Day one of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) kicked off with excitement as delegates and attendees listened to speeches from major lawmakers and leaders from the Democratic Party.
Amid embittered remarks from Hillary Clinton, protesters gathered outside the perimeter of the United Center to demonstrate against the Biden-Harris administration’s military support for Israel during the Israel–Hamas war.
But all eyes were really on the last speaker of the night – the outgoing president – who spoke late, very late (well past his prescribed bedtime) in a speech that attempted to revive Dark Brandon but just sounded like an angry old man yelling at the moon (of lies he has conjured in his mind about the ‘others’).
Prior to Biden’s speech at the convention, Harris made a surprise appearance on the convention stage on Monday night to honor Biden.
“Joe, thank you for your historic leadership, for your lifetime of service to our nation and for all you will continue to do. We are forever grateful to you,” she said in brief remarks.
As LibertyNation’s Tim Donner wrote:
Since Joe Biden was willing to accept the humiliation of being forced out of his campaign for reelection, perhaps it follows that he would be amenable to accepting the final indignity of delivering his farewell address at his party’s convention on a night usually reserved for second- and third-tier speakers.
Indeed, the unconventional decision to have the sitting president speak on the first night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) – as opposed to either not speaking at all or being placed in a prominent slot on a succeeding night – was undoubtedly the product of a tortured compromise.
To add to the indignity, the DNC ran so far behind schedule on its opening night that the president did not even appear until 36 minutes after his scheduled start time of 10:50 pm ET, which by itself was something of an insult, and led some to question if the delay was deliberate, or effectively an attempt to drive Biden out of view to the primetime audience.
Making the sitting president of the United States wait until after 11:30 P.M. Eastern – well after prime time – to give the final big speech after 52 years in public office was the final signal that they were done and dusted with old Joe.
“This is awful. He literally set up a campaign and handed it over to them — do they have to cut him out of prime time?” one longtime Biden aide texted Axios reporter Alex Thompson.