Hi. Welcome to On Politics, your guide to the day in national politics. I’m Giovanni Russonello, typically the morning newsletter writer. I’ll be your evening host during the conventions. |
 | | Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times |
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The 2020 Democratic National Convention kicks off — or, shall we say, clicks on — in just a few hours, at 9 p.m. |
Technically, the event comes to us from Milwaukee, where the D.N.C. chairman, Tom Perez, and a number of state Democratic officials are gathered. But most of the night’s speakers, including Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Michelle Obama, will deliver their remarks via video. |
Livestreaming — and proud of it |
Democrats are seeking to turn the compromised nature of this year’s festivities to their advantage. In a “Welcome to Wisconsin” kickoff breakfast this morning, state officials pointed to the virtual convention as evidence that President Trump had mismanaged the coronavirus crisis. |
“If it weren’t for Trump’s abject failure as a president in the face of this virus, it wouldn’t have to be virtual,” Ben Wikler, chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, wrote on Twitter during the breakfast kickoff, echoing a message he also articulated on video. “But the @DemConvention team has made the right, tough decisions.” |
Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, blasted Mr. Trump and his campaign for their plans to barnstorm across the state this week with in-person counterprogramming during the Democratic convention. The president held an outdoor rally in Oshkosh, Wis., this afternoon; his son Eric and Vice President Mike Pence are scheduled to appear at their own events later this week. |
“They’re unsafe because they are holding in-person events,” Ms. Baldwin said on the virtual broadcast. |
The D.N.C. also began airing a TV ad today in Wisconsin accusing Mr. Trump of making the health crisis worse by holding a rally in the state. “Now Trump is coming to Wisconsin for a political stunt that puts you at risk,” the ad’s narrator says. |
Over the past few months, the public has increasingly lost faith in the president’s handling of the virus, surveys have shown, while Joseph R. Biden’s polling lead over Mr. Trump nationally has generally grown since May. Critiquing the president’s handling of the virus — and demonstrating that the Democrats have a better plan to deal with it — will very likely be a central theme of the convention. |
But as my colleague Lisa Lerer pointed out in this morning’s newsletter, a number of substantive questions remain: How will the Democratic Party bridge the increasingly stark divide between its left wing and its more centrist establishment? And will Mr. Biden and his newly selected running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, convince voters that they have a coherent vision for how to govern, if they do in fact defeat Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence in November? |
Four years ago, Night 1 of the D.N.C. drew upward of 25 million viewers on broadcast and cable news stations, with the final night of the event — when Hillary Clinton delivered her acceptance speech — topping 33 million TV viewers. The YouTube livestream that evening peaked at roughly 250,000 simultaneous viewers. |
But tonight, under very different circumstances, how many people will be watching? |
With livestreams a fact of life nowadays, and people still mostly stuck at home, it would be no surprise if the YouTube numbers were higher this year. But what about TV? Will tens of millions of viewers be willing to tune into a ceremony with less pomp and circumstance, and far briefer speeches? |
Most of the speakers tonight will deliver pithy remarks of roughly two minutes each, according to organizers. |
So don’t expect lengthy perorations from Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington or Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, who have grabbed the nation’s attention over the past few months as they sought to contain the spread of the coronavirus, and both of whom will have the virtual floor early in tonight’s broadcast. |
Other speakers will include Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, a key Biden campaign surrogate, Senator Doug Jones of Alabama and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. (For a full list of speakers, check out our national convention guides here and here.) |
Mr. Sanders and Ms. Obama will both deliver longer speeches, each with their own goals in mind. After conceding defeat this spring in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mr. Sanders was quick to endorse Mr. Biden, and the two men worked together to draft a series of policy frameworks that the Biden campaign immediately adopted. |
But after the 2016 election — in which roughly a quarter of Mr. Sanders’s primary supporters didn’t end up voting for Mrs. Clinton, according to the Cooperative Congressional Election Study — some nervous Democrats are still looking for an extra dose of assurance that Mr. Sanders will be able to deliver some of his most progressive followers to Mr. Biden. |
Ms. Obama, the night’s capstone speaker, is arguably the most unifying person in the Democratic Party. At the end of 2019, Gallup found that she was the “most admired woman” among all Americans for the second year running. Will she be able to end the night with a convincing message of unity? |
Among the musical performers tonight will be the rock and neo-soul vocalist Leon Bridges, the singer and guitarist Steven Stills and the singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers. |
- While Mr. Trump was en route to Oshkosh, Wis., today, his administration announced that it had finalized a plan to open up much of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling.
- The decision is likely to be met with numerous court challenges, but the government is moving ahead swiftly. David Bernhardt, the interior secretary, said on Monday that the land could be auctioned off as early as “the end of the year.”
- Protesters gathered over the weekend outside the Washington apartment of Louis DeJoy, the newly installed postmaster general and a Trump megadonor, demanding that he explain why mail deliveries have been delayed and public mailboxes had been removed in various parts of the country.
- Next week, Mr. DeJoy will have no choice but to provide some answers: House Democrats announced today that he would be called to testify on Aug. 24 before the Oversight and Reform Committee.
- “The American people want their mail, medicines and mail-in ballots delivered in a timely way, and they certainly do not want drastic changes and delays in the midst of a global pandemic just months before the election,” Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York and the committee’s chairwoman, said in a statement.
- Voters in six states filed a joint lawsuit today seeking to block cuts to the Postal Service ahead of the election, saying they could hamper people’s ability to cast mail-in ballots in November.
- A New York Times investigation published yesterday found that the Trump administration has broadly expanded the use of private hotels to detain children and families, creating a shadow system without the safeguards that often protect the most vulnerable migrants.
- According to government documents obtained by The Times, a pandemic-related border closure policy has allowed the administration to delegate the apprehensions of over 100,000 migrants to a private security company. The hotel detentions have occurred under this policy.
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