Politics
Column: Biden shows what it means to make America great — and why Democrats are glad to bid him farewell
The Democratic National Convention started off with hope, hype and smaller protests than some feared — and a surprise appearance from Kamala Harris, looking very demure, very mindful.
(That’s a TikTok thing, if you don’t know.)
The snark level, meantime, was sky-high as cheeky partisans projected onto Trump Tower — which loomed over downtown like a middle finger extended at Democrats — a set of taunting slogans along the lines of: “Trump-Vance ‘Weird As Hell.’ ”
That’s trolling on a 92-story scale.
There were a great many speeches and a great number of entertainers, representing Democratic constituencies from Hollywood to Nashville. (Yes, there are still some Southern Democrats.)
But, of course, Monday night belonged to Joe Biden, the president who reluctantly walked away from his reelection campaign and showed up just long enough to endorse Harris before making his poignant exit — long after much of the country had gone to bed.
Columnists Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria laid off the deep-dish pizza so they could devote all their energies to the convention and came away with these thoughts:
Barabak: He came, he spoke and he showed why Democrats were glad to bid their party leader a heartfelt — but nevertheless relieved — farewell.
Biden has never been a great orator. His strength was knowing how to work the levers in Washington, and for just about 45 minutes Monday night the president outlined all he’d managed to accomplish in his lone term.
Simply stated, he said: “We’re building a better America.”
Biden, too, was mindful, making a point of wrapping Harris in the mantle of his successes. (And the last 3½ years have been filled with nothing but an unbroken series of triumphs, to hear the president tell it, but, hey, it’s a convention speech.)
After he cited legislation bringing down the costs of some prescription drugs, the crowd chanted, “Thank you, Joe!”
“Thank you, Kamala, too!” he interjected.
The emotions were genuine.
Biden was greeted with a lusty ovation lasting more than 4½ minutes, by far the longest of the night. He pulled a white hanky from his breast pocket and dabbed away a tear after a prolonged embrace from his daughter, Ashley, who delivered a loving introduction.
It was moving to hear Biden discuss the long arc of his career — from too young to serve in the Senate (he was 29 when first elected and turned the required age of 30 shortly before being sworn in) to being too old to serve another term as president, as he finally acknowledged.
It was also a reminder of why Democrats collectively looked to November’s election with heart-in-their-throats anxiety — and that was even before Biden’s crashingly awful debate performance.
On Monday night he appeared every bit his 81 years. He was stiff, occasionally stumbling over his words. His waxen face was frozen in a perpetual scowl. He shouted out his words, not at all the joyful warrior of Harris-Walz fashion, but more like a cranky old man shooing kids off his lawn.
The contrast with Harris, who bounded onstage afterward to embrace Biden and join him in the traditional arms-raised tableau, couldn’t have been more stark.
There was speculation that convention programmers purposely pushed the president’s appearance out of television’s prime time on the East Coast and, by the time he finished, in the Central time zone. Of course, they denied it; the program ran long because speakers were just so darned popular, people wouldn’t stop cheering and clapping, party officials said.
What did you think about Biden’s speech?
Chabria: The emotions were genuine, as you say, but I think they were also complex.
Nancy Pelosi had tears in her eyes, though many claim she was a key architect of Biden’s exit. When Harris went onstage she told Biden — not for the cameras — that she loved him.
Ashley Biden brought up the spirit of her departed brother, Beau, and at the end, Biden walked offstage with a young grandson, named in that son’s honor.
When the crowd chanted “Thank you, Joe,” Biden seemed resigned, but also a bit defiant with the long list of accomplishments he touted — reminding us how much he’s done that seems forgotten in the scrum of the election.
Until a few weeks ago, this was a proud and stubborn man who believed not only that he was the best person for the presidency, but believed we thought so, too. So Monday night — as much as it was billed as a gratitude-driven sendoff — was also a forced retirement for a guy who does know more about government and governance than half of Congress combined.
My takeaway is that for all his flaws, and we all have them, this is a man of duty and honor.
Biden quoted a line from the song “American Anthem” to sum up why he made the choice to step away from power: “What shall our legacy be, what will our children say? Let me know in my heart when my days are through, America, America, I gave my best to you,” he said.
And there’s no doubt he gave his best, for decades.
But, as Hillary Clinton said in an earlier speech, change is afoot. And that change doesn’t include Biden.
Barabak: It was a forward-looking Clinton appearance, yes. But the might-have-been vibe was strong when the former first lady and secretary of State took the stage.
The ovation lasted nearly a minute and a half, as Clinton repeatedly started and stopped over the prolonged clapping and cheers.
She acknowledged the outgoing incumbent — “first, let’s salute President Biden” — then dwelled at length on the history-making nature of Harris’ candidacy.
“Something is happening in America,” said Clinton, who was the first woman to win a major party’s presidential nomination. “Something we’ve waited for and dreamed of for a long time.”
More than 66 million Americans voted for her in 2016, Clinton noted, poking more than 66 million small holes in the glass ceiling that’s kept a woman from the Oval Office.
She then tore with relish into the man who beat her — not in the popular vote but narrowly in the electoral college.
“Kamala Harris” — a former district attorney and California’s attorney general— “prosecuted murderers and drug traffickers. Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial,” Clinton gibed. “And when he woke up, he made his own kind of history” as the first ex-president convicted of a felony.
“Lock him up!” the crowd chanted, and Clinton smiled.
Anita, you were taken with one of the non-celebrity speakers, weren’t you?
Chabria: I really felt what April Varrett said, and what she represented.
Varrett, the first Black woman to lead the Service Employees International Union, came out of California as the former head of SEIU Local 2015, the state’s largest local union representing long-term care workers.
Its rank-and-file consists of many Black and brown women, a number of whom are immigrants struggling with poverty in an industry as necessary as it is underfunded. Varrett promised to create a labor movement that is “younger, darker, hipper, fresher, sneaker-wearing.”
That is a powerful vision that is already happening in both labor and politics. I think in a little-noticed way, this convention is all about immigration and communities of color — the immigrants who fuel our economy, fight for their communities and now are claiming political power in a way that terrifies conservatives to the point they demonize them.
Comparing the crowd at the Republican National Convention to the one in Chicago is startling. It really feels like two different Americas, and a crossroads election where we decide which one we believe in.
I was also struck by the everyday Americans who spoke about abortion access. Hadley Duvall, a Kentuckian who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather when she was 12, floored the room with a single question.
Trump calls abortion bans a “beautiful thing,” she said. “What is so beautiful about a child having to carry her parent’s child?”
What else stood out to you?
Barabak: How several of the night’s speakers, in addition to Clinton, leaned into the historic nature of Harris’ nomination as the first Black woman and first Asian American to lead a major party presidential ticket.
That was a major theme in 2020, when Harris first ran for president, and it seemed at times that campaign was more about her hopes of making history than what voters had on their minds.
But there’s no denying the precedent-shattering nature of Harris’ nomination, and it was celebrated with the right amount of balance and perspective.
The vice president was placed in a long line of pioneering women who helped tear down race and gender barriers, among them Diane Nash, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Coretta Scott King and Shirley Chisholm.
“We must all understand that Black history is American history,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP. “And in this historic moment, we will write the next chapter together.”
That remains to be seen, depending on what happens in November. But there is no doubt the moment inscribed in Chicago stands apart from all that have preceded.
Politics
DHS defends McLaughlin against allegations husband’s company profited millions from ad contracts: ‘Baseless’
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EXCLUSIVE: Newly obtained financial statements shed light on claims that former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin’s husband’s company made millions from a DHS advertising campaign.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem faced intense questioning during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., specifically called out the agency for contracting a public relations firm headed by McLaughlin’s husband, Benjamin Yoho.
“I have personally reviewed the allegations against Ms. McLaughlin, and I find them to be baseless,” DHS General Counsel James Percival told Fox News Digital. “Nothing illegal or unethical occurred with respect to these contracts. Ms. McLaughlin was not involved in selecting any subcontractors.
“She is, however, a superstar in the public affairs world, so I am not surprised that she married a successful businessman whose services were attractive to these outside firms.”
Newly obtained financial statements address allegations that former Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin’s husband’s firm improperly profited from a multimillion-dollar DHS ad campaign. Lawmakers pressed Secretary Kristi Noem over the contracts during a heated Senate hearing. (Jack Gruber/USA Today)
Kennedy alleged that Yoho’s firm, The Strategy Group, “got most of the money” out of what the Louisiana Republican senator says was $220 million in “television advertisements that feature [Noem] prominently.”
“I’m sorry,” Kennedy said. “Safe America Media was a company formed 11 days before you picked them. And that the Strategy Group got most of the money. And the head of that is married to your former spokesperson.”
“It’s just hard for me to believe knowing the president as I do, that you said, ‘Mr. President, here’s some ads I’ve cut, and I’m going to spend $220 million running them,’ that he would have agreed to that,” Kennedy explained. “I don’t think Russ Vought at OMB [Office of Management and Budget] would have agreed to that.”
‘YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!’: PROTESTER DRAGGED FROM KRISTI NOEM’S SENATE HEARING
Senate scrutiny intensified over a DHS advertising campaign after Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., questioned whether a firm linked to McLaughlin’s husband benefited unfairly. DHS officials and the company deny any wrongdoing or multimillion-dollar profits. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Strategy Group is a conservative advertising agency for which Yoho serves as CEO.
Figures obtained by Fox News Digital show a slightly lesser total advertising expenditure of approximately $185 million, with a total of roughly $146.5 million going to a campaign called “Save America.”
However, of the total that went to “Save America,” roughly $348,000 went to production costs, while the remaining $142 million went to “media buys.”
Sources at DHS say that media buys are the cost of actually buying the ads themselves, whether purchased from social media or for a TV ad.
Kennedy also alleged that the bidding process for the contracts never took place and that Safe America Media’s recent founding was a cause for concern and collusion between McLaughlin and her husband’s business.
WATCH THE MOST VIRAL MOMENTS AS KRISTI NOEM’S HEARING GOES OFF THE RAILS
Debate over DHS’ “Save America” ad campaign intensified as senators challenged its costs and contractor ties, even as agency officials touted the initiative as a historic success in promoting self-deportation. (Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)
“Yes they did,” Noem responded during the hearing. “They went out to a competitive bid, and career officials at the department chose who would do those advertising commercials.”
The Strategy Group posted to X Tuesday that it never had a contract with the department. While it did receive several hundred thousand dollars for production costs associated with the advertising campaigns, The Strategy Group never made millions.
“The Strategy Group has never had a contract with DHS,” the post said. “We had a subcontract with Safe America [Media] for limited production services. Safe America paid us $226,137.17 total for 5 film shoots, 45 produced video advertisements and 6 produced radio advertisements.
DHS SPOKESWOMAN TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN TO LEAVE TRUMP ADMIN, SOURCE CONFIRMS
Critics raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest in a high-dollar DHS advertising effort, but department representatives say McLaughlin recused herself and that subcontracting decisions were made independently. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
“If you’re going to try to question our integrity, bring actual evidence — we did,” the post concluded.
Because these ads were purchased using public funds, all contract totals are publicly available.
Lauren Bis, who took up the role of assistant secretary once McLaughlin left office, told Fox News Digital Tuesday that scrutiny from Republicans and Democrats over the advertising spending was unjustified because the campaigns resulted in “the most successful ad campaign in U.S. history.”
“Sanctuary politicians are attacking this ad campaign because it has been successful in CLOSING our borders and getting more than 2.2 million illegal aliens to LEAVE the U.S.,” Bis said.
“The DHS domestic and international ad campaign was the most successful ad campaign in U.S. history. The results speak for themselves: 2.2 million illegal aliens self-deported, and we now have the most secure border in American history.”
KRISTI NOEM TO FACE SENATE GRILLING OVER MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTINGS AS DHS SHUTDOWN HITS WEEK 3
The Trump administration reaffirmed that all illegal immigrants are eligible for deportations as they focus on arresting violent criminals first. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Bis also compared the cost of arresting and deporting an illegal migrant to that of the minimal cost of an illegal migrant self-deporting. The department says the advertising campaign played a key role in marketing self-deportation.
A spokesperson at DHS also told Fox News Digital that contractors decide who they hire, fulfilling the terms of a contract, not the department itself.
“By law, DHS cannot and does not determine, control or weigh in on who contractors hire or use to fulfill the terms of the contract,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox. “Those decisions are made by the contractor alone. We have only become aware of these companies because of this inquiry and did not hire those companies.”
The spokesperson also noted that McLaughlin “recused herself” from interactions with subcontractors to avoid “any perceived appearance of impropriety.”
“Upon hearing who the subcontractors were for production of the ad, Ms. McLaughlin recused herself from any interaction or engagement with any subcontractors to avoid any perceived appearance of impropriety,” the spokesperson continued. “DHS Office of Public Affairs is the program officer. Ms. McLaughlin oversees the DHS Office of Public Affairs, which is simply the vehicle for this contract.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem takes her seat as she arrives to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
McLaughlin told Fox News Digital the criticism of her and her family by senators at the hearing is a matter of public manipulation.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“This is yet another example of politicians intentionally trying to dupe and manipulate the public to try to manufacture division and anger,” McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. “The ad spend and contracts are a matter of public record, and the process was done by the book.
“These politicians would rather smear private citizens and American small businesses than do any basic research.”
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
Related Article
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a war powers resolution Wednesday designed to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities in Iran, as the Trump administration accelerates its military campaign in a conflict that has killed hundreds, including at least six American service members.
The motion failed in a vote of 47-53.
In addition to pulling out military resources from the Middle East, the measure — introduced by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) — would have required Congress’ explicit approval before future engagement with Iran, a power granted to the legislative branch in the Constitution.
The House, where Republicans also hold an advantage, is scheduled to weigh in on a similar measure Thursday. Even if both Democratic-led measures were to succeed, President Trump was widely expected to veto the legislation.
“We are doing very well on the war front, to put it mildly,” President Trump said at a White House event on Wednesday afternoon. The president, who has come under scrutiny for offering shifting explanations on the war’s endgame, said that if he was asked to scale the American military operation from one to 10, he would rate it a 15.
Democrats dispute that Trump possesses the authority to wage the ongoing operation in Iran without explicit congressional approval.
Acknowledging the measure was unlikely to succeed, they framed the vote as a strategy to force lawmakers to put their support for or opposition to the war on record.
“Today every senator — every single one — will pick a side,” Schumer said. “Do you stand with the American people who are exhausted with forever wars in the Middle East, or stand with Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth as they bumble us headfirst into another war?”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and most of his Republican colleagues have maintained that the president carried out a “pre-emptive” and “defensive” strike in Iran, giving him full authority to continue unilateral military operations.
Republicans saw the vote as the “last roadblock” stopping Trump from carrying out his mission against the Islamic Republic.
“I think the president has the authority that he needs to conduct the activities and operations that are currently underway there. There are a lot of controversy and questions around the war powers act, but I think the president is acting in the best interest of the nation and our national security interests,” Thune said at a news conference.
Senators largely held to party loyalties, with the exception of Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, who broke ranks to support the measure, and Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman, who opposed it.
The vote comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the war against Iran is “accelerating,” with American and Israeli forces expanding air operations into Iranian territory. He pointed to evidence released by U.S. Central Command of a submarine strike on an Iranian warship, and also lauded other strikes throughout the region as civilian casualties in Iran surpassed 1,000 on the fourth day of the conflict, according to rights groups.
“We’re going to continue to do well,” Trump said Wednesday. “We have the greatest military in the world by far and that was a tremendous threat to us for many years. Forty-seven years they’ve been killing our people and killing people all over the world, and we have great support.”
Republicans blocked a similar war powers vote in January after the president ordered U.S. special forces to capture and extradite Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on drug trafficking charges.
GOP leaders argued that the outcome of that mission equated to a quick success in the Middle East, despite an uncertain timeline from the Department of Defense.
In the House, lawmakers will vote on a separate war powers effort Thursday. That bill is led by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), the two lawmakers who authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“Instead of sending billions overseas, we need to invest in jobs, healthcare, and education here,” Khanna said on X.
In addition to that proposal, moderate Democrats in the House have introduced a separate resolution that would give the administration a 30-day window to justify continued hostilities in the Middle East before requiring a formal declaration of war or authorization from Congress.
new video loaded: U.S. ‘Accelerating’ Military Assault in Iran, Hegseth Says
By Christina Kelso
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