• 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.

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TRANSCRIPT

Tre’vell Anderson: It’s Friday, August 23rd. I’m Tre’vell Anderson. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And I’m Priyanka Arab indie and this is What a Day, the show that would like a word with TMZ about their ultimately very incorrect reporting that Beyonce would be performing at the last night of the DNC. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Not very demure, not very cutesy. I do not appreciate this. 

Priyanka Aribindi: No no no no, not cutesy at all. [laugh] [music break]

Tre’vell Anderson: On today’s show, we’re recapping the final night of the Democratic National Convention. 

Priyanka Aribindi: 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. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America. 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] 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. [applause] 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. [laugh]

Tre’vell Anderson: Harris also laid out the threat that Donald Trump poses in a way WAD listeners have heard before. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] 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. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Absolutely. She went on to detail what some of those consequences would be if the country were to reelect Trump to a second term. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] 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 against our own citizens. Consider. Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails. And 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. 

Priyanka Aribindi: She laid it out so very clearly for all of us. Our co-host Juanita Tolliver is actually at the DNC. Juanita, you watched Vice President Harris’s 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. 

Juanita Tolliver: There was nothing but anticipation all night before the vice president took to the stage. And when she did, the crowd erupted and everybody was just on their feet applauding her. At some point where she of course it said all right, let’s get to business. Let’s get started. 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, contrasting Donald Trump. 

Priyanka Aribindi: We can hear some of that excitement behind you. Tell us more about what is going on. The convention is over at this point, but the excitement is still there. 

Juanita Tolliver: 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. [laughter] 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. 

Priyanka Aribindi: Love it.

Tre’vell Anderson: 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 want to know, were there any specific moments that really stood out to you from her speech? 

Juanita Tolliver: Oh, when the vice president went direct to camera with a number of messages in 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 a big, overwhelming reaction to anything that was related to the vice president’s [?], the vice president’s upbringing, of course, her relationship with her mother, Shyamala, as well. 

Priyanka Aribindi: 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? 

Juanita Tolliver: I think it was just anticipation, because the vice president started by saying Israel has a right to defend itself. She went into–

Priyanka Aribindi: Right. 

Juanita Tolliver: –the horrific details about October 7th, and everyone was, at least in my section, murmuring, okay, is she going to say Gaza? Is she going to 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 cease fire and allow them to be self-determined in what happens next. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] 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 cease fire deal done. [cheers and applause] 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 7th. 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 ten 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. 

Juanita Tolliver: 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 territories. 

Priyanka Aribindi: That was our very own co-host, Juanita Tolliver, joining us from the convention floor. 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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. [music break]

[AD BREAK]

Tre’vell Anderson: 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? 

Juanita Tolliver: 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. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] 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. 

Juanita Tolliver: 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 about being able to access the polls unobstructed. So even though she didn’t provide specific policies, she did emphasize the key themes 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 Walz campaign. 

Priyanka Aribindi: All right. Juanita. I’m sorry. I have to do it to you. 

Juanita Tolliver: Okay. 

Priyanka Aribindi: The big talk of the town was that Queen Bey herself would be there. There was supposed to be a surprise guest. Everyone was saying it was Beyoncé. No, Beyoncé. What do we make of that? 

Juanita Tolliver: When I tell you, I wish the Democratic Party chairman, Jamie Harrison, shut this down on Monday when he was playing coy to the cameras and he said, oh, Beyonce’s performing every night because you’ll hear her song Freedom. Uh. 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. In 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 were in this building expecting a star studded show, but that didn’t pan out like we hoped. 

Priyanka Aribindi: An exciting night nonetheless. Juanita, thank you so much. 

Juanita Tolliver: You’re so welcome. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Thank you. 

Juanita Tolliver: And Minnesota is still going, y’all. [laughter]

Priyanka Aribindi: 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] I promise to be a president for all Americans. You can always trust me to put country above party and self. 

Priyanka Aribindi: 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. [music break]. 

[AD BREAK]

Tre’vell Anderson: That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review. Don’t be sad the DNC is over. Smile because it made Trump so so mad and tell your friends to listen. 

Priyanka Aribindi: And if you are into reading and not just the list of bangers on the DNC playlist like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Priyanka Aribindi.

Tre’vell Anderson: I’m Tre’vell Anderson. 

[spoken together] And on to election day. 

Priyanka Aribindi: I’m actually just going to need a beat to process still before I can be on to election day. 

Tre’vell Anderson: We have less than 75 days. 

Priyanka Aribindi: 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Cut it out. [laughing] [music break]

Priyanka Aribindi: What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Bill Lancz. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. We had production help today from Michell Eloy, Ethan Oberman, Greg Walters, and Julia Claire. Our showrunner is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.