This show, this longest political TV ad ever, isn’t designed for the junkies but for people who dip in for 10 minutes before going back to Netflix. And that’s smart. #DemocraticConvention— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) August 18, 2020
Mike Allen at Axios
On opening night of their awkward but stirring virtual convention, Democrats prioritized racial justice along with the pandemic and the recession.
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- Why it matters: On issues, Joe Biden's widest margin over President Trump in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll is race relations — a 24 point spread.
Trump's handling of the virus animated the night's top zinger — from Kristin Urquiza, who wrote a viral obituary for her father, Mark Urquiza of Arizona:
Michelle Obama owned the night, and used a line from President Trump’s "Axios on HBO" interview as a rapier: "[H]e is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. It is what it is."
- "My dad was a healthy 65-year-old. His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump — and for that he paid with his life."
The former first lady encouraged viewers to "request mail-in ballots tonight," and urged them to be prepared for chaos at polls:
- 'Those five words — down from her seven-word catchphrase at the 2016 convention, "When they go low, we go high" — have become a cultural shorthand for Trump's handling of the virus.