A tale of two conventions — one of them gripping

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/08/2024 (408 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Like the rest of the world, we are merely spectators (and sometimes victims) of the political processes in the United States, our nearest neighbour and closest ally.

Watching the Democratic National Convention (DNC), the dominant feeling was obviously relief. U.S. President Joe Biden, however reluctantly, put a good face on deciding to retire. His warnings about a second Trump term were valid but they would not have brought enough voters out in support of the Democratic ticket. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz bring their own set of issues to the election table but neither are octogenarians.

Against the septuagenarian Republican muscles of wrestler Hulk Hogan, the Democrats set the waifish poetry of Amanda Gorman. What this election will make clear, as the polarities grow even stronger toward election day, is whether reason, common sense and compassion are able to hold their ground against fear, angry bluster and muscular rhetoric.

I was drawn to watch more of the DNC than the Republican National Convention (RNC) — I puttered at other things through JD Vance’s unremarkable speech and changed the channel after a few minutes of Donald Trump’s erratic ramble. But trying to work with the DNC on the television in the background was impossible.

The audience was given a series of remarkable stories and while Gorman owned the poetry angle, there were lots of crisp one-liners and poignant and heartfelt concerns, all woven together with a “just folks” kind of homespun wisdom.

Add together all the stories, people, communities and differences, and the Democratic ticket seems to be people who look like us, live like us, and deal with family issues like our own.

While it is very hard to believe that an old billionaire understands the struggles of the average American, the Democratic speechwriters had a field day with the storylines they were handed. They didn’t have to convince people Kamala and Tim were “just folks” — they simply let friends and neighbours step up to the microphone.

By the end, a large swath of American voters no doubt feels they have something in common with Harris and Walz. “Coach” Walz’ experience also took away some of the easy cheap shots Republicans have fired at the Democratic elites before.

I particularly liked his snipe about responsible gun ownership, observing that he was “a better shot” than the Republicans in Congress and had the awards to prove it. His hunting storyline includes actually waiting in a duck blind for the birds — an experience Trump likely doesn’t share.

The DNC could have ended with their mobilization against a bullying, corrupt and lying wannabe tyrant and his menacing henchmen — the “Trumpites,” as Hulk Hogan dubbed them at the RNC. But that would have been too negative a note — too much like the dire predictions of U.S. President Biden that were unconvincing to the undecided.

Instead, the constant refrain oscillated between “going forward” and “we’re not going back.” And, while relief might have been the dominant feeling, it was up-sized by speaker after speaker into hope, living up to the American dream that was still vibrant and well.

Then, Kamala Harris gave one of the most powerful speeches I have ever heard. She left it all on the field, beginning with gracious, thankful and personal comments and slowly building and morphing toward words of steely resolve and determination.

I would not want to cross the United States with Kamala Harris as president. I’m quite sure Kim Jong-Un and Vladimir Putin would prefer Trump, instead. If she wins, I also expect a ceasefire in the Middle East and a plan to keep that peace by Christmas. There was no waffle in her words — spoken with conviction, as a prospective commander-in-chief.

So, by the end of the DNC, you could be forgiven for thinking the only Trumpites left standing were greedy billionaires and perverse sidekicks, usually male and white, for whom common sense was a bridge too far: Harris and Walz, for the win!

That would be the Hollywood ending. But after the movie is over, you still find yourself back in that grimy parking lot, headed home to the same pile of dirty dishes that you escaped for a little while.

I remember hearing in 2016 there were just not enough “deplorables” to elect Trump. Then the pundits said he would be brought into line by mainstream Republicans while president. Then, after his election loss and the insurrection of January 2020, those same pundits said his renomination for 2024 was impossible. And yet, even despite his recent attempted assassination by a fellow Republican, here we go, all over again.

Obviously, not every American saw the DNC movie. Nor, with the gutting of responsible media, will there be many reliable reviews afterward to fill that hole.

If hope matters, that dream has to be rendered into real, convincing reasons. Against all facts and logic, half the American people still believe the country will be better off under Trump.

Peter Denton writes from his home in rural Manitoba.