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      Barack Obama calls on Americans to elect Kamala Harris – as it happened

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      Barack Obama brought the crowd to his feet when he described Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as leaders who would care about blue-collar workers.“In this new economy, we need a president who actually cares about the millions of people all across this country who wake up every day to do the essential, often thankless work to care for our sick and clean our streets and deliver our packages – and stand up for their right to bargain for better wages and working conditions,” he said, as he drew a standing ovation. “Kamala will be that president.”“Yes, she can,” he continued, and the crowd joined in, briefly chanting, “yes, she can!”Thanks for following our coverage of day two of the DNC. This blog is now closing. You can find our reporting on the US election here.The same chant greeted Obama when he took the stage in Chicago just after 10pm ET on Thursday and embraced his wife, Michelle. But halfway through his speech, Obama broke from his teleprompter remarks to ad lib: “Yes, she can!” The crowd instinctively chanted, “Yes, she can!” in response.There was a symbolic echo for Democrats who had come to fear that Obama’s election might be a historic aberration but now sense that it might in fact be Trump who represents the last gasp of a dying order.In a nod to his debut at the 2004 convention, Obama, now 63, quipped: “I’m feeling hopeful 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 the chance to elect someone who’s spent her whole life trying to give people the same chances America gave her. Someone who sees you and hears you and will get up every single day and fight for you: the next President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris.”The crowd roared its approval. Obama went on to pay tribute to outgoing president Joe Biden, who was not present, having delivered a valedictory address on Monday. “History will remember Joe Biden as a president who defended democracy at a moment of great danger,” he said. “I am proud to call him my president, but even prouder to call him my friend.”The torch has been passed, he continued, but “for all the rallies and the memes”, the race for the White House remains tight. He suggested the people who will decide the election are asking a simple question: who will fight for them.Amid chants of “Yes, she can!”, Barack Obama returned to the scene of past triumphs on Tuesday to pass the mantle of political history to Kamala Harris – and eviscerate her opponent Donald Trump.The former US president delivered the closing speech on night two of the Democratic national convention in his home city of Chicago. Obama prompted raucous cheers as he delivered a withering critique of Trump, who succeeded him in the White House in 2017.“We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos,” he told delegates. “We have seen that movie before and we all know that the sequel is usually worse. America is ready for a new chapter. America is ready for a better story. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris.”It was another night crackling with energy in the packed arena as America’s first Black president made the case for the nation to elect the first woman and first woman of colour to the Oval Office.Obama was speaking 20 years after he first exploded on to the political stage at the Democratic convention in Boston. That summer, Harris helped host a fundraiser for Obama’s run for the US Senate in Illinois. Four years later, she backed him against Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary, a campaign in which he coined the phrase “Yes, we can!”:Harris took aim at Trump at a rally in Milwaukee on Tuesday, criticising him for saying he had no regrets about the US Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade decision that had recognised women’s constitutional right to abortion:Tuesday night featured the ceremonial roll call when delegates from each state announce their support for the nominees. This portion of the event was led by Grammy-nominated DJ Cassidy and had party vibes as each state had its own song.Celebrities made surprise appearances – film-maker Spike Lee with the New York delegation; rapper Lil Jon with Georgia; the Stranger Things actor Sean Astin with Indiana; and actor Wendell Pierce with Louisiana. Lil Jon sang a spin on his hit, Get Low, saying, “VP Harris … Governor Walz” to the tune of the “To the window … to the wall.”The DNC brought out Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump’s former press secretary, to offer a firsthand account of the Republican nominee’s character. Grisham, a Republican operative who also served as spokesperson for former first lady Melania Trump, said Donald Trump “has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth”. Behind closed doors, she said, “Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers. On a hospital visit one time when people were dying in the ICU, he was mad that the cameras were not watching him.”Before Grisham, Kyle Sweetser, an Alabama voter, told the convention crowd he previously voted for Trump and donated to his campaign, but was now supporting Harris: “I’m not leftwing, period. But I believe our leaders should bring out the best in us, not the worst. That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris.” John Giles, mayor of Mesa, Arizona, said: “I have a confession to make. I’m a lifelong Republican. But I feel more at home here than in today’s Republican party.”Although Harris’s big speech is scheduled for Thursday, she made a surprise appearance at the convention when her large Milwaukee rally with Tim Walz was live-streamed in Chicago. The moment allowed her to energize two large crowds at the same time. On Monday at the start of the convention, Harris also made a surprise speech on stage to thank Joe Biden.In Milwaukee, Harris criticized Trump for comments earlier in the day saying he had “no regrets” about Roe v Wade. She also told her supporters: “We know this is going to be a tight race until the very end.”The former first lady had one of the most energetic receptions of the night. She reflected on how the GOP nominee had attacked her family: “For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us. See, his limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking and highly educated, successful people who happen to be Black.” She offered heartfelt praise for the vice-president, praising the “steel of her spine, the steadiness of her upbringing, the honesty of her example, and yes, the joy of her laughter and her light.“Kamala has shown her allegiance to this nation, not by spewing anger and bitterness, but by living a life of service and always pushing the doors of opportunity open to others. 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,” Obama said.The former first lady described “a deep pit in my stomach, a palpable sense of dread about the future”. But she got a standing ovation when she said, “America, hope is making a comeback.”The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders detailed an extensive progressive agenda that he said Democrats must enact if Harris and Walz take the White House. Sanders mentioned Harris’s name only a handful of times and instead focused his forceful speech on the need to expand healthcare access, reduce the cost of higher education and raise the minimum wage. In a nod to big money that has targeted progressives in primaries, Sanders said: “Billionaires in both parties should not be able to buy elections, including primary elections.” He also earned cheers when he said: “We must end this horrific war in Gaza, bring home the hostages and demand an immediate ceasefire.”A group of uncommitted delegates earlier in the night told reporters that they still hadn’t heard back from the Democratic convention on their demand to have a Palestinian American leader speak on stage.Here is Gwen Walz’s response to Obama’s comments on her husband’s wardrobe:The former president ended the second night of the convention with a characteristic call to action: “We’ll elect leaders up and down the ballot who will fight for the hopeful, forward-looking America we believe in. And together, we too will build a country that is more secure and more just, more equal and more free. So let’s get to work.” His speech prompted repeated throwbacks to his own campaign slogans, with the crowd chanting, “Yes she can!” and Obama telling the crowd, “Do not boo, vote!”He mocked Trump for his “childish nicknames”, “crazy conspiracy theories” and “weird obsession with crowd sizes”: “It’s been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually gotten worse now that Trump is afraid of losing to Kamala … The other day, I heard someone compare Trump to the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day.” Of Walz, Obama said, “I love this guy,” and of Harris, he said: “She had to work for what she’s got and she actually cares about what other people are going through. She’s not the neighbor running the leaf blower – she’s the neighbor rushing over to help when you need a hand.”Kamala Harris has pushed back on Donald Trump for saying he has “no regrets” about overturning Roe v Wade and ending women’s access to abortion in much of the US.“Yesterday, when he was asked if he has any regrets about ending Roe v Wade, Donald Trump, without even a moment’s hesitation – you would think you’d reflect on it for a second – said: ‘No regrets,’” said the vice-president at tonight’s rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just after a raucous ceremonial roll call at the Democratic national convention being held in Chicago confirmed her as the party’s nominee for president.“Bad behavior should result in a consequence. Well, we will make sure he does face a consequence, and that’ll be at the ballot box in November.”The remarks come on the heels of the former president’s repeated boasts about overturning Roe v Wade.As she wound up her speech, Michelle Obama talked about the limited time left until voting day, and warned them not to be foolish.Don’t complain if nobody has specifically reached out to you to ask you for your support, she said. “There is no time for that kind of foolishness”.“Consider this to be your official ask. Michelle Obama is asking – no I’m telling y’all, to do something.”The crowd started to chant, “Do something! Do something!”.She ended by saying there were 77 days left to “turn from the fear and division of our past” and “go higher, yes, always higher than we have ever gone before as we elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.” More

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      Trump calls his supporters ‘basement dwellers’, says former press secretary

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      Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump’s former press secretary, excoriated the Republican presidential nominee at the Democratic national convention on Tuesday, saying: “He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth.”Grisham, a Republican operative who also served as a spokesperson to Melania Trump, offered firsthand accounts of the former president’s behavior behind closed doors.“I wasn’t just a Trump supporter, I was a true believer, I was one of his closest advisers. The Trump family became my family,” she said, saying she spent her holidays at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. “I saw him when the cameras were off … Trump mocks his supporters. He calls them basement dwellers. On a hospital visit one time when people were dying in the ICU, he was mad that the cameras were not watching him.”She continued: “He used to tell me: ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie, say it enough and people will believe you.’” She repeated a story she has told before: that during the January 6 insurrection, she asked Melania Trump whether she could tweet that there was “no place for lawlessness or violence”, and the first lady gave a one-word reply: “No.”Grisham earned applause when she said she was the first senior staffer to resign that day. She ended her short speech with an endorsement of Kamala Harris, saying: “I love my country more than my party. Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people and she has my vote.”The Harris campaign and the Democratic national convention have been highlighting Republican voters who oppose Trump and are supporting the Democratic ticket.Before Grisham, Kyle Sweetser, an Alabama voter, told the convention crowd that he voted for Trump three times and repeatedly donated to the Republican: “He told us he’d look out for blue-collar workers.” But Trump’s tariffs policy negatively affected him, he said: “Costs for construction workers like me were starting to soar. I realized Trump wasn’t for me. He was for lining his own pockets.”Sweetster added: “I’m not left wing, period. But I believe our leaders should bring out the best in us, not the worst. That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris. She’s tough. She’s going to tackle inflation. Trump will make it worse. I’m voting for Kamala Harris because she’ll make us proud to be American again.”Other Republicans due to speak at the convention include Olivia Troye, a national security staffer who worked for Mike Pence, the former vice-president; Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican representative who has been a vocal critic of Trump; John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona; and Geoff Duncan, the former lieutenant governor of Georgia.Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, also showed up at the convention on Tuesday night. He and Trump have fallen out, and Cohen served as a witness for the prosecution in Trump’s hush-money trial in New York. It was not exactly clear why he showed up, but when a reporter asked if he would speak at the convention, he responded, “Only if they let me” and, “Of course I would.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionDemocratic convention highlights:

      Six key takeaways from day two of the Democratic convention

      Michelle Obama lauds Kamala Harris and takes swipe at Trump

      Bernie Sanders urges Democrats to improve lives of ‘struggling’ Americans

      Trump calls his supporters ‘basement dwellers’, says former press secretary

      Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week

      What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz More

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      Barack Obama to deliver ‘forceful affirmation’ for Kamala Harris in Democratic convention speech – live

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      The Democratic national convention just released the full schedule of its second night, confirming that Barack Obama will deliver the evening’s keynote speech, and Michelle Obama, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and independent senator Bernie Sanders are also scheduled to make remarks.The grandsons of John F Kennedy and Jimmy Carter will be among the early speakers at the convention, along with Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump’s former White House press secretary.As the night goes on, we’ll hear from Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, and then Sanders, both of whom will speak at the 8pm CT hour. Emhoff and Michelle Obama will speak after 9pm, and Barack Obama is to address delegates starting at 10pm.Do not be surprised if the schedule runs late, as it did last night.Away from the Democratic convention, RFK Jr is considering ending his campaign for president to help Donald Trump, according to his running mate.The startling disclosure was made by Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy’s vice-presidential candidate, who said the pair was considering dropping their campaign over fears it might help elect Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, as president.Shanahan’s remarks, made on the Impact Theory With Tim Bilyeau podcast, were close to an all-out admission that Kennedy’s campaign had more in common with Trump’s than Harris’s. Kennedy was a member of the Democratic party and attempted to run as its nominee before choosing to stand as an independent.Read the full story here:Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama, has warned that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, currently riding high in the polls, faces plenty of ups and downs before November.“You all remember when President Obama won the Iowa caucuses – if you are old enough to remember that,” Jarrett, speaking at Axios House in Chicago, said of Obama’s first primary campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2008. “We got: ‘Oh, my goodness!’ and ‘We are going for gold!’”Then came the New Hampshire primary and a “devastating defeat”, she added. “But out of that, people found out who he was. We came out of that terrible experience. It forced us to have to go to many more states and introduce him to many more people and, in the end, it was actually good for us.”Harris is bound to undergo “a whole multitude of tests”, Jarrett said. “She is absolutely on a roll right now. I think it’s a hands-up enthusiasm. People are just tired of all the negativity, the polarisation, the toxicity. I think what Governor Walz said: she’s full of joy. People want joy. They actually want to like each other.”Harris, who has replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, has embarked on a much shorter campaign than the one Obama fought. Jarrett expressed confidence in Harris and running mate Tim Walz and their advisers to deal with obstacles and keep pushing forward.Hot from his primetime appearance at the Democratic convention on Monday night, Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), has been explaining to reporters why he wore a T-shirt imprinted with the phrase “Trump is a scab.”“I’ve been a union member for UAW for 30 years, and we have a term for people that cross picket lines and don’t respect working-class people. We call them scabs, and that’s what Donald Trump is.”Fain said that the political leanings of the UAW’s more than 1 million active and retired members had remained stable over the years at about 65% Democratic and 30-32% Republican. But he predicted that this time around, the gap would widen as union members gravitate towards Kamala Harris.“She’s an amazing, very strong woman. I think people underestimate her, and that’s a huge mistake. I think she’s going to move a massive mountain come November,” he said.The UAW is preparing to launch in the next week or so what has been billed as the biggest field campaign in its history to persuade its members to turn out to vote.Fain said that in his view, people would lean towards the Democratic ticket because when they look at Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, “they see themselves. I mean, no one looks at Donald Trump and says: ‘I identify with that person.’”The Democratic national convention just released the full schedule of its second night, confirming that Barack Obama will deliver the evening’s keynote speech, and Michelle Obama, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and independent senator Bernie Sanders are also scheduled to make remarks.The grandsons of John F Kennedy and Jimmy Carter will be among the early speakers at the convention, along with Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump’s former White House press secretary.As the night goes on, we’ll hear from Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, and then Sanders, both of whom will speak at the 8pm CT hour. Emhoff and Michelle Obama will speak after 9pm, and Barack Obama is to address delegates starting at 10pm.Do not be surprised if the schedule runs late, as it did last night.Lurking in the United Center’s rafters are thousands of balloons that are primed to drop:Political conventions, both Democratic and Republican, typically end with a cascade of balloons. Expect to see that on Thursday night, after Kamala Harris ends her keynote address.Arizona senator Mark Kelly and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg spoke at the Veterans and Military Families Council at the Democratic national convention today, arguing that concepts of patriotism and freedom are not the monopoly of the Republican party.“Folks come from all over our country, with all kinds of backgrounds to serve,” Kelly said. “We’ve all served alongside folks of different political stripes, and some who are not political at all … Some Republicans want to think that their political party has a monopoly on patriotism. No party does. But it’s clear which political candidate supports military veterans, and which one does not.”Kelly took Trump to task for his recent comments suggesting that the Presidential Medal of Freedom was a “better” award than the Medal of Honor because “everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead.”“The VFW, of which I am a member, called these comments asinine,” said Kelly, a former astronaut and Gulf war veteran. “I agree.”Both Kelly and Buttigieg made oblique references to the attacks made by Republicans on the record of Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz.“You can count from the despicable way – the weird way – that he talks about the service,” Buttigieg said, “There’s a through-line that goes all the way back to the days when Donald Trump used his status as a teenage multimillionaire to procure a doctor’s note to pretend that he was unable to serve, so that some working-class man from who knows, maybe the south side of Chicago went to Vietnam in his place. There’s an unbroken pattern right there of not being able to grasp service to others. Veterans understand service to others. Today’s Democrats understand service to others.”Gwen Walz, wife of the Democratic VP pick, spoke with pride of their service as teachers, and his service as a national guardsman. “I will put that service up against anyone’s,” Walz said. “We are building a future for all of us, each and every one of us that we can be proud of.”It’s sound check time inside the United Center, where the Democratic national convention is being held, and the few journalists and guests in the venue early are getting a sneak peak of who’s performing tonight.Rapper Common is onstage now, spitting verse that pays tribute to Kamala Harris.“Let’s go, ya’ll! Chitown! DNC!” he said, to a smattering of applause. There aren’t that many people here, but he will probably get a much louder reception in a few hours.We reported earlier that the US Secret Service was looking into bomb threats made on Tuesday at “various locations” in Chicago where the Democratic national convention is taking place.According to a police scanner, 14 bomb threats were made today, mostly at hotels in downtown Chicago.I’ve been over at the McCormick Place convention center all day again, popping in and out of caucus and council meetings. And I finally had a chance to check out Dempalooza, an expo event with a bunch of vendors – some selling Democratic and Harris merch, some selling local goods, some selling politics.I saw at least five Kamala Harris cardboard cutouts and a “coconut room”, a nod to Harris’ iconic “you think you just fell out of a coconut tree” line that social media loves.One of those cutouts had Harris in a superhero outfit, and people came up to take photos alongside it. There is also a display of presidential footwear, with displays cases of old shoes.The area wasn’t very busy – the Democratic convention is spread across McCormick Place and the United Center, and getting from one to the other was a major challenge for some delegates yesterday, so as the day wears on, the McCormick location is getting quiet as folks start to make their way to the United Center for tonight’s speakers.Singer-songwriter James Taylor was scheduled to perform on Monday night on the first night of the Democratic national convention in Chicago, but as the evening ran long, organizers skipped elements of the program, meaning that Taylor never took the stage.DNC officials said in a statement that because of the “raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker, we ultimately skipped elements of our program to ensure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so that he could speak directly to the American people,” per NBC News Chicago.Taylor himself released a statement this afternoon, saying that it “became clear” as the evening went on that there “wouldn’t be time for our ‘You’ve Got a Friend’” adding that “maybe the organizers couldn’t anticipate the wild response from the floor of the United Center.” “Sorry to disappoint,” he added.
      But a great and inspirational, quintessentially American moment. We were honored to be there.
      Donald Trump, in an interview with CBS News that aired last night, said he would accept the election outcome if he believes the election is “free and fair”. He said:
      I think if I lose, this country will go into a tailspin, the likes of which it’s never seen before – the likes of 1929 – but if I do, and it’s free and fair, absolutely, I will accept the results.”
      “Fair” to Trump “means that votes are counted,” he said, adding:
      It means that votes are fair. It means that they don’t cheat on the election, they don’t drop ballots, they don’t install new rules and regulations that they don’t have the power to do.”
      He added:
      If I see that we had a fair and free election, which I hope to be able to say, but if I see that, I will be – you will never see anybody more honorable than me. I’m an honorable person.”
      Exactly 20 years ago, Barack Obama was a relatively unknown state legislator when he delivered a keynote address at the Democratic party’s convention. Obama said that evening:
      I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that, in no other country on Earth, is my story even possible.
      His 2004 speech offers one of the clearest examples of how convention speeches can elevate a rising political star to national prominence. Four years later, he returned to accept the party’s nomination for president.In 2012, he made the case for his re-election bid; in 2016, he advocated for Hillary Clinton to succeed him in office; and during the 2020 convention, he issued an attack on Donald Trump and urged Americans to back Joe Biden for president.Now, his speech will make the case for the Harris-Walz ticket and the need to defeat Trump.Here’s what else to know about Obama’s speech tonight.Donald Trump, in his interview with CBS News, said he would “gladly” release his medical records and insisted that he is not experiencing any post-traumatic stress disorder or other lasting effects following his assassination attempt last month.Trump said he had recently passed a medical exam with a “perfect score” and that he had “aced” two cognitive tests.Donald Trump said he has “no regrets” over how his appointment of three conservative supreme court justices led to the reversal of Roe v Wade and ended the constitutional right to an abortion.Trump, speaking to CBS News on Monday night, said:
      The federal government should have nothing to do with this issue. More

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      Democrats warned to keep euphoria in check as election remains on knife-edge

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      Anxious Democratic strategists are quietly trying to douse the euphoria engulfing Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign by warning that her surge in popularity masks an election contest that is on a knife-edge and could easily be lost.As the vice-president basks in adulation and optimism at the Democratic national convention in Chicago, key supporters are cautioning that more trying times lie ahead after an extended honeymoon period following her ascent to the top of the ticket in place of Joe Biden.Fuelling the Democrats’ feelgood mood have been a spate of opinion polls showing Harris with a national lead over Donald Trump while also leading or newly competitive in battleground states, including southern Sun belt states where Biden had been struggling badly before his withdrawal from the race last month.A recent compilation of national polls by 538, a polling website, showed Harris leading Trump by 46.6% to 43.8%.But Chauncey McLean, the president of Super Forward, a pro-Harris Super Pac that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for Harris’s campaign, suggested that the poll figures concealed sobering realities.“Our numbers are much less rosy than what you’re seeing in public,” he told an event hosted by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics on the convention’s opening day on Monday.He described Pennsylvania, which he identified as the most critical of seven battleground states, as a “coin flip” between Harris and Trump.And despite the apparent resurrection in the Democrats’ prospects, the race overall remains as close as ever.“We have it tight as a tick, and pretty much across the board,” Reuters quoted McLean as saying. To win, he said, Harris must capture one of three states – Pennsylvania, North Carolina or Georgia. Recent surveys in the first two have recorded her with a narrow lead or neck-and-neck with Trump, while Trump leads by a wider margin in Georgia, a southern state that Biden won narrowly in 2020.McLean said Harris’s momentum stemmed from an early enthusiasm among young voters of colour in the Sun belt states of North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.But she had yet to reassemble the coalition of Black, Hispanic and young voters that underpinned Biden’s victory four years ago. Internal polling shows that voters want more detail on policy.The cautionary theme was amplified by David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama, who told the Guardian this week that the Harris campaign must guard against complacency.“I think that if the Harris campaign has one message it will try to get across during this convention, it’s that there is no room for complacency in this election,” he said.The vice-president has already faced scrutiny over her recent disavowal of liberal policy positions she assumed during her ill-fated campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2020, when she publicly opposed fracking and advocated a single-payer health insurance system that would ultimately have ended private health insurance.While subtly trying to stake out differences from Biden’s position on economic policy – a vulnerable area for Democrats – she has so far avoided one-on-one media interviews since being confirmed as the Democratic nominee, an approach that will need to be jettisoned as the campaign proceeds, thereby ushering in the dangers of public misstatements or policy pronouncements that prove unpopular.But in comments to the New York Times, Chris Murphy, the Democratic senator from Connecticut, said embracing ideas of economic populism that are controversial because they run counter to the prevailing free-market neoliberal orthodoxy might be necessary to win precisely because they are attractive to Trump supporters.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionView image in fullscreen“I think that our coalition is bound to lose if we don’t find a way to reach out to some element of the folks who have been hoodwinked by Donald Trump,” he said. “We don’t have to win over 25% of his voters. We have to win 5 or 10% of his voters.”Fernand Amandi, a Democratic strategist who worked on Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential election campaigns told the Hill that Harris’s campaign needs to weather a storm at some point.“Every presidential campaign in modern history has had to go through an unanticipated scandal, crisis or world event, and at some point, that political law is going to happen to Kamala Harris’s campaign,” he said. “Until she passes that stress test – and I’m confident she will – this election is still wide open. Anyone who is measuring the drapes at the White House needs a serious reality check.”Another strategist, Tim Hogan, told the same outlet: “Democrats are rightfully elated with the trajectory of the Harris-Walz campaign. But anyone politically conscious over the last decade – especially Democrats – knows that terrain can shift and events beyond our control can quickly change the nature of elections.”He added: “This is going to be a nail-biter.”Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, told Fox News that the election outcome would be determined by undecided voters, which he estimated to be about 5% of the electorate. “And the question is, are some of those voters going to get out and actually vote,” he said.James Carville, the architect of Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 election campaign and a vocal advocate of Biden’s withdrawal after his flunked debate performance in June, cautioned about the dangers of over-optimism immediately after Harris emerged as his successor nominee last month.“I have to be the skunk at the garden party. This is too triumphalist,” Carville told MSNBC five days after Biden stepped aside on 21 July.“I think the vice-president, to put it in athletic terms, needs a really good cut man in the corner, because she’s getting ready to get cut. All I’m doing is saying, ‘Watch out people, don’t get too far out there.’ If we don’t win this, all this good feeling is going to evaporate and be all for naught, and that’s what I kinda think my role is right now.” More

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      ‘Very rude’: the late Queen’s salty verdict on Donald Trump

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      Name: Rude Trump.Age: The former US president, Donald Trump, met the late Queen Elizabeth II on a couple of occasions: tea at Windsor Castle in 2018 …The Tyrant Who Came to Tea. Melania came, too. And then the following year at Buckingham Palace during a state visit.I remember. He enjoyed it, no? His former Russia adviser Fiona Hill wrote in her White House memoir that he considered a “meeting with the Queen of England was the ultimate sign that he … had made it in life.” And paying tribute to the Queen when she died, Trump himself wrote that he would never forget her “generous friendship, great wisdom and wonderful sense of humour”.Yeah, like he would know anything about that! Anyway, was it mutual, this admiration and respect? Er, not so much, according to Craig Brown’s new biography, A Voyage Around the Queen, now being serialised in the Daily Mail.Which says? That she found Trump “very rude”.No way! Trump rude? Yeah, I know, but you might have expected him to behave for the Queen of all people.She must have hosted a few controversial leaders during her reign? Putin, Assad, Mugabe, Amin. “She may not have found their company convivial; upon their departure, she may even have voiced a discreet word of disapproval,” wrote Brown.And of all the leaders it was Trump who she found rude! Was it something to do with royal protocol? Well, he did break that, by walking in front of the monarch when they inspected a guard of honour.Probably broke wind too, Trump by name … If he did that’s not covered in the book. What the Queen is said to have “particularly disliked” was the way the former president “couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder, as though in search of others more interesting”.More interesting than the actual Queen! Well, quite. Plus, she also “believed Trump ‘must have some sort of arrangement’ with his wife, Melania, or else why would she have remained married to him?”Queen Elizabeth II, she certainly spoke for her people. She certainly did.Do say: [In the voice of King Charles] “Tea, President Harris?”Don’t say: [As above] “Oh God, it’s you again.” More

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      Ex-Nikki Haley voters rally behind Kamala Harris: ‘I picked the side that had the least issues’

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      After the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley dropped out of the Republican primary earlier this year, some conservatives across the US continued to vote for her in subsequent primaries, casting ballots that indicated dissent within a party that has otherwise fully embraced Donald Trump.When Haley finally announced that she would be supporting the ex-president in the upcoming election, she said that it was on him to mobilize her loyalists.“Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me, and not assume that they’re just gonna be with him,” Haley said.But it was the Biden campaign, not Trump’s, that actively began engaging Haley voters. “I want to be clear: There is a place for you in my campaign,” Joe Biden wrote on Twitter/X alongside an ad targeting Haley voters.With the president out of the race now, some of those former Haley voters have organized behind Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in a political action group called Haley Voters for Harris.Craig Snyder, the campaign director for the Haley Voters for Harris Pac, told the Guardian that the impetus for the group came after seeing how other Haley supporters continued to support her even after she was no longer a candidate.“When we cast our votes in the primaries we weren’t really voting for her as an active candidate,” he said. “But we wanted to send a message that this was not the kind of Republican party that we wanted, that Trump’s period as the spirit-bearer of the party needed to come to an end.”Snyder wondered what would become of Haley voters in the general election, and homed in on those who have made the decision, however reluctantly, to support Harris.“For those of us in this group, our feeling has been that while we may disagree with the Democratic party on certain policy issues, the better choice is to continue our opposition to Trump by voting Democratic,” he said. “When President Biden made the decision to withdraw, we made the decision to continue along those lines and to support Vice-President Harris.”John “Jack” Merritt, a self-described “center-right” and “strict constitutional constructionist”, registered to vote as a Republican in 1972. He said that, as a “political junkie”, he subscribes to various-leaning political newspapers and watches all of the major news networks. Though he supported Haley in the primaries and has served as a committeeperson for the Republican party in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Merritt has decided to vote for Harris in November.“I became incredibly disenchanted with the polarization of the two parties in the US,” Merritt said. “I picked the side that had the least amount of issues. I think [Harris and Walz] are more likely to ask for everything they want, but accept what they can get, especially if Congress turns out to be Republican this year. I’m looking for people who can truly govern, not just people who have ideological standards.”Former Haley voters, many of whom are in swing states, will be vital in determining the outcome of the election, according to Snyder. As a result, Haley Voters for Harris is primarily targeting center-right voters by engaging in direct communication and education on political issues.“We are developing the strongest arguments and factual accounts to give to voters to help them cross that last line,” Snyder, a registered Republican, said. “They’ve already taken their journey away from their Republican leaning. The question is: do they go the last mile and vote for the Democratic nominee? We want to get them across that last mile.”But Snyder understands the difficulty that lifelong Republicans might face in trying to stomach support for a Democrat. Still, he said: “There may be disagreements between these voters and a Harris-Walz administration on matters of policy, but they are not fundamental moral values disagreements.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIn fact, some aspects of Harris’s history that may have dampened her appeal to progressives, such as her prosecutorial record, could work in her favor with Republicans.“Her greatest weakness to a lot of people turns out to be kind of a strength for winning over Republicans. [She’s] now been kind of leaning into the law and order persona. But I think it’s smart politics that she’s doing that,” said Emily Matthews, a ​co-chair of Haley Voters Working Group, a coalition of Haley supporters and volunteers.After Harris picked Walz as her running mate, Matthews said there was a lot of disappointment in the group, as they had favored Shapiro. But they’ve been focusing on Harris’s recent messaging as a bright spot.“The border is just really important to a lot of kind of more moderate Republicans and, well, Republicans in general,” she said. “We’ve seen a change in tone from Harris and that has been very welcomed.”Matthews is hoping Harris and Walz use this week’s Democratic national convention to share tangible policy shifts to the center, and to continue reaching out to disaffected Republicans and moderate voters. She said it’s important for the messaging to be clear about the Democrats’ more moderate and center successes.Synder agreed. “When our voters hear those kinds of facts – there’s been more oil production under the Biden-Harris administration than under the Trump administration, the Biden-Harris administration pushed forward a bill to increase the number of border agents far greater than what Trump ever proposed – that is the way to have people get over this obstacle,” he said. “There’s a whole variety of just plain facts about a more moderate kind of approach that Harris has shown compared to this crazy leftwinger that she’s going to be depicted as by the Republicans.”Last month, Haley’s lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to Haley Voters for Harris, urging the Pac to refrain from implying Haley’s “support for the election of Kamala Harris as President of the United States”.But the letter hasn’t deterred Snyder. “Our organization has formally responded through our attorneys, and as of yet nothing further has happened,” he said. “We are continuing our work. At no time have we misrepresented Governor Haley’s position on the race, which is well-known to be support for former President Trump. We are merely calling our group what we are: Haley voters who have decided to vote for Vice-President Harris.” More

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      Biden at the Democratic convention was unrecognisable from his disastrous debate

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      Joe Biden took the stage and held his daughter, Ashley, in a long embrace, whispered some tender words and wiped tears from his eyes. She smiled and kissed the hand of her ageing dad. The pair seemed to be at the quiet centre of a storm.Around them more than 20,000 stood, applauded, roared and chanted, “We love Joe.” They held tall narrow signs that said, “We ♥️ Joe”. The US president walked to the lectern, smiling, pointing, looked pensive, smiled again and dabbed his nose with a handkerchief.“I love you!” he shouted back, knowing there won’t be another night like this. “That was my daughter!” The adulatory cheering continued for all of four and a half minutes. It was the culmination of a night that for Biden must have felt either like receiving an honorary Oscar or giving the oration at his own funeral.Among those holding a sign and chanting “Thank you, Joe” was Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House of Representatives. Call her Pelosi the Pitiless. She was among the party leaders who decided to override the primary election and tell the 81-year-old president that his time is up.Asked by the New Yorker magazine if her long friendship with Biden can survive, Pelosi replied: “I hope so. I pray so. I cry so… I lose sleep on it, yeah.”That intervention changed everything at this Democratic national convention in Chicago. Biden had expected to give the closing speech after accepting the presidential nomination on Thursday night.Instead he was the opening act on Monday. His old foe Donald Trump observed on social media: “They are throwing him out on the Monday Night Stage, known as Death Valley.” Worse still, Biden did not appear until 10.26pm Chicago time – which was 11.26pm in New York and Washington.Yet again Democrats had decided that he was not fit for prime time.All of it shows the mercilessness of politics and, as anyone with an ageing relative understands, the mercilessness of time. How quickly the golden boy becomes yesterday’s man.There may be a kernel of Biden seething with a lifetime’s resentments. The needless plagiarism row that scuppered his first run for president in 1988. The failure to get off the ground in 2008. The way that Barack Obama gave Hillary Clinton the nod instead of him in 2016.He overcame it all to reach the summit in 2020, proving be the man for the moment of the bleak pandemic winter. Yes, his victory said, unglamorous strivers can be president too. Biden will forever be in the school textbooks as 46.But as a one-term president rather than two. He didn’t quite have the last laugh as Obama, Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries concluded that he had to hand back the crown. Somehow the old truism reared its head again: all political careers end in failure.“I’ve got five months left in my presidency,” he told his 13th Democratic convention. “I’ve got a lot to do. I intend to get it done. It’s been the honour of my lifetime to serve as your president. I love the job, but I love my country more.”The relief in Chicago has been palpable, as the ecstatic reaction to a surprise appearance by Kamala Harris on Monday night made clear. Democratic aides say it is the same plane with a different pilot but anyone in Biden’s shoes would surely be hurt by their eagerness to move on. The crowd was far warmer to him as an outgoing president than it would have been if he were still their last hope of defeating Trump.The irony of it all was that, despite the late hour, Biden came out with all guns blazing. Standing at the lectern, surrounded by white stars that resembled a Star Trek teleport pad, he was a man unburdened, liberated, unrecognisable from the doddering June debate. Biden 2028!He spoke for nearly 50 minutes, his voice strong and clear. He said pro-Palestinian protesters outside “have a point”. He articulated a vision for America in the world. And he issued a clarion call: “Democracy has prevailed. Democracy has delivered. And now democracy must be preserved.”He also hammered Trump with relish. “You cannot say you love your country only when you win.” And: “Donald Trump promised infrastructure week every week for four years and he never built a damn thing.”Trump regularly speaks to blood, as in “bloodbath” or “poisoning the blood” of the nation. For Biden, it’s all about soul.Recalling the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, he said: “I could not stay on the sidelines so I ran. I had no intention of running again. I had just lost part of my soul,” – a reference to the death of his son, Beau.Wistfully reflecting on the long journey here, he told delegates: “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career but I gave my best to you for 50 years. Like many of you, I gave my heart and soul to our nation.”Earlier, Jill Biden, the first lady who has been married to Biden for nearly half a century, recounted the moment that she saw him “dig deep into his soul and decide to no longer seek reelection – and endorse Kamala Harris”.No wonder Biden has a love of Irish poetry, unrivaled in its soulfulness. Of course WB Yeats’s lines, “When you are old and grey and full of sleep/ and nodding by the fire,” seems all too applicable these days. But you can also imagine him telling Jill: “One man loved the pilgrim soul in you/ And loved the sorrows of your changing face.”Democratic convention highlights:

      What is the DNC?

      Joe Biden speaks at DNC night one following surprise appearance by Kamala Harris

      Pro-Palestinian protesters march before DNC

      Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week

      What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz More

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      Biden says he gave ‘heart and soul to our nation’ as he passes torch – as it happened

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      Joe Biden passed the torch to Kamala Harris as the Democratic national convention ended the first of its four nights in Chicago.Here’s a look back at what happened this evening:

      Biden told the convention that “democracy has prevailed” and recounted his accomplishments, while also saying that Harris and Tim Walz would carry on his work.

      As he closed his speech, Biden said he had dedicated himself to serving the US, and had never felt more optimistic about the country’s future. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you for 50 years. Like many of you, I gave my heart and soul to our nation.”

      Harris briefly spoke from the convention stage, telling attendees it was “going to be a great week” and thanking Biden for his leadership.

      Hillary Clinton gave Harris her endorsement, saying the vice-president “has the character, experience, and vision to lead us forward”.

      Pro-Palestine demonstrations brought thousands to the streets outside the United Center, where the convention was being held. Part of the protest grew violent, with demonstrators breaking through the outer security fencing, but not getting near the convention, Chicago police said. At least two arrests were made.

      Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor who is Harris’s running mate, appeared in the convention hall, but did not give a speech.

      The president said pro-Palestinian protesters “had a point”, while reaffirming his support for a ceasefire in Gaza. Some demonstrators interrupted his speech, though it was not clear that he noticed.

      Residents of red states told of the damage done by Republican-supported restrictions on abortion, which is a key campaign issue for Democrats.
      With that important DNC fashion news, this blog is closing. You can read our full story on Biden’s speech at the link below:It is a truth universally acknowledged that a prominent female politician in possession of a wardrobe will have her outfits divined for clues about who she is and what she thinks. Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, is no exception.But the dissection of Harris’s choice of outfit took on a different tone after her surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Monday evening, with some asking simply: is she trolling us?Harris wore a suit that could be described as tan: a colour that Barack Obama famously favoured during his two terms in office. It was an outfit choice that drove Republicans and right-wing pundits mad. Most famously when Fox News host Lou Dobbs declared that it was “shocking to a lot of people” that Obama wore a tan suit in 2014 to discuss escalating the US response to Islamic State in Syria.The Harris-Walz ticket is not immune to poking fun at their Republican rivals. Their debut collection of merchandise included an accessory to rival the Maga hat: a Harris Walz hunting cap that raised a million dollars for the campaign within hours of its release.And Harris has form when it comes to including references in her clothing and image: for her cover of Vogue, she appeared in front of colours that represent her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and wearing their signature string of pearls. She was also once known for wearing Converse All Stars.Though the Republicans had, hours after Harris’s appearance, resisted taking the alleged tan suit bait, they have not been above sartorial slights. At the RNC, Republican party co-chair Lara Trump compared Harris to an $1,800 faux trash bag sold by Balenciaga.Here is our full story on Biden’s speech, from Joan E Greve:Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance at the convention on Monday night to thank Joe Biden for his service: “Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you will continue to do, we are forever grateful to you. Thank you, Joe!”Harris, who is due to give her formal speech at the end of the week, electrified the crowd when she entered the stage, with Beyoncé’s Freedom playing in the background. “Looking out at everyone tonight, I see the beauty of our great nation. People from every corner of our country and every walk of life are here united by our shared vision for the future of our country,” the vice-president said.Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the Democratic National Convention, calling for a ceasefire and arms embargo on Israel. Dozens of protesters appeared to break through one security fence near the convention site and several demonstrators were handcuffed and detained. During Biden’s speech, demonstrators unfurled a “Stop Arming Israel” banner, but the speech continued uninterrupted. There was limited talk of Gaza on the convention floor, though Biden reiterated his efforts to secure a ceasefire and said, “Those protesters out in the street, they have a point – a lot of innocent people are being killed, on both sides.”The Democratic party’s official platform released before the convention did not include an arms embargo, a key demand by uncommitted delegates.Biden took questions when he arrived at O’Hare. From the pool report (and for those following, on him and Pelosi):
      Ask if he’s mad at Pelosi or at spoken to her: ‘I haven’t spoken to Nancy. No one made the decision but me.’
      Asked about tearing up: ‘The reception was pretty overwhelming.’
      Ask about his comment earlier questioning Trump’s stability: ‘I think he has a problem.’
      On the cease-fire: ‘It’s still in play.’
      The highlight of the night: ‘My daughter’s introduction.’
      Speakers from red states gave personal accounts of the impacts of abortion bans. Hadley Duvall, from Kentucky, described how she was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant at age 12: “I can’t imagine not having a choice. But today, that’s the reality for many women and girls across the country because of Donald Trump’s abortion bans.” She noted Trump’s previous remarks calling abortion bans a “beautiful thing”: “What is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child?”Speakers also repeatedly tied the Trump and the Republican agenda to Project 2025, the roadmap for a second Trump administration crafted by former Trump officials. Mallory McMorrow, a state senator from Michigan, held a copy of the Project 2025 document and assailed the plan to “turn Donald Trump into a dictator”. Congressman Jim Clyburn called Project 2025 “Jim Crow 2.0”. Biden noted that the project calls for the dismantling of the US department of education.Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate, also gave an impassioned speech, outlining the historic nature of Harris’s nomination: “I see the freedom to look our children in the eye and say, ‘In America, you can go as far as your hard work and talent will take you,’ and mean it. And you know what? On the other side of that glass ceiling is Kamala Harris, raising her hand and taking the oath of office as our 47th president … Because when a barrier falls for one of us, it falls and clears the way for all of us.”Clinton drew a sharp contrast between Harris, a former prosecutor, and Trump who “fell asleep at his own trial, and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history … the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions”. The remark sparked “lock him up” chants, a throwback to the “lock her up” chants Clinton faced in 2016 at Trump rallies.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave one of the most energetic speeches of the night, talking about her roots as a bartender and saying: “America has before us a rare and precious opportunity in Kamala Harris. We have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class, because she is from the middle class. She understands the urgency of rent checks and groceries and prescriptions. She is as committed to our reproductive and civil rights as she is to taking on corporate greed.”The progressive congresswoman and “Squad” member also earned loud applause for saying that Harris was “working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home”.As the president took the stage at around 10:30pm CT, the crowd broke out into enthusiastic “Thank you, Joe” and “We love Joe” chants, with drawn-out cheers that repeatedly prevented him from continuing his remarks. Biden revisited some of the darkest chapters of the Trump administration, including the January 6 insurrection, and attacked Trump’s vision of America, saying, “He says we’re losing. He’s the loser.” He earned loud applause for his praise of Kamala Harris, saying selecting her as vice-president was the “best decision I made my whole career”, and, “Crime will keep coming down when we put a prosecutor in the office instead of a convicted felon.”Speakers throughout the night heaped praise on Biden. Dr Jill Biden, the first lady, praised her husband for withdrawing from the race, saying she watched him “dig deep into his soul” as he weighed the decision. The president said of his decision: “I love the job, but I love my country more.” Toward the end of his speech, he said, “America, I gave my best to you.”Pelosi has just tweeted a picture of herself holding a We heart Joe sign. As I pointed out a short while ago, Pelosi has given some harsh criticism of Biden’s skills as a politician recently, but also said she hoped that their friendship could survive the role she played in ending his presidency.Pelosi recently said she had “never been that impressed” with Joe Biden’s “political operation” discussing a judgment that helped her conclude the president could not beat Donald Trump and should step aside.Speaking to the New Yorker, she said she hoped her role in ending Biden’s presidency would not destroy her relationship with Biden.“I hope so,” she said. “I pray so. I cry so.” More