Democratic National Convention 2020: Day 4

More than six months after he was filleted on a Las Vegas debate stage by Elizabeth Warren, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg turned up, improbably, as the final politician scheduled to speak before Joe Biden delivers his acceptance speech.

Bloomberg cycled through a familiar round of criticism of President Donald Trump, and recalled a similar speech he gave at the Democratic convention in 2016.

“Four years ago I came before this convention and said, New Yorkers know a con when we see one,” Bloomberg said. “But tonight I'm not asking you to vote against Donald Trump because he's a bad guy. I'm urging you to vote against him because he's done a bad job.”

After noting high unemployment numbers and small businesses’ struggles, Bloomberg spoke a bit about himself.

“Before I ran for mayor, I spent 20 years running a business I started from scratch,” he said, before pivoting back to Trump. “So I want to ask small business owners and their employees one question and it's a question for everyone.”

“Would you rehire or work for someone who ran your business into the ground?” Bloomberg said. “And who always does what's best for him or her even when it hurts the company, and whose reckless decisions put you in danger, and spends more time tweeting than working?”

Bloomberg carried on, mocking Trump and talking about his favorite childhood book, before addressing the Democratic ticket.

“Joe and Kamala,” he said, “go get them for all of us.” 

When Joe Biden, in a nationally televised interview, said he supported same-sex marriage, he put President Barack Obama, who had not publicly backed gay marriage, in a tough position and later had to privately apologize to him.

For Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s statement was a sizable step in making his marriage possible, a fact he recalled in his speech to the Democratic National Convention on Thursday.

“The very ring on my finger — a wedding we celebrated here where I’m standing — reflects how this country can change,” Buttigieg said, speaking from the event space where he held his wedding reception with his husband.

Buttigieg, the first out gay candidate in American history to win a major party’s presidential primary contest, said that the changes in LGBTQ acceptance and rights between 2010 and 2020 show the broader progress America can make together if Biden is elected in November.

“It starts here — with the choices we are going to make in just a few weeks,” Buttigieg said. “Decisions not just about who will lead us, but about who we are."

A tribute to Beau Biden preceded Buttigieg, who opened his remarks by remembering the late Biden son as someone who “lived a life of service, in office and in uniform.”

When Buttigieg endorsed Biden earlier this year, Biden said his one-time rival “reminds me of my son, Beau,” a comment that clearly moved the former South Bend mayor.

Watch:

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth did not mince words when hitting President Trump on Thursday: He is the “coward in chief.”

Duckworth, a finalist to be Biden’s running mate, used her speech to the Democratic convention to tout Biden’s understanding of the “sacrifices” made by military families.

It was a personal message for Duckworth, a US Army veteran who lost both of her legs while serving in Iraq. Her speech opened with a shot on her two prosthetic legs.

She added: “That’s the kind of leader our service members deserve.”

“Ours troops deserve better, our country deserves better,” Duckworth said, slamming Trump for not confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin for Russia reportedly putting bounties on the lives of American servicemembers.

Watch:

President Trump said he plans to watch Joe Biden’s Democratic National Convention speech tonight.

Asked by Fox News’ Sean Hannity tonight whether he’d be watching Biden’s remarks later, Trump said, “I will. I’ll watch.”

“I might not be able to watch all of it, but I’m going to be watching,” he added.

The President also said the Republican National Convention will have more live elements than the DNC.

“I think we’re going to have more of it as live than what they did. I think it’s pretty boring when you do tapes. I’m going to go live and do mine live,” he said.

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin made a progressive populist argument for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Thursday night, talking about the illness she suffered as a child and how it left her with the label, “child with a pre-existing condition.”

That was before the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, which required insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. The law is being challenged now in court with the Trump administration’s backing.

“We all have stories like this. Stories about a time when the system was rigged against us. When we were counted out, left out, pushed out,” Baldwin said.

On the final night of this historic convention, Baldwin asked viewers to consider a “fundamental question – a question that gets to the heart of the choice in this election: what kind of country do we want to be?”

She asked:

As Baldwin concluded her remarks, she returned to her own story and how, as a House member, she worked with and supported former President Barack Obama and Biden as their administration passed the ACA.

Paraphrasing Biden’s famous ad lib during the bill’s signing ceremony, she stressed the gravity of the accomplishment.

“We got that done,” Baldwin said, “And, yes, it was a big f’ing deal.”

Dr. Vivek Murthy, the former US surgeon general under President Barack Obama, said the nation is missing leadership in combatting the coronavirus pandemic in a DNC speech Thursday night.

Murthy has advised Biden's campaign on policy proposals to respond to the pandemic, as well as how Biden and his staff can safely hold events and reach out to voters during the crisis.

Featuring a doctor was unusual for a political convention, but it was part of Biden's campaign's effort to underscore that he if elected, he would be guided by experts on policy matters.

He said he has seen "how he sits with people in their pain and holds them in his heart; how he pores over Covid briefings, asking smart questions, letting science guide his way, just as he did when managing the Ebola crisis."

He also told a personal story about Biden meeting his family — many members of whom are immigrants — six years ago in Washington.

"I saw how he kneeled beside my grandmother’s wheelchair, took her hands in his, and said, 'Thank you for choosing us, the United States of America, as the place to trust with your family,'" Murthy said.

In remarks at the Democratic National Convention, historian and author Jon Meacham said Americans need to take an honest account of the nation’s history in order to move forward.

“This is a grave moment in America. A deadly virus is ravaging us. Our jobs are evaporating. Our faith in the things that bind us together is fraying, for our democracy is under assault from an incumbent more interested in himself than he is in the rest of us,” he said. 

In his speech, Meacham reflected that failures throughout American history can lead to progress.

He advocated that Joe Biden can help guide the country in the next four years.

“With our voices and our votes, let us now write the next chapter of the American story — one of hope, of love, of justice. If we do so, we might just save our country and our souls,” he said. 

Watch:

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker assailed the economy under President Donald Trump, saying that "he has failed us."

Booker spoke of his grandfather, who he said left the South during the Jim Crow era and moved to Detroit, where he got a union job on an assembly line during World War II.

"Together, with Joe and Kamala in the White House, we’ll raise the minimum wage so no one who works a full time job lives in poverty. Together, we’ll fight for those who keep us healthy; who keep us safe; who teach our kids," Booker said. "We’ll stand for those who cook, and serve and clean; who plant and harvest; who pack and always deliver, whose hands are thick with callouses like my grandad’s, who held mine when I was a boy."

Watch:

Julia Louis-Dreyfus starred in one of the sharpest satires of American political culture, which always made her an odd choice to host a self-serious event like the final night of this convention.

Through about an hour on Thursday night, the former VEEP lead’s performance as emcee of the final night of the Democratic National Convention is dividing opinion, with some viewers saying (on social media) that her jokes are undermining or dissonant, while others are finding her winking tone a tonic during what’s been, at times, a heavy few nights.

One moment stands out.

Following a clip that showed Biden discussing, at some length, his faith and how it would guide him in office, the camera cut back to Louis-Dreyfus. She turned from the screen behind her and addressed the camera.

“Joe Biden goes to church so regularly,” she said, “that he doesn't even need tear gas and a bunch of federalized troops to help him get there.”

After delivering the punchline — a reference to Trump’s infamous stroll from the White House, across Lafayette Park, to St. John's Episcopal Church in June — Louis-Dreyfus moved the program along by teeing up Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to discuss the voting rights legacy of the late Rep. John Lewis.