Democratic National Convention live: Joe Biden tears up as he takes the stage to speak in support of Kamala Harris
The first day of the Democratic National Convention went smoothly enough – with one exception that saw the whole thing labelled a “s***show”.
Welcome to our coverage of the Democratic National Convention in the United States.
This was day one of four, featuring speeches from President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Kamala Harris and her chosen vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, will formally accept their respective nominations later in the week.
Mr Biden, who withdrew from the race a month ago amid concerns about his age, mental acuity and ability to beat Donald Trump, received a minutes-long standing ovation as he took the stage, tears in his eyes, having been introduced to the crowd by his daughter Ashley.
He delivered a feisty speech, sometimes bordering on angry, but ended by stressing how much of an “honour” it had been to serve as the US president.
Mr Biden promised to lend his “whole heart” to the effort of getting Ms Harris elected.
Earlier, during a surprise appearance at the start of primetime, Ms Harris paid tribute to Mr Biden’s “lifetime of service”.
“This is going to be a great week, and I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible President, Joe Biden, who will be speaking later tonight,” she said.
“Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you will continue to do, we are forever grateful to you. Thank you, Joe.”
Read on for the latest updates.
‘This is awful’: Democrats’ blunder to end day one
So ends day one of the Democratic National Convention.
The Democrats will feel that in most respects, it went smoothly enough, I think. Joe Biden spoke as well as we’ve seen in quite a while. It wasn’t perfect – he still stumbled over some words, his tone strayed into offputtingly angry territory more than once, and the speech probably could have been less about himself and more about Kamala Harris.
But given Mr Biden relinquished the chance to fight for re-election, something no other incumbent president has done since the 1960s, the Harris campaign probably won’t begrudge him a degree of self-congratulation.
Hillary Clinton was warmly received by the crowd, and Democratic partisans will have enjoyed her response to the “lock him up” chants aimed at Donald Trump. One does wonder whether, instead of smiling and nodding along, she might have stressed the importance of having an independent justice system.
The segment on abortion rights, which featured poignant stories from multiple women, including one who was raped and impregnated by her own stepfather, was harrowingly effective. Far more so, you feel, than other speakers’ attempts to nail Mr Trump on his response to the Covid pandemic, or the “Project 2025” issue.
America’s political conventions too often turn into a procession of repetitive, overlapping speeches from politicians and vested interests (union leaders, in the Democrats’ case). When you put regular people on the stage, it’s immediately more compelling.
Ms Harris’s brief remarks on stage at the start of the 8pm hour did her no harm.
But exact timing matters, with these conventions, and it must be said that something went badly wrong with the scheduling today.
The line-up of speakers was overstuffed to the point that, by the time Mr Biden took the stage for his speech, it was already after 10pm, local time, and after 11pm on America’s east coast.
That’s more than an hour behind schedule. Mr Biden didn’t even start speaking until after the night’s proceedings were supposed to have finished. And that means far fewer eyeballs.
Yeah, sure, political nerds will have stayed up for it. But these events are about wooing the people who don’t consume politics as a hobby. How many millions had already switched off the DNC, or had gone to bed, by the time the most important speech of the night started?
“This is awful. He literally set up a campaign and handed it over to them. Do they have to cut him out of prime time?” a Biden staffer texted Axios reporter Alex Thompson once it became obvious the President was being pushed out of the most important hours.
“DNC is a logistical s***show, tbh,” said journalist Isaac Saul.
“Biden getting pushed out of primetime, media and attendees were stuck outside for first two hours of events, teleprompter issues, etc. This place is going to run out of gas before Biden gets out here.”
“I’m tapping out. I can’t stay up this late, we all have lives and kids. Godspeed to our 81-year-old President getting through the speech at this hour,” said TV personality Meghan McCain, the daughter of 2008 Republican nominee John McCain.
“Whatever producers did this to him and let it go over this long at this hour is an asshole, and it is disrespectful to Biden.”
Responding to the criticism, the DNC blamed the crowd’s applause for making the night’s proceedings run so far behind schedule. I kid you not.
“Because of the raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker, we ultimately skipped elements of our program to ensure we could get to President Biden as quickly as possible so that he could speak directly to the American people,” it said in a statement.
For what it’s worth, I’ve watched a few of these things now, and the level of applause today was comparable to every other convention in recent history. There were a couple of standing ovations that lasted maybe two minutes. It’s a weak excuse.
Across the three remaining days, we’ll have speeches from Bill Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, Tim Walz and Ms Harris herself. If you’re a DNC organiser, you do not want any of those speakers pushed back as late as Mr Biden was today.
Something for the Democrats to think about.
Biden wraps up: ‘I’ve got a lot left to do’
Joe Biden pledged to lend his “whole heart” to the effort of getting Kamala Harris elected.
“I promise I will be the best volunteer Harris and Walz’s campaign have ever seen,” he joked.
“Folks, I’ve got five months left in my presidency. I’ve got a lot left to do. I intend to get it done,” Mr Biden said.
“It has been the honour of my life to be your president. I love the job, but I love my country more. All this talk about how I am angry at the people who told me to stop down – it’s not true.
“We need you to beat Donald Trump and elect Kamala and Tim president and vice president of the United States.
“They’ll continue to lead America forward. We’ve made incredible progress, but we have more work to do.”
He said Ms Harris and Tim Walz, her running mate, “are people of character” and it had been “an honour to serve alongside” the Vice President.
“Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made when I became our nominee. And it was the best decision I’ve made in my entire career,” said Mr Biden.
“We haven’t just gotten to know each other, we have become close friends. She’s tough, she’s experienced, and she has enormous integrity.
“She will be a president our children can look up to. She will be a president respected by world leaders. She will be a president we can all be proud of.
“This will be the first presidential election since January 6. On that day, we almost lost everything about who we are as a country, and that threat – this is not hyperbole – that threat is still very much alive.
“All of us carry a special obligation. We saved democracy in 2020, and now we must save it again in 2024. The vote each of us casts this year will determine whether democracy and freedom will prevail. It’s that simple, it’s that serious. History is in your hands.”
His parting message, reflecting on his career: “America, I gave my best to you. I made a lot of mistakes in my career. But I gave my best to you.”
After finishing his speech, Mr Biden was joined by his wife, Jill, and then by Ms Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. The rest of the Bidens followed them on stage.
‘Who the hell does he think he is?’: Biden fires up
After the initial surge of emotion when he took the stage, Mr Biden launched into a speech that didn’t differ a heck of a lot from his usual rhetoric on the campaign trail, recycling many of his favourite lines. A few new ones were sprinkled in, though.
A couple of examples: “Crime will continue to come down when we put a prosecutor in the Oval Office, instead of a convicted felon.”
“MAGA Republicans found out the power of women in 2022, and Donald Trump is going to find out the power of women in 2024. Watch.”
Republicans underperformed in the 2022 midterm elections, when abortion was a major issue.
Mr Biden was more fired up than usual – understandable, one might say, given how few major political speeches he has left to give. At times there were flashes of anger.
“Who in the hell does he think he is? Who does he think he is!?” Mr Biden shouted while discussing Mr Trump’s remark, reported by his former White House chief of staff, in which he allegedly called American war dead “suckers” and “losers” (something Mr Trump has always vehemently denied).
“They are the words of a person not worthy of being commander-in-chief. Not then, not now, not ever. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
“Donald Trump calls America a failing nation When he talks about America being a failing nation, he says we’re losing. He’s the loser! He’s dead wrong!”
Mr Biden directly addressed two of Mr Trump’s most common attacks against his administration: allegedly rampant crime, and illegal immigration across the nation’s southern border with Mexico.
“Trump killed the strongest bipartisan border bill in the history of the United States,” the President said.
“He called senators to say, ‘Don’t support the bipartisan bill.’ Because he said it would help me politically and hurt him politically. My god. I’m serious, not a joke.
“Trump, once again, putting himself first and America last.”
On crime, he said the US murder rate “is falling faster than at any time in history”.
“Violent crime has dropped to the lowest level of more than 50 years, and crime will keep coming down when we put a prosecutor in the Oval Office instead of a convicted felon.”
At one point, when the crowd started to chant “thank you Joe”, he shot back at them: “Thank you Kamala.”
Biden in tears after daughter’s speech
Before President Joe Biden appeared at about 10.30pm, local time, there were speeches from both his wife Jill and daughter Ashley.
“Weeks ago, I saw him dig deep into his soul and decide to no longer seek re-election and endorse Kamala Harris,” Dr Biden said in her speech.
“With faith and conviction, Joe knows that our nation’s strength doesn’t come from intimidation or cruelty. It comes from the small acts of kindness that heal deep wounds, from service to the communities that make us who we are, from love of a country that shines with promise and renewal. Kamala Harris knows that too.”
“You always tell us, but we don’t tell you enough, that you are the love of our lives and the life of our love,” said Ashley, before introducing her father.
Upon taking the stage, Mr Biden hugged his daughter. He then had to wipe his eyes with a tissue before standing at the lectern, and enjoying a minutes-long ovation.
Dr Biden, in the crowd at this point, was also noticeably teary-eyed.
“Folks, let me ask you: are you ready to vote for freedom?” Mr Biden asked the crowd when it eventually quietened enough to let him speak.
“Are ready to vote for democracy and for America? Let me ask you, are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz?”
The audience answered “yes” each time.
“We were in the grip of a once-in-a-century pandemic, historic joblessness, a call for racial justice long overdue, clear and present threats to our very democracy,” the President said of the time when he took office.
“Yet I believed then, and I believe now, that progress was and is possible. Justice is achievable, and our best days are not behind us. They’re before us.”
‘I was raped’: Abortion bans slammed
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade, the ruling that had underpinned abortion rights in the US for decades, has led to strict abortion bans being imposed across much of the country – specifically, in Republican-run states.
Donald Trump’s appointment of three new conservative justices to the court, shifting its balance to 6-3 in the conservatives’ favour, led to that decision. During today’s convention program, the crowd heard three stories from people illustrating the effects.
“I almost died because doctors were forced to follow Trump’s abortion ban,” said Amanda Zurawski, a woman from Texas.
“We were told, with 100 per cent certainty, that we would lose our baby girl, Willow, and we were sent home. For three days, we waited until Amanda was sick enough to receive standard abortion care,” said her husband, Josh.
“Eventually, Amanda’s temperature spiked. She was shaking, disoriented, and crashing. Instead of welcoming Willow, I was hoping Amanda’s life could be saved.
“I’m here tonight because the fight for reproductive rights isn’t just a woman’s fight. This is about fighting for our families. And as Kamala Harris says, our future.”
“Every time I share our story, my heart breaks. For the baby girl we wanted desperately. For the doctors and nurses who couldn’t help me deliver her safely. For Josh, who feared he would lose me too,” said Ms Zurawski.
“But I was lucky. I lived. So I’ll continue sharing our story, standing with women and families across the country.
“Today, because of Donald Trump, more than one in three women of reproductive age in America lives under an abortion ban. A second Trump term would rip away even more of our rights.
“We need to vote as if lives depend on it. Because they do.”
Kaitlyn Joshua, from Louisiana, said she was denied treatment due to her state’s ban.
“Two emergency rooms sent me away, because under Louisiana’s abortion ban, no one would confirm that I was miscarrying. I was in pain, bleeding so much that my husband feared for my life. No woman should experience what I endured, but too many have,” she told the DNC.
And Hadley Duvall, from Kentucky, told the harrowing story of how she was raped and impregnated by her own stepfather.
“I was raped by my stepfather, after years of sexual abuse. At age 12, I took my first pregnancy test, and it was positive,” she said.
“I can’t imagine not having a choice. But today, that’s the reality for many people across the country, because of Donald Trump’s abortion bans.
“He calls it ‘a beautiful thing’. What is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child? There are other survivors out there who have no options, and I want you to know that we see you, we hear you.
“Kamala Harris will sign a national law to restore the right to an abortion. She will fight for every woman and every girl.”
‘Lock him up’: Hillary Clinton’s revenge
Hillary Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump when she was the Democratic nominee in 2016, went after the Republican more bluntly than anyone who spoke before her.
“On her first day in court, Kamala said five words that still guide her: ‘Kamala Harris for the people,’” said Ms Clinton, alluding to Ms Harris’s career as a prosecutor.
“That is something that Donald Trump will never understand. So, it is no surprise, is it, that he is lying about Kamala’s record. He’s mocking her name and her laugh.
“But we have him on the run now.”
Ms Clinton took a shot at Mr Trump for allegedly nodding off during his criminal trial in New York earlier this year. (The former president denies he was sleeping in the courtroom, though reporters observed him with his eyes shut and head drooping.)
“As a prosecutor, Kamala locked up murderers and drug traffickers. She will never rest in defence of our freedom and safety,” said Ms Clinton.
“Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial, and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history, (becoming) the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions.”
The crowd reacted by chanting “lock him up”. You’ll recall, of course, that Mr Trump’s supporters famously chanted “lock her up” about Ms Clinton during the 2016 campaign.
DNC crowd chants "Lock Him Up" after Hillary Clinton mentions Donald Trump's 34 felony convictions pic.twitter.com/aSN4OFBNRr
— jordan (@JordanUhl) August 20, 2024
The “lock him up” chant has crept more and more into Democrats’ rally crowds this year. Ms Harris usually reacts to it by saying “the justice system will take care” of his outstanding criminal cases, and her focus is on beating Mr Trump in the election.
Ms Clinton initially ignored the chant today, though as it rose in volume she stopped speaking and silently nodded along, smiling.
On a more positive note, Ms Clinton said it had been “the honour of my life” to be the Democrats’ nominee in 2016, and to earn 66 million votes.
“After (I lost), we refused to give up on America. Millions marched. Many ran for office. We kept our eyes on the future. Well, my friends, the future is here,” she said.
“So for the next 78 days, we need to work harder than we ever have.
“We need to beat back the dangers that Trump and his allies pose to the rule of law and our way of life. Don’t get distracted or complacent. Talk to your friends and neighbours. Volunteer, be proud champions for the truth and for the country that we all love.”
Elation on the ground in Chicago
– Benedict Brook in Chicago
News.com.au is on the ground in Chicago and we’ve been talking to delegates and spectators.
There’s a definite feeling of elation at the United Centre where the speeches are being held. But perhaps a palpable feeling of relief as well.
“It would have been a hard struggle, a harder battle for Joe Biden to have won,” said Jan Pelosi from Austin, Texas.
“Very much something has now changed. There’s excitement now. And people would tell you they just weren’t excited about either candidate.
“But now they are.”
Gloria Baker-Goodwin, a delegate from Jacksonville, North Carolina, told news.com.au she was energised.
“I’m feeling fired up, positive, ready to go and Kamala is absolutely astronomical”.
Jim Henderson from Maryland acknowledged it had been a wild few weeks in the Democratic Party with the dumping of Joe Biden.
“It’s been crazy, but good crazy.
“The energy has been expanded with Kamala. It’s so joyful and we’re going to win this thing.”
‘Go back to being a bartender’
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez referred to her pre-politics job as a bartender to paint Donald Trump, and Republicans more broadly, as out of touch.
“Republicans attack me by saying I should go back to being bartender. But I’m happy to any day of the week, because there’s nothing wrong with working for a living,” she said.
“In Kamala Harris, we have a chance to elect a president who is for the middle class because she is from the middle class.
“We know Trump would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends. And I for one am tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day.”
NBA legend: ‘Leaders must have dignity’
One of the first primetime speakers after Ms Harris’s appearance on stage was basketball legend Steve Kerr, a local hero in Chicago due to his time playing for the Bulls. He is now a coach, and just led the United States to a gold medal at the Olympics.
“I know very well that speaking out about politics these days comes with risks. I can see the ‘shut up and whistle’ tweets fired off as we speak,” Mr Kerr said, acknowledging some people’s distaste for celebrities who voice political opinions.
“But I also knew as an American citizen that it was too important not to speak up in an election of his magnitude.”
Mr Kerr said he saw the right leadership “qualities” in Ms Harris and her chosen vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz. And he drew a contrast to Donald Trump.
“I believe that leaders must display dignity. I believe that leaders must tell the truth. I believe that leaders should be able to laugh at themselves,” he said.
“I believe leaders must care for and love the people they are leading. I believe leaders must possess knowledge and expertise but with full awareness that none of us has all the answers.”
Kamala Harris makes surprise appearance
Ms Harris sent the DNC crowd into raptures, appearing on stage at the start of the 8pm hour, local time. Ms Harris thanked Mr Biden for his “lifetime of service”.
“This is going to be a great week, and I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible President, Joe Biden, who will be speaking later tonight,” she said.
“Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation, and for all you will continue to do, we are forever grateful to you. Thank you, Joe.”
“Looking out at everyone tonight, I see the beauty of our great nation. People from every corner of our country and every walk of life are here united by our shared vision for the future of our country,” Ms Harris continued, as the crowd chanted “USA, USA”.
“This November, we will come together and declare with one voice, as one people, we are moving forward.
“With optimism, hope and faith, guided by our love of country, knowing we all have so much more in common than what separates us, let us fight for the ideals we hold dear.
“God bless you, God bless the United States.”
Democrats hammer Trump on ‘Project 2025’
It seems the DNC is going to devote a segment on each of its four nights to highlighting select parts of “Project 2025”, which it’s framing as a blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term.
The 900-plus page document, put together by a conservative thinktank, the Heritage Foundation, was written by staff from Mr Trump’s first administration. Mr Trump has distanced himself from it in recent weeks, saying he “knows nothing” about it and has “no idea who is behind it”.
“I disagree with some of the things they’re saying, and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them,” he said in his clearest public disavowal.
Subsequent reporting about his meetings with senior leaders of Project 2025 have thrown that claim into doubt. In any case, the Democrats are acting as though the document is Mr Trump’s own policy platform.
Mallory McMorrow, a state senator from Michigan, came out on stage today with an almost comically overlarge prop – the entirety of Project 2025 printed out.
“They went ahead and wrote down all the extreme things that Donald Trump wants to do in the next four years,” Ms McMorrow said.
“Tonight I want to talk to you about just one aspect of Project 2025: its plan to turn Donald Trump into a dictator.”
She proceeded to read out a clause from page 535, which alludes to a re-elected President Trump firing public servants who are insufficiently loyal to him.
“They’re talking about replacing the entire federal government with loyalists who answer only to Donald Trump,” said Ms McMorrow, adding that Mr Trump could “turn the FBI into his own personal police force”.
“That is not how it works in America. That’s how it works in dictatorships. And that is exactly what Donald Trump and his MAGA minions have in mind: an expansion of presidential powers like no president has ever had or should ever have.”
Trump’s record on Covid under fire
A couple of the early speakers at the convention have focused on Donald Trump’s record during the Covid pandemic. The virus ultimately killed more than 1.2 million Americans.
“Like many of you, I watched in terror and horror as the Covid pandemic consumed our lives,” said California Congressman Robert Garcia, who was mayor of Long Beach when the pandemic hit.
“As mayor, I fought from more hospital beds, for more tests, and to make masks more accessible. What we needed at that moment was national leadership, but instead, we got Donald Trump.
“While schools closed and dead bodies filled morgues, Donald Trump downplayed the virus. He told us to inject bleach into our bodies. He peddled conspiracy theories across the country. We lost hundreds of thousands of Americans, and our economy collapsed.
“That summer of 2020 my mum and my stepfather both died of the Covid pandemic, and I miss them every single day. So when Donald Trump and his MAGA extremists like Marjorie Taylor Greene downplay the horror of the pandemic, it should make us all furious.”
The Lieutenant-Governor of Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan, spoke of losing her brother to the virus.
“We couldn’t see him. We couldn’t have a memorial. And millions of American families went through the same thing. Our communities were suffering, our economy was struggling, and Donald Trump was playing games.”
Her speech was followed by a montage of clips showing Mr Trump downplaying Covid during the early months of the pandemic.
Breach of DNC’s outer security perimeter
A small update on those pro-Palestinian protesters we mentioned earlier: a handful of them managed to knock over a fence at the DNC’s outer security perimeter.
“Demonstrators breached a portion of anti-scale fencing along the Democratic National Convention’s outer perimeter near the United Centre,” police said.
“The National Special Security Event plan employs a multi-layered approach. Each NSSE plan is unique and includes multiple layers. One of these redundancies includes the outer perimeter fence, which was erected to prevent entry into the inner perimeter.
“The Chicago Police Department remains on scene and is working to clear the area.”
‘It’s just sick’: Harris reacts to Trump clips
DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison has formally opened night one of the convention. We’ll bring you details from the big speeches as they happen – expect the names to get more and more famous as the hours go on. Aside from Joe Biden and his family, we’re also scheduled to hear from Hillary Clinton, USA basketball coach Steve Kerr (a local legend in Chicago due to his playing days with the Bulls) and the influential left-wing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
In the meantime, the Harris campaign has posted a video on social media showing the Vice President watching, and reacting to, some of Donald Trump’s stranger remarks.
It’s obviously quite staged and curated, which will do nothing to lessen the criticism of Ms Harris for avoiding tough media interviews since she became the candidate. But that’s not really the point. It is designed to go viral, to be shared, and to do all the other internet things about which your hapless correspondent knows frighteningly little, to the chagrin of our social media team.
“It’s fascinating. If it weren’t so troubling, it would be incredibly fascinating,” Ms Harris says at one point in the video.
“These are these moments where I really wish I had taken more psychology classes.”
In another moment, reacting to Mr Trump’s suggestion that his border wall with Mexico be electrified, with human-piercing spikes on top and a moat inhabited by alligators, she lets out a heavy sigh.
“I can’t even. It’s just, it’s sick,” she says.
You can watch it here.
.@KamalaHarris reacts to unhinged clips of Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/lTbTow3N8g
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) August 19, 2024
FBI blames Iran for Trump campaign hack
In some non-convention news, the FBI and other US intelligence agencies have issued a statement confirming Iran was behind recent attempts to hack both the Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns.
This follows a complaint from Donald Trump’s campaign, which said Iran had hacked and then distributed a collection of sensitive documents.
“Iran seeks to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions,” the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a joint statement.
“Iran has furthermore demonstrated a longstanding interest in exploiting societal tensions through various means, including through the use of cyber operations to attempt to gain access to sensitive information related to US elections.
“Iran perceives this year’s elections to be particularly consequential in terms of the impact they could have on its national security interests, increasing Tehran’s inclination to try to shape the outcome. We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns.
“This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign, which the intelligence community attributes to Iran. The intelligence community is confident that the Iranians have, through social engineering and other efforts, sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties.
“Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process. It is important to note that this approach is not new. Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries.”
Protesters threaten to derail DNC
The optimistic, revitalised vibe among Democrats, who felt the election was all but lost a month ago, does not mean everything will go smoothly this week.
The chief concern for organisers of the convention is a swell of opposition to the Biden administration – and by extension, Kamala Harris – over its handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Israel’s retaliatory war against the terrorist group, sparked by the horrific attacks last October, has seen large parts of the Gaza Strip levelled by IDF bombs. It’s estimated that more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed; the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims a large proportion of those are children.
“Forty-thousand lives reportedly gone in just over 10 months in Gaza. And possibly, it’s even more. Whatever dispute there is over the numbers, there is no dispute over the immense suffering,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, said last week.
Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Union Park, about a ten-minute walk from the United Centre, ahead of today’s speeches.
While thousands turned out for a mile-long “march on the DNC”, it was a smaller crowd than expected.
“The Democrats are the ones in power,” Hatem Abudayyeh, a spokesman for the umbrella group organising the protest, said on Monday.
“It’s their war. They’re responsible for it, they’re complicit, and they can stop it.”
Another demonstration is planned for Thursday, US time, when Ms Harris herself will speak.
Biden asked about Trump’s ‘coup’ claims
President Joe Biden and his wife Jill landed in Chicago earlier today, and both did a stage check at the United Centre, where they will give their speeches in a few hours.
As recently as a month ago, Mr Biden was expecting to be the nominee at this convention, seeking re-election for a second term. But his halting performance in the June 27 debate against Donald Trump was catastrophic enough to convince other Democrats, chief among them the influential former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, to force him out of the race.
Hence Mr Biden’s new role, speaking on the first night of the convention, in support of his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris.
You can expect plenty of kind words for Mr Biden from other speakers today and a warm reception from the crowd when the President himself takes the stage. Giving the guy his due, so to speak, before moving on to talk about the future for the rest of the convention.
There will, of course, be plenty of interested parties examining Mr Biden’s performance – too old and feeble? Not quite old or feeble enough to justify his withdrawal? You can’t imagine there is much remorse among Democrats, given how much better Ms Harris has been doing in the polls since she became the candidate. Still, one might a detect a whiff of the “what might have been” from some quarters.
We’ll see how Mr Trump reacts, too. He has been calling Mr Biden’s exit from the race a “coup”, and openly speculating that the President might try to wrest back the nomination.
“What are the chances that Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the history of the US, whose Presidency was Unconstitutionally STOLEN from him by Kamabla, Barrack HUSSEIN Obama, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Shifty Adam Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, and others on the Lunatic Left, CRASHES the Democrat National Convention and tries to take back the Nomination, beginning with challenging me to another DEBATE?” Mr Trump said in one of his recent social media posts (capitalisations his).
When Mr Biden did his stage check today, reporters shouted questions at him.
“President Biden, how are you feeling?” and “Mr President, is this a bittersweet moment for you at all?” were a couple of the questions.
“It’s a memorable moment,” Mr Biden replied.
“Mr President, are you ready to pass the torch, sir?” another reporter asked.
“I am,” he said.
Kaitlan Collins, a host and reporter for CNN, asked him about Mr Trump’s characterisation of his withdrawal as a coup.
“What do you make of those claims?” she asked.
Mr Biden’s response: “His stability is still questionable.”
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