Electrified Dems, Shrunken Donald

Plus, Four stories you shouldn't miss

I’d hoped to avoid wading into the rank punditry of convention coverage this week, but old habits die hard. Plus, I enjoyed the vibes of last night’s rollcall and had to comment on the two-fer rallies that managed to pack arenas in BOTH Milwaukee and Chicago at the same time — “*a two-arena, two-city show of strength highlighting the surge of enthusiasm that has come with her rise to the top of the party’s presidential ticket.”

The Dems followed up with a brutally effective tag-team of Michelle and Barack Obama. "Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those 'Black jobs'?" Michelle asked. The former president was equally direct: "We do not need four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos. We have seen that movie before, and we all know that the sequel is usually worse.”

The cumulative impact of the one-two punch? Politico’s John Harris summed up the Obamas' approach to Trump: Make Him Small. “Trump, in this telling, is less a diabolical genius than an irritating, grievance-obsessed buffoon — like ‘the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day….”

**

A month ago, Democrats thought this convention would be a sort of grit-your-teeth, grim death march. Instead, it turned into a dance party-cum-dunkfest on the Orange God King, who is increasingly looking like a pale, bitter, shrunken, low energy, 78-year-old cockwomble whose sell-by date has come and gone.

Even the usual right-wing snarkists had to admit that it was all kind of cool. And you know who had to hate every damn minute of it? For a man obsessed with the size of his [redacted] crowds, this had to burn:

Guess who threw some shade at Trump’s obsession with size…

Happy Wednesday.

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Meanwhile, four stories that seem relevant…

(And only one of them has to do with the convention.)

1. This is Not 1968 Redux

As you might recall, I was among those who worried that we might see a replay of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Back in May, I wrote in the Atlantic:

I remember the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago because I was there. My father was a delegate. I was a page. And I stole the Wisconsin delegation’s sign.

How could I forget? I was 13 years old and found myself watching police assault rioters in the streets. In the convention hall, where, amid the political chaos, I ran around delivering messages among the delegations, I had a front-row seat to a political party tearing itself apart.

This time around, early reports suggested that as many as 40,000 pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli protesters would descend on Chicago and the threat of violence and chaos seemed quite real.

But this may be one of the more striking story lines of the week: so far, despite some theatrical moments, none of this has happened. Instead, we got an epic over-hyped fizzle. Via the Wapo’s Dana Milbank:

CHICAGO — They said tens of thousands of protesters would be here. They claimed they would “shut down the DNC for Gaza.” Like the Chicago riots during the 1968 Democratic convention, their demonstrations would snarl the city, shake the party and doom the candidacy of “Genocide Joe.”

Then came Kamala Harris — and the protest fizzled.

Organizers anticipated there would be 30,000 to 40,000 protesters on hand for Monday’s kickoff. But only a few thousand showed up; police estimated 3,500.

“There were more reporters than protesters,” observed Bennett Weiss. He was there selling Gaza-related buttons, including one that, he said, describes himself: “Self-Ambivalent Jew Against Zionism.”

2. Trump Posts A.I. Images of Taylor Swift Claiming She and Her Fans Support Him

This may seem simply weird (and it is certainly stupid) but it is also a reminder of the amount of raw disinformation and just plain bullshit, that Trump is prepared to disseminate — before and after the election.

Via the NYT:

Former President Donald J. Trump, who has notably harbored a grudge against the pop music megastar Taylor Swift, set the internet ablaze on Sunday when he shared social media posts suggesting that she had endorsed him and that her fans could help him win the November election.

In a post on his social media site, Truth Social, Mr. Trump drew attention to a group of images that were created using artificial intelligence. One showed Ms. Swift dressed up as Uncle Sam with the headline: “Taylor Wants You to Vote for Donald Trump.” The others depicted a crowd of young women wearing matching “Swifties for Trump” T-shirts.

At least one of the images, which were shared by a social media influencer aligned with Mr. Trump, was labeled “satire.”

“I accept,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post, seemingly implying that he had received Ms. Swift’s endorsement.

Exit take: The odds that this will backfire on Trump are roughly 100%.

3. Trump portrays Harris as foreign, echoing past attacks on Democrats of color

As Harris rises, Trump goes ugly. This is, of course, utterly unsurprising, since it’s really the only playbook he knows. Via the Wapo:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday questioned whether Democrats knew where Vice President Kamala Harris “came from,” reprising a tactic that he has previously used against other Democrats, including former president Barack Obama and women of color in Congress.

Trump also freshly described Harris’s policy positions as a “regulatory jihad,” without explanation, using a loaded Arabic term often translated as holy war. He consistently mispronounced her first name, which her supporters see as demeaning and racist toward Harris, a Black and Indian American woman. At another point, he questioned her upbringing.

“I wonder if they knew where she comes from, where she came from, what her ideology is,” Trump said, referencing Harris’s father, a distinguished Jamaican economist. Harris has said that she was raised primarily by her mother. Trump has misleadingly called Donald Harris “Marxist,” though this oversimplifies a long career as an academic focused on international development and practical questions related to the economy of his home nation.

4. Is Trump Tanking Peace Negotiations?

If true, this is stunning. Except that it’s Trump, which makes it totally believable.

Nota Bene

Joe Perticone: Democrats Welcome Disaffected Republicans With Open Arms

Republicans who have soured on their party and its swing to the far right since the ascension of Donald Trump have found a new home and presence at the Democratic convention this week.

Rich Logis, a former Trump voter and MAGA pundit who reversed course over the former president’s poor handling of the COVID-19 epidemic, was featured on the big screen in the convention hall. Other ex-Republicans are getting top speaking slots, such as Ana Navarro… former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and former Trump White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham.

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Noah Smith, in his newsletter, Noahopinion: “The Democrats embraced patriotism after all.”

Anyone watching the Democratic convention in Chicago right now must be struck by the intense patriotism on display. American flags are everywhere. Convention-goers hold up signs saying “USA”. The delegate roll call celebrated every state in turn. A montage showed triumphant scenes from the history of America — the building of the railroads, the conquest of the Great Depression, World War 2 — with flags waving in every scene….

Almost three years ago, I wrote a post called “Try Patriotism”, in which I pointed out that there was a silent majority of Americans who love their country and who weren’t being particularly well-represented by either party’s vision. I predicted that the first party who embraced patriotic messaging wholeheartedly would reap major electoral benefits.

**

Matt Lewis:

"After nine (or so) years of fear-driven politics, the hunger for something different has finally reached a fever pitch. Joy, it seems, is making a comeback.

"I’m not sure who figured out that there was a latent, bottled-up hunger for a happy warrior — or that this 'joy' strategy, rather than finger-wagging moral outrage, was the best way to fight a would-be authoritarian. But it was a profound discovery."

**

Joe Klein, in his fabulous newsletter, “Sanity Clause.”

I’d been having a vague sense of easiness—the opposite of uneasiness—lately, but couldn’t quite pinpoint it until esteemed former colleague Matt Bai nailed it in The Washington Post last week:

I’ve called Donald Trump a lot of things over the last eight years — reckless, callous, nativist, rageful, shameless and even adventurous, which was actually a compliment. But here’s something new and unexpected.

Suddenly, Trump is kind of boring.

I don’t mean boring in the pragmatic sense of: I’ve decided to tamp down the crazy, act like a normal candidate and let the spotlight fall on my very flawed opponent. No, I mean boring like Greenpeace protests and rental cars. Boring as in same old. Played out. Predictable.

Absolutely spot on. I’ve watched two Trump “press conferences” in the past weeks and found them snoozers.

Not that he wasn’t trying. But the same-old hurl of epithets, interrupted by listless attempts to read from the teleprompter, just seems desperate and, well, empty these days: socialist, communist, stupid, left-wing. radical, California, cackling, race-chameleon etc. Ho-hum.

The standard-issue lies about whining the last election. His recent conflation of insane asylums and asylum seekers is clever—but what ever happened to building that wall? And now, he’s trying out the absolutely ridiculous notion that Joe Biden—who stepped aside voluntarily—was overthrown in a coup. So says the man who actually attempted a coup with the fake electors scheme in 2020. But then, Trump has always been 97% projection—crooked Hillary, crooked Joe Biden…Trump is, palpably, the most crooked President in American history, using his position to flagrantly enhance his family’s wealth. It is all so crashingly last cycle.

Which doesn’t mean he’s a loser in 2024, even if he’s acting like one. Politics—as we’ve seen in the last month—can turn on a dime. But I suspect Trump is entering the most frightening week of his political life.

Overdue dog pictures

Auggie thinks I should throw the ball.

Eli (already in the water) has similar ideas.