A Joe Biden convention with Kamala Harris layered over it

Chicago

Even for someone used to the idea of mass media lies, the dichotomy between the way the 2024 DNC is depicted in mass media versus the way it feels in practical terms is astonishing. On camera and according to a host of commentators, this event in Chicago is one marked by joy, a vibe shift, the turning of the page, the passing of the torch, the way of the future. In person, it feels like an elderly boomer white lady tripping over her orthotics while wearing a Charli xcx shirt because she was trying to send a selfie to her twentysomething daughter. How do you do, fellow kids, don’t you also enjoy James Taylor?

The reason for this, when you consider the facts, is rather obvious: this is still a Joe Biden convention. It just has Kamala Harris layered over it. Everything about this convention feels old, contrived and forced — even the forced perspective of putting the stage in concert format, forcing delegates to choose between looking at their phones or craning their necks. Most of them choose to just sit down. 

Other than a few jumbled speaker lineups, the approach is the same: a litany of elders barking about Joe’s dedication to the Scranton mythology. And as for those changes, do they even work? Why put Jasmine Crockett, a politician in office for fewer than two years, with not a single bill even passed out of committee in primetime? Vibes, obvs, and such.

The simple way of looking at this is that Kamala has been too busy hustling for Doritos and Coach Walz too busy grabbing Nutter Butters to reorder something like a convention. But the lie is plain and obvious upon any viewing: this feels like a wake. You can’t keep up the myth of joy and happiness when the people here seem so grimly resolute in person. This isn’t about nominating Kamala because they love her. It’s about nominating her because it’s what they have to do. Beating Donald Trump requires it. So they’ve embraced the idea of her legend even knowing how false it seems, hoping the American people will buy the lie of her beautiful knowledgeable skill at all things political.

The real danger for Democrats underlying all of this is the possibility that they already got their convention bounce. Harris and Walz have effectively moved the polling needle back to a tie in multiple swing states from its weakness under Joe. But if they emerge from Chicago without moving that needle more in their direction, it will have been a monumental failure of myth-building. They will be stuck in the same position they are now: hoping against hope they can keep the lie going until the day after the election.