Tangle - The Democratic Party platform.

I’m Isaac Saul, and this is Tangle: an independent, nonpartisan, subscriber-supported politics newsletter that summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum on the news of the day — then “my take.”

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Today's read: 13 minutes.

Notes from the DNC.

I’ve been at the DNC all week. Throughout the convention, I’ve taken notes on everything I’m seeing, hearing, and experiencing. In tomorrow’s Friday edition, I’m going to empty my notebook and share my takeaways — all the big trends and some of the random little things I’ve seen in Chicago.

Quick hits.

1. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz headlined the third night of the DNC, which included speeches from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, former President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Vice President Kamala Harris will speak tonight. (The recap)
2. A Greek-flagged oil tanker was left drifting ablaze in the Red Sea after a suspected Houthi-rebel attack. (The attack) Separately, Israel and Lebanon exchanged cross-border rocket fire. (The exchange)
3. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly planning to end his presidential campaign and endorse former President Donald Trump. Kennedy will give a speech outlining his “path forward” on Friday. (The report)
4. Ukraine launched one of the largest ever drone strikes on Moscow. At least 11 drones were shot down by Russian air defenses. (The strikes)
5. A federal judge in Texas blocked a new rule from the Federal Trade Commission banning noncompete agreements. (The ruling)

Today's topic.

The DNC platform. On Sunday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) released the party’s 2024 platform. In a press release, the DNC noted that the platform had been passed on July 16, prior to President Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race, but that the document “makes a strong statement about the historic work that President Biden and Vice President Harris have accomplished hand-in-hand.” The platform, however, was not updated to reflect that Biden is no longer the nominee, frequently referring to the president’s plans for a second term.

Democratic delegates voted to approve the platform on the first day of the party’s national convention in Chicago. The 92-page document broadly outlines Democrats’ positions on a variety of issues, including abortion, gun violence, climate change, immigration, and the economy. Uncommitted Democratic delegates reportedly pushed the party to include a call for an arms embargo on Israel in the platform, but this provision did not appear in the final document; instead, it endorses “a negotiated two-state solution that ensures Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state with recognized borders and upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own.”

The plan outlines a vision for growing the economy “from the bottom up and middle out.” It praises Biden for efforts like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and other initiatives that “put workers first.” The platform does acknowledge that “too many families still feel the pain of inflation at the grocery store, or around the kitchen table when they sit down to pay their bills,” but it vows to continue “fighting to prevent the kind of supply chain shocks and corporate greed that have done so much to raise prices.” Other tenets include a call for a $15 federal minimum wage, a limit on foreign ownership of farmland, and a restoration of the expanded Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.

On immigration, the platform criticizes Republicans for pulling their support for the Senate’s border security bill earlier this year, suggesting that the opposing party “would rather play politics than solve problems.” The Democrats’ plan calls for Congressional action on the border, including “additional border patrol agents, immigration judges, asylum officers, cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect and stop the flow of fentanyl, and funding for cities and states that are sheltering migrants.”

The platform does not outline any policy priorities or positions for Harris’s campaign, though it does highlight some of her individual efforts as vice president, including launching the Economic Opportunity Coalition to stimulate economic opportunity in underserved communities and her efforts to promote women’s health care. 

Notably, some of the initiatives differ from or do not acknowledge the proposals Harris has recently backed on the campaign trail. For example, the document touts Biden's proposal for a $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, whereas Harris called for a $25,000 first-time homebuyer subsidy last week. Furthermore, it praises Democrats for passing an expanded Child Tax Credit that provided $3,600 per child per year to nearly 40 million families, but it does not mention Harris’s recent proposal to offer “$6,000 in tax relief to families during the first year of a child’s life.”

In July, we covered the Republican Party’s 2024 platform. You can find that coverage here. 

Today, we’ll share arguments from the left and right about the Democrats’ 2024 platform. Then, my take.

What the left is saying.

• The left is mixed on the platform, with some touting the party’s vision on climate change issues. 
• Some worry that Democrats are shifting back toward hawkish foreign policy.
• Others note the party’s shift to the right on immigration.

In Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Madeline Heim said “Democrats are worlds apart from the GOP on climate change.”

“While the Republican platform approved last month did not specifically mention climate change, the party platform Democrats approved in Chicago this week embraces the issue, which consistently ranks as a major concern for a majority of Americans,” Heim wrote. “Historically, Democrats have considered climate change a greater concern than Republicans do… Republicans' 2024 party platform does not mention climate change. It champions lifting of restrictions on oil, natural gas and coal, and contains the line, ‘We will DRILL, BABY, DRILL.’”

“As one might expect, the platform draws deep distinctions between how President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, this year's Republican nominee for president, approached the issue of climate change,” Heim said. "The platform applauds Biden's signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping climate law that included hundreds of billions of dollars to help the U.S. transition to cleaner forms of energy and reduce greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. During Trump's presidency, he pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement and rolled back more than 125 environmental protection policies, scaling back federal safeguards that the oil and gas industry had derided as burdensome.”

In The New Republic, Blaise Malley argued “the Democrats just erased all of their progress on foreign policy.”

“In 2020, the Democrats released a platform whose foreign policy section was greeted with cautious optimism by the party’s progressive wing. The document called for an end to ‘forever wars,’ a reinvigoration of congressional war powers, a strategic cut to the Pentagon budget, and an end to the Trump-era ‘blank check’ policy toward Gulf countries,” Malley wrote. “Four years later, the center of gravity appears to have shifted almost as far—right back to where it had previously been. The foreign policy section of the party’s 2024 platform largely reads as if the 2020 version never existed. The party, it seems, is proudly hawkish once again.”

“The 2020 platform included a section on ending forever wars and the lessons that should be learned from decades of misguided military interventions, including opposition to regime change and the need for informed consent to war from the American public and its elected representatives in Congress. That has been completely removed in the 2024 platform,” Malley said. “Also absent is the section arguing for the balancing of defense spending with other foreign and domestic priorities; instead, the entire platform ends with a section titled ‘Strongest Military in the World.’”

In Vox, Christian Paz wrote about “the major political transformation flying under the radar at the DNC.”

“On the third night of the Democratic National Convention four years ago, immigration was front and center. Americans heard a series of personal stories about how Trump-era policies had scrambled immigrants’ and their families’ lives,” Paz said. “Four years later, the DNC sounds a lot different, reflecting how public opinion toward immigration in general has soured as concerns over how secure the border is have risen. Gone are the heartfelt testimonies from undocumented immigrants, the repudiation of Trump-era policies, and the calls for better treatment of migrants and expansion of asylum protections.”

“The 2024 party platform supports quicker deportations of economic migrants and stricter asylum rules — including the ability to stop processing those asylum claims. It’s not clear that those policies would help deter or slow the rate of future immigration, either legal or not, but for the time being, Democrats can report some results. After historically high numbers of migrant encounters at the southern border, crossings have been declining every month for the past five months,” Paz wrote. “2024’s Democrats sound very different from 2020 — when none of these kinds of stricter proposals appeared in the party’s platform.”

What the right is saying.

• The right is critical of the platform, rejecting its prescription of bigger government for most issues. 
• Some say Biden’s accomplishments that the document highlights are not really accomplishments. 
• Others argue the platform reveals Harris will govern the same as Biden.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board called the platform “the Democratic Party’s Project 2025.”

“The 92-page document is filled with political rhetoric and exaggerations that present Mr. Biden as a working-class hero and Donald Trump as a richy-rich villain. But the platform is also a peek into an economic worldview in which the government is the answer, almost no matter the question. While private businesses are always ‘gouging’ or adding ‘junk fees,’ or otherwise trying to rip somebody off, Washington’s wise men are capable of providing for the American people, if only they have the power to pass the laws and regulations,” the board wrote. “There’s plenty else in the platform, including turning Washington into the 51st state, codifying national abortion protections, spending more on ‘environmental justice’ and climate change.”

“Ms. Harris isn’t committed to every jot of this document, and the rap on party platforms is that they’re quickly forgotten. But is Ms. Harris really going to steer a different direction if Democrats send her to the White House after she won zero primary votes? In her debut speech as the presumptive nominee, she said she wants a country where ‘every person has affordable healthcare, affordable child care, and paid family leave.’ Mr. Biden fancied himself as FDR, and perhaps Ms. Harris wants to be LBJ.”

In RedState, Mike Miller said the platform is “laughable and obscene in its lies.”

“It's no surprise that the official 2024 Democrat Party platform, released late Sunday, is jam-packed with lies from beginning to end. After all, every Democrat Party platform is jam-packed with lies from beginning to end. But what makes this one ‘special’ is the blatancy of its ridiculous claims,” Miller wrote. “For starters, the platform calls for the reelection of President Joe Biden, who was still the candidate at the time the document was finalized in mid-July.”

“Moreover, the platform claims that Biden and Harris have achieved great progress for Americans, repeatedly highlighting Biden's achievements and positions — even when they differ from Harris' comments. One question: What achievements? Biden's disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal debacle, resulting in the deaths of 11 Marines, one Navy corpsman, and one Army soldier — and as many as 9,000 Americans left behind Taliban lines? Perhaps the way Biden intentionally drove up gas prices, ultimately raiding Strategic Oil Reserves — several times — in desperate efforts to lower them? Or, maybe his greatest ‘achievement’ was overall Bidenomics and his stubborn insistence (blatant lies) that the Biden economy has been a success.”

In PJ Media, Matt Margolis wrote “the new DNC platform says the quiet part out loud.”

“The platform manages to hilariously say the quiet part out loud, and it's a real hoot… Kamala's team had zero interest in updating the party's platform because according to the platform's preamble. ‘President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are running to finish the job,’” Margolis said. “Is Joe Biden still running for president? No. The Harris campaign simply had zero interest in what former Democratic National Committee chairman Steve Grossman explains as creating ‘any divisiveness whatsoever around platform issues’ during her abbreviated campaign.”

“There are zero references to any of Kamala's recent economic proposals, nor does it reflect her foreign policy vision. The document presents a tougher stance against Hamas than Kamala's public positions since becoming the party's presumptive nominee,” Margolis wrote. “In 2012, controversy erupted over the Democratic Party platform and the issue of recognizing Jerusalem as the country's capital. Something tells me this part of the platform is going to cause even more controversy. But in the end, the document tells us what we already know: Kamala's first term will be Biden's second term.”

My take.

Reminder: "My take" is a section where I give myself space to share my own personal opinion. If you have feedback, criticism or compliments, don't unsubscribe. Write in by replying to this email, or leave a comment.

• Party platforms are a good way to see how priorities change, and I think Democratic priorities have changed a lot.
• Democrats have notably moved towards the center on policing, energy and immigration, and they’ve tamped down progressive rhetoric across the board.
• This platform is another reminder of how the parties are more interested in winning than their principles.

When we covered the Republican Party’s 2024 platform in July, I offered some brief, candid thoughts on the document’s “20 promises” that laid out the party’s priorities. The GOP’s document was interesting not for its specific proposals, but for how it showed the direction the party is headed. The same is true for the Democrats’ platform.

The 2024 Democrat Party platform has many similarities with 2020’s — supporting workers, lifting up the middle class, taxing the wealthy, and addressing gun violence — but I’m most struck by how it differs.

• First, prices. Inflation wasn’t an issue in 2020, so things like groceries and gas weren’t discussed in that year’s platform while housing and healthcare costs were. Four years later, this is one of Democrats’ most vulnerable issues. The 2024 section on costs is broad, with some ideas I like (negotiating lower prices for prescription drugms, investing in new housing) and some I don’t (mass student loan cancellation, $10,000 credits for homebuyers). Democrats continue to center “corporate greed” as a main driver of higher costs (there’s a whole sub-section of this chapter about it), but included nothing about Harris’s proposed price gouging ban. 
• Second, climate and energy policy. I notice some subtle shifts here from the 2020 platform, which focused on how climate change impacts disadvantaged groups, set out net-zero emission goals, and emphasized “racial and socioeconomic equity” in climate policy. Those ideas are still there in 2024, but the biggest focus is on investing in clean energy, lowering energy costs, and creating new jobs in the energy industry. Personally, I was disheartened to see the commitment to investing in nuclear energy in the 2020 platform was removed for 2024 — as I’ve said before, I don’t see a path toward energy independence and a healthy environment that doesn’t include nuclear. 
• Third, crime and policing. Here’s one of the opening lines from the Democrat’s platform four years ago: “Democrats believe we need to overhaul the criminal justice system from top to bottom. Police brutality is a stain on the soul of our nation.” Here’s what the 2024 platform says: “Democrats will pass [Biden’s] Safer America Plan, which calls on Congress to invest $37 billion to support law enforcement and crime prevention. That includes funding 100,000 additional police officers for accountable community policing and $5 billion in community violence intervention.” It’s hard to overstate the magnitude of this pivot. Gone are the days of “Defund the Police” — in fact, the 2024 platform explicitly says “we need to fund the police, not defund the police.”
• Fourth, identity politics. The 2020 platform had a chapter titled “Healing the soul of America” that focused on diversity and equity initiatives for a range of minority communities. And the words “diversity,” “justice” and “equity” appeared frequently throughout the entire document, often as guiding principles for other chapters. 2024’s equivalent chapter is a smorgasbord of ideas under the umbrella of “protecting democracy,” including appointing progressive judges, expanding voting rights, and stopping the influence of special interests. If diversity and equity were the Thanksgiving turkey of the 2020 platform, they’re 2024’s stuffing.
• Fifth, immigration. Apart from the section on crime and policing, this is probably the biggest shift from 2020. Back then, the platform focused on “creating a 21st century immigration system” that prioritized welcoming immigrants and asylum seekers and undoing many of Trump’s immigration policies. In 2024, the focus is firmly on “securing” the border, deterring illegal immigration, and cracking down on drug trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border — closer to 2024 Republican positions than 2020 Democrat stances.

You can look at those changes in a couple of ways. Democrats could be responding to the will of a majority of Americans — including their base — who think the party strayed too far to the left by backing slogans like “defund the police” and dismissing Trump’s immigration policy as fundamentally racist. In this view, the party’s shift is democracy at work, reflecting the will of the majority. 

Then there’s the cynical take: Democrats are scrambling to backtrack after getting swept up in the anti-police rhetoric of 2020 and their reflexive opposition to any of Trump’s policies. They’re not “evolving” or “staying true to their values,” but fundamentally changing their positions to chase after centrist voters who don’t share the views of their base. Both views are probably partially true, but I lean more toward the second group — it’s hard not to see these shifts as a product of a party more concerned with winning than maintaining their values. Democrats aren’t alone in making these calculations (look at Republicans and abortion), but it’s another reminder that political expediency guides a party more than principle. 

Then there’s the elephant in the room: I counted 19 references to President Biden’s next term, and zero mentions of what a Harris presidency might look like. That might not seem like a big deal for a document about the party’s grand vision, but since party platforms are largely ceremonial, this signals the party is not focused on policy and feeds into the criticism that Democrats are smokescreening Harris’s specific positions for as long as possible.

Overall, my biggest takeaway is the same one I had from reviewing the 2024 GOP platform: the parties are moving closer together. It’s nice to see some consensus on policing, immigration and energy, but that also makes me frustrated with our inability to legislate on that consensus — in an ideal world, the parties would campaign on their differences and pass legislation where they agree. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’re headed in that direction, no matter what the party platforms say. 

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Your questions, answered.

Q: Are you ever going to address the issue of Trump’s mental state, age, and fitness for office?  Not to take a stand on it, but to at least acknowledge that it is a genuine, important, and serious issue that needs to be discussed.  If not, I think you owe your readers an explanation for that editorial decision.

— Robert from Dallas, TX

Tangle: This is a question we’ve gotten a number of times from readers. We covered the issue of Biden’s age several times over the course of the past year; when Biden was the presumptive nominee, he was set to be the oldest official presidential candidate in history at 81 years old. Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has replaced Biden at the top of the ticket, former President Donald Trump is the oldest official presidential nominee in our country’s history.

So, is it a similar problem for Trump? Yes and no. As I said a few times over the past year, Biden’s issues were not about his age as a number, but his age as it affected him as a leader. I’ve seen seniors slow down at a younger age than Biden did, and there are plenty of examples of politicians older than he is who are still quite vigorous — like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), about whom I haven’t read a single editorial questioning his ability to serve on account of his age.

During one of our editions on this topic, we quoted Byron York of The Washington Examiner, who summed it up as well as I could. “If serving between the ages of 78 and 82 is too old for Biden, wouldn't it be too old for Trump? The answer is yes, it would. Now, the Trump of today… is much more vigorous-appearing than Biden. If you watched one of Trump's rallies, you would see a high-energy performance that goes on somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half,” York wrote. “Trump appears to be infinitely stronger and more energetic than Biden. But age is coming for Trump, just as it did for Biden."

Now, there are plenty of examples of Trump forgetting names, confusing details, or generally appearing less than sharp, which may be worth watching going forward. It’s fair to suggest a double standard given the degree of scrutiny on Biden’s communication issues, but I think York’s point about Trump projecting much more vigor is the fundamental difference between him and Biden when it comes to concerns about their acuity.

Want to have a question answered in the newsletter? You can reply to this email (it goes straight to our inbox) or fill out this form.

Under the radar.

Last month, Brazil broke ground on what it hopes will become the first maximum-security biosciences laboratory in Latin America. The lab, named Orion, is being constructed about 60 miles northwest of São Paulo and is scheduled to be operational by 2028. It will contain biosafety-level-4 (BSL-4) labs, the highest security level for biosafety standards, to work with deadly airborne pathogens for which there are currently no vaccines or treatments. There are 51 BSL-4 labs in operation around the world, and another 18 are in planning or under construction, including Orion. Brazilian researchers stressed the need for a facility near the Amazon Rainforest. “We’re sitting on a powder keg” in terms of potential emergent pathogens, said Fernando Spilki, a veterinary virologist at Feevale University in Novo Hamburgo, Brazil. Nature has the story.

Numbers.

• 287. The number of mentions of President Joe Biden in the Democratic National Committee’s 2024 platform.
• 32. The number of mentions of Vice President Kamala Harris in the platform.
• 19. The number of references to President Biden’s second term in the platform. 
• 15. The number of references to “diversity” in the DNC’s 2020 platform
• 1. The number of references to “diversity” in the 2024 platform. 
• 55. The number of references to “race” or “racial” issues in the 2020 platform.
• 14. The number of references to “race” or “racial” issues in the 2024 platform.
• 4. The number of references to the southern border in the 2020 platform.
• 45. The number of references to the southern border in the 2024 platform.

The extras.

• One year ago today we covered the Hawaii wildfires.
• The most clicked link in Tuesday’s newsletter was our reel with five thoughts from day one of the DNC.
• Nothing to do with politics: Nationwide announced the nominees for its award for strangest pet insurance claim.
• Tuesday’s survey: 1,162 readers responded to our survey about Medicare negotiations with 83% in support. “The U.S. pays more for drugs than any other country. Big pharma makes HUGE profits. They can do with less or charge other countries more,” one respondent said.

Have a nice day.

After being held in captivity for 40 years, Charlie, South Africa’s last elephant in a zoo, has been released into the wild. Charlie was originally taken from a national park in Zimbabwe at two years old to be featured in a circus. Over a decade later, he was moved to a zoo. Josef Pfabigan, the chief executive of the animal welfare organization Four Paws, said, “We have been working tirelessly to end the loneliness of Charlie to see him thrive in his new species-appropriate home.” Charlie is now living on a large reserve with other elephants. BBC has the story.

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