What A Day - No Beyoncé, No Problem: Kamala Harris Captivates The DNC

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic nomination for President Thursday night on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. On a star-studded night that included appearances from Kerry Washington, Reverend Al Sharpton, and NOT Beyoncé, the energy on the convention floor was electric as Democrats anticipate the general election, less than 75 days away.Harris’s speech included touching moments from her life story, remarks on the economy and the war in Gaza, and even a few jabs at former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump. “What a Day” host Juanita Tolliver joins us from the convention floor to tell us whether Harris’ speech met expectations and to give us an inside look at the excitement as the DNC comes to a close. Show Notes:Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Friday, August 23rd. I'm Trae Vale Anderson. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi, and this is What A Day, the show that would like a word with TMZ about their ultimately very incorrect reporting that Beyoncé would be performing at the last night of the DNC. Not very demure, not very cutesy. I do not appreciate this. No, no, no, no. Not cutesy at all. On today's show, we're recapping the final night of the Democratic National Convention. Yes, last night, Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president, making history as the first Black woman and the first person of

South Asian descent to accept a major party's nod. I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America. Now, it's worth reflecting for a second on how fast all of this has happened. In a little more than a month, Harris shot to the top of the ticket and has re-energized Democrats with less than 75 days to go until election day. So in a lot of ways, Harris is still introducing herself to voters. It's something Harris acknowledged in her speech last night, and she spent a good chunk of it talking about her own personal story. She talked about growing up in a middle-class neighborhood in the Bay Area, and spoke lovingly about her late mother, who raised Harris and her sister

after their parents split up. My mother was a brilliant, five-foot-tall, brown woman with an accent. And as the eldest child, as the eldest child, I saw how the world would sometimes treat her. But my mother never lost her cool. She was tough, courageous, a trailblazer in the fight for women's health, and she taught Maya and me a lesson that Michelle mentioned the other night.

She taught us to never complain about injustice, but do something about it. Do something about it. That was my mother. And she taught us, and she always, she also taught us, and she also taught us, and never do anything half-assed. And that is a direct quote. Harris also laid out the threat that Donald Trump poses in a way wild listeners have heard before. In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences, but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious. Absolutely. She went on to detail what some of those consequences would be if the country were to reelect Trump to a second term. Consider what he intends to do if we give him power again.

Consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol, his explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents, and anyone he sees as the enemy, his explicit intent to deploy our active duty military Consider, consider the power he will have, especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled that he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States, not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had, himself. She laid it out so very clearly for all of us. Our co-host Juanita Tolliver is actually at the DNC. Juanita, you've watched Vice President Harris' speech

live from the convention floor. What a moment that was. We want to know, what was it like? Tell us about the energy in the room, how the crowd was reacting to the speech. Tell us everything. There was nothing but anticipation on that before the Vice President took to the stage. And when she did, the crowd erupted and everybody was just on their feet applauding her to the point where she of course said, all right, let's get to business. Let's get started. I had to calm everybody down.

But the energy has been building over the past three days up until this moment. And the crowd just really burst full of energy, excitement, and joy the moment she stepped on the stage. And honestly, throughout her entire speech, they would just react positively, whether it was her talking about her personal life, her family, her journey, what she described as only possible in America, to her work as a district attorney and attorney general, but also, of course, the contrast with Donald Trump. We can hear some of that excitement behind you. Tell us more about what is going on. The convention's over at this point, but the excitement's still there. Right. The speech ended probably 25, 30 minutes ago.

The Minnesota state delegation is still on the floor chanting, we're not going back. Of course, this is Governor Tim Walz's home state. And this is something they did throughout this entire week. So they did this last night. They stayed out here an hour or two after the event ended. I anticipate that's what they're going to be doing tonight, but I will be long gone. But they are fully excited. They are still jumping around and chanting. We're not going back in unison, waving their signs. And it's just them. Love it. Absolutely. So as you definitely know, sometimes with these major

speeches, it can hit differently in the room versus on the screen. So I you definitely know, sometimes with these major speeches, it can hit differently in the room versus on the screen. So I want to know, were there any specific moments that really stood out to you from her speech? Oh, when the vice president went direct to camera with a number of messages and talking about what she is committed to doing for the public in direct contrast with Donald Trump. She did not hold back in saying he is selfish, he is out for himself, he is someone who only cares for himself because he is his only client, compared to her. She emphasized how she represents the people and that is something that got people excited because caring and humanity seems to be something that voters, at least the delegates in this room and attendees, have been starved of. So they had big, overwhelming reactions to anything that was

related to the vice president's humanity, the vice president's upbringing, of course, her relationship with her mother, Shamala, as well. Absolutely. Something that was being very closely watched as we went into tonight was what VP Harris would say about the war in Gaza. Earlier this week, a request from the uncommitted movement delegates to speak at the DNC was denied. They actually held a sit-in protest ahead of Thursday night to protest that. What was the reaction to that portion of Harris's speech on the floor? I think it was just anticipation because the vice president started by saying Israel has a right to defend itself.

She went into the horrific details about October 7th and everyone was, at least in my section, murmuring, okay, she's gonna say Gaza, she's gonna talk about Palestinian people. And she did. And she talked about their right to self-determination, their right to have not the horrific conditions that they've been enduring since Israel started its bombardment last fall continue much longer. And

she talked about the need to recognize their humanity, but also stop the bombardment, have a ceasefire and allow them to be self-determined in what happens next. With respect to the war in Gaza, President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done. And let me be clear, and let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival. At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months

is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination. And that was a big message to Netanyahu. That was a big message to Israel, that they do not have a right to lay claim to any part of Gaza or Palestinian-Americans. That was our very own co-host Juanita Tolliver joining us from the convention floor. We'll be back with more from her in a moment.

But if you like our show, make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends. We'll be back after some ads. And we're back with more from Juanita, live at the DNC. Now, VP Harris has been criticized for not yet having given, you know, many policy points in her campaign, even though it just started a month ago. I'm wondering, do you think tonight's speech satisfied those critics? Do you feel like we have a better idea of what a Harris administration would look like? Well, the specifics that she did reiterate tonight is what she rolled out last week in North Carolina when she talked about the opportunity economy. My mother kept a strict budget. We lived within our means, yet we wanted for little.

And she expected us to make the most of the opportunities that were available to us and to be grateful for them. Because as she taught us, opportunity is not available to everyone. That's why we will create what I call an opportunity economy, an opportunity economy where everyone has the chance to compete and a chance to succeed. She also talked about making sure that it was easier for first-time homebuyers to have a down payment and getting relief. So she was able to dig back into some of those economic policies that she had already rolled out. Beyond that, it sounded like she was framing everything as responding to how she is going to protect people's freedoms. And in a context of alleviating their fears that they have in their day-to-day lives, fears around costs, whether that's groceries or basic things

they need around their homes, fears around accessing abortion care, fears around being able to access the polls unobstructed. So even though she didn't provide specific policies, she did emphasize the key things that she will be prioritizing for the rest of this campaign. And I think that is something that the audience here responded well to. I think it's going to be a question of if that's going to be enough for the remainder of this campaign cycle. What I do suspect is that following this convention, we should expect a more built-out

platform coming from the Harris-Waltz campaign. All right, Juanita, I'm sorry. I have to do it to you. The big talk of the town was that Queen Bee herself would be there. There was supposed to be a surprise guest. Everyone was saying it was Beyonce. No Beyonce. What do we make of that? When I tell you I wish the Democratic Party chairman, Jamie Harrison, shut this down on Monday when he was playing Boy to the Cameras and he said, oh, Beyonce's performing every night because you'll hear her song, Freedom.

No, I think that was absolutely something on people's mind, especially when a publication like TMZ says they have the exclusive on this. But it was Beyonce's own publicist who went to The Hollywood Reporter and said she was never scheduled to be there, y'all simmer down. That was the reality check that happened maybe 30 minutes before the vice president took to the stage. And I think no one was disappointed by it. And at least in my area, everybody was excited to hear the vice president make her historic declaration as a Black woman, as a South Asian person, to accept the Democratic nomination to run at the top of the ticket.

But of course, any opportunity to see Beyonce is something that is highly sought after. And I do have my suspicions that a lot of people are in this building expecting a star-studded show. But that didn't pan out like we hoped. An exciting night nonetheless, Juanita. Thank you so much. You're so welcome. And Minnesota is still going, y'all. Love it.

You can hear the folks from Minnesota going wild still. That infectious energy really was just so consistent throughout this week from everybody from top to bottom. I think it was super palpable. And while the words might fade, we might forget exactly what people said. That will be the most memorable part of this convention. I think it'll stay with people for a really long time. Absolutely. And one final important takeaway from this speech was Harris's message of unity. She invited everyone, regardless of their political views, in and promised to be a president for us all. I promise to be a president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party

and self. And when she says it, you just believe it. This officially marks the end of our DNC coverage for the week. What a week it has been. Personally, very excited for us East Coasters to get some sleep. Thanks so much for doing this with us. One more thing before we go this week we went all out for the democratic national convention here at crooked media we are giving friends of the pod subscribers access to a ton of behind the scenes content and community events including a dnc subscriber live chat a new subscriber exclusive segment featuring john john tommy and dan for back-to-back and ad-free episodes of Pod Save America,

recapping the biggest convention news of the night. It's been a hell of a week for content, and as bonus now, we have an official Democratic Party nominee. Pretty great deal. Get all of our exclusive DNC content and more when you subscribe to Friends of the Pod. Head to crooked.com slash friends to sign up now. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe.

Leave a review. Don't be sad the DNC's over. Smile because it made Trump so, so mad. And tell your friends to listen. And if you are into reading and not just the list of bangers on the DNC playlist like me, What Today is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi.

I'm Trey Val Anderson. And on to Election Day. I'm actually just going to need a beat to process still before I can be on to Election Day. We have less than 75 days. I don't know. Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn reunion. Like I'm still reeling a little bit from that one. I thought they might kiss. Cut it out.

What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. We had production help today from Michelle Alloy, Ethan Oberman, Greg Walters, and Julia Clare. Our showrunner is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adrienne Hill.

Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.