so far in centering young voices, Balint said that she has been very impressed by the vice-president’s campaign.“It’s remarkable when you think about what they’ve done in just a few weeks time,” Balint said. “I think that they understand that it is about the future.”Three House Democrats – Becca Balint of Vermont, Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Maxwell Frost of Florida – sat down with podcast host Molly Jong-Fast and Skye Perryman, president of the group Democracy Forward, for an interview in Chicago this afternoon.Asked about Project 2025, Crockett said there is “no daylight” between the rightwing manifesto and Donald Trump’s agenda, even though the former president has tried to distance himself from the effort.“I’m not saying that just because I’m a proud Democrat,” Crockett said. “I’m saying that because over 30 people that either worked in his administration or worked on his campaign are the authors of this.”Frost added that young people are fired up about Harris’s campaign in part because they are scared about the policy proposals promoted in Project 2025.Discussing the newfound enthusiasm around Harris’s candidacy, Frost noted that the ranks of new campaign volunteers are “very diverse”.“That shows that our movement and the vice-president and what she’s doing has gotten to the culture,” Frost said. “And that’s when you have truly untapped movement potential.”Joe and Jill Biden came onto the stage at the United Center, where the Democratic convention is taking place, for a quick sound check ahead of their speech at the convention tonight.Reporters in the room shouted questions at the president, including whether he was ready to pass the torch. Biden replied: “I am.”Asked about what his speech’s message would be, Biden said: “You’ll hear tonight.”Joe Biden has arrived in Chicago, where he is scheduled to this evening address the Democratic national convention.After arriving on Air Force One at O’Hare international airport, the president flew on the Marine One helicopter to Soldier Field, just south of downtown:Biden’s speech this evening will be one of the last major appearances in his more than half-century career in politics, after he last month opted to end his bid for a second term and allowed Kamala Harris to take his place atop the Democratic ticket.In addition to Biden, former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are also scheduled to address the convention in the coming days.Thousands of people gathered this afternoon in a Chicago park not far from the venue of the Democratic national convention to protest the party’s stance on Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the Guardian’s George Chidi and Andrew Roth report.The demonstration was one of several expected during the convention over Joe Biden’s policy of supplying Israel with weapons used in the incursion, while pushing for it to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas. Among the protesters was independent presidential candidate Cornel West, as well as people with family members in Gaza.Here’s more:
      About half a mile east of the Democratic national convention in Chicago, Union Park filled at noon Monday with demonstrators intent on sending a message to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, delegates and the world: that the war in Gaza should not be an afterthought.
      Organizers for the Coalition to March on the 2024 Democratic convention drew 172 local and national organizations together for the protest. Thousands of people gathered for the march, one of the main anti-war demonstrations this week.
      “This is not about some Machiavellian politics,” said social critic and independent presidential candidate Cornel West at the onset. “This is about morality. This is about spirituality.”
      Mo Hussief, a Chicago accountant, joined the rally.
      “My family is in Gaza,” Hussief said. “I’ve had over 100 family members murdered over the last 10 months by the genocide. So, I’m here to protest as an American, to say I don’t want my tax dollars to be used to murder my own family.”
      Hussief is a Democratic voter. Or, he had been, he said. He supports labor rights and wants public healthcare support, key Democratic policy goals. But none of that brings back dead cousins in Jabalia, he said. The death toll in Gaza hit at least 40,000 last week.
      Hussief said it is impossible for him to cast a ballot for the vice-president as long as she supports arming Israel.
      “I want the Democrats to basically do a weapons embargo for Israel,” he said. “If there is a weapons embargo on Israel, I will 100% vote for Harris. I love Tim Walz. The Democratic party does align on domestic issues. But for me, they have to end the genocide.”
      Read the full story here:Singer-songwriter James Taylor will perform at the Democratic national convention, and was spotted by photographers rehearsing in the hall:In addition to Taylor, the Hollywood Reporter says that Americana star Jason Isbell and country artist Mickey Guyton will also perform at the convention.George Santos, the former Republican congressman from New York, pleaded guilty on Monday to criminal corruption charges.Santos pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a minimum two-year prison sentence.Joe Biden was “continuing to fine-tune” his speech tonight at the Democratic national convention, the White House said.The president was in a “great mood” and in “great spirits”, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters as Air Force One landed in Chicago’s O’Hare airport this afternoon.Biden plans to “spend time, continuing to prep for his big night”, she said.Donald Trump has been speaking at a factory plant in York, Pennsylvania, his second campaign stop in the battleground state in less than two days.Addressing workers, Trump said America’s future would be “built right here in Pennsylvania, and it will be built by American workers like you” if he is re-elected to the White House.Kamala Harris is calling for raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, according to her campaign.In a statement shared by NBC News, Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer said the Democratic presidential candidate would push for a 28% corporate tax rate, calling it “a fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share”. The statement added:
      As President, Kamala Harris will focus on creating an opportunity economy for the middle class that advances their economic security, stability, and dignity.
      Cornel West, the independent presidential candidate, has made a surprise appearance at the protest at Chicago’s Union Park, Semafor’s David Weigel reports:Organizers of the Coalition to March on the DNC had predicted a crowd of tens of thousands as recently as Monday morning, but the Washington Post reports that fewer than 2,000 protesters filled a portion of Chicago’s Union Park by this afternoon.Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, will deliver a speech at the Democratic national convention on Tuesday night.Sanders will speak “to the popularity of a progressive economic agenda that delivers for the working class of America”, a statement from his office said.
      The address will also highlight the critical importance of getting big money out of the political process, and ending the greed of the billionaire class.
      Sanders is scheduled to speak at 8.30pm CT.Congressional Republicans have accused Joe Biden of “egregious” conduct for which he should be impeached – despite providing no evidence that the president committed a crime – in a 291-page report whose impact has been significantly blunted by his withdrawal from the presidential race.In what was supposed to be a central theme of the GOP’s drive to derail Biden’s re-election effort, the report alleges that he was the architect and beneficiary of a lucrative influence-peddling scheme fronted by his son, Hunter Biden, and brother, James Biden.The culmination of a months-long impeachment inquiry conducted by three Republican-led House of Representatives committees – the oversight, judiciary and ways and means panels – the report was timed to coincide with the opening of the Democratic national convention in Chicago, but it is now Kamala Harris, the vice-president, at the top of the ticket, not Biden.“Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that President Biden participated in a conspiracy to monetise his office of public trust to enrich his family,” the report states.
      President Biden’s participation in this conspiracy to enrich his family constitutes impeachable conduct.
      It added:
      The totality of the corrupt conduct uncovered by the Committees is egregious. President Joe Biden conspired to commit influence peddling and grift. In doing so, he abused his office and, by repeatedly lying about his abuse of office, has defrauded the United States to enrich his family.
      However, the report failed to provide evidence that Biden committed a crime and appeared to fall short of the constitutional definition of “high crimes and misdemeanours” required to impeach a sitting president.My colleague Rachel Leingang has been eyeing the merchandise section of the Democratic national convention in Chicago: More