New Delhi:

In her acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination, Kamala Harris vowed to resist the influence of authoritarian leaders, who she implied have allegedly manipulated Donald Trump’s foreign policy by appealing to his autocratic tendencies. In a bid to position herself against Republican frontrunner Trump, Harris is stressing her resolve on national security, portraying the billionaire as a riskier alternative.

In her speech, Harris made it abundantly clear that her presidency would mark a definitive break from the Trump era, particularly in foreign policy. “I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators,” she declared.

As Dr Sweta Chakraborty, a Climate Surrogate for the Harris campaign, explains, Harris’s approach to policy formation is rooted in a clear-eyed assessment of the threats facing the country, both from foreign adversaries and from within. Dr Chakraborty, who has been closely involved in the campaign and was present at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, noted that Harris’s message is resonating strongly with Indian-Americans and other minority communities who see in her as their leader.

Indian-American Perspective

“Kamala Harris is polling a few points ahead of Donald Trump and will surely get a surge following the DNC. Indian-Americans like myself are banding together and supporting her through various efforts and speciality collaborations. For example, we are raising funds through ‘South Asians in Climate’ after the DNC and ahead of the ‘Harris for President Climate Group’ official launch this September. South Asians are in. Climate voters are in, and as a South Asian climate surrogate, I represent both voter groups that broadly support Kamala Harris for President,” Dr Chakraborty told NDTV.

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Born in Oakland, California in 1964, Harris’s father is Donald Harris, a man of Afro-Jamaican descent while his mother is Shyamala Gopalan, who emigrated to the US at the age of 19 to pursue her doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology.

“Having a President who shares ancestry with South Asians in America shows that South Asian immigrants and their offspring have a clear place in America. A daughter of India can make it to the highest elected office in the United States, which shows that the sky is the limit for the Indian diaspora in the US. Indians in the US already enjoy the status as the highest-earning demographic. An Indian will elevate that status and make history for minorities and women more broadly,” Dr Chakraborty said. 

The Usha Vance Factor

However, Harris is not the only Indian-American whose name and image are plastered across the US presidential campaign. Over at the Republican camp, Trump’s Vice President pick JD Vance’s wife is Usha Vance who traces her roots to Andhra Pradesh’s Vadluru. 

Usha’s father, Chilukuri Radhakrishnan, was brought up in Chennai but went to the US to pursue higher studies. Usha was raised in San Diego, California and she met JD Vance at Yale Law School before getting married in 2014. 

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“Usha Vance and her husband are trading in their morals for power,” Dr Chakraborty alleged. “It is clear they had authentically shared liberal values with friends and classmates from university, but edited and adjusted their stances to maneuver in the conservative party, which they perceived would be the easier route to power.”

Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump 

Dr Chakraborty highlighted a stark contrast between Harris and Trump: where Trump has prioritised tax breaks for billionaires and deregulation of corporate polluters, Harris has pledged to hold the oil and gas industry accountable, invest in a clean energy economy, and ensure that the benefits of climate action are shared by all Americans, not just the wealthy elite.

When Harris ran for vice president in 2020, her climate plan was even more aggressive than what ultimately passed during Joe Biden’s presidency as the Inflation Reduction Act – a landmark climate legislation in American history. Now, as she prepares to release her full climate agenda in September, Harris is positioning herself as the ‘Climate President’ for the United States, Dr Chakraborty said. 

“As an Indian woman, she also represents members of American society that have been historically disenfranchised. She is physically the opposite of Biden and represents the ascendency of women and a future society that is more equitable and fair to all genders and races,” she said. 

Taylor Swift may have been absent from the Democratic National Convention (DNC), but her presence was still felt through her music. On the second night of the convention, her chart-topping hit Shake It Off took centre stage during the roll call vote. 

The event featured a unique musical twist, with DJ Cassidy curating a playlist of 62 songs to represent each state and territory. From Lil Jon’s Turn Down for What for Georgia to Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough for Indiana, the music selections brought a lively spirit to the proceedings.

Shake It Off was a fitting choice for Rhode Island, given Taylor Swift’s ties to the state. She owns a home in Watch Hill on the island. The home has become a cultural landmark, celebrated in her music and famous for its star-studded Fourth of July parties.

for everyone who still somehow thinks taylor is a republican, she approved shake it off for the dnc pic.twitter.com/36jSZFAMCy

— E M I L Y (@mleshep) August 21, 2024

But that wasn’t the only Taylor Swift reference of the night.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “Donald Trump is like an old boyfriend who you broke up with, but he just won’t go away. He spent the last four years trying to get back into a relationship with the American people. Bro, we broke up with you for a reason!” There is no reason for us to “get back together,” he said, quoting Swift’s hit song We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

“Bro, we broke up with you for a reason!”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries goes after Donald Trump on the DNC stage and drops a Taylor Swift lyric in the process. pic.twitter.com/FtVgugWKxl

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 22, 2024

Colorado Governor and ‘Swiftie’ Jared Polis also referenced the song during his address at the DNC. “As a Redditor, gamer, entrepreneur and Swiftie from the free state of Colorado, I’m excited by Kamala Harris’ vision of protecting and expanding our personal freedom, internet freedom and economic freedom,” he said, adding the Democratic party does not consist of “weirdos who can tell people who can and can’t have kids.”

“We’re never going back like never ever ever ever,” he stated.

Jared Polis at the DNC: “As a Redditor, gamer, entrepreneur and Swiftie from the free state of Colorado, I’m excited by Kamala Harris’ vision of protecting and expanding our personal freedom, internet freedom and economic freedom.” pic.twitter.com/dEL9uHVPNH

— jordan (@JordanUhl) August 21, 2024

This comes as Swift has yet to officially endorse a candidate in the 2024 race, despite polls suggesting her support could significantly boost the chances of both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. 

Earlier, Mississippi delegate Kelly Jacobs handed out thousands of Taylor Swift-themed bracelets at the event. Jacobs also made a statement on the first day of the convention, wearing a body-length sign that read “Storm the ballot box like they stormed the Capitol on Jan 6” and distributing homemade “Swifty Voter” friendship bracelets. 

Kelly Jacobs (political fashionista) has been turning heads at the @DNC – She puts Taylor Swift’s face on her outfits to attract new voters. If you see her at the convention – she’ll hand you a friendship bracelet. She gave out 250 of them yesterday. @WGNNewspic.twitter.com/KzV8IkjO83

— Lourdes Duarte (@LourdesWGN) August 20, 2024

Taylor Swift recently finished the UK leg of her wildly successful The Eras Tour and is heading to Nashville next. 

U.S. Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks on Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on August 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accepted his party’s nomination for vice president Wednesday (August 21, 2024) night, using his Democratic National Convention address to thank the packed arena for “bringing the joy” to a U.S. election transformed by the elevation of his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple, reason: We love this country,” Mr. Walz said as thousands of delegates hoisted vertical placards reading “Coach Walz” in red, white and blue.

Mr. Walz described his upbringing in Nebraska and teaching and coaching football in Minneosta and told the crowd, “Thank you for bringing the joy to this fight.”

“While other States were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,” he said. In a dig at his Republican counterpart, J.D. Vance, he added, “I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale.”

When Mr. Walz talked about the difficulty conceiving his daughter, Hope, she made a heart with her hands and held it over her chest. His son, Gus, wept watching his dad speak and at least once shouted, “That’s my dad!”

“I haven’t given a lot of speeches like this but I’ve given a lot of pep talks,” Mr. Walz said.

Democrats gathered at Chicago’s United Center are hoping to build on the momentum Ms. Harris has brought since taking over the top of the party’s presidential ticket last month.

Many Americans had never heard of Mr. Walz until Ms. Harris made him her running mate. In his first weeks of campaigning, he’s charmed supporters with his background and helped to balance Ms. Harris’ coastal background as a cultural representative of Midwestern States whose voters she needs this fall.

But Mr. Walz also has faced scrutiny, including questions about embellishing his background. His wife this week clarified that she did not undergo in vitro fertilization, as Mr. Walz has repeatedly claimed, but used other fertility treatments. Republicans also have criticised Walz for a 2018 comment he made about carrying weapons in war. Though he served in the National Guard for 24 years, he did not deploy to a war zone.

Bill Clinton denounces Donald Trump

Mr. Walz’s speech followed former President Bill Clinton who returned to a place he knows well, the Democratic National Convention stage, to denounce Donald Trump as selfish and praise Kamala Harris as focused on the needs of Americans — firing up his party with his trademark off-the-cuff flourishes.

Mr. Clinton was meant to add heft to a third DNC night headlined by vice presidential nominee Tim Walz ‘s introduction to a national audience.

“We’ve got a pretty clear choice it seems to me. Kamala Harris, for the people. And the other guy who has proved, even more than the first go-around, that he’s about me, myself and I,” Mr. Clinton said.

The nation’s 42nd president and a veteran of his party’s political convention going back decades, Mr. Clinton was once declared the “secretary of explaining stuff” by Barack Obama, whose reelection bid in 2012 was bolstered by a Mr. Clinton stemwinder at that year’s DNC.

Now 78 — the same age as Mr. Trump — Mr. Clinton’s delivery was sometimes halting, his movements slower and he mispronounced Ms. Harris’ first name twice. His left hand often shook when he wasn’t using it to grip the lectern.

Still, he delivered several memorable, homespun pronouncements including asking. “What does her opponent do with his voice? He mostly talks about himself. So the next time you hear him, don’t count the lies, count the I’s.”

Trump slams DNC

Mr. Trump bashed the convention as a “charade” and noted the fact that he has been a frequent topic of conversation. He also singled out his predecessor, Mr. Obama, for a highly critical convention speech Tuesday night, saying Obama had been “nasty.”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks during Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Warning of a difficult fight ahead, former U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama on Tuesday (August 20, 2024) called on the nation to embrace Kamala Harris in urgent messages to the Democratic National Convention that were at times both hopeful and combative.

“America, hope is making a comeback,” the former first lady declared. She then tore into Republican Donald Trump, a sharp shift from the 2016 convention speech in which she told her party, “When they go low, we go high.”

“His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be Black,” Ms. Obama said of Mr. Trump.

Mr. Obama, the former president, called Mr. Trump “a 78-year-old billionaire who hasn’t stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.”

“It’s been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually gotten worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala,” he charged.

Harris’s coalition

The fiery messages from two of the Democratic Party’s biggest stars underscored the urgency of the moment as Ms. Harris works to stitch together a broad coalition in her bid to defeat Mr. Trump this fall. She is drawing on stars like the Obamas and other celebrities, officials from the far left to the middle, and even some Republicans to boost her campaign.

And while the theme of the night was “a bold vision for America’s future,” the disparate factions of Ms. Harris’ evolving coalition demonstrated, above all, that they are connected by a desire to prevent a second Trump presidency.

Just ahead of the Obamas’ remarks, Ms. Harris addressed an estimated 15,000 people in battleground Wisconsin in the arena where Republicans held their convention last month. She declared that she was running “a people-powered campaign.”

“Together we will chart a new way forward,” the vice president said in remarks that were partially broadcast to the DNC. “A future for freedom, opportunity, of optimism and faith.”

Schumer, Sanders praise Harris

Back in Chicago, Senators Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, and Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent beloved by progressives, both praised Ms. Harris. And in an appearance perhaps intended to needle Mr. Trump, his former press secretary Stephanie Grisham — now a harsh critic of her former boss — also took the convention stage.

Mr. Trump “has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth,” Ms. Grisham said. “I love my country more than my party. Kamala Harris tells the truth. She respects the American people. And she has my vote.”

Still, it was not all serious on the second night of the four-day convention.

A symbolic roll call in which delegates from each State pledged their support for the Democratic nominee turned into a party atmosphere. A DJ played a mix of state-specific songs — and Atlanta native Lil Jon ran out during Georgia’s turn to his hit song with DJ Snake, “Turn Down for What,” to the delight of the thousands inside the cavernous United Center.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who would become the nation’s first gentleman if his wife wins the presidency, shared personal details about his relationship with Ms. Harris — their cooking habits, their first date and her laugh, which is often mocked by Republican critics.

“You know that laugh. I love that laugh!” Mr. Emhoff said as the crowd cheered. Later, he added, “Her empathy is her strength.”

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, was out on the campaign trail as part of his weeklong swing-State tour during the Democratic convention. He went to Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday and stood aside sheriff’s deputies as he labelled Harris the “ringleader” of a “Marxist attack on law enforcement” across the country.

“Kamala Harris will deliver crime, chaos, destruction and death,” Mr. Trump said.