Dems 'get their hands dirty' at jubilant yet edgy convention: analysis

21 August 2024

A wide range of speakers were featured on the second night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, from former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). There were some conversative speakers as well, including Never Trumper Ana Navarro (a GOP strategist and pundit for CNN and "The View"), Stephanie Grisham (former press secretary for the Trump White House and ex-First Lady Melania Trump), and Mesa, Arizona Mayor John C. Giles.

One thing many of the speakers have had in common is a willingness to attack 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump with a vengeance. The 2024 DNC has had a happy, celebratory tone overall, yet much of its anti-Trump commentary has been combative and edgy.

In an article published on August 21 — the third day of the convention — The Atlantic's David A. Graham stresses that this edginess is no accident. Graham describes the convention's overall mood as jubilant and "euphoric" but also characterizes it as a departure from Michelle Obama's 2016 declaration "When they go low, we go high."

"The country is more divided than it has been in generations, and when Republicans go low, Democrats are willing to be snarky and insult the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance right back," Graham observes. "The party has changed during, or been changed by, the Trump years. At the Democratic National Convention in their hometown of Chicago last night, the Obamas showed that they, too, are ready to get their hands dirty, but also, that they haven't given up on a rosier vision of what things can be."

Graham continues, "Barack Obama scoffed at Trump early in his 35-minute speech closing the evening. 'The childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes,' he said, making a not-so-subtle hand gesture. 'The other day I heard someone compare Trump to the neighbor who keeps running his leaf blower outside your window every minute of every day.'"

Michelle Obama, Graham notes, said of Trump, "Who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those 'Black jobs?'"

Graham argues that despite their share of "snarky" comments at the convention, Democrats still have a more positive tone than Trump.

"The truth is that although the Obamas may not be quite so prim as they were eight years ago," Graham observes, "they aren't getting quite as far down in the muck with Trump. Nor is the rest of their party. No one can match Trump's penchant for insult, and only other Republicans are trying. But Democrats have concluded that (President Joe) Biden's rather high-flown rhetoric about Trump wasn't working, while Harris and (Minnesota Gov. Tim) Walz's attempts at deflating Trump with mockery are getting results."

David A. Graham's full article for The Atlantic is available at this ink (subscription required).

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