CHICAGO — President Joe Biden may be old, but former President Donald Trump is a joke — and the butt of one — at the Democratic National Convention.
Many senior Democratic officials gathered here in the Windy City say they aren’t worried that Trump and GOP officials keep trying to paint a host of top Democrats — Vice President Kamala Harris, congressional Democrats and Biden’s staff, along with "the media" — as complicit in the “cover-up” of what they argue is a mentally incapacitated commander-in-chief.
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“Why are Republicans so interested in what Democrats do? It's like, you all said [Biden] was bad, and, maybe, we took you at your word and fixed it. Now you mad?” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told Raw Story through a laugh as he and his mini-entourage walked through the corridors of the convention.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has a laugh while on the floor of United Center ahead of the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 18, 2024, in Chicago. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
After Biden’s poor debate performance against Trump in June, Democrats basically freaked out for most of a month as Fox News talking points about Biden’s age and cognition became their party’s nightmarish reality.
Then, Biden quit the 2024 presidential race.
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Trump no longer had Biden, 81, to kick around. Democrats quickly shook off the bad dream and are now laughing here at the Democratic National Convention as Trump wrestles with this new reality, one where — at 78 years old — he’s the geezer whose mental acuity and attachment to reality is incessantly questioned by naysayers.
So as Trump and, say, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) — who called Biden’s health the “biggest political cover-up that we have ever seen” — continue harping on Biden, Democrats giggle louder and savor the prospect of him facing Harris head-to-head in debates next month.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laughs while onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2024 in Chicago. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“There's a phrase called grasping at straws,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) told Raw Story. “They have to run against him because they don't want to run against her. I mean, the debate happened, and now he's no longer our nominee.”
Democrats say Trump’s still failing to grasp policy.
“They are really struggling. Honestly, the former president is really struggling on how to respond,” Rep. Annie Kuster (D-NH) told Raw Story at Chicago’s United Center. “The Republicans are just really struggling on how to deal with that, and they don't have a response.”
While this may feel new, according to Kuster, it’s far from novel.
“They've never had a policy response,” Kuster said. “Eight years we heard about ‘repeal and replace Obamacare’ and all this — nothing. So they don't have any other place to go except these sort of personal negative hits, and they're just not landing. Everybody's excited — young, old — everybody's excited.”
Jamie Raskin (D-MD) smiles at reporters during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2024 in Chicago. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Excited — and relieved.
“I am excited about having a ticket that wants to be joyful and bring people together. I have had my fill — I'm exhausted by every possible negative comment that Republicans say,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) told Raw Story. “They don't know how to be positive. They don't know how to govern, and so they just complain about everything. And so they can do that, but we're putting together a coalition to win the election.”
Relief turns to laughter at some point in the continuum, it seems. Thompson — who chaired the U.S. House’s select Jan. 6 committee under former Speaker Nancy Pelosi — says Republicans messed up by tarring and metaphorically feathering Biden.
“They were not the smartest people in the world, by trying to roll that out, beat him up and then in their mind, they succeeded — but they really lost, because they created a bigger path for Kamala Harris,” Thompson said.
A video featuring a courtroom photo of Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump plays during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2024 in Chicago. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“You think Trump's scared of Kamala Harris?” Raw Story asked.
“I think he’s got a real problem. Anytime he says he looks better than Kamala Harris, he got a problem,” Thompson said. “Washington Post said he lied over 30,000 times. All I can say is, he’s continuing to lie.”
