Know Your Enemy - Kamala's Convention [Teaser]

Matt and Sam give their impressions of the DNC and the Harris-Walz ticket.

Duration: 6m
Broadcast on: 23 Aug 2024
Audio Format: other

Four days in Chicago, dozens of speeches by Democratic luminaries and backbenchers, and a spotlight on Kamala Harris, who reintroduced herself to America — your favorite podcast co-hosts endured watching the Democratic National Convention and are here to report on what they saw.

It was, in many ways, a highly successful convention: massive crowds, palpable energy for the Harris-Walz ticket, and orations met with pundits' plaudits. But the Democrats' refusal to feature a speaker from the Uncommitted delegates, and the general lack of evident concern for Palestinian suffering, was profoundly disappointing — and morally grotesque. As were the choices to feature cops and ex-CIA agents on the convention stage, and the broad affirmation, from Democrats, of the right's positions on crime and the border. What to make of it all? We discuss how Kamala tried to define her career and candidacy, what we make of Tim Walz (so far), how Democrats talked about Trump (including the shifts from how they've done so in the past), and the state of the presidential race now that both conventions are, blessedly, over.

Sources:

Watch Kamala Harris's full DNC speech (YouTube)

Watch Tim Walz's full DNC speech (YouTube)

Watch Michelle Obama's full DNC speech (YouTube)

Liliana Segura, "Democrats Abandoned Their Anti-Death Penalty Stance. Those on Federal Death Row May Pay the Price," The Intercept, Aug 23, 2024.

Josh Leifer and Waleed Shahid, "The Uncommitted Movement Is the Floor of What’s Possible,” Dissent, Aug 16, 2024

Noah Lanard, "Here Is the Speech That the Uncommitted Movement Wants to Give at the DNC," Mother Jones, Aug 23, 2024

I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if our listeners are acutely aware of what the uncommitted delegation and that movement was about, but I've been very frustrated by the kind of allusions that pundits who don't pay any attention to the pro-Palestine or anti-war movement have engaged in on Twitter, which is to ally the differences between like all the different factions of activists who are opposed to the slaughter in Gaza. The uncommitted movement is a very specific thing. These are people who are committed Democrats who want Trump to lose, wants to ensure that a Democrat gets elected because they know that Trump would be worse, but found this way of like trying to influence the process through legitimate channels. These are not records. They aren't records. They're elected as Democratic party delegates to the Democratic convention. I think that's really important to underscore because, I mean, obviously, people say all kinds of shit online, but just like the conflation, not just from no buddies, but people should know better. Matt Iglesias. Yeah. Yeah, like acting like the specific demand of having a speaking slot at the DNC, acting like that would be turning over the microphone to some lunatic who would be running around like their hair was on fire, shouting nonsense. That was just simply not the case. Yes. The fact is that like if you're a sort of committed Democratic partisan, but who's also concerned about what's happening in Gaza, these are the activists that you want to be at center stage. These are the people who are bouncing their desperate desire to see a different outcome and a quick end to the brutality in Gaza. They're bouncing that instinct, which in many cases for these people is an instinct which has to do with saving their family members from being killed by American bombs launched by Israeli military. They are balancing that instinct with their genuine understanding that it's very important that Trump loses. That is the whole concept of the uncommitted movement. And you know, what happened here at this convention is that they showed up. There were in negotiations with the Harris campaign with DNC to get a speaking slot. Really the Harris campaign said no. They said no. They said no before they even read any of the speeches. And it was always the position of the uncommitted delegates to say, we will go through whatever process everybody else goes through. You can edit the speech, you know, we'll agree on it. We'll stick to what we put in that speech. Now there's been published a version of the speech that one of the delegates, Ruwa Roman, who's a Palestinian American state legislator from Georgia, wanted to give on the convention this stage, which you can read and we'll put in the show notes. It's published in Mother Jones. She ended up giving it outside the convention for the media. There is nothing in this speech that you could possibly object to from a, you know, unity perspective. It's profound, it's well done.

Transcription truncated.

Matt and Sam give their impressions of the DNC and the Harris-Walz ticket.