US
‘Do not boo – vote’: Obama warns sequel ‘usually worse’ than first movie as he rounds on Trump
Barack Obama has warned the sequel is “usually worse” than the first movie as he and Michelle Obama tried to rally their party in the race against Donald Trump.
Speaking on the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Mr Obama said the country does not need another four years of “bluster” and “chaos”.
“We have seen that movie before – and we all know that the sequel is usually worse,” he said.
Latest from Democratic convention
“It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually been getting worse now that he’s afraid of losing to Kamala,” he added.
“There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes… it just goes on and on and on.”
Criticising Mr Trump’s record while he was in office, the crowd booed loudly, to which Mr Obama said in an unscripted moment: “Do not boo – vote.”
Pic: Reuters
“We have a chance to elect someone who has spent her entire life trying to give people the same chances America gave her,” he had told the crowd, with Ms Harris confirmed as the party’s pick for November’s election.
In tribute to outgoing President Joe Biden, who beat Mr Trump in the last election, he said history will remember him for having “defended democracy at a moment of great danger”.
‘Hope is making a comeback’
Barack Obama embraced Michelle Obama after she introduced him. Pic: Reuters
Mr Obama was introduced by his wife, Michelle, who tops the party’s wish list as a future president.
Greeted with a long and loud ovation, Mrs Obama told the convention: “America, hope is making a comeback.”
She described Ms Harris as one of the “most qualified” people to ever seek the office.
Taking aim at Mr Trump, she said: “Who is going to tell him the job he is currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?”
She was referring to Mr Trump’s unsubstantiated claim made earlier this summer that immigrants are taking “black jobs”.
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‘Do something,’ Michelle Obama says
While Ms Harris was not at the convention to respond to the Obamas’ backing, she spoke at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, where she said the election will be a “tight race until the very end”.
“We have some hard work ahead of us, but we like hard work – hard work is good work,” she said.
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Kamala Harris: ‘We’re fighting for the future’
Former Trump fans turn
Meanwhile, Mr Trump repeated unsupported claims Ms Harris took a permissive approach to law enforcement at a campaign stop in Howell, Michigan.
“You can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread,” he said. “You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped.”
He spoke one month after white supremacists rallied in the small town, where about a dozen chanted “Heil Hitler” and carried “White Lives Matter” signs.
Donald Trump speaking in Howell. Pic: AP
‘Basement dwellers’
Former Republicans who became disillusioned with Mr Trump’s leadership addressed the Democratic convention, including former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
She became a member of Mr Trump’s family, she said, and wasn’t just a supporter but a “true believer”.
Behind closed doors, however, she says he mocks his supporters – calling them “basement dwellers”.
She recalled a hospital visit where he “got mad that the cameras were not watching him”.
“He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth,” she added. “He used to tell me ‘it doesn’t matter what you say Stephanie, say it enough and people will believe you’.”
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Ms Harris “tells the truth”, she said – a view shared by John F Kennedy’s grandson, who said she has the same “energy, vision and optimism for the future” as his grandfather.
Celebrities also turned out, with rapper Lil Jon launching into Turn Down for What to introduce delegates from Georgia, while actress Eva Longoria spoke for Texas.
Beyond the convention, dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters charged a line of police outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago.
After the larger gathering began to disperse, splintering off into smaller groups, other clashes with police led to more than a dozen arrests.