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      Harris’s convention speech sparks live rant from outraged Trump

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      Kamala Harris’s Democratic national convention speech provoked a torrent of outrage from Donald Trump as the former US president fired off a volley of ripostes, rebuttals and angry calls to TV stations.Trump posted 48 times on his Truth Social network during Harris’s 37-minute presidential acceptance speech, which was nearly an hour shorter than his own effort at the Republican convention last month.Immediately afterwards, he called Fox News to deliver a rambling, live on-air tirade that was eventually cut off by the network’s hosts.“Where’s Hunter,” Trump posted in all-capitals at the beginning of the speech in reference to Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, whose business affairs and legal troubles were a favourite target of Republicans before the president withdrew from the race last month.As Harris paid tribute to those who nominated her, Trump wrote: “Too many thank yous too rapidly said. What’s going on with her?”Later, as the vice-president went on the offensive against her opponent, Trump raised one of his favourite topics – himself. “Is she talking about me?” he wrote, again in block capitals.Mostly, his focus was on Harris, repeatedly calling her a “Marxist” and writing: “Why doesn’t she do something about the things she complains about.”“There will be no future under Comrade Kamala Harris, because she will take us into a Nuclear World War III,” he wrote. “She will never be respected by the Tyrants of the World!”After Harris accused him of pressuring congressional Republicans to kill a bipartisan bill that would have cracked down on migrants at the southern border, Trump posted one of his longest screeds of the night.“The Border Bill is one of the worst ever written, would have allowed millions of people into our Country, and it’s only a political ploy by her!,” he wrote. “It legalizes Illegal Immigration, and is a TOTAL DISASTER, WEAK AND INEFFECTIVE!”At other times, his concerns seemed trite, such as when he targeted Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee who has been given the moniker “Coach Walz” over his high school football coaching activities. “Walz was an assistant coach, not a coach,” Trump wrote.He also hit back angrily when Harris linked him to Project 2025, a far-right governing manifesto and blueprint for the next Republican presidency drawn up by some of Trump’s closest supporters and former officials, by claiming he had “absolutely nothing to do with” it, despite giving the keynote address to the annual conference of the group who created it.Trump’s angry and often incoherent responses prompted the Washington Post commentator Dan Balz to observe that Harris’s rise to the top of the Democratic ticket in place of Joe Biden had left Trump “in a box” and unsure what to do after Harris outperformed him in the category about which he cares most – ratings.“Harris has countered him, even bested him, at his own game,” Balz wrote. “Her crowds now match or exceed his. Her followers now are as enthusiastic as his … her convention’s ratings were better than his … He says he misses Biden, and it shows.”Harris’s speech largely attracted positive reaction, even from some conservative corners. Scott Jennings, a former White House aide to George W Bush, told CNN her speech displayed presidential “plausibility”.“She looks young, she looks coherent … so she’s the anti-Biden,” he said. “The Republican pushback … is that some of this is just substance-less patent, that there’s really no specificity in it, and that they ultimately think they are going to be able to fire her as the incumbent.“The question we are going to be asking over the next couple of months is how far did she run away from Joe Biden to prevent the Republicans from portraying her as the incumbent? People are so upset with Biden-Harris on the economy, [that] if the Republicans tie her to it, all of the other stuff falls away.”Even some of Trump’s supporters on the Maga right grudgingly conceded that Harris’s convention messaging represented a dire threat to his prospects.In a video posted on X, the conservative commentator and former Fox News and Newsmax host Eric Bolling, said the Harris campaign was dominating the media landscape and blamed Trump for ceding the initiative while failing to come up with new ideas.“We’re losing, losing the race,” he said in a tone of clear frustration. “The enthusiasm level on the left right now is overwhelming … They’re trying to redefine the Democrat party. They’re trying to say that the Democrats are the patriots, the party that’s worried about the country.“They’re wearing camo hats with Kamala Harris’s name on it. Camouflage – that’s ours! She was flanked in her speech last night with two American flags. There were no Pride flags there. They’re redefining it, they’re going after our independent voters. What’s going on with Fox News, by the way? … It’s Democrat, Democrat, Democrat … The media are kicking our ass, on the right.”But with Republicans such as the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham urging Trump to focus on policy rather than attack Harris personally,Trump’s reaction to her speech confirms the trouble he has in maintaining discipline on the campaign trail. During his call with Fox News he became irked by the presenter Martha MacCallum’s suggestion that Harris was having success in the polls, particularly with certain voting groups.“She’s not having success; I’m having success,” he said. “I’m doing great with the Hispanic voters, doing great with Black men, I’m doing great with women.“It’s only in your eyes that they have that, Martha. We are doing very well.”Eventually he was cut off in mid-sentence by MacCallum’s co-host, Bret Baier, who told him: “We appreciate that live feedback.” More

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      RFK Jr’s wildest campaign moments – from brain worms to barbecue dogs

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      The decision by Robert F Kennedy Jr to suspend his presidential campaign brings to an end one of the most bizarre campaigns of recent times.Kennedy, who introduced the general public to the concept of “leaky brain” and the idea that chemicals in water were making children transgender, initially ran for the Democratic nomination but launched an independent campaign in October 2023.His efforts failed to gain traction but left the public with some unusual, and some unsavory, memories.1. The bear cubIn early August, Kennedy had a problem. The New Yorker magazine had got hold of a story about his exploits with a dead bear cub 10 years earlier. Kennedy decided to get ahead of the New Yorker’s scoop, and tell the story himself in a video posted on Twitter.And what a story it was. It emerged that Kennedy had found a dead bear cub on the side of the road, loaded it in the back of his car, taken a photo with the corpse, left to do some falconing, had a steak dinner, then staged the decomposing bear’s death to look like a bicycle hit-and-run incident in a local park before heading to the airport.2. The sexual assault allegationsEliza Cooney, who worked for Kennedy and his then wife as a live-in nanny at the family’s home in Mount Kisco, New York, told Vanity Fair in July that Kennedy sexually assaulted her at the home in 1998. Cooney alleged that Kennedy touched her leg at a business meeting and later appeared shirtless in her bedroom before asking her to rub lotion on his back.A few months later, Kennedy “began groping” Cooney in the kitchen, Vanity Fair reported. Kennedy’s response was hardly an apology. Asked about the sexual assault allegation, Kennedy described the Vanity Fair article as “a lot of garbage”, before adding: “I am not a church boy.” Kennedy later said that he had texted Cooney to apologize.3. The brain wormIt emerged in April that Kennedy believed part of his brain had been eaten by a worm. The New York Times reported that Kennedy had made the claim during a deposition for his divorce in 2012. In the deposition Kennedy told lawyers: “I have cognitive problems, clearly. I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”Kennedy underwent brain scans of his head and subsequently discovered that the health issue “was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died”.4. The dogAnother animal-related controversy. In July, Vanity Fair reported that in 2023 Kennedy sent a photograph of him “with the barbecued remains of what he suggested to the friend was a dog”. The picture showed an animal carcass, which had apparently been cooked on a spit. Kennedy said the carcass in the picture was a goat.The friend who received the text told Vanity Fair that Kennedy “sent me the picture with a recommendation to visit the best dog restaurant in Seoul, so he was certainly representing that this was a dog and not a goat. In any case, it’s grotesque.”5. The dubious claimsIn 2023, while still running as a Democrat, Kennedy appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast. There, Kennedy announced that wifi radiation caused something called “leaky brain”, which in turn causes cancer. Politifact spoke to scientific experts who disagreed, one of whom said there was no “clear evidence” for Kennedy’s claims.Another claim from Kennedy, in June 2023, that chemicals in drinking water were causing children to become transgender, appears to come from a study which showed certain chemicals could cause some male frogs to become female. CNN’s KFile spoke to an expert who pointed out that sex in frogs is based on environmental factors, including temperature, whereas the sex of humans is not. More

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      The Guardian view on Kamala Harris’s speech: the Democrats have liftoff | Editorial

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      Little more than a month ago, what the Democratic party has achieved in Chicago this week would have seemed unthinkable. Yet, in a few short weeks, the party has dumped a stumbling Joe Biden as its nominee, seamlessly installed Kamala Harris as his unchallenged replacement, acclaimed Tim Walz as her running mate, reinvigorated its campaign and its finances, and made itself competitive against Donald Trump again. If that was not enough, Ms Harris’s acceptance speech on Thursday topped off a convention week that at times brimmed with commitment and enthusiasm.It all adds up to a textbook political transformation. It has had many in the party pinching themselves in disbelief. Though they all left it dangerously late, those who made this happen deserve the gratitude of millions, and not just in the US. The campaign has now achieved as powerful a liftoff as could have been hoped in the circumstances. Yet this is only the start. There is still an election to win, an election that will shape America and the world. The feelgood mood in Chicago will turn to ashes if Mr Trump is elected.Ms Harris had two particular tasks this week. The easier one, as it has turned out, was to unite the party and send it out into the campaign in an energised and winning mood. This was never really in doubt during the week, although it came at the price of a ruthless marginalisation of the party’s most pro‑Palestinian supporters. The harder task was for the vice‑president to use her primetime speech to demonstrate a personal evolution into someone whom Americans can see and hear as a potential president and commander in chief.She succeeded in this too, and with something to spare. There were obvious nerves at times, a useful reminder of the vertiginous remaking of her life that has taken place so suddenly, and which may make her the most powerful woman on the planet in a few months’ time. Nevertheless, by opting for seriousness, rather than rhetoric or knockabout, Ms Harris showed that she measures up to what matters most about the presidency. It also established one of many contrasts with Mr Trump – “an unserious man”, she called him.She described herself as realistic and practical, and she made a practical speech, not a dazzler. She focused on working- and middle-class voters, but without extolling trade unions, as Mr Biden would have done. She ticked boxes – the cost of living, housing, foreign policy (including Palestinian statehood) among them – rather than trying to touch the oratorical stars. Though she reflected on her own life story and her “unlikely journeys”, Ms Harris did not major on issues of identity. In its most powerful section the speech focused on the Republican threat to women’s reproductive rights. But the overriding tone was inclusive and unifying, another dramatic contrast with Mr Trump.Now, though, the Democrats must put the balloons and the Kamala merchandise aside, and kick on. Ms Harris must kick on too. This is her party now, not Mr Biden’s, the Obamas’ or the Clintons’. There has been an uptick in the polls, and the convention may generate another. The Democrats have had an often spectacular week. But there are another 10 weeks in the campaign to go, they face a brutal, unprincipled foe, and things could get tougher. So far, so good. But this is a very tight presidential contest indeed, and it is nowhere near over yet. More

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      in Elections

      Georgia election deniers helped pass new laws. Many worry it’ll lead to chaos in November

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      Conservative activists in Georgia have worked with prominent election deniers to pass a series of significant changes to the procedures for counting ballots in recent weeks, raising alarm about the potential for confusion and interference in the election certification process in a key swing state this fall.Since the beginning of August, the five-member state election board has adopted rules that allow local election boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into election results before they are certified, and to allow any local election board member “to examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results”. The same rule also requires local boards to reconcile any discrepancies between the total number of ballots cast and the number of voters who check in. If it can’t reconcile the numbers, the board is authorized to come up with a way to figure out which votes count and which do not.At its upcoming meeting in September, the board is also expected to approve a measure that would require local officials to hand-count ballots to check the machine tabulations. Experts have warned that hand-counts are unreliable, costly and time-consuming.Georgia law requires county officials to certify an election no later than 5pm on the Monday following election day (the deadline will be one day later this year because of a state holiday). Legal experts have noted that state law is clear about that deadline and that none of the recent rules change that.But at the same time, observers are concerned new changes are seeding the ground to give local county commissioners justifications to object to the certification of the vote.“State law clearly states the certification deadline. They can add on whatever they want, but cannot go against the existing state law that says it has to be certified by a specific date,” said Julie Houk, a voting rights attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. At the same time, she added: “What’s going to happen when they have not completed a review of those thousands of records? Are the board members going to say ‘we can’t certify’ even though it requires them to?”“What’s going to happen if certain board members or boards determine that now that we have all the records we’ve demanded, we can’t get through them in time to certify?”The changes have caused considerable alarm in one of the most competitive battleground states this presidential cycle, which is expected to be extremely close. Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020 by 11,799 votes, a razor-thin margin.Georgia’s state election board, charged with making election rules consistent with Georgia law, was not really paid attention to until this year. But in recent months it has moved forward with a blitz of changes. Earlier this year, Republicans essentially forced out a member who had rebuffed proposed changes and replaced him with someone who has been more sympathetic to the changes.That new member, Rick Jeffares, has previously posted in support of Trump’s election lies, though he recently told the Guardian he believed the former president lost in Georgia in 2020. He also said that he had proposed himself for a job with the Environmental Protection Agency in a second Trump administration.The new rules enacted by the board have been shaped with input from the Republican party and a network of election denial activists. The precinct reconciliation rule adopted on Monday, for example, was presented by Bridget Thorne, a Fulton county commissioner who has run a private Telegram channel filled with election conspiracies. She said during the meeting on Monday she had worked with a number of people on the proposal, including Heather Honey, a prominent activist in the election denialism movement.Input on rules has also come from the state Republican party, the New York Times reported. Julie Adams, who is connected to a network of election deniers and has refused to certify two elections this year as a member of the Fulton county election board, has also had input on the rules, ProPublica reported.Trump has publicly praised three of the Republicans on the board who have constituted the majority to enact the new rules. During a rally earlier this month he called them “pitbulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory”.Three lawyers tied to Trump also spoke out in favor of the new rules on Monday. They included Hans von Spakovsky, a lawyer at the Heritage Foundation who served on Trump’s voter fraud commission, Ken Cuccinelli, who had a top role in the Department of Homeland Security under Trump, and Harry MacDougald, who is defending former justice department official Jeffrey Clark in the Georgia criminal case dealing with Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.John Fervier, the Republican chair on the board who voted against the rule, said he was also concerned about refusal to certify elections.“We’ve seen boards, or board members recently, that refused to certify because they didn’t see X, Y or Z documents. I think this just even opens the door more to that,” he said.During Monday’s meeting, those who supported the rule insisted that local county commissioners could refuse to certify an election if they did not believe the tally was accurate.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“One individual board member does not have authority to overrule other board members,” Thorne said. “Board members would have the right to disagree if they wanted to disagree. But hopefully by having this process in place, everyone will be confident and go ahead and certify.MacDougald, one of the lawyers supporting the proposal, suggested that a judge could not force a majority of election board members to certify a result they believed was incorrect. “The board members have the right to vote on certification, that necessarily gives them the right to vote against it,” he said.“Unless a board member has full confidence in the administration of the election, that it was done without error, they should not certify the election,” von Spakovsky said at the meeting.Election officials have expressed concern about the new rule that prevents them from counting any ballots in a precinct if the number of voters checked in doesn’t align with the number of ballots cast. These small discrepancies often occur because of human error – a voter might check in and leave with their ballot or a voter concerned about their mail-in vote counting might decide to cast a vote in person. These small discrepancies are almost always smaller than the margin of votes and are explained in a reconciliation report to the secretary of state after the election.There also could be problems with the portion of the rule that empowers local boards to come up with a way of tabulating the votes if the discrepancy, no matter how small, can’t be explained.“Let’s say I’m at a poll that has 500 ballots. And we go through and determined one of those 500 voters should not have cast that belt for whatever reason,” said Joseph Kirk, the election director in Bartow county, Georgia, which is about an hour north-west of Atlanta. “How do we know which ballot to take out of the box? They’re anonymous.”Even if the election result is eventually certified, any discovery found during the new investigatory phase could become fodder to continue to challenge the election results. In 2020 and 2022, Trump and allies seized on human errors to falsely argue that they were only the tip of a corrupt system.The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, an organization that represents election officials across the state, called on the board to stop making changes, warning that continuing to do so would cause confusion.“Any last-minute changes to the rules risk undermining the public’s trust in the electoral process and place undue pressure on the individuals responsible for managing the polls and administering the election,” said W Travis Doss, the group’s president and the executive director of the board of elections in Richmond county, Georgia. “This could ultimately lead to errors or delays in voting, which is the last thing anyone wants.” More

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      in US Politics

      Kamala Harris’s speech was the test of her political life. She passed, but there will be others – not least Gaza | Arwa Mahdawi

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      On 22 August 1964, a Black activist called Fannie Lou Hamer gave an iconic speech at the Democratic national convention (DNC), taking the party to task for its failure to support equal voting rights. Hamer did not get what she wanted that particular night in Atlantic City, but she helped pave the way for a new generation of American leaders.On the 60th anniversary of that historic address, Kamala Harris stood centre stage at the DNC in Chicago as the Democratic party’s candidate for president and gave the most important speech of her life. The buildup to Thursday night was intense; Harris had been prepping furiously for this pivotal moment, reportedly workshopping her speech “nearly line by line”.If the weight of history, and the pressure of the present, hung heavy on Harris’s shoulders she did not let it show. Ever since Joe Biden passed her the baton a month ago Harris has been a changed woman. Gone is the uncertain vice-president who didn’t seem quite at ease in her role. Gone is the often-awkward orator. Harris is in her element now and it shows. She’s spent the last month radiating joy. Electric and effervescent, she did not so much speak last night as sing.While joy has been a major theme of the DNC, Harris’s speech made clear she wasn’t just about good vibes, she was ready to get to work. “OK, let’s get to business,” she said repeatedly as an exuberant crowd greeted her entrance with seemingly endless applause and chants of “USA”.A key point of business? Unity. “I know there are people of various political views watching tonight,” she said looking directly at the camera. “And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans.”To underscore this promise, Harris presented herself as a regular American whose modest upbringing, unlike Donald-silver-spoon-Trump, many could relate to. She started by speaking about her early life and her brilliant, trailblazing, immigrant mother, who “taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it”. She talked about growing up in the Bay Area of California in a “a beautiful working-class neighbourhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers”. And she spoke about how she decided to become a prosecutor to fight for the vulnerable after a high-school friend told her she was being sexually abused by her stepfather.These stories weren’t just supposed to make Harris seem relatable, they were there to help her seem authentic. One of Harris’s biggest weaknesses when she unsuccessfully ran for the 2020 nomination was her inability to really define herself. Some critics called her a “cop” and a “bully”, others called her dangerously liberal. Back then, Harris didn’t seem entirely sure of what she stood for. Standing on the stage in Chicago on Thursday, however, Harris opened herself up. She owned her story.While Harris may have begun by speaking about her past, the real focus of her acceptance speech was the US’s future. She thanked Biden gracefully but also signalled that he was now in the rear-view mirror. “We are not going back, and we are charting a new way forward, forward to a future with a strong and growing middle class … building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” she said.Harris’s campaign hasn’t been very heavy on policy so far and this speech also stayed fairly surface-level. However this focus on the middle class echoed the populist economic policy agenda she previewed at a speech in North Carolina last week. In that speech she talked about bringing down the price of groceries, prescription drugs, and housing. Whether a Harris administration would actually be able to do all of this is up for debate, but it is certainly a message that resonates across all party lines.The substance of Harris’s vision for the future, however, wasn’t so much about a cheaper loaf of bread as a safer democracy. The vice-president spoke bluntly about the threat a second Trump term holds. “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious,” she said. “Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States supreme court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution.”It was difficult not to consider, also, how much closer the US was to that terrifying possibility a month ago. With Biden at the helm, the Democratic party seemed on a course towards almost certain defeat. Now, while the race is still excruciatingly tight, the polls have turned in Harris’s favour. She has incredible momentum and, as her speech made very clear, she has what Biden sorely lacked: the energy to fight.Nowhere was the contrast with Biden more apparent than when Harris spoke about reproductive rights. The nominee spoke stirringly about how she’d travelled across the US and heard stories of “women miscarrying in a parking lot, developing sepsis, losing the ability to ever again have children, all because doctors are afraid they may go to jail for caring for their patients”. God was it refreshing to hear her talk about abortion like she really cares. One of Biden’s many weaknesses was that he could never seem to stop his personal distaste for abortion from coming to the fore; he always seemed half-hearted. He could not channel the visceral anger emanating from American women.“We’re not going back! We’re not going back!” That phrase, spoken by Harris, chanted by the crowd, rang through her speech. But despite the joy and the optimism it was difficult not to think back to Hamer’s speech. The activist, who was name-checked by the likes of Maxine Waters, member of the US House of Representatives for California, at the DNC, is celebrated by the establishment now, but when she was fighting for equality, she was reviled. During her testimony in 1964, then-president Lyndon B Johnson even called a news conference to try to divert attention from her; he was worried her speech would alienate white voters in the south from voting for Democrats. Today it’s clear that Palestinian-Americans, and people fighting for Palestinian rights, are similarly inconvenient to the Democratic party and its message of unity.While Harris paid lip service to the crisis in Gaza and called for a ceasefire, what she said about the issue in her speech wasn’t as important as who was not given a speaking slot at the DNC. Despite pleas from pro-Palestinian members of the party, the Democrats failed to give a Palestinian-American a slot on the main stage. “No one should be made to fight alone,” Harris said in her speech. “We are all in this together.” They were stirring words – but it is hard to feel that we really are all in this together. Harris has laid out an invigorating vision for America’s future. It is a shame the DNC chose to leave Palestinian-Americans behind.

      Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist More

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      in US Politics

      Harris urges America to choose ‘freedom and fairness’ over Trump extremism – as it happened

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      Kamala Harris then accepted the Democratic presidential nomination:
      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.
      The room erupted into applause.This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. Here is Joan E Greve’s piece on the last night of the DNC:It was not a political address for the ages. It was not even the best of the convention (no one can compete with the Obamas). But Kamala Harris did enough in her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday to put an exclamation mark on one of the most dramatic turnarounds in modern political history.And she made you reflect that you would not want to be Donald Trump facing her in next month’s televised debate. A speech that was short on policy and poetry was nevertheless devastating in skewering the menace from Mar-a-Lago. Trump can expect the same kind of interrogation when the two go head to head that would make most mortals tremble.Just over a month after Joe Biden exited the race and passed her the baton, this was the most important speech of Harris’s career as she sought to build on the momentum of huge crowds, record fundraising and viral phenomena on social media. Long in Biden’s shadow as vice-president, the primary objective was to make the American public comfortable with the notion of a President Harris regularly appearing on their screens.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.This photograph is of Kamala Harris’ great-niece, Amara, watching Harris make her speech. It was taken by Kevin Wurm, for Reuters:Civil rights leader the Rev Al Sharpton brought out four of the exonerated Central Park Five, including Yusef Salaam, who was recently elected to the New York City council. The survivors of wrongful incarceration spoke about the impact of Trump’s vicious attacks, which included his calls for execution of the group of innocent young men.Salaam said Trump “wanted us un-alive. He wanted us dead. Today we are exonerated because the actual perpetrator confessed and DNA proved it.” He noted that the former president refuses to recant his accusations against them, saying: “He dismisses the scientific evidence rather than admit he was wrong … He has never changed, and he never will.”In one of the most emotional moments of the four-day convention, survivors of gun violence took the stage to call for gun safety. The Georgia congresswoman Lucy McBath, who lost her son to gun violence, led the group, saying: “Our losses do not weaken us. They strengthen our resolve. We will secure safer futures … We will organize. We will advocate. We will run for office.” Kim Rubio, the mother of 10-year-old Lexi, who was killed in Uvalde, Texas, talked about her child she “will never hold again”. And Abbey Clements, a teacher and survivor of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, recounted in detail the terror of the shooting, saying: “I carry that horrific day with me.”Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords recounted her recovery from the assassination attempt she survived, adding: “Kamala will be a great president. She is tough. She has grit. Kamala can beat the gun lobby. She can fight gun trafficking.”After days of sustained pro-Palestinian protests calling for an arms embargo on Israel, Harris’s final address offered both a defense of Israel and a call for Palestinian self-determination. She said: “I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror … Hamas caused on October 7.”“What has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost, desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again, the scale of suffering is heartbreaking,” Harris continued. “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 realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”And the story you’ve all been waiting for:As Kamala Harris prepared to deliver the biggest speech of her career, one of the year’s biggest rumours snowballed online and in the media about a potential surprise guest.In an election campaign in which anything has seemed possible, a Democratic National Convention appearance by Beyoncé, whose song Freedom is the Harris campaign’s official song, seemed for a brief moment like it could be on the cards.On Thursday, TMZ published a story with the headline “Beyoncé Performing at DNC final night!!!”, reporting “multiple sources in the know” had said she would “be the big surprise performer”.The Hill posted a story headlined Beyoncé to perform at Democratic convention: Sources and also reported that Nick Hutchins, who works for the progressive firm Swing Left, had posted on social media saying he heard a band at the convention rehearsing Beyoncé songs, including “Cuff It”.Florida Representative Frentrice Driskell also posted video of the band performing a Beyoncé song.The convention ended without a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage, a key demand of the uncommitted movement. The Harris campaign and Democratic party faced increasing pressure throughout the week to include a Palestinian voice, particularly after parents of a Hamas hostage were given a speaking slot and delivered emotional testimony on Wednesday. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other high-profile Democrats and activists had called on the convention to find a way to accommodate the uncommitted delegates’ request, but officials did not change the schedule.Ruwa Romman, a Georgia state representative who wrote a speech for the convention to consider, read her prepared remarks to a crowd gathered outside, instead. Abbas Alawieh, a leader of the uncommitted movement, told supporters: “The scandal is that there are forces within Democratic party leadership who do not want us to talk about Palestinian human rights.”More from a second post-speech gathering gathering, where, per the pool report, the crowd sang “Happy Anniversary” to Harris and Emhoff to the tune of Happy Birthday. Harris said the campaign has been “gruelling” and “uplifting.” She said the next days are going to be “rough and tough.”“Tonight we’re partying, tomorrow lets get back to work. Please wish me and my husband a happy anniversary.” Walz spoke, and said that he had lost his voice. He thanked the convention staff, saying the “country saw the best of America.”The second gentleman’s remarks were almost parallel to his remarks at the first party talking about their first dance 10 years ago.If you’re just joining us, here is a look at Harris’s speech at the DNC:The vice-president’s final speech offered a forceful rebuke of Donald Trump and laid out the stakes of the election: “Consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office, but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost … Trump tried to throw away your votes. When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement … For an entirely different set of crimes, he was found guilty of fraud by a jury of everyday Americans and separately, found liable for committing sexual abuse … 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.”She ended with a message of hope and optimism that has been a theme all week: “Let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for: freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities. We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world and … we must be worthy of this moment. It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish.”Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, made brief remarks at a gathering after the DNC closing speech.Today is their tenth wedding anniversary, and Emhoff, the first second gentleman, raised a toast to his wife.Harris said:
      So thank you for sharing this important day with us, but truly, thank you all so very much. I know who’s in this room. I know what you do every day and what you have done to support everything that we care about, everything that we believe is possible. We are truly invested in the future of our country. Our fight is truly and deeply worn out. Love country, and I know we’re gonna get this done. We’re gonna win!”“But only if we understand you can party tonight and you need to work for the next 75 days or so. “its been a wonderful convention, and so much of it is about everyone who is here who dedicates so much of your time and love to our country. We’re gonna get this done!”
      Then Emhoff spoke, saying:
      It is hard to imagine, like, literally 10 years ago right now, we had just taken our vows, gotten married, and we’re probably likely no that’s just literally, like probably having our first dance. And then to think about, literally, 10 years later, to the night she gave one of, if not the greatest speeches. But like she said, we haven’t won anything yet, right? So it’s just 70 odd days left. Let’s I think tonight we can’t have some fun. And unlike my great friend, Governor Walz, he’s gonna he said he sleep when he’s dead. That’s extreme. I want to see her be president, so I’m gonna sleep on November 6, celebrating you becoming our next president.So join me in toasting my wife, the love of the love of my life, on our 10th anniversary. But we’re not looking back. We’re not going back. We’re looking into the future with you as our next president. Kamala Harris, we love you.”
      This is Helen Sullivan taking over our live US politics and post-DNC coverage. More

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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