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      Friday briefing: Five key takeaways as Harris closes the Democratic national convention

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      Good morning. For today’s newsletter, we’re bringing you coverage of Kamala Harris’s speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president courtesy of Rachel Leingang, in a preview of our newsletter covering the US election, The Stakes. You can sign up here.Hello from Chicago, where it’s like the Oscars, but for people with slightly less charisma.The last day of the Democratic national convention brought out A-list actors, iconic music artists, swing-state politicians and Harris family members – a better lineup, to be sure, than Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock, the stars at the Republican convention.But the real star of the show was Kamala Harris, who shared her personal biography, the threats Trump poses to the country and some of the policy ideas she wants to enact if she wins.Harris’s moment in the spotlight capped off a four-day convention that went as well as Democrats needed it to, leaving most of the party faithful energized to carry out the full-court press needed for the short timeframe from now until November.Today’s newsletter brings you five takeaways from the last day of the convention. Here are the headlines.Five big stories

      Education | The aftermath of the Covid pandemic has been squeezed out of GCSE results as students received grades more similar to pre-pandemic levels. But there were wide regional variations, with students in London powering ahead of pre-pandemic grades, while top grades in Wales and Northern Ireland came down with a bump compared with last year.

      Politics | Rachel Reeves has insisted there will be “no blank cheques” for public sector unions amid Conservative claims that the government’s attempt to end long-running strikes has made it a soft touch. Reeves said that the cost of not increasing pay for police officers, the armed forces and teachers would have been “very damaging”.

      Italy | The British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been confirmed dead by search and rescue authorities after his yacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm. A spokesperson for the Italian fire brigade said it could take days before the last missing person was found.

      Health | The UK’s health regulator has rejected a drug that can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, saying its benefits are too small to justify the costs of the therapy. The drug is not a cure, but in clinical trials slowed cognitive decline by 27% in early Alzheimer’s patients.

      Media | Jermaine Jenas, a presenter on The One Show and pundit on Match of the Day, has been sacked by the BBC after complaints about his workplace conduct, allegedly involving text messages and other digital communication. The former footballer said he was seeking legal advice.
      In depth: ‘A precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the divisive battles of the past’View image in fullscreen1. The climax of Kamala Harris’s whirlwind monthHarris officially accepted the Democratic presidential nomination by nodding to the “for the people” oath she took, which has entered into speeches about her multiple times this week. Her only client, she said, has been “the people”, and those people come from all political backgrounds and walks of life.She said: “So, on behalf of the people, on behalf of every American, regardless of party, race, gender or the language your grandmother speaks, on behalf of my mother and everyone who has ever set out on their own unlikely journey on behalf of Americans, like the people I grew up with, people who work hard, chase their dreams and look out for one another, on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America.”“Our nation, with this election, has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past, a chance to chart a new way forward – not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans,” Harris said.In the last few weeks of a whirlwind campaign, Harris has perfected the way she tells her own story and how she contrasts with Trump. She started with the lessons she learned from her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a breast cancer researcher who immigrated to the United States from India at the age of 19, and wove her mother’s teachings throughout her speech.Her family members – her sister Maya Harris; niece Meena Harris; stepdaughter Ella Emhoff and goddaughter Helena Hudlin – all had some stage time to take about the Kamala they know.She then drew a clearer picture of her vision than she has to date: giving broad policy ideas on affordable housing, abortion protections, foreign policy and middle-class tax relief.She called Trump “an unserious man” but also a dangerous person who should not return to the White House. “Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States supreme court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”Trump responded to Harris’s speech in post after post on Truth Social, one of which said simply: “IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?”2. Gun violence survivors call for changePeople who survived mass shootings or lost loved ones to gun violence spoke about the devastation they have faced – reiterating a theme throughout the convention of those who have survived horrible situations and think Harris will help address the causes of these problems.To emphasise the need for policy changes, the convention program brought out those most affected by draconian abortion bans or loose gun control laws.Four of the Central Park Five, the group of Black and Latino boys falsely convicted over the rape of a jogger in New York, whose prosecution Donald Trump promoted, spoke about the danger Trump poses.Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman from Arizona who was shot in an assassination attempt and now fights for gun control, spoke about her recovery, her husband Mark Kelly standing beside her.“Thank you. Joe Biden, thank you for everything. Joe is a great president,” Giffords said. “My friend Kamala will be a great president. She is tough. She has grit. Kamala can beat the gun lobby. She can fight gun trafficking.”3. Gaza protests end with no voice on stageI’ve spent most of the week following the uncommitted delegation, the anti-war movement that’s working to pressure Biden and Harris to end the war in Gaza. On Thursday, the DNC did not relent on the decision not to allow the group a speaking slot for a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage.The group was not asking for much – a couple of minutes for a swing-state Democrat to talk about their background and the call for a ceasefire. Ruwa Romman, a state representative from Georgia, gave the speech she would have given on stage outside the arena instead.The final denial came after months of activism and days of negotiations at the convention to amplify a call for a ceasefire and arms embargo in Gaza. And outside the convention perimeter, other activists held another protest, marching near the United Center with more militant messages.4. Celebrities on celebrities on celebrities …View image in fullscreenSwing-state governors and senators got key spots in the lead-up to Harris’s speech – several of whom were in the running to be the vice-presidential nominee – in a nod to the places Harris needs to win in November to keep Democrats in the White House.But those swing staters are only really celebrities in a place like this. The real celebrities showed up here, though, too.The Chicks were the third country artist to sing at the DNC despite the common belief that Republicans are the party of country music. Pink (above) sang alongside her daughter.Kerry Washington interviewed Harris’s nieces about how to pronounce Kamala, and Washington was joined by Tony Goldwyn, her Scandal co-star, on stage at one point.Basketball star Steph Curry said in a video that “the Oval Office suits her well”. And Eva Longoria, the actor and activist, praised Harris’s background: “She worked at McDonald’s, I worked at Wendy’s, and look at us now.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion5. … and one who didn’t make itThe persistent rumour all day Thursday was that Beyoncé, whose song Freedom is used by the Harris campaign in its ads, would show up at the convention.Just before Harris went on stage, Beyoncé’s team told media Queen Bey would not be in Chicago to perform. When you’re expecting Beyoncé to introduce the potential next president of the United States, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper is a rough consolation prize.What else we’ve been readingView image in fullscreen

      Forget Ocado vans or an endorsement from Kirstie and Phil: your proximity to a Gail’s is now a sure-fire way to check whether you’re in the heart of middle England. Heather Stewart has looked at how the increasingly prevalent bakery chain became England’s most unlikely political bellwether. Hannah J Davies, deputy editor, newsletters

      Diyora Shadijanova writes charmingly on how getting an allotment – acquired in a fit of lockdown envy – has led to a radical rethink of her relationship with food, and a new sense of “how fragile the natural systems that sustain us really are”. Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team

      Shaad D’Souza meets Sabrina Carpenter, the Disney star turned Espresso hitmaker who says that her newfound chart success is just “the sprinkles on top of the sundae” for her. Hannah

      The Guardian newsletters team’s own Hannah J Davies met Tanya Smith, who stole $40m, evaded the FBI and broke out of prison, to talk about the release of her (surely action-packed) memoir. Charlie

      From the “Swedish lake district” to the Beacons Way in Wales (above), Guardian readers have recommended their favourite locations for active holidays in Europe. Hannah
      SportView image in fullscreenAthletics | Keely Hodgkinson’s season has been ended by injury less than three weeks after she became the Olympic 800m champion. The 22-year-old Briton, pictured above, whose victory in Paris was the most-watched event of the Games on terrestrial television in the UK, had been due to compete in September’s Diamond League meetings.Cricket | A fine unbeaten 72 from wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith meant England ended day two with a first innings lead of 23 runs and four wickets remaining. Asitha Fernando was the pick of the bowlers, asking questions throughout for figures of three for 68.Football | Substitute Noni Madueke sealed Enzo Maresca’s first win as Chelsea manager in the Blues’ 2-0 Conference League playoff first-leg win against Servette. A tense atmosphere at Stamford Bridge after controversy over Raheem Sterling’s future was lifted when Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring with a penalty.The front pagesView image in fullscreenOur Guardian print edition leads with “Concern over ‘attainment gap’ as GCSEs return to pre-Covid levels”. The Times has “Don’t lock up criminals till next month, courts urged”. “Fury as dementia drug denied to patients on NHS” – that’s the Daily Mail, while the Daily Express asks “Why is it only rich can get Alzheimer’s wonder drug?”. The same story is also the Daily Telegraph’s splash: “Alzheimer’s drug is blocked for use on NHS”. “Sacked” – the Daily Mirror reports on the “Jermaine Jenas shock” at the BBC, while the Sun leads with the same story. Top story in the i is “UK trade union chiefs split over how to get best pay deals out of chancellor” while at the other end of town in the Financial Times it’s “AstraZeneca threatens vaccine plant shift to US after Reeves weighs aid cut”. Today’s Metro brings us “Jab hope in fight against lung cancer”. A jab for the lungs certainly sounds better than a poke in the ribs.Something for the weekendOur critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read and listen to right nowView image in fullscreenMusicNick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Wild God
      Joy, a song seemingly about Cave’s late son, Arthur, feels like Wild God’s mood in miniature: the album doesn’t stint on darkness, but suggests that life can still provide transcendent euphoria despite it all. Elsewhere, O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is) – about the passing of Cave’s former collaborator and partner, the late Anita Lane – is gorgeously melodic, decorated with a telephone recording of Lane giggling as she recalls their dissolute past. Alexis PetridisTVPachinko (Apple TV+)
      A historical epic, filmed in Korean and Japanese and following several generations of a family along two separate timelines? It sounds like a time investment you might never get around to making, but season two of Pachinko confirms that this show is worth the effort. An excellent drama powered by a rare emotional intelligence, a series as deft and heartfelt as this can never be a chore. Jack SealeFilmKneecap
      Irish-language hip-hop trio Kneecap caused much spluttering from the DUP in 2019 when, one day after William and Kate’s royal visit to Belfast’s Empire Music Hall, they showed up there raucously shouting “Brits out” on stage. A blazingly fierce presence, they’re now playing versions of themselves in this hyperactive, slightly Guy Ritchie-esque biopic, whose musical sequences have originality, comedy and freedom. Peter BradshawToday in FocusView image in fullscreenThe sex lives of strangers: creating ‘This is how we do it’A look at some of the brave couples who shared the joys and challenges of their sex lives in the Guardian columnCartoon of the day | Ella BaronView image in fullscreenThe UpsideA bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all badView image in fullscreenSphen and Magic’s heart-lifting same-sex love story first made headlines in 2018 when they got “engaged” and became foster parents. The fact that they were penguins and their child was an egg just added to the cuteness of their tale.The gay penguin power couple raised two chicks and became a universal symbol for LGBTQ+ equality. When Sphen died on Thursday, Magic cried out and the other gentoo penguins in the colony joined in, filling their aquarium in Sydney with song, in what staff called a “one in a million” moment. “It was a very beautiful moment, the air was just filled with their singing,” said penguin keeper Renee Howell. “It showed the impact [Sphen] had on his partner”.Bored at work?And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until Monday.

      Quick crossword

      Cryptic crossword

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      Kamala Harris pledges to ‘chart a new way forward’ as she accepts nomination

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      Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday with a sweeping, pointed speech in which she vowed to prosecute the case against Donald Trump and carry the country to a brighter and fairer future.In an address that balanced optimism with scathing criticism of her opponent, Harris acknowledged her “unlikely” path to the nomination and extended her hand to voters of all political ideologies who believe in America’s promise. Harris would make history if elected – as the first woman, first Black woman and first Asian American woman to serve as president – but she instead focused on the history that the country could change in November.“Our nation, with this election, has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past, a chance to chart a new way forward – not as members of any one party or faction, but as Americans,” Harris told thousands of Democrats in Chicago.She then said to roaring applause: “On behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on Earth, I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America.”The speech came just one month after Harris launched her campaign, following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. With the president’s endorsement, Harris was able to quickly consolidate Democrats’ support and secure the nomination. Harris has enjoyed a wave of enthusiasm since entering the race, as most polls now show her pulling slightly ahead of Trump in the key battleground states that will determine the outcome of the election.Throughout the speech, Harris implicitly and explicitly contrasted herself with her opponent, warning that Trump’s return to the White House would resurrect the “chaos and calamity” of his first presidential term. She condemned Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, blaming him for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and reminded voters of his many legal battles since leaving office.“Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States supreme court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution,” Harris said. “Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States – not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.”Harris then led the crowd, packed to full capacity in Chicago’s United Center, in a chant of “We’re not going back!” The chant has become a recurring feature of Harris’ campaign rallies in the past month.The speech represented Harris’ most significant opportunity yet to define herself in the eyes of voters. Although Harris served as vice-president under Biden for four years and as a US senator from California before that, polls suggest voters’ opinions of the new nominee are not set in stone. Trump has already tried to define Harris as a “radical” Democrat, mocking her as “Comrade Kamala,” but he has struggled to land successful attack lines against his new opponent.Addressing a national audience, Harris presented herself as a “realistic” and “practical” leader who would lean on her background as a prosecutor to govern based on common sense and equality. She credited her sense of justice to her mother, Shyamala Harris, a scientist who emigrated to the US from India when she was 19.“She was tough, courageous, a trailblazer in the fight for women’s health, and she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle [Obama] mentioned the other night,” Harris said. “She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it.”In an election that has often been characterized as personality versus policy, Harris attempted to intertwine the two. After discussing her record as a prosecutor fighting for “women and children against predators who abused them,” she turned her attention to the women whose lives have been jeopardized due to a lack of abortion access.She shared stories of pregnant women getting sepsis and miscarrying in parking lots, and placed the blame for their pain squarely on Trump’s shoulders, as he nominated three of the justices who ruled to overturn Roe v Wade.“This is what’s happening in our country because of Donald Trump,” Harris said. “And understand he is not done as a part of his agenda. He and his allies would limit access to birth control, ban medication abortion, and enact a nationwide abortion ban, with or without Congress … Simply put, they are out of their minds.”View image in fullscreenHarris was at times light on the details when it came to policy, as when she pledged to build “an opportunity economy” and “end America’s housing shortage”. She was arguably most forceful when it came to discussing foreign policy, as she promised to “stand strong with Ukraine” and accused Trump of aligning himself with autocrats.“I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-un, who are rooting for Trump because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors,” Harris said. “As president, I will never waver in defense of America’s security and ideals – because, in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and where the United States of America belongs.”In one of the most highly anticipated portions of her speech, Harris outlined her stance on the war in Gaza. Harris condemned the Hamas attacks against Israel on 7 October and mourned the “many innocent lives lost” in Gaza since the start of the war, but she vowed to “always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself,” in an apparent rejection of recent calls for an arms embargo.“President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and ceasefire done,” Harris said. “President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”The call for Palestinian self-determination was met with robust applause in the convention center, but it is unclear whether that rhetoric will appease ceasefire supporters, thousands of whom took to the streets of Chicago to protest the war this week.Harris will likely need those voters’ support in November, as the presidential race remains a toss-up despite her recent gains. The coming days will show if and how Harris’ speech might expand her lead. More

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      Democrats accused of ‘tragic mistake’ by ruling out Palestinian convention speech; Shapiro says ‘Trump is obsessed with me’ – live

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      Ro Khanna, the progressive California Democratic respresentative, said the party is making a “tragic mistake” by not allowing a Palestinian person to speak on the main stage of the Democratic national convention.As we reported earlier, the Uncommitted National Movement has continued its sit-in outside the convention after the anti-war group was denied its request for a Palestinian person to speak at the convention’s main stage. The group Muslim Women for Harris later announced that it was disbanding in response to the Harris-Walz campaign’s refusal of the group’s request.Khanna, who was an early supporter of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, has met with Arab American and Muslim leaders disaffected by the Biden administration’s handling of Israel’s war. He posted to X:Abraham Aiyash, the majority leader in the Michigan House of Representatives, said leaders of the convention “cannot claim to want peace in Gaza but actively thwart the ability for Palestinians to speak their truth”.The Guardian’s David Smith ran into Cornel West, the independent presidential candidate, outside the Democratic national convention.What might he be doing here? Did West just come to take in the sights, or could it be a sign that he is following the lead of Robert F Kennedy Jr and will end his campaign, perhaps to Kamala Harris’s benefit?Donald Trump has defended blocking a bipartisan immigration bill earlier this year even though it had the support of Republican leaders in Congress.Following a speech in Arizona at the border with Mexico, where he accused the Biden-Harris administration of allowing millions of people to enter the US illegally, Trump was asked about his opposition to the legislation intended to curb immigration.The bill had the support of Republican leaders in Congress, including Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. But after Trump made his opposition known, McConnell walked away from his own legislation and other Republicans also abandoned it.Democrats have accused Trump of sabotaging the bill because he of wanting to keep immigration a live political issue. But Trump said he had opposed it for other reasons.“It wasn’t bipartisan. They had a couple of people on the other side. It was weak. It was ineffective, and it would have allowed, as you know, millions and millions of people to pour through and largely unvetted. It was a horrible bill. It was a weak bill. And they don’t need a bill. All Biden had to do is look to the border and say: ‘Close the border.’ He didn’t need a bill.“The bill was terrible. If it was good, I would have approved it.”At the time, Mitt Romney, the Republican senator and former presidential candidate, criticised Trump as more interested in political moves than addressing immigration.“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump. And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is … really appalling,” he said.I’m at the pro-Palestinian sit-in outside the United Center, where delegates and activists joined by representative Cori Bush are demanding that the Democratic leadership add a Palestinian American speaker to this night’s lineup to speak from the main stage.Abbas Alawieh, a delegate from Michigan and leader of the uncommitted movement, said that negotiations with the Democratic party are ongoing and called on the leadership to make a decision by 6pm.“When uncommitted came here, we didn’t just come for the four days, we came here to create a democratic pathway for the next four years,” said Lexis Zeidan, a co-chair of the uncommitted movement. “It’s not just about the speaker, it’s about Palestinian Americans deserving a voice in our society.”“Our deadline we’ve set again is six o’clock for a response,” she said, adding that if the party did not meet the deadline, the group would announce updates about “what comes next for this movement”.Alawieh and several others slept on the concrete last night outside the United Center as they increased pressure on the democratic leadership to address calls for a ceasefire and an arms embargo on Israel.“As a member of the United States Congress, where else should I be when people in our community and our country are just saying we want a voice on that stage?” said Bush. ”It’s important because what we’re seeing on that stage are the priorities of the Democratic party as we go toward November. We understand that what is said there is being used to mobilize the country to show up in November.”She asked for a speaker to give up a time slot to give a Palestinian American an opportunity to speak.Chicago has been revelling in its status as host city of the Democratic national convention.Among its pearls is the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, which opened in 1938 and is a treasure trove of autographs, letters, rare books, presidential memorabilia and reproductions of Lincoln and civil war photos.It currently has an exhibition of artifacts from Chicago’s first political nominating convention in 1860 – the one that set Lincoln on course for the White House.James Carville popped up for a tour of the bookshop on Thursday and posed for photos while holding a picture of William Sherman, a union army general during the civil war.In a discussion with shop owner Daniel Weinberg and former White House official Sidney Blumenthal, the veteran Democratic strategist observed: “If you listen to Fox, Chicago is this giant hellhole: homeless people, streets, they’re shooting everybody. It’s one of nicest goddamn, places I’ve ever been.“My only problem with Chicago as a convention site is that the United Centre is too far away. I don’t know there’s much you can do about it. At some point, Chicago should build a downtown arena like that but I think it’s just a marvellous city. You can get in and out of it.”Weinberg noted Mark Twain’s saying that history rhymes. Carville, who led Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign, replied: “I think it more than rhymes. There’s a lot to be learned from European history – you’re not supposed to say that – but just the power alliances that live with us today.“Internal conflicts: the movies that we’re seeing, the books that are being written, January 6 – I’m sorry, that’s a little more than rhyming. Forty percent of the people in 10 different states want to secede. History, I can’t say it repeats itself but I think it repeats itself more than it rhymes.”Blumenthal, a Guardian columnist currently working on the fourth volume of a monumental Lincoln biography, rejoined: “What I’ve been saying is the deeper I get into the past, the closer I get to the present.”Donald Trump appears to have finally acknowledged that he lost the 2020 election during a speech on the border with Mexico.Trump was looking at a graph of immigration numbers toward the end of his presidency when he said: “This was a last week in office for me because of a horrible, horrible election where I got many millions more votes than I got the first time, but didn’t quite make it, just a little bit short.”Trump did not expand on the statement, which came in the middle of a wandering speech accusing Kamala Harris of permitting millions of undocumented immigrants into the US.Donald Trump has renewed his attacks on immigrants during a visit to the US border with Mexico by again falsely claiming that they are responsible for a disproportionate share of crime.Speaking next to the border fence in Cochise county, Arizona, the former president alleged that countries in Latin America, Africa and Europe are emptying their prisons of criminals and sending them across the US border.“Hardened criminals are pouring into our country. And then they always say the illegal immigrants don’t commit crimes like people that live here. It’s so wrong. They don’t report them, but it’s so wrong. They make our criminals look like babies,” he said.“These are the roughest people, and they’re the roughest people from all over the world. Their jails are being emptied from all over the world.”Trump then sought to pin the alleged flood of criminals into the US on to Harris because Biden appointed her to investigate the causes of rising migration from Central America.“Since Comrade Harris took over the border, there has been a 43% nationwide increase in violent crime and a 60% increase in rape,” he said.There is no evidence to back up these numbers but Trump claimed that is because the FBI is rigging the crime figures.It’s sound check time inside the Democratic national convention hall, and the handful of delegates and journalists in attendance are getting to see musician Pink run through her set.On that note, rumor has it there’ll be a surprise celebrity guest at some point this evening, but we can only speculate as to who that might be.Donald Trump has been speaking from the US-Mexico border near Sierra Vista, Arizona, where he criticized Kamala Harris’s record on immigration and border security and called her “the worst vice-president”.Kamala Harris joined the popular social media show Track Star, hosted by Jack Coyne.In almost every episode of Track Star, guests listen to a snippet of a song, name the artist, and win money ($5), going double or nothing with each round.On the episode published on Thursday, Harris correctly guessed songs by Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis and Too Short.She said one song everyone should listen to is Everybody Loves the Sunshine by Roy Ayers. “I grew up with all that music,” she said.Members of the Uncommitted National Movement, which won 30 delegates to the Democratic national convention, are calling for a Palestinian person to speak on the main stage of the convention.The Harris-Walz campaign notably invited the family of Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin to speak on Wednesday, which the movement supported.As we reported earlier, one of the potential speakers offered is Ruwa Romman, a Georgia state representative who is Palestinian.Romman shared a copy of the speech she wanted to give with Mother Jones, adding that “if an elected official in a swing state who is Palestinian cannot make it on that stage, nobody else can.” Here’s an excerpt of her speech:
      Let’s commit to each other, to electing Vice President [Kamala] Harris and defeating Donald Trump, who uses my identity as a Palestinian as a slur. Let’s fight for the policies long overdue – from restoring access to abortions to ensuring a living wage, to demanding an end to reckless war and a ceasefire in Gaza. To those who doubt us, to the cynics and the naysayers, I say, yes, we can – yes, we can be a Democratic party that prioritizes funding our schools and hospitals, not for endless wars. That fights for an America that belongs to all of us – Black, brown and white, Jews and Palestinians, all of us, like my grandfather taught me, together.
      Ro Khanna, the progressive California Democratic respresentative, said the party is making a “tragic mistake” by not allowing a Palestinian person to speak on the main stage of the Democratic national convention.As we reported earlier, the Uncommitted National Movement has continued its sit-in outside the convention after the anti-war group was denied its request for a Palestinian person to speak at the convention’s main stage. The group Muslim Women for Harris later announced that it was disbanding in response to the Harris-Walz campaign’s refusal of the group’s request.Khanna, who was an early supporter of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, has met with Arab American and Muslim leaders disaffected by the Biden administration’s handling of Israel’s war. He posted to X:Abraham Aiyash, the majority leader in the Michigan House of Representatives, said leaders of the convention “cannot claim to want peace in Gaza but actively thwart the ability for Palestinians to speak their truth”.Patrick Gaspard, a former White House official and influential thinktank leader, urged local businesses in states such as Georgia to prepare themselves, saying:
      This is not just a Democrat versus Maga Republican thing. It is a profound American question. We have not seen anything like this before in our lives and so you can’t be waiting for that.
      On a positive note, he added:
      I will say I’m excited to see that Marc Elias, who is just a badass election lawyer that some of us worked with for a long time, is now officially sitting next to Bob Bauer [Joe Biden’s personal lawyer] inside the campaign and not outside of the campaign.
      Patrick Gaspard, who served in various positions in Barack Obama’s administration, noted that the Republican state legislature in Georgia just enacted a provision that gives “astonishing” levels of discretion to state officials to question the outcome of a vote count to delay certification.He warned of similar moves afoot in Nevada and North Carolina and also criticised Kevin Roberts, leader of the rightwing Heritage Foundation, for recent comments the country is in the midst of a “second American revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be”.Gaspard, president and chief executive of the Center for American Progress in Washington, said:
      That kind of rhetoric, the instrumentisation of those local elected offices and the stoking of these fires on social media – and Donald Trump himself will manipulate all of this – is going to lead to civil unrest and civil confrontation in a close contest that Kamala Harris is declared the winner in. I don’t think anybody is ready for that.
      Patrick Gaspard, a former White House official and influential thinktank leader, has warned that America faces “multiple January 6-like incidents” if Kamala Harris ekes out a narrow electoral college victory in swing states.“Following this election, which we will win in very close margins in those states, I’m 100% confident that Donald Trump and his cabal will say of course one, that the election was stolen and two, that people need to take back their country,” Gaspard told reporters at an event hosted by Bloomberg in Chicago.
      They’re going to support mobilisations in the streets that I think will lead us to have not just a January 6-type incident in the Capitol, but that could potentially lead to multiple January 6-like incidents in state capitols around the country – in Michigan, in Pennsylvania, in Wisconsin, in Nevada, in Arizona, in North Carolina.
      I just spoke with James Zogby, the founder and president of the Arab American Institute, and the last Arab American to speak from the main stage of the Democratic convention, in 1988.He called the DNC’s decision to deny a Palestinian American speaker an “an unforced error, a kind of a bonehead move that is going to cost them votes and didn’t need to”.Zogby said some of the potential speakers offered to the DNC included a Georgia state representative who is Palestinian, Ruwa Romman, and a Democratic organizer who has known Harris for years and has lost dozens of family members in Gaza, Hala Hijazi. He said:
      It was a no brainer, just a no brainer, and they couldn’t agree to that, and I don’t know why, and I don’t think there was any logic involved.
      This is what’s called a real stupid, boneheaded mistake, to end up literally dumping on your own story that ought to be about the convention and Kamala Harris and hope and joy and all that. And instead, we’re talking about a dumb mistake made by consultants to exclude Palestinian voices. More

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      ‘Hottie’ Dems and Chappell Roan stans: meet the 200 TikTokers who scored access to the convention

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      More than 200 content creators hit Chicago this week, bringing their ring lights and attempts at business casual as part of a historic push by the Democratic national convention to credential non-traditional media.Memes had fueled the initial excitement surrounding Kamala Harris’s 11th-hour presidential bid, and the campaign aimed to churn out more viral moments by granting the creators access during this crucial week. Many, if not most, of the creators paid their own way to Chicago. Some were sent courtesy of political action committees. On the convention floor, they have danced to Chappell Roan, landed interviews with lawmakers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Raphael Warnock, and filmed get-ready-with-me videos of their convention outfits. Is their content breaking through?Some of the better-known creators at the convention include Deja Foxx, who worked with the Harris campaign in 2019 as a surrogate strategist and spoke on the convention floor this week; Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who used TikTok to spotlight pro-Palestinian protesters; the menstrual equity activist Nadya Okamoto, who interviewed Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, about her first period; and the fashion influencer Vidya Gopalan, who spoke to Harris about sharing a last name with the vice-president’s late mother.A Wired dispatch from one influencer after-party described a scene that included a special couch for JD Vance, a “wall of weirdos” with photos of Republican leaders, a wall of Democratic “hotties” like Travis Kelce, and an arcade room with “abortion access Skee-Ball”. Liz Plank, a journalist and creator with over 589,000 followers, posted a video from the party in which she asked men who tried to buy her a drink to donate to an abortion fund instead.View image in fullscreenNot all of the content coming out of the event is pro-Harris. Charlie Kirk, founder of the rightwing organization Turning Point USA, posted videos from the convention floor, including one in which he goaded the president of the Young Democrats of Georgia with the question “What is a woman?” Bari Weiss’s the Free Press put together a mash-up of interviews with Harris voters struggling to name one of her policies.But the majority of creators present support Harris and want their viewers to as well. This year, Democrats expect millions of gen Z voters to hit the polls for the first time, and TikTok is gen Z’s main news source, with a third of US adults under 30 telling Pew Research Center they regularly get their news from the app. “Everyone is really excited that we’re here, because we have such a direct line to the youth vote, and everyone wants to do content with us,” said Alexis Williams, a TikToker who posts about fashion, Stem, and social justice.Still, she said bridging the gap between the under-30s and older politicians at the convention can be a challenge. “It’s difficult to stand next to a more senior person and say, ‘OK, so we’re going to make this joke about Republicans, or play this Chappell Roan song, I swear it’s going to make sense. They’re like, ‘What does this mean?’”Williams’s videos reveal what it’s like behind the scenes at the convention. She’s posted a tour of the “creator penthouse” overlooking the convention stage, filmed herself hauling free Plan B and UTI tests out of an after-party that handed out reproductive care products, and hammed it up on the convention floor in a pink tweed dress.Videos that feel intimate do well on TikTok. Kory Aversa, a 51-year-old publicist and content creator from Philadelphia, treats the event like a red carpet, filming VIPs like Ocasio-Cortez, Tim and Gwen Walz and Jesse Jackson from just a few feet away.View image in fullscreen“My content style is making you think like you’re in the seat next to me,” Aversa said. “It’s one thing to see a pretty picture in the newspaper, but it’s another to walk into the convention with me and be like, ‘holy crap, this is epic, Stephen Colbert is here.’ I want people to feel that with me.”The official Harris campaign TikTok, @KamalaHQ, follows this ethos too, posting videos of staffers wearing Harris-Walz camo hats and cheering during speeches.“When you turn on CNN or Fox News, you know exactly what you’re going to get,” said Heather Gardner, a 36-year-old TikToker covering the convention. “You’re going to hear the speeches and the talking heads. But the beauty of what we’re doing here is that everyone’s unique and different.” For Gardner, that means posting videos of the impressionist Matt Friend doing his best Walz, or of herself walking the convention floor in a brat green suit and coconut tree T-shirt.(Some antics have crossed over to mainstream news: two young people wearing “Twinks for Kamala” shirts ended up on CNN, much to the delight of the terminally online.)RaeShanda Lias, a 43-year-old content creator from Louisville, Kentucky, secured invitations to the convention from the Congressional Black caucus, Human Rights Campaign and Emerge America, a non-profit that supports Democratic women running for office. (Lias is an alum of the program, having run for Louisville city council in 2018.) She says influencers were given free rein to post what they want, so not all of their videos end up centering politics.View image in fullscreen“My content deals with facts, fashion, and fun,” Lias said. In one video liked more than 58,000 times, Lias shows off a baby blue suit she wore to the Congressional Black caucus brunch, while riffing on how “demure” the outfit is. “But we’re all coming together to help elect the first Black and Asian woman to the highest point in this country,” she said.For all the buzz surrounding this convention influencer class, there is still a clear line between journalists and content creators. Creators don’t break news. Most don’t factcheck, and many are fawning in their coverage. With this tension as a backdrop, Reuters reported that journalists from traditional media outlets were having to “battle for space” against creators, with journalists receiving less access.“I had this major wake-up call yesterday where I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have so much more access than people who have been doing this for decades,’” Williams said.It can feel tense at times. “The creators are learning how to be around reporters and the reporters are learning how to be around creators,” Aversa said. “I was at one event where a journalist came along and asked some of the creators to be mindful of holding up their phones and blocking cameras. We all have to coordinate with each other.”It’s clear that most of the creators are using their access to contribute to Harris’s vibes-only brand of hopecore campaigning. But, despite being openly pro-Harris on social media, Williams says she doesn’t want her content to feel like a Harris ad. “A lot of us approach our content as, ‘These are the reasons we support her, and you should go out and do that, but be insightful and educated about the process,’” she said. “Giving people the knowledge of how the DNC works helps us create strategies that will get our administrations to listen to us, so we can get what we want out of politics.”As Gardner put it in a TikTok: “Good vibes aren’t enough.” More

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      Muslim Women for Harris disbands and withdraws support for candidate

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      On the third night of the Democratic national convention, the group Muslim Women for Harris released a statement announcing that it was disbanding in response to the Harris-Walz campaign’s refusal to allow a Palestinian person to speak on the main stage.The statement was released as members of the Uncommitted National Movement, which won 30 delegates to the convention, and their supporters held a sit-in outside of the convention. Ilhan Omar joined the demonstration for some time, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called in to the sit-in via FaceTime. The sit-in came after the anti-war group was told a Palestinian person would not be allowed to speak on the main stage – until then, whether or not such a speech would happen was up in the air.During the sit-in, Muslim Women for Harris pulled their support for the Democratic nominee.“We cannot in good conscience continue Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, in light of this new information from the Uncommitted movement, that VP Harris’ team declined their request to have a Palestinian American speaker take the stage at the DNC,” the group’s statement reads.Kamala Harris’s campaign notably invited the family of Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin to speak on Wednesday, which Uncommitted supported. The group called for a similar platform for a Palestinian person.“Uncommitted delegates urge the Democratic party to reject a hierarchy of human value by ensuring Palestinian voices are heard on the main stage. We are learning that Israeli hostages’ families will be speaking from the main stage. We strongly support that decision and also strongly hope that we will also be hearing from Palestinians who’ve endured the largest civilian death toll since 1948,” the Uncommitted statement read.During the family’s speech, Goldberg-Polin’s father, Jon Polin, called for a return of the hostages and an end to “the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza”, joining other speakers like Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, who both made reference to Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza. During the course of the Democratic convention, calls for a ceasefire have been met with raucous applause from audience members. Still, some have said the party’s nods have fallen short.“The family of the Israeli hostage that was on the stage tonight, has shown more empathy towards Palestinian Americans and Palestinians, than our candidate or the DNC has,” Muslim Women for Harris’s statement read. “This is a terrible message to send to Democrats. Palestinians have the right to speak about Palestine.”Alana Zeitchik, who has multiple family members who are hostages, spoke out in support of having a Palestinian American speak on the main stage. “Rachel and Jon deserved every second on that stage. I also believe a Palestinian American voice deserves to be heard on that stage,” Zeitchik wrote on X. “I’d love to hear from @Ruwa4Georgia and I hope the DNC will give her the chance to be heard.”Chicago, where the Democratic convention is being held this year, has one of the largest Palestinian communities in the United States. Muslim Women for Harris did not immediately respond to a request for comment. More

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      ‘Brat, what’s that?’: Harris’s meme fame (sort of) makes its way to the DNC

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      Six hours and 26 minutes after Joe Biden endorsed Kamala Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee, a three-word tweet upended the presidential race.“Kamala IS brat,” singer Charli xcx tweeted.The British pop star’s tweet wasn’t just referencing her album, brat – already the soundtrack of the summer – but merely adding to the viral cacophony of mashup videos that featured Harris laughing and dancing to songs from her album.It was also a larger exaltation of Harris’s personality. Being “brat”, according to Charli xcx, is “just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it”.Put another way, “the brat girl is authentic and unabashed, wholly herself, says what she thinks, means what she says, can’t be shamed because she owns all of her messiness, awkwardness, shortcomings”, said Abigail De Kosnik, a professor at the Center for New Media at the University of California, Berkeley.“Harris has long come across in interviews and social media videos as real and very much herself, unafraid to laugh loud and dance in public, proud to geek out and be weird about things she loves (Venn diagrams, her campaign buses), so she has never been invested in being or seeming ‘perfect’,” she said.The meme exploded on Twitter, TikTok and beyond, helping the Harris campaign engage younger voters – a critical demographic. The Harris campaign immediately embraced the meme, changing the background of its rapid response account on Twitter to match the chartreuse album cover with its plain font.The Guardian asked some attendees at the Democratic convention whether they had heard of the meme.“Brat? What’s that?” said Pamela Cleveland, 60, who had travelled up to Chicago all the way from Temple, Texas. “I don’t know what brat is, though I’ve been hearing it a lot recently.”Her friend and travelling companion, Sharon Rose, 66, was equally bemused: “I’ve been hearing that it’s something cool, but I don’t know why.”After the Guardian gave one explanation of brat as slightly messy, strong, street smart and authentically real, both faces lit up.“Then Kamala is definitely brat,” exclaimed Cleveland. “She’s relatable, people of all races and nationalities can relate to her. It makes sense.”Harold Love, a Democrat who represents Nashville in the Tennessee legislature, told the Guardian he also hadn’t heard of the meme.“I haven’t seen that,” he said on the floor of the Democratic convention Monday evening. “I don’t know what that means.”Raumesh Akbari, the Democratic leader in the Tennessee state senate and a self-described “geriatric millennial”, said she had learned the term recently.“Kamala is brat,” she said. “I’m like, OK, Charli, I get it, I get it. I understand what it means. I need to get a button, I’ve seen them around.”Priya Sundareshan, an Arizona state senator who just turned 40, was wearing lime-green shoes to signify brat.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“I’m a little too old for that, but I heard about it and that’s why I wear these lime-green shoes, because apparently that is the colour of brat!” she said with a laugh.Asked whether brat signifies that Harris has a strong connection with young voters, Sundareshan replied: “Absolutely. I know we’ve seen that with the gen Z and millennial influencers who have come out in support and are spreading the message. Kamala is definitely #brat and I’m a young cool kid, yeah!”The Guardian attempted to approach Greta Gerwig, the Barbie director, on the convention floor Monday evening to ask her whether Kamala was brat.“No, sorry, she can’t talk,” an assistant said before a Guardian reporter could pose the question.An effort to inquire with Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic senator from Minnesota, was also unsuccessful.“I’m not doing interviews,” Klobuchar said.Jennifer Stromer-Galley, a professor at Syracuse University who has studied social media and presidential campaigns, said that it made sense that some voters may not have heard of the meme. She noted the campaign had visibly embraced the meme on Twitter, but not on other platforms.“That’s strategic on the part of the campaign. They didn’t amplify it across platforms,” she said. “It’s strategic because it only resonates or resonates clearly with a particular demographic, which is meaningful to the Democrats. The Democrats need young voters.“They’re an important voter segment for the Democratic party, but they’re not the base. And so they can’t alienate the base by going too far into this pop culture reference that they don’t get.“Strategically, it is a dance that the campaign has to walk,” she added. “That’s because their voter base doesn’t get Kamala as brat, because for the most part, right, voters tend to be older. And that meme in particular is confusing. Those older voters, like, they’re not listening to Charli xcx’s music.” More

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      ‘Excited to show up for her’: mixed-race voters finally feel seen with Harris’s nomination

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      For Sonia Smith Kang, it hasn’t come as a surprise that Kamala Harris’s ethnic background has been challenged by her opponent and other members of the Republican party. “It’s what mixed folks have been dealing with for a long time,” said Smith Kang, who is both Mexican and Black and is married to a Korean man.Since Donald Trump’s false attacks on the racial identity of Kamala Harris at the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual convention last month, he has purposely mispronounced her name, posted a photo of her in a traditional Indian sari and employed supporters to claim that the Democratic presidential candidate is not Black. For mixed-race voters who heard Trump state that Harris “happened to turn Black”, feelings of anger, frustration and annoyance instantly arose.“Everyone thinks we’re in this post-racial time, but Trump proved why classes and courses still need to be taught,” Smith Kang said.When the landmark case Loving v Virginia overturned state laws that restricted interracial marriage in the US in 1967, just 3% of marriages were interracial. By 2019, that number grew to 11%. Today, about one in 10 Americans – 33.8 million people – identify as mixed race.The rapid rise of multiracial people could not only affect the 2024 election, but reshape American electoral politics since mixed-race people tend to be young and the country’s white population is ageing. The Guardian spoke to numerous biracial and multiracial Americans who see their own stories in Harris and believe her mixed heritage gives her a political advantage.Smith Kang, the founder of the multicultural children’s apparel line Mixed Up Clothing and the vice-president of the non-profit advocacy group Multiracial Americans of Southern California is organizing a national call later this month to galvanize the mixed-race community to support Harris. “We’re really excited to mobilize and show up for her,” said the San Fernando Valley resident.View image in fullscreenAfter Barack Obama, Harris is the second-ever presidential nominee of a major political party to identify as biracial or mixed race. The daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father, Harris has long embraced her south Asian and Black ethnic background. As her popularity has shot up in recent weeks, the topic of multiracial identity has been thrust into the spotlight.“I had to reread Trump’s quotes and the first things I felt were shock and also anger and defensiveness of Kamala Harris,” said Charlee Thompson, who lives in Seattle and works on clean energy and climate policy. “The fact that mixed identity is in the mainstream media on this political stage is shocking to me.”Thompson, who has a Japanese mother from Hawaii and a Mexican and white father, said multiracial people like herself and Harris were still treated as different or exotic even in 2024. “In the last month, I had three different people in completely different situations ask me or guess what I was,” she said. “I think light needs to be shed on the fact that multiracial people exist and how people respond can be othering or make people feel like they don’t belong in the community they belong to.”Dr Jenn Noble, a psychologist and educator who coaches parents of mixed-race kids, believes something more sinister than ignorance is going on when it comes to Trump questioning Harris’s identity. “He’s doing something a lot of people accuse mixed-race people of, which is being deceitful or somehow playing their background in a way that benefits them or suits them when it fits them,” she said.Los Angeles-based Noble, who is of Black and Sri Lankan heritage, said research shows there are benefits to being mixed race such as cognitive flexibility, which allows for people who are exposed to multiple languages or cultures to switch between groups easily, which could benefit the vice-president during her run. “I think Harris would have quite a bit of the skills to see the needs of varying groups and meet them in a way that works for that group,” she said.View image in fullscreenAfter Trump received widespread criticism for his remarks about Harris, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, defended the former president’s comments, saying Harris was “fundamentally a fake person” and “chameleon-like”. Vance has biracial children with his Indian American wife, Usha. (Vance recently told CNN he believed Harris was “whatever she says she is”.)Academics and mental health professionals have said they worry about the implications of Trump’s comments, as “identity denial” – telling someone they are not what they actually are – is a common stressor for mixed-race Americans. Historically in the US, the one-drop rule asserted that anyone with a Black ancestor was considered Black and even today, multiracial people are often spoken about in fractions rather than using words like “both” or “and”.The 2020 US Census made it easier for multiracial people to identify themselves, which led to an increase in population and a more accurate portrait of a racially diverse country. According to a recent New York Times analysis, the number of Americans who identify as both Black and Asian has tripled over the last 15 years to more than 600,000 – and about 20% of them live in Harris’s home state of California.For David Chetlain, a resident of Newberg, Oregon, who was born to a white American mother and a Black father from Ghana and adopted by a Native American mother and white father, Trump’s recent remarks made him recall the times strangers interrogated his own appearance, making comments such as: “Where did you come from?” and asking his mother: “Did the milkman pay you a visit?”“When people do that it’s to demean you or put you in a box,” said Chetlain, a navy veteran who works in software sales. “People try to make you feel less of an American.” What Chetlain has learned so far about Harris and her late mother, a breast cancer researcher, and father, a prominent economist, impressed him.“They are the American Dream,” said Chetlain of Harris and her immigrant parents. “That’s a true meritocracy. Nobody gave [Harris] $400m to start a career of fraud and tax evasion.” More