DNC DECOMPRESSION

What a Week That Was!

I wish we had the technology to just think at our screens so I could write all of the words I want so my hands don’t cramp and because I’m exhausted.

The 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago was one of the greatest experiences of my entire life. I found out at 1:30 pm on Friday, August 16th that I had scored a guest credential from none other than DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison. By Sunday, I was on a plane.

I schlepped my laptop thinking I’d have time to file daily stories for HillReporter.com, and OH HOW WRONG I WAS. There was no time for that or much of anything else because it was a constant blur of moving, walking, and trying to stay hydrated.

Aside from a weekend trip to Chicago when I was in college in 1990, I had zero experience navigating the Windy City and had no idea where anything was. I panic-booked a hotel room that the Google said was 1/2 a mile from the United Center, where the nightly speeches were given. It was a good mile, so that was great. I got myself a three-day bus pass but soon learned about the famous Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) delays, which then led to me learning about the famous Chicago cab drivers who’d rather go off-meter to gouge you for a 4-block ride.

I was required to pick up my credentials every single day, which meant going from my hotel in the West Loop to the JW Marriott. One day I spotted Rep. Bennie Thompson outside the hotel. One day I met Cornell Belcher from MSNBC and he agreed that I should be on MSNBC (more on that later).

After getting my daily credentials, there were panel discussions at McCormick Place. Are those two places close to each other?

Reader, they are not.

The streets around McCormick Place were blocked off to traffic, so even with a cab ride, I would end up walking at least 20 more minutes. And then there was all of the walking inside to find the right room for the panel you wanted once you were through the security checkpoint.

But once you were in there, you could run into all kinds of folks. Like Sen. Cory Booker!

@taradublinrocksCORY BOOKER IS SO FIIIINE #DNC

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And Marcus Flowers (who ran against Marjorie Taylor Greene) with American hero Malcolm Nance!

And Val Demings! I told her I couldn’t wait to see what she does in her new job.

There was a Youth Council panel where a certain former high school football coach popped in.

@taradublinrocksCOACH TIM!!! @timwalz #DNC

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Coach was followed by Justin Pearson, who got us fired up.

Throughout the convention, I hung out with rising star Knowa who you all need to know because he’s going to be our youngest President someday.

Knowa went viral for owning Mike “Pillow” Lindell, which was glorious.

More with Knowa in a bit, I’m trying to keep this chronological.

MONDAY: This day was about getting my bearings. After I got my credential and hung out with Marcus and Malcolm, I got on their hotel shuttle bus and found myself nowhere near my hotel, but near someone else’s stupid building.

I made it back to my hotel with barely enough time to change to head back out to the United Center. We were encouraged to get there early because of the security lines.

Monday was Joe Biden night at the DNC, so I dressed accordingly.

I met January 6th hero Harry Dunn. Sigh.

I had a guest pass that gave me access to seating on the 300 level but made a friend with a pass that got us on the 200 level.

The view from our section wasn’t too terrible. We also hung out on the second night. THANK YOU FADIA FROM PENNSYLVANIA!

Monday night’s lineup included a certain Rightful 45th President who got a two-minute standing ovation. Elon won’t let us embed Twitter links on Substack, so please go to my Twitter account and check out all the videos under my Media tab.

Oh yeah, Kamala popped by for a minute.

First Lady Jill Biden introduced her husband and the place went nuts.

And then we all cried while Papa Joe gave his first of several farewell speeches, nailing his legacy and filling us with a lot of hope for the Harris-Walz administration.

So much crying. SO MUCH.

When we got out, I wondered how I’d get back to my hotel. The streets were teeming with people, protestors, and vendors hawking off-brand merch while pedi-cab drivers tried to gouge conventioners by quoting them $50 to go half a mile.

I happened to encounter a well-dressed gentleman about to get into a black SUV—not an Uber, but one with government plates. It turned out to be Gene Sperling, Joe Biden’s economic adviser who’s now joined the Harris-Walz campaign. I was already following him on Twitter, but now he’s following me back. We had a nice chat and then I ran into him again on Thursday and told him how I looked for him all the other nights for a ride, too. HA HA.

TUESDAY:

Hotel coffee is meh. They take away breakfast by 9 am. I basically survived on one meal a day after maybe 6 hours of sleep all week.

After taking the bus to the JW Marriott, I headed back to McCormick Place to see if I could run into any more cool Democrats.

I picked up some swag and ate my only meal of the day, a hot dog. The young guy who sold it to me said, “Has anyone told you today that you’re extremely beautiful?” and I will remember this hot dog forever now.

Tuesday night was Obama night. I wore my Support Black Women shirt and once again sat on the 200 level with Fadia.

It was also the Super Fun Roll Call night when Lil Jon showed up for Georgia and we all had light-up wristbands like a Taylor Swift concert.

@taradublinrocksTHE #DNC IS LIT AF!!!

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There was a lot of celebrity presence Tuesday night as well.

It was fun seeing my home state show up, as well as my current state.

Dougie Fresh, who’ll be our first First GentleMensch (we are going to make that a thing, I swear), popped in to say hi.

And then we gave Michelle Obama a two-minute ovation.

Shelly O landed the best line of the night.

Then my forever President Barack Obama took the stage, saying he was the only person stupid enough to follow Michelle Obama.

@taradublinrocksOBAMA!!!! #DNC

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And you know what he did then.

Fadia invited me to an afterparty with Lil Jon but I was exhausted. I ended up walking half the way to my hotel and then two people in a taxi I waved down let me share their ride, but wouldn’t take any money from me. Democrats are the coolest.

WEDNESDAY:

Exhausted from the pace, the walking, and the lack of food and sleep, I decided to give myself an easier day. I went to get my credential and asked if there was a way to get the same pass Fadia had, for the 200 level. While they couldn’t give me one of those, I got slipped the ultimate Crown Jewel of the DNC for a regular person: A guest pass for the Floor, wow!

Before heading over to the United Center, I finally got myself some Chicago deep dish, with all apologies to Jon Stewart.

@taradublinrocks#pizza is life!

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On Wednesday we wore pink to honor the AKA colors for Vice President Harris.

Since I didn’t have to go upstairs for any reason, I walked around the first level where most of the VIPs turned up.

Mitch Landrieu!

Joe Walsh said he loved me and had been “waiting five years” to meet me.

David Hogg was just one of the many young Democratic activists who were there.

I met the Castros!

I met Nikki, a wonderful friend I made in a DM room. She’s as petite as I am but she is all spitfire and radiance, as you can see.

EDITED to also add my thanks to the incredible Qondi, who is all about the Baes in our party and was everywhere with everyone every day and every night of the DNC.

I met Don Lemon and Maya Wiley once I got on the floor.

And then I met none other than New York AG Letitia James while she was waiting to be interviewed by Joy Ann Reid.

“You’re my idol!” I told her, and she gave me a look. I said, “No, really, I’ve been blocked by Trump on Twitter since 2015!” and then she pointed at me like “You’re a real one.”

Also, I was actually on MSNBC with Joy and Elizabeth Warren, not to brag. Just waiting for my official invite to start being a pundit already.

Best of all, I finally met one of my favorite Twitter friends, Majid, aka Brooklyn Dad. We sat with the Illinois delegation because they had a couple of spare seats.

Our view was pretty great.

Also, this loser walked by

The side-eye from that woman should’ve cut Doochey in half.

Then, John Legend took the stage with Sheila E. to sing “Let’s Go Crazy” in honor of Prince, who was from Tim Walz’s state of Minnesota. Appropriately, CNN chose to show a white lady dancing several times during the performance.

Floor perspective was amazing. Pete Buttigieg and Hakeem Jeffries and Bill Clinton and Oprah, OH MY!

YOU get joy! And YOU get joy! WE ALL GET JOY!

And then we all got Coach Walz.

And I was back on CNN.

And then we created Team Gus Walz FOR LIFE.

After the night ended, I ended up walking for a bit with a beautiful family from Minnesota. Eli (an MN delegate) and his knockout of a wife, Shadow, were pushing a stroller containing their 9-month-old daughter, Nya, who was blissfully asleep thanks to her little noise-canceling headphones. They’d driven down because of all of the baby stuff and once they reached their car, they insisted on driving me to my hotel.

It was just another example of how good people were treating each other all week long. Every conversation was joy and love. It was a big old blended family lovefest, but with overpriced stadium food and 11% sales tax.

Yes, I paid $20 for some chicken fingers. It was one of the biggest meals I had all week.

THURSDAY.

After being on the floor, I knew it was going to be different. I was given a Blue (200 Level) pass, which made me so happy. What I didn’t anticipate was how out of control it was going to be.

We wore white to honor the Suffragettes who came before us. I also wore my $10 Nicole Miller pants that were on final sale at TJ Maxx because they had lotus-ish flowers on them. “Kamala” means “lotus.” And always with the pink Chucks, even if I didn’t have pearls.

I went extra extra early and was through security and inside the United Center by 3:30. We knew Pink was performing, but there was that rumor that either Beyonce or Taylor Swift or both were coming. You already know that didn’t happen.

I walked around with Knowa again and he showed me where all the media was posted up. He knew every Senator and Representative by name, and they knew him by sight.

Knowa tried to get Dr. Cornel West to answer his questions about why he’s trying to take votes from Kamala. Dr. West gave him a different answer about Gaza. It’s okay, he’s not going to be on the ballot in enough states now to be much of a spoiler.

Anyway, I met Jill Wine-Banks and her pins!

I met young influencer Harry Sisson!

And the infamous TizzyEnt, who finds terrible people who do terrible things and helps bring them to justice.

I spotted Claudia and Kellyanne “Hatch Act Face” Conway. No, I didn’t try to talk to them.

I met my Senator, Ron Wyden, and thanked him for the great work he and Jeff Merkley do for Oregon.

I spotted the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was always surrounded.

And SIGH, Gov. Studly Newsom of the Great Hair, who I didn’t get to meet, so I drooled from afar.

And our Shero Cecile Richards, who I met last year when covering the Just Majority bus tour.

I met my Twitter pal Brian Karem and gave him what he called “life-saving” gum and a small handful of Altoids.

And I met Kenny, aka “2Raw2Real,” and girl, he was.

And then, the clusterfuckery began.

Despite arriving hella early, it never occurred to me to save a seat because I had my Blue (200 level) pass and assumed I’d just find a seat. Instead, the final night of the DNC was fully overbooked, with hundreds of people left standing or squatting in the halls watching the action on monitors. The Fire Marshal shut down the entrances to the area around 6:45 because it was over capacity. I was so frustrated by the process, as grateful as I was to be inside.

I walked around and would pop in at certain entrances by telling staffers I had a friend saving me a seat, then hunker down on a step where I felt I was out of the way.

From this vantage point, I briefly watched overwhelmed Elizabeth Warren.

But Secret Service wasn’t having any of it and made me move.

This happened at least three times. But I got a decent shot of Olivia Pope.

I finally went up to the 300 level and found myself standing behind a crazy amount of people and it was way too warm and crowded. But DL Hughley was hella funny.

I tried to invoke the Short Girl at the Concert Rule—hey, it worked for Foo Fighters—but a dude in a suit wouldn’t even entertain the idea of trying to see if he could see over my head if I stood in front of him.

That’s when I met Ms. Burnadine, an AKA Soror from Shreveport, Louisiana, who heard my exchange with the asshole white guy and had me sit on the floor in front of her. All I had to do was promise her I’d take a photo of her when her Soror Kamala Harris hit the stage.

Ms. Burnadine physically turned my head and said, “Watch these people.”

She meant Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly.

Pink and her daughter Willow made me misty.

Adam Kinzinger gave a great speech.

And then the next President of the United States took the stage and took our breaths away.

Ms. Burnadine and I met the moment together and it was beautiful.

And she is beautiful. So beautiful, she’s in Vogue, honey! LITERALLY.

I told her how it was Jaime Harrison who got me there. At the end of the night, before we parted company (with exchanged phone numbers), she took both of my hands in hers, looked me in the eye, and told me I had to reach out to him and tell him to put me to work. And I promised her I would, and I immediately did.

I also told Ms. Burnadine that she changed my night, that I would never forget her as long as I lived because we shared the most special moment together. We witnessed history and we’re going to work every day to make history again in November.

I feel more called than ever to this work. I have never been more proud to be a Democrat than I was this week. I want more involvement and I’m going to look into becoming a delegate.

The gratitude I feel is life-changing. Democrats are going to deliver Kamala Harris her historic victory.

We’re going to win, because we are.