We’ll probably get the final numbers today or over the weekend, but it definitely looks and feels like the Democratic National Convention blew the RNC’s ratings out of the water. People have been tuning in all week and the DNC organizers did an amazing job with speakers, performances and vibes. Even old-fart conservatives like Chris Wallace said that the DNC “clobbered” the RNC. It also would not surprise me at all if people tuned in just for the fourth night, to see Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech. There was curiosity even among true-blue Democrats about what kind of tone she would set and whether her speech would be more biographical or whether she would talk policy. She did it all, wrapping her biography into policy. But really, the main thrust of her speech was the Prosecution of Donald Trump. The stakes, the “prosecutor versus felon” narrative, the fact that we cannot let that f–king fascist anywhere near the White House ever again.

Even the optics felt notable – many expected VP Harris to wear “suffragette white,” but instead she wore a dark navy pantsuit from Chloe with a pussybow blouse. She looked presidential and she acted presidential – the optics were “I’m ready for this and I’m dressing like I already have the job.” The speech, as I said, was full of policy and substance. The speakers leading up to Harris’s speech were doing that too, with a focus on foreign policy, the military, reproductive rights and gun control. While Harris is wildly effective on all of that, she is (in my opinion) the most effective when she’s dissecting Trump:

Harris tagged Trump as “an unserious man,” but argued that the consequences of putting him back in the White House “are extremely serious.” Part of that involved recapping his attempt to steal the 2020 election (“he tried to throw away your votes”) and his criminal conviction (“for an entirely different set of crimes, he was found guilty of fraud”).

But Harris argued that next time could well be worse because of the Supreme Court ruling last month giving presidents broad immunity from prosecution for acts they commit as president. “Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails,” Harris said. “How 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.”

This is an important recognition that the democracy issue is bigger than just repeating that Trump is a convicted felon or that January 6 was bad. Indeed, Harris treated Trump’s conviction as a small part of a larger argument that he is a fundamentally corrupt person, unfit for the presidency, and out for himself rather than everyday Americans.

Later on, while discussing foreign policy, she was even more blunt. “Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable,” she said, “because he wants to be an autocrat.”

[From Vox]

She was brilliant last night. I’ve been a fan of Harris for years, but even I will admit that, in the past, she hasn’t always been able to explain and articulate her vision and her perspective in a concise, understandable way. That’s shifted and it’s shifted very quickly. It goes back to some reporting in recent weeks, when President Biden endorsed her and she locked down the nomination within 24 hours – she’s no longer second-guessing herself and she’s no longer simply acting as Biden’s loyal soldier. That’s freed her and now she’s running, unburdened by what has been.

Screencaps from YouTube.