Beginning Monday, August 19, Chicago will seemingly become the center of the universe as thousands of Democrats descend on the Windy City to watch the first Black and Indian-American woman accept the presidential nomination and to also maybe see Beyoncé. We’re announcing this now because, if you subscribe, you’ll receive our daily DNC newsletter, which we’ll send every night. As I mentioned, we’ll be blogging plenty, and posting to Twitter, Instagram, Discord, and TikTok, but the newsletter will be a detailed account of the day’s vibes, as well as our ~unfiltered~ opinions of everything and everyone we’re seeing, hearing, and thinking—including whether or not Biden crashes the convention and demands the nomination back.
The last time the DNC was held in Chicago was 1996. Before that, it was 1968, which was famously a pretty bad convention, with the events leading up to it feeling concerningly similar to today’s political climate. However, I recently listened to an NPR podcast episode that cautioned against trying to draw parallels between right now and 1968. “History sells, and it always has sold well because there is a hunger in the audience to try and sort of categorize the events that we’re all dealing with – right? – because it reduces our anxiety,” Michael Socolow, a “media historian” and former broadcast journalist told NPR’s Scott Simon. “And the thing that’s so interesting is that in 1968, in Grant Park in Chicago, you didn’t have TikTok. You didn’t have Instagram. You didn’t have micro-influencers. You didn’t have an entirely new political communication dynamic that could change everything.” Great point! I guess I don’t know how that might ensure there aren’t deadly riots, but Socolow helped me feel optimistic, nonetheless.
So, we have no idea what to expect, but people are excited and, as we mentioned above, we’ll be social-ing, blogging, Discording, newsletter-ing (if you subscribe!) all week. “A credential to get into the Chicago Democratic National Convention is a hotter ticket than a Taylor Swift concert,” Chris Korge, the national finance chair for the DNC, told NBC News. That feels like a reach, but, I’ve too, been feeling not…complete and utter despair since Tim Walz was announced as Harris’ VP nominee. If we want to categorize the void that feeling left as excitement, then that’s fine with me. Follow and subscribe to Jezebel, and let’s see what happens, together.
