Whether we’re talking about how a grateful nation embraced President Joe Biden as he passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris and a new generation of leadership or former President Barack Obama reminding us that "the ties that bind us together" as a nation and a people are stronger than the hateful rhetoric, conspiracy theories and divide us, in an address echoing the 2004 speech that put him in the national spotlight, one thing is clear: something special is happening in Chicago. The DNC Convention is bursting with a sense of hope and joy that is part grassroots movement, part family reunion. And the contrast with last month’s GOP convention couldn’t be clearer.
On Day One of the Republican Convention, MAGA darling Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked LGBTQ Americans and immigrants, spewed misinformation and called Donald Trump a "founding father," while the audience hissed and booed at any hint of diversity. Compare that to Day One of the Democratic Convention this week where Rep. Jasmine Crockett took the presidential job applications of both Trump and Harris line by line, correctly noting that, "Kamala Harris has a resume. Donald Trump has a rap sheet."
But Crockett didn’t stop there.
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Crockett talked about Harris, not just as a transformational leader, but as a person, a product of the American Dream and a woman who takes the time out of her relentless schedule to listen to a freshman congresswoman’s concerns and remind her that she is exactly where God wants her to be.
She talked about Harris as a beacon of hope and freedom that shines our way to the future and, most importantly, she reminded all of us how important it is for all of us to engage in this election. She asked America to vote.
Greene and the Republicans never bothered to do that because, as far as they’re concerned, they don’t need to do it. Greene and the Republicans think they’re entitled to the White House. Crockett and the Democrats are working to earn it.
Now, that’s just one example. But it has repeated itself over and over again this week in Chicago.
While Republicans cheered Gregg Abbot, the 66-year-old governor of Texas who signed that state’s near-total abortion ban in 2021, Democrats embraced Amanda and Josh Zurawski, the young couple who were turned away from the hospital in Texas while Amanda was enduring a painful and deadly miscarriage because Abbot’s ban wouldn’t let the doctors care for her.
Where Republicans had Peter Navarro, a former Trump adviser and fellow old white guy who spoke just hours after being released from federal prison, the Democrats had Ana Navarro, a former Nicaraguan refugee whose bold vision and courage exemplifies a new generation of Democratic leadership. She’s never been in prison, by the way.
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Watching the Republican convention, you saw Reps. Nancy Mace and Matt Gaetz, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Watch the Democratic Convention and you see Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer, sure, but you also see DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and Convention Committee Chair Minyon Moore, the historic team that put the DNC convention together. You see Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Raphael G. Warnock, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Angela Alsobrooks and more.
We’ve seen labor leaders like AFL-CIO President Elizabeth H. Shuler and UAW President Shawn Fain speaking at the Democratic convention. We see trailblazers like Reps. Maxine Waters and Jim Clyburn. We even see former Trump supporters like Rich Logis and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.
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Now, the conspiracy theorists and naysayers will try to dismiss this as nothing but a speaker lineup. But it’s more than that. A lot more. You see, when I watched the Republican Convention, I couldn’t see myself on stage or in the audience because people like me are not who MAGA and Trump’s Project 2025 are built for. But we’re welcome at the Democratic Convention because the Democrats know that diversity is what makes us strong. That’s where the hope and joy come from. That’s the vibe that’s different.
So, when you turn on the TV to see what’s going on in Chicago or tune in to the speeches from Gov. Tim Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris, look at the stage and the audience and you’ll see America.
You’ll see men and women working together for better jobs, higher wages, reproductive freedom and equal justice. You’ll see Black voters for affordable housing, Latinos for infrastructure improving education, Asian-Americans for infrastructure and even white folks for justice reform. You’ll see young voters fighting to expand student debt relief and end climate change stand hand-in-hand with senior citizens supporting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and President Biden’s $35 cap on the cost of insulin. You’ll see LGBTQ Americans fighting Project 2025 and straight Americans fighting right alongside them.
At the end of the day, the Democratic Convention is shining our spotlight on America. At the Republican Convention, it was just on Donald Trump.
But they did have Hulk Hogan. So, I guess there’s that.
