Are Content Creators Being Bullied At The DNC?
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Rise and shine, Fever Dreamers. Look live. I'm Bee Sphere. I'm Sammy Sage. And this is American Fever Dream, live from the DNC Night 3. Here we are. We are on our second to last night. Tonight's the big one. We're going to let you in on some drama that we were just talking about before the recording. We just decided to press that little red button and go, we're going to record it. Because I think it's important to be vulnerable and talk about your feelings when they're happening because...

While you guys maybe don't make a podcast or work in journalism or something, the folks that listen to it, I'm sure you've had this experience and I want you to know you're not alone in it. I'm so oddly heartbroken or hurt by the fact that Dana Bash hates the creators. There is no reason...

for me to like feel this much feeling about it, but it's been like three days and she's given me a side. I like six times. And she was written in this wired article that she's annoyed that creators are here and stuff. And I'd be like, yeah, not for nothing, but like, I've looked up to you for a long time. Women in journalism is a difficult thing. She's a nepo baby. Like if we want to start throwing barbs here, who's her perfect.

Her father was a producer at ABC News, Stuart Schwartz. I would not have known that. I only know it because I'm so obsessed that I went and looked her up. Like you do all your bullies and you need to know all their secrets, right? So I'm just, I don't know. Here's what's going on. There's 200 creators invited to this. There's 15,000 journalists at the DNC. So we are far outnumbered by traditional media outlets.

And there was a Wired article this morning that dropped basically talking about how Trad Media thinks that the creators shouldn't be here. Their committee of correspondence filed a formal complaint with the DNC saying that we're getting in the way of them being able to accurately cover

We're taking space away from them. I had a copyright strike on my TikTok live today because we don't have broadcast rights to the, you know, just the DNC, you know, like, okay, so we're up in the suite. Yeah. Today we moved my seats so that I had that. I noticed that. I thought it looked great. It looked great. Super professional. Well, we don't have broadcasting rights and they're streaming in the arena, even though I'm streaming on TikTok live.

They filed a copyright strike against me. Who did? Do you know who did? Yes, but we're not going to say who did. Okay. It could really mess up my TikTok. And there wasn't even anything going on yet. They didn't do it the first two days. Today, I think, was the worst day for creators.

I feel like I'm going to get punched in the teeth or something. I have been thinking about this all day because I didn't go to the United Center today because I was awake till four in the morning. Because when you're there, because the creators don't actually have any designated space and you're like not allowed to go anywhere and you're extremely handled, it's a crapshoot whether you'll actually get to like

speak to anyone or cover anything or like even be able to hear anything or see anything. And I was like, I will get so much more done if I sit in the hotel and like cover content that way. And I was able to make like 17 posts, like not 17, but I made a lot of posts. You got to go to the events. We keep getting invited to like all these different events like MSNBC Live or the Democratic Governor's Breakfast. I didn't go to any of it.

Oh, you didn't go to that stuff? No, because I literally needed to stay and actually not be moving around all day and not be like,

Where are my credentials? And like, am I allowed to go in here? Am I not allowed to go in here? To clarify, I was debating whether I should talk about this or if this was like a petty complaint that I was having or if it was like maybe I'm having like imposter syndrome or I feel like I'm not good enough to like cover X, you know, XYZ thing or person. Yeah.

But I'm happy you're bringing it up because I agree with you. It is actually a bit of a thing. And my theory is that because the protests didn't pan out to be this big thing, the media needs a little side dish. And when I say the media, I mean the mainstream credited outlets that are publishing. We're talking New York Times, CNN. Yes. Yes. The institutional media that is not social forward. Things that were founded pre-2010.

All of those outlets are very, like, they need a drama. They need a narrative to pick on. They can't just be like, this is so joyful and great. They need a narrative to pick on. And the narrative they have chosen is that they're mad the creators are here. And my thought is that this is stupid for them because they're actually picking a fight over their own corporate death. Because it will pan out at the end. It won't take long for everyone to know what the views and impressions and how many people watched this.

All of these cable networks, which got all of that arena space so that they can have fucking makeup studios. Meanwhile, we can make things out of literally a fan fanny pack. We carry our shit in a purse and like they need a full suite of the entire of the entire arena. And yet they will end up with millions of viewers fewer than all of these great than these 200 creators who are here.

I had 300,000 people watch the live today. I mean, we're talking about doing a TikTok live off my phone with Kai Watson, who has spent so much of his own time trying to figure out how to make it look nice. Nobody's paying us for this stuff. Right, no one pays us. I'm glad to be here.

Oh, yeah. I'm so happy to be here. As far as why we have a suite, it's because Way to Win paid for it. The media is trying to make it look like Kamala Harris has somehow put us on a yacht, given us prime rib sandwiches, which I think is funny. I was trying to figure out. In this Wired article, it says they're giving them prime rib sandwiches. Where did I – who got a prime rib sandwich? I was asking where is the prime rib sandwich today because I have had a hot dog. They gave us hot dogs and beers.

And I was like, okay, where is this prime rib sandwich? And they're like, maybe in the creator's lounge. So I went downstairs to the creator's lounge. Do you know what it is? You know how they turned? So we're in a sporting arena where the Bulls play, I guess. Yeah. And you know how like normally the concession stand would have like chicken fingers, hot dogs, whatever. Well, the creator's lounge took over a space that sells prime rib sandwiches. Okay.

There are no prime rib sandwiches for us. That's just the signage of the concession stand that's typically there. And so whoever the reporter is must have stuck their head into the creator lounge and went prime rib sandwiches. They're giving them steak and lobster. You know what else I'm going to point out that these reporters are

have also proven that they can't do anything unless they're given perfect little access. When you look at the outlets that are doing really consequential reporting, it's a few journalists at a few outlets and ProPublica, which is looking at public records. Sarah Kensier does all of her journalism off of public records.

Lauren Windsor, who got into a Mar-a-Lago event and got, I think it was Samuel Alito, to go on record thinking she was a supporter of his about their plans with the court. That's real journalism. If you need the president to come up to you and you're, I'm going to Michelle Obama them, just because the campaign hasn't reached out to you specifically, to be given special time with the candidate to be

be able to express information to the public about them, which is the point of journalists, then you're not a very good journalist. And they're like, all these creators are so partisan. They're treating us like a monolith. They're partisan too. They're biased towards money and both sides and drama and narratives. Yeah. This guy from the New York Times is hunting me like a dog because he- Well, we're right here. Yes.

I'm very available. He thinks that I got a one-on-one interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, that I got some...

breaking he told he was asking other creators where I am first of all that's creepy it's super weird and it made me very uncomfortable which is why I left early today because I just I don't know Sammy I'm sorry we're sorry I don't have her coordinates let me let me get my get her on find my friends for you I'm gonna Blake lively do you want my location I know I was like this is crazy because it was just it's a long day and tomorrow's gonna be a big day so we tomorrow we are up at

Tomorrow we are up at 930. We have a 930 breakfast with Hakeem Jeffries. We have a recording with Mallory McMorrow. Yep. We got a lot going on. Yeah. I think we have something else. So this New York Times guy is looking for me. And because he thinks I got these two big interviews and he's telling creators, he's like, well, I don't mind a little competition, but this is ridiculous.

And so like Alex Perlman's like, do you fucking get Kamala? I'm like, yeah, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I interviewed her. And he's like, did you get like, did you get her like DNC interview? I'm like, no. And he's like, New York Times thinks that you did. I'm like, well, this is how crazy it is. They are so spun up by the creators that they have made us a monolith, which is both to be dismissed and also apparently extremely feared. What do they not understand about you?

Emily Amick is here, right? I'm here. Betches Media is here. Most of the creators are lawyers or major activists with nonprofits. But there's also like meme accounts. There's also like meme accounts. They're not just like faceless accounts. They're run by human beings whose medium is memes. Right.

which got two shout outs in convention speeches last night. Of course, it is so the New York Times, the paper of record to get spun up over something like this. I'm like, aren't you supposed to be covering the convention? Why are you stalking me? Like, what do you want to know? Also, if,

if I were them, there's a lot of interesting angles to cover about creators. And basically their entire plan is to just make it them centric when there are so many things you could be asking us that would be helpful. And also like, just because you're a legacy paper doesn't mean that you cannot utilize media the way we do. Well,

Well, they obviously don't read their own newspaper because it was only a couple of weeks ago that the New York Times called me the Walter Cronkite of Gen Z, which is hilarious because Gen Z has no idea who Walter Cronkite is. And also I'm my own person. Walter Cronkite was his own person. I'm the vise here of digital journalism. I don't know. Also, that's one of the most subjective statements I've ever heard from a so-called unprofessional.

unbiased paper. It shouldn't be that complicated to understand given it's essentially the idea of a freelance model. They just cannot understand social media. So they're confused about what we actually do and how it works. So if anyone's interested in that little palace intrigue, arena intrigue, go read the Wired article or just Google. You'll find, I'm sure it won't be hard to find some journalists bitching about creators. Yeah.

I don't know. It's so stupid. Shall we take a break and come back and recap night three? Yes, let's do it. Thanks for listening to us, Wayne. Okay, how weird does it feel to be called someone's fiancé? The first time you hear it, you do a double take. Your heart kind of flutters. And before you know it, you go from, let's enjoy this moment to, we're planning a fall wedding. That's where Zola comes in. Zola has everything you need to plan your wedding in one place.

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I'm Sammy Sage, and I'll fill you in on the biggest news of each day, delivered to you in five minutes with some light, snarky commentary. The Morning Announcements was also the winner of the People's Choice Podcast Award for News and Politics in 2023. So tap the banner to listen to new episodes of The Morning Announcements on Spotify. And we're back with a more optimistic tone, a la Tim Walls and company. We are. It's like that time where I'm like,

I mean, I haven't seen Natalie in like a week. I will really like several weeks. I need a snack. I need a nap. The voice is giving out. It's giving. It's giving. It's giving. We're getting through it. We're going to get through it. We're

We're getting through it. We have one more day. We're going to go to sleep after this. And okay. This has been the greatest summer camp. It's like Super Bowl for nerds. We're having the greatest time. And there's really nothing that anyone can say to me that would ever take away the way I felt in the room with the Obamas when Michelle was giving that speech. And I was like hanging with all my best friends and believing in democracy. Like there is nothing that will beat that.

And that light and that presence and that hope is very present. I will say, I think night three, a lot of people are taking it a little easy. I was noticing it's slightly lower vibes today. Not that the vibes are low overall, but like it's a much more relaxed tone. I think people partied really hard at Hotties for Harris last night.

and they're getting ready for tomorrow night which is the final night of the dnc when kamala harris will speak and when maybe beyonce will perform i don't know i've heard rumors i have heard rumors i'm 98 sure that this is happening i mean oprah showed up today anything can happen yeah also by the way like i found out that oprah showed up on tv faster than any of the creators in the

So it's like the journalists are obviously getting better access and information because they reported about Oprah before any creators were aware of this. All right. Well, let's recap. Yeah.

Night three started with one, I will say, our biggest crowd on the live stream. Remember, we're doing the live stream every day from 4 to 6.30 Central Time. That's 5 to 7.30 Eastern Time. We had 300,000 people watching today, which was incredible. Our first guest was Emily Tish Sussman, who we love and who gave, I thought, a really good answer to my question, which is, for a woman of means and money, why are you a Democrat? Isn't that

don't Republicans say that they're the ones for business owners in the economy? She had the best answer. She said, because I need people to have disposable income to buy tickets, jerseys, peanuts, popcorn, and parking. All right. And if she gave a profit, she did, but she gave a business answer. Yeah. Listen, when the economy is doing well, when people have money, when they can go out and enjoy themselves at a soccer game or football game or whatever, it's,

That is when we are at our best. That's when society is functioning. We have rest. We have relaxation. She's like, and if everybody's just hoarding the money up at the top in their bank accounts, that does nothing for anybody. And that sucks. She's like, and that's the Republican policies is to have this very small amount of people hoard so much money that they could never even spend it.

really just to keep it away from the average people who want to go out and enjoy things. They want to go shopping. They want to take the family to a soccer game. She's like, that's why I support democratic policies, because they actually circulate more money through the economy, which creates a better, stronger economy and a better, more enjoyable place to live.

Her point about, like, you can be wealthy and, like, there can be prosperity under Democratic policies, it's like the Republicans have tried to convince people that this is, like, Marxism and the Democrats want, like, every single person to have the same amount of everything. It's like, that's not true. And I also think it's important that people who do have money and who live very nice lives are...

Right.

and make them essentially justify their own selfishness. But the Democratic Party is supposed to be a big tent. And it seems like we are finally seeing that come to fruition through these convention nights. And that has been a consistent message through the entire thing. You can see that in the diversity of people. You had Oprah, you have billionaire J.B. Pritzker, and then you have

saying the word billionaire. Yeah. And it going like largely unnoticed, which for any prior Democratic convention, to your point, they always try to cosplay being the everyday man. He's like, no, I'm super rich, but I also don't want to be a shitty person. Right, right. It's just shouldn't be that shouldn't be a binary decision. OK, so let's start early earlier in the night. You know, we had Mindy Kaling who was doing she was the famous person of the night. She was kind of like roasting herself, which I appreciated.

We also had performances from Maren Morris, Stevie Wonder, and John Legend. They were all awesome. Yep. Sheila E. out there going crazy.

I love when I see Sheila E. She was Princess Drummer. And I just like think she's like this iconic figure in the music world who should be at places like the DNC. Like when we saw Patti LaBelle last night, right? It was like, you want these people to come out. They remind you of nostalgia, of better times, of like weddings and stuff. I don't know. I like Sheila E. She makes me happy. They have huge names, but there were also some really intriguing rising stars.

Carlos Eduardo Espina, who we were actually in one of the influencer suites with earlier, take that media. And I actually sat next to him when I was at the White House at that roundtable. He's 24. Yes, he's a veteran. He has 10 million followers. I think he makes almost all of his content in Spanish. And he is really, really impactful. And his remarks were

incredible. So moving. He should absolutely run for office. I think he will. He's a lawyer. He just graduated law school. His remarks are worth listening to. He talked about immigration and the American dream. He quoted Ronald Reagan as like an in your face to Republicans.

Because as Ronald Reagan once said, Ronald Reagan, a Republican, once said, "We lead the world because unique among nations, we draw our people, our strength from every country and every corner of the world." Reagan knew, Reagan knew that welcoming immigrants is not a Democratic or a Republican value, it is an American value.

He was fantastic, and he's one of these 200 detrimental to democracy creators that are hanging around. Horrible, taking up so much space, not really contributing anything to the ecosystem. There was also an incredible speaker named Latifah Simon, who was actually a mentee of Kamala Harris. And she said some really moving things that when she worked in the DA's office with her, that people who were dealing with particular issues, sexual assault, people who were dealing with abuse,

They lined up to see her because she knew because they knew that she would be there for them, that she would be for the people. And she said when she goes into that Oval Office, I guarantee you she will take all of us with her.

And the difference between the RNC and the DNC is that you have these incredibly everyday people. I mean, Latifah Simon's now running for office and is amazing. She is a rising star. You know, you see these normal people who know the candidates. Tim Walz had one of his former students who is also his neighbor and on his sports team speak. And

He told this story about Tim Walls that there was a student who had gone into student debt or had gone to debt for school lunches. And he ended up looking around for odd, he and his wife, Gwen, ended up looking around for odd jobs that they could do so that they could pay off this student's debt. He went looking for that job. That's how he ended up becoming the high school football coach. Right. So that he could pay off some other kid's debt.

that he had ostensibly no familial connection to. Yeah. And that is really rare. That is really special. It really took me back. And the way he talks about being a dad just...

was outstanding but we'll talk about tim walls at the end another person that i loved hearing from and that i thought spoke directly to me because i was starting to get some texts from the queers and they were like why aren't they talking about gay stuff why aren't they talking about gay stuff i'm like listen because it's so like normal it's so normalized it's so normal now i'm like kamala's record on queer stuff is like so rock solid that right platinum so like we don't need to worry about this

But Dana Nessel got up there and she said, you can pry this wedding band from my cold, dead, gay hands. And I think that spoke. Dana Nessel is such a fucking badass. She's the attorney general of Michigan. She was very active in the election fraud cases in Michigan. And she yes, that was a that was the first thing of the night that I was like, oh,

Mark that for later. That's going to be clipped. But I at the same time, I was like playing with my wedding ring while she was saying it, because it is this thing where we will not go back. And gay marriage is very much something the Supreme Court is going to try and attack this October. So we need an administration that could put in protections or a Congress that could sign a law that.

that would protect gay marriage that a president could then, you know, sign off on as well because the Supreme Court ruling of Obergefell v. Hedges, which is what I've got marriage equality from, is very vulnerable. It's just as vulnerable as Roe v. Wade. And,

And it was just, it's not even 10 years old. So, although next year will be the 10 year anniversary. If we can keep it, they're definitely looking at it in October. We know that. We've been preparing for that. Well, on that note, you know, getting to like the Project 2025 of it all. The Project 2025 book is, I'm sorry, it's a permanent fixture. It was planned and it seems like it's kind of an honor to get to present.

it out. I guess so. Well, Kenan brought the book out and described it as a plan big enough to kill a few small animals and democracy. When I saw that book came out, I was like, oh, it's going to be there every night, every night, every night. We're going to do the book. At this point, it's clearly a thing. I wonder who's going to get it tomorrow night, but it would be crazy if like Taylor Swift got it. That would be some fucking press for project 2025. Um, yeah, Kenan Thompson. And he was sort of doing this remote, uh,

thing with different people who were just average citizens or people who like worked in the government and described how various parts of project 2025 would affect their lives. Jared Polis, he was earlier in the night. He also, he had a really wild clip. Let's just play that because it, this astounded me and you got to hear it from his mouth. Page four 51 says the only legitimate family is a married mother and father were only the father works. You know what?

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There was actually a bit of a January 6th segment tonight that they snuck in there. They had Capitol Police Officer Sergeant Aquilino Goodnell, who was hit with a flagpole on January 6th. And he gave, I think, one of the most moving speeches of the night. Let's play it. When I joined the Army in Capitol Police, I took an oath to defend the Constitution. I did so with duty in my soul, and I still feel it.

To Donald Trump I ask, why don't you? On January 6th, I nearly died protecting the Capitol. And I will do it again for our democracy. The thing that we need to remember, and they had in the special package, was that nine people died connected to January 6th. There's five that died on the day. There were four who took their life after that.

That's some real shit. Like, that's some real shit for the Republican Party and Trumpism to continue to try to downplay, to make Ashley, whatever her name was, Ashley Babbitt, this martyr, but all the cops that were killed that day defending the Capitol, somehow, like, non-existent. Well, that's...

The thing is, I do want to say something about Ashley Babbitt and the fact that she does count among the Americans who died. Donald Trump did not march with his supporters to the Capitol. He let his supporters march there by themselves and put themselves in harm's way to break the law for his own gain. Mm-hmm.

Also in the January 6th segment, they had Representative Andy Kim from New Jersey, who he talked about how when he was a boy, his parents took him to the Capitol and how he revered it so much. And maybe people know him from there were, you know, after January 6th, he was literally cleaning up the Capitol rotunda himself, like physically putting shards of glass into windows.

And he said, all of us are caretakers of our great republic and we can heal this country if we try. And he was, I mean, that was really, I have the chills even saying, you know, saying this again.

That was, I think, a very moving and effective portion. And that was in primetime in New York. That was at around 8 p.m. They're doing a great job at this convention. I think coming off the Obama speech today, it was more like a space of reflection. Yesterday was about forward. Today was about reflection, remembering the things that we went through that are true because it allows us to make a decision about what we don't want to have to endure again. And we can't endure another Donald Trump presidency. Yeah.

It's harrowing to watch these things and remember these things and to be in a big room with other people who are like, where were you when you first saw January 6th? Which...

For me, it's extra ugly because I also get asked, where were you on 9-11? And I was at college in New York City. And so these two days suck. And I don't think we should have so many days in American history that we remember as truly unprecedented. Where were you when you found out that everything shut down? Where were you when you found out about January 6th? Where were you when you found out about this? I think there's always going to be... I'm so hopeful for a new presidency for at least some good days to look forward to. Tonight was definitely...

Kind of a heavy night, but the back half of it was really stacked with household names and key players in the party. One of my favorites was Hakeem Jeffries. He always comes with skill and he always just brings it. I really like him a lot. He's one of those people who...

Their leadership shone through and he rose to his position naturally. Yeah, he has like preacher vibes too. The way he talks, it makes you believe. Yeah, I agree. He's a Brooklyn man. We also had Bill Clinton, you know, also, you know, formerly had some preacher vibes. He had some good zingers. Apparently it went so late because he...

ad-libbed about 10 minutes, the last 10 minutes of his speech. So about like a third of his speech, he ad-libbed just off the cuff.

He also was not reading off the teleprompter. He was reading off papers. It was the second night in a row when I thought, how come the lady of the couple wasn't the president? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he had some, I would say it was not dense with zingers. It's like if he could have just condensed it down a bit and then had the zingers. I think everyone's schedule would have been happier. Yeah.

So I need to remind him we don't actually want to hear from him. This is a courtesy. Just get up there, do your three three tight and get out. I did like that. He said, I just turned 78 and I'm still younger than Donald Trump. I mean, I thought that was like his best one. Yeah, especially because he doesn't like look that young. No, elderly Bill Clinton half aged. Yeah. Older than Bill Clinton, but younger in spirit. Nancy Pelosi. Yeah.

I would not say she's the most gifted speaker. I think she's more of an operator. She's an operator. I was still excited to hear from her. And she looked good. She and Hillary are getting the same kind of work done, clearly. And she is responsible for why this convention is as it is. Let's be real. And not as it was going to be. I wonder, you know, it's back to that thing. Will she and Joe Biden never talk again or will it ever be the same again? I think they will. And I think in part if he's still not talking to her, it's because he knows it's true. I mean,

She wasn't wrong, even if it hurt. And I think that's a hard person to be, the person who has to tell the truth and has to push things through because it's the right thing to do, even when it hurts.

I also just don't think that they were people who necessarily spoke every day. So it's not like, oh, we have to get back to speaking every day. I believe these two, these are two people who I believe have forgiveness in their hearts. They're Catholics and they want a good afterlife. And I just think that they will...

They will they want to reconcile. You hear the way they speak about each other. They don't talk shit. You know what I mean? It's they're not trying to, like, insult each other. I think they're it's just a difficult. It's difficult. None of this is easy. And it's about his mortality. And it's the consequences for the country. It's just it's public. It's not easy. This is decades of friendship and love.

I wish them the best. Maybe we could even mediate. We could do like a couples therapy session for them. Well, maybe if Joe comes back, they can trade bracelets. I feel like I've collected so many of these friendship bracelets. Every single day, we get more of these like Kamala Harris- Maybe give one to Dana Bash and the guy from the New York Times. I'm going to really try. The guy from the New York Times is lost to me, but I really am going to try tomorrow to give a friendship bracelet to Dana Bash and be like, look it. Please, please.

Just give us a chance. We respect your work, respect our work. There's a lot of kids up there that look up to her and watch her on TV. And maybe I'm like auntie vibes right now because the kids were like, oh, the news people don't like us. We already feel awkward. I was like, oh, no. I thought they don't care who likes them.

They care in this circumstance because they want to do such a good job. And they're like, we feel they already feel like imposters and sort of uncomfortable when they're doing their blue carpet time, which they are contracted to do when they're down there doing their blue carpet interviews and making TikToks with politicians. Their purpose is to humanize them and to make them look cool and interesting to young people. And they that's not something journalism is going to do.

So I'm going to give this one to Danabash that one of the kids made me. It's my prized one. And it says, when we fight, we win.

When we fight each other, we lose. Maybe we don't fight each other anymore, though. Yeah. Good idea. I love that. I hope I'm there when this happens. Oh, my God. She doesn't care about me. She doesn't care. Honestly, and to put a good light on some of this, there's a lot of very staunch journalists that do like the creators and that have been interested in us. Kara Swisher has turned a corner on creators, and she's been nicer. When did that corner get turned? Like literally four days ago.

Oh, wow. Wonder what happened. He's been defending the creators and Katie Fang has been defending the creators. Katie Fang is amazing. Katie Fang is one of the smartest people on NBC. Well, also, like, honestly, I actually don't think that most MSNBC anchors dislike the creators. They're all always very... Every one of those anchors is, like, excited to have us on shows and wants to talk about our work. Joy Reid wants to be a creator. I mean, she's all up in the threads. Yeah.

Anyway, Oprah was like, oh, you in Chicago? I'm stopping by. She was not on the original list.

I think that was more like she wanted to be a surprise. Oh, well, I was excited about it. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people were excited about it. I was too. Yeah, she looks amazing. B.O. Zempik. She loves it. We also had some like, you know, star governors. We had Josh Shapiro. We had Wes Moore. They were both, you know, awesome. They both had rousing, really good. Exactly. They were in the back half.

Amy Klobuchar introduced Tim Walls. I cannot look at her face without remembering that she yelled at her assistant for forgetting to bring a fork one time and then ate her salad with a comb. I don't know why. I'm weird. I can't think of any other story when I see her. I know what you mean because that story has a lot of salience. It's like R.K. having a brain worm. It's like him killing the bear. Some stories, they just...

They hit the lizard brain and yet they're just there forever. Covfefe. All that. Like certain things, just bleach, shampoo.

Jack Bleach. Okay. Pete Buttigieg, amazing speaker. It was funny that he said you recognize me from Fox News. And then, you know, he had some funny zingers. I thought he was pretty solid. He also, there was something really moving. He said, you know, speaking of being there for the gays, he was saying, I used to never be able to believe that I could have this reality. And I want to say, like, not even 10 years ago, you could imagine

There wouldn't be a Dana Nessel saying, you will pry this ring off my cold, dead hands. Not just because, A, you couldn't have gotten married, but because it would have still been like, you don't have to brag about being gay. Or like, as if it's bragging and not just like, I am factually married. That was definitely the attitude. And it gives me a lot of hope and heart to see that that turned around in 10 years. Yeah. To this extent where it's just so normalized. Absolutely. Yeah.

Oh, their trans rights are under attack, so that's another big problem. But they're always going to try to chip away at the edges of anything that's moving forward, right? They're going to try and they thought that picking off the trans part of the LGBTQ was going to be easy, and it's not. Yeah, because they think... Trans people set the culture. Trans people are an incredibly important part of the LGBTQ, and we're not going to let them do that. The T! They're the T. They're the T, which is our crucifix in the LGBT... Oh.

We need them. You know, they're very important symbol to us. It's also like, did you not learn your lesson by trying to like convince people that gay people are like weird and scary? It didn't work because people know gay people and, or maybe they even are gay themselves and they know that they're just normal human beings. And then, but then they tried to do that again. They're trying to, so obviously trying to do that with trans people and it's,

again, it's not going to work. We pick up for our trans brothers and sisters. They set the culture. They bring the flavor. And again, like this is the thing. I think they thought it was easy to pick off trans folks and it isn't. And so hopefully we don't see as much of that going forward. But if you look back like 40 years when you could get fired for being gay, like, and now you can be the transportation secretary. The reason they thought that it was easy to like pick

pick off trans folks is because a lot of the people setting these narratives were coming up when you could get fired for being gay. So that they are like, oh, like this is a thing, whatever. I have a longer story where I think that they don't understand the difference between a trans person and cross-dressing, like between the act of being a trans person and that being like who you are as a person and the sexual kink that is cross-dressing. And a lot of them

You're so right about that. Because they get caught all the time in, like, doing the kink side of things. So they thought, oh, I'll embarrass you by exposing your kink. But in fact, like, it's your humanity that they're questioning. And it just comes off fucking weird and wrong. I think they, like...

Because again, you see it with the fact that they chose to focus on drag queen story time or whatever. It's the pageantry and the drag. I think it's because drag queens perform in express on often...

like the the epitome of exaggerated feminism and like femininity. And I think that some of them maybe have the hots for drag queens. And then they are like, oh, does that make me gay? I'm gonna ban books. I mean, my instinct is like, that sounds like

That's insane. They all are attracted to the drag queens. Like, that's the reason for all of them doing this. But then I'm like, I don't know. I can't even get in their mindset to be doing what they're doing. But they're also so obsessed with male privilege.

that they cannot conceive of the fact that a man would give up their privilege to be a woman. And so there has to be something else wrong with them. They must be insane to do this. Like they just create everything that the Republicans do that's hateful and nasty as a projection and an example of their own insecurities and has truly nothing to do with us. Please, like Tim Wall said, mind your damn business and leave us alone.

And that's the perfect segue. That's the perfect segue to Tim Walls and the lovely neighbor who introduced him. He was like, Tim Walls is the kind of guy who would push you out of a snowbank because he pushed me out of a snowbank. He was, that was epic. So sweet. Yeah. That story about paying off the student's debt. That was amazing. The marching band and the football team coming out. That's so Midwest. So totally. And, and so all American, um,

Oh, absolutely. And it felt, it was like, that's real. Like, this is his people. Oh, yeah. His children crying. I'm like, wow. I love that, Gus. That is a loving family. I love that son of his, Gus. I know that Gus has some. He has a nonverbal learning disability. Right. Which, you know, I can't really. But that didn't make him any less expressive.

The way that he could cry. And when he stood up and pointed to his dad and was like, I'm proud of you. Like, this is a man who has built a family, who has built a community, who has created a space for vulnerability and love and expression. And we feel that

as just people, right? I dress like Tim Walls for the convention today. And you see it reflected in the way that his children look at him and love him. Gus reminded me a lot of my brother. That is how my brother would have, how expressive he would have been if I were up or his parents had been up there. He would have had that unabashed expression of emotion and love. And that's what captivated people. It's like,

The Republicans, they want to make it all like everyone be in the square, the same, but the humanity. And I mean, there was one commercial where they were asking what it wasn't. It was like they are revealing all the advertising for the campaign and they, um,

they played one video where they were asking people what freedom means to them. And they had one pretty disabled person who was in the video. And I was thinking, I was like, the Republicans would never play this because Donald Trump would refuse to allow it. As he said, as he said about people who have disabilities, we had Fred Trump on here and we talked about what he had said about his son. That is something that you would only see at the Democratic convention that you would

have that representation. And think about what that means to those people at home and to parents of people with those extreme disabilities that don't get to see themselves in places like this. So very moving. Yeah.

Gwen Walls because Gus was getting very emotional and he was experiencing what any child would experience when you're seeing your dad on the stage and all these people with the signs. I mean, I can't imagine the sensory overload we had.

Never mind my dad. Yeah. And she never stopped him or tried to like dumb down his emotion. She was like, it's okay. Yeah, that's your dad. Like she was encouraging him to fully experience the full depth of his emotions. And I think that's a person that I want.

As the head of our country, I want that person to be making compassionate decisions for all of us. I want that person to be believing in all of us. I want to fight with that person, though. I think so often when we think of who we love, we think of like, oh, I love all these things about somebody. One of the things I loved most about Natalie is the way that she fights.

because she fights very fair. And when we don't agree, we can both come to a point where even if we fight about something stupid or whatever it is for a long time, we always fight fair with each other. And I feel like Tim Walls is the kind of man, and he's proven this, that can take criticism, that can not agree with you, and that can find humanity with you. And he can let you feel your feelings without having to like

squash it out of you right away so he's right. And I think that was exemplified by his family today. And I just loved Hope and Gus crying for their dad because I wanted to cry for their dad. Totally. And I mean, that is like the, that is what strengthens relationships. It's like that tear and repair is what makes it stronger because that is like the stuff of the relationship because you're never going to be totally

you know, aligned with someone. There's a reason that all the Republicans in Congress couldn't come up with one bad thing to say about him and why they have they like can't find a way to attack him because they do respect him as a person, even when they disagree with him. And I don't know that there's anyone who has expressed politics in the way that I feel so perfectly in sync with.

and the way he views things that it's about making giving lives better. You know, it's like what Michelle Obama said last night. It's that my kids and my people are not whole unless those around me are drowning. Right. And he, you know, this just felt like a convention full of people who were expressing that feeling and this feeling that we are a collective. We want to take care. We need to take care of each other. And that is what

Pete Buttigieg said it too. He said, Americans are not in the market for darkness. It feels like we want to turn a page. And that is what this convention has really, really shown. You put them side by side and you see the party of rigidity and distance, or you see a space where

for love and for hope and for being able to express yourself fully and be met and validated as a whole person. And that's what I felt and seen throughout all of this. I think they've made a great attempt to try and show as many people as much as possible that they are welcome and that they are seen and they are understood, whether it's the ads or the speakers or whoever. Tomorrow night is going to be crazy. You and I have got to get to bed. It is almost midnight. We've got to see Jeffries in the morning. Then we have some brunch thing to do.

I don't know. We have a bunch of things. We have Mallory McMorrow. We also have Senator LaPonce Butler.

And we are stacked. You have to send me these invites. I don't even know where we're going with our lives. I'll send you the itinerary. Okay. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. And then we go over there. We do our live stream, 4 to 6.30 Central Time. That's 5 to 7.30 Eastern Time. And that's it. And then I cannot wait to hear what she's going to say because her speeches so far have been incredible. And I think...

We are very ready to see her. I think we're very ready to see Kamala tomorrow and like, pick this off. We only have, what, 75 days left or something. Here we go. Time to do something. But first, we sleep. Until tomorrow, I'm Dee Smear. I'm Sammy Sage. And this is American Fever Dream.

American Fever Dream is produced and edited by Samantha Gatzik. Social media by Candice Monega and Bridget Schwartz. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Betches News and follow me, Sammy Sage at Sammy and V at Under the Desk News. And of course, send us your emails to AmericanFeverDream at Betches.com.