On the fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention, nominee Joe Biden addressed the nation with a galvanizing speech that brought his full emotional range to bear. “Let history be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here tonight, as love and hope and light join in the battle for the soul of the nation,” he said. He backed those notions about a brighter future with policy, vowing to protect Social Security and Medicare and outlining the first steps he would take in office: getting coronavirus under control. “No miracle is coming,” he said somberly, a statement made all the more resonant by the empty room from which he spoke.
“The tragedy of where we are at today is that it didn’t have to be this bad,” Biden said of the coronavirus crisis, rebuking Donald Trump as someone who has “failed us in his most basic duty to the nation. He’s failed to protect us…And my fellow Americans, that is unforgivable.” He addressed those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 directly, a compassion he relayed through the lens of his personal anguish. “I know that deep black hole that opens in the middle of your chest and you feel like you’re being sucked into it,” he said. “I found the best way through pain and loss and grief is to find purpose.”
Biden’s overarching message was that his candidacy represents an opportunity to heal. “This is a life-changing election that will determine America’s future for a very long time,” he said. “Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy…most importantly, who we want to be.”
The broadcast opened with a testament to Biden’s faith, something Trump recently attacked. “Joe knows that it’s faith that sustains so many ordinary Americans who do extraordinary things,” said Delaware Senator Chris Coons. Another focus was the right to vote—and Trump’s attempt to subvert it. Leading the tribute to the late John Lewis, who warned about voter suppression when he endorsed Biden in April, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued a call to action. “There are those who are disgracefully using this pandemic to spread misinformation and interfere with voting, forcing many, in 2020, to still risk their lives to exercise their sacred right to vote,” she said. “We cannot wait for some other time, some other place, some other heroes. We must be the heroes of our generation because we, too, are America.”
In the portion of the evening addressing American workers, Senator Cory Booker opened his speech with, “I’m here because a union job lifted my family out of poverty and into the middle class.” He put Trump’s handling of the economy bluntly: “He has failed us.” And he expressed hope in a Biden-Harris White House that would “raise the minimum wage so no one who works a full-time job lives in poverty.” His remarks introduced a conversation between Biden and middle-class Americans discussing how they have been impacted in the pandemic-induced recession and how Biden’s investment in infrastructure would benefit working people.
The segments on military service featured Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq veteran who lost both of her legs in combat. The Purple Heart recipient denounced Trump as our “Coward-in-Chief,” calling out his inaction following reports about Russian bounties on U.S. troops. “I can’t stop thinking about the Gold Star parents I spoke with recently who were desperate to know whether their child was killed because Vladimir Putin placed a bounty on their life,” she said. “It tore me up that, even after I asked for an investigation, I still couldn’t reassure them that Donald Trump cared enough to try to get them an answer—that 55 days after Putin’s reported bounty scheme became public, Trump still hasn’t publicly condemned Russia—or explained how he’s protecting our service members.”