In Major Blow, Pro-Harris Group Disbands Over DNC Protest Response

Kamala Harris is beginning to face the consequences of not pushing for a Palestinian American speaker at the Democratic National Convention, amid widespread backlash to Israel’s deadly U.S.-backed military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 people.

Muslim Women for Harris-Walz announced late Wednesday that it would disband after members of the Uncommitted delegation at the DNC were notified that Harris’s team had denied their many requests to have a Palestinian American speaker appear on the main stage.

“We cannot in good conscience, continue Muslim Women for Harris-Walz, in light of this new information from the Uncommitted movement that VP Harris’ team declined their request to have a Palestinian American speaker take the stage at the DNC,” the group said in a statement.

“The family of the Israeli Hostage that was on the stage tonight, has shown more empathy towards Palestinian American speakers than our candidate or the DNC has,” the statement said. “This is a terrible message to send to Democrats. Palestinians have a right to speak about Palestine.”

Earlier Wednesday, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, the parents of 23-year-old Israeli American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, had been invited to speak from the main stage, making an emotional plea for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and the safe return of the remaining hostages. “There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East and a competition of pain,” Polin said. “There are no winners.”

In a statement posted to X, the Uncommitted Movement, which organized massive “uncommitted” votes during the Democratic primaries, wrote that they supported the decision to have the family of an Israeli hostage speak, and asked the DNC “to reject a hierarchy of human value by ensuring Palestinian voices are heard on the main stage.”

“Excluding a Palestinian speaker betrays the party’s commitment in our platform to valuing Israelis and Palestinian lives equally. Vice President Harris must unite this party with a vision that fights for everyone, including Palestinians,” the statement said.

The 30 Uncommitted delegates in attendance at the DNC began a sit-in outside of the convention center Wednesday night, requesting that Harris’s team reconsider their decision. Representative Ilhan Omar sat with them, and Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez called in via FaceTime to lend her support, although earlier this week, she had neglected to advocate for Palestinians during her rousing primetime speech.

The United Auto Workers, which has endorsed Harris, posted a statement to X Thursday, urging Harris’s team to reverse course on its decision. “If we want the war in Gaza to end, we can’t put our heads in the sand or ignore the voices of the Palestinian Americans in the Democratic Party,” the statement said. “If we want peace, if we want real democracy, and if we want to win this election, the Democratic Party must allow a Palestinian American speaker to be heard from the DNC stage tonight.”

Earlier this week, the Uncommitted Movement was invited to host a panel discussion about Palestinian human rights at the DNC, the first time such an event has happened. At the time, the group thanked the DNC and reiterated a request that Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a Palestinian American pediatric physician who has been working in Gaza throughout Israel’s assault, should be invited to speak from the convention’s main stage.

Inside the United Center, pro-Palestinian speech has been entirely absent, and attempts to protest have been repeatedly quashed. On Monday, several members of the Florida delegation dropped a banner that read “Stop Arming Israel” during Joe Biden’s speech but were blocked and even hit with signs by others standing around them. The protesters were then escorted out of the main room. Outside the convention center, more than 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters marched in Chicago for a third day, after violent clashes with the police outside of the Israeli consulate.

“The word Palestine is not allowed inside the Democratic National Convention. The word cease-fire has barely been uttered,” said Rabbi Brant Rosen, a founder of the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, Wednesday night. “This is a Hollywood-style coronation of a candidate. They assume they are entitled to our votes, but they are not entitled to our votes.”

As the DNC enters its fourth and final day Thursday, the clock is ticking on Harris’s team to reverse its decision to exclude Palestinians from its big tent.

Donald Trump removed a campaign video using Beyoncé’s song “Freedom” on Wednesday after the international superstar threatened to send him a cease and desist letter, officially blocking the Republican presidential nominee’s use of the song.

A source close to Beyoncé told Rolling Stone that the Trump campaign did not have permission to use the song, which has since become an unofficial anthem of the Harris-Walz campaign. The offending clip was posted to Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung’s account, and set the Lemonade single to a 13-second video of Trump stepping off a plane in Michigan.

Beyonce isn’t the only artist who’s torched Trump for using their music without permission to advance his campaign. Sinéad O’Connor, The Beatles, Adele, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, Leonard Cohen, Queen, Prince, Pharrell, The Rolling Stones, The Smiths’ Johnny Marr, Rihanna, Neil Young, Linkin Park, the late Tom Petty, the Village People, and Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler have all barred the former president from using their work.

And the trend seems to be growing. Just last week, two more musicians yanked their rights away from Trump: Isaac Hayes and Celine Dion.

Meanwhile, the DNC turned their roll call—a typically grueling snooze-fest—into an all-out party by merging the state-by-state delegate count with meaningful songs, hand-selected by each state. That included tracks by some of the artists who’ve banned their music from Trump’s events (such as Tom Petty) and even featured a wildly unexpected guest performance by Atlanta-born rapper Lil Jon, who got the entire arena bouncing to “Turn Down for What.”

“V-P Harris, Governor Walz!” Lil Jon shouted to the chorus of “Get Low.”

Tim Walz walked off stage after his speech Wednesday night to Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Young reportedly personally approved use of the song.

And that’s just part of it. The entire liberal convention has been awash in talent. So far, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Sheila E, and Maren Morris have brought some of their biggest hits to the main stage, alongside comedians Kenan Thompson and Mindy Kaling. What might frustrate Trump most of all, however, is a surprise guest appearance rumored for Thursday: Beyoncé, in the flesh.

Check out the rest of the party’s roll track playlist here.

J.D. Vance, in trying to come up with a response to criticism from the Democratic National Convention, ended up owning his running mate, Donald Trump.

Just after midnight Thursday morning, Vance was interviewed by CNN’s Jake Tapper, who played a clip of Representative Jamie Raskin pointing out that Vance is only on the Republican ticket because Mike Pence faced death threats for certifying the election results on January 6, 2021. 

Vance tried to brush off Raskin’s comments and accused the Maryland congressman of claiming victimhood.

“I just don’t understand a person in American politics in 2024 who’s whining about what happened to them instead of using their leadership and using their influence to make the lives of American citizens better,” Vance responded.

The remark, unchallenged by Tapper, quickly brought to mind the many times Trump has whined about his many grievances, from the criminal and civil charges against him to his baseless allegations of election fraud in 2020, among so many others.

Vance and Trump seem to be flailing every time they are criticized. Every day, an old clip of Vance resurfaces where he says something bizarre, followed by him doubling down or trying in vain to explain it away. Meanwhile, Trump can’t seem to stay on message, or answer basic, easy questions, like whether he’d accept the election results. Democrats have successfully put Trump and Vance on their heels, and Republicans have no response.

An “undercover” Mike Lindell is running around the Democratic National Convention arguing with Democrats.

Like other right-wingers, including Matt Walsh, the MyPillow CEO has found his way into the DNC sporting a disguise: shaving off his legendary mustache. He announced he did so “in order to go undercover at the DNC and deliver FrankSpeech viewers undercover footage,” referring to his conservative news website. Instead, all he did was fight a child.

On Wednesday, the disgraced CEO was spotted fighting with 12-year-old content creator Knowa De Brasco.

Taking questions from the Democratic influencer, Lindell refused to cite sources for his election denial claims.

“They just found 257,000 votes … that are missing from the 2020 election,” Lindell shouted at the child.

“So your source is ‘trust me bro?’” Knowa shot back. “Alright, you’re full of crap.”

Lindell was not the only Republican weirdo to get schooled by Knowa. Charlie Kirk, who also somehow got into the convention, was also caught on video embarrassing himself.

“Why did you say that the civil rights bill should be overturned,” the teenager asked the conservative infiltrator. “I didn’t say that,” said Kirk, “I said it was a mistake.”

This story has been updated.

Donald Trump went on an absurdly long and winding tirade Thursday when asked to respond to Tim Walz’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.

During a morning appearance on Fox & Friends, Trump was asked to respond to the Democratic vice presidential nominee’s speech linking Trump to Project 2025, which has been proven time and time again.

“Their Project 2025 will make things much much harder for people who are just trying to live their lives,” Walz said. “They spend a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I coached high school football long enough to know—and trust me on this—when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

When asked to respond to Walz, Trump took off on a winding rant that touched on a little bit of everything. Although it is broken up below into more digestible chunks, it should be understood as a wall of uninterrupted text.

“Well, first of all, he’s a total lightweight. And he shouldn’t be even having any access to possibly being president. The guy, he’s been a terrible governor. They’ve had nothing but problems in their state. He has no capability. They call him coach. He’s a semi-coach. You coach some football for a little while. This guy is a lightweight, and he shouldn’t have access,” Trump ranted.

“And for him to say about Project 25 is disgraceful. They know I have nothing to do with it. I had no idea what it was. A group of people got together. They drew up some conservative values, very conservative values, and in some case, perhaps they went over the line. Perhaps they didn’t. I have no idea what Project 25 is, but they use it, and they know it.”

Then began Trump’s rapid-fire word association rant, which has been painstakingly edited for brevity. The Republican nominee claimed that, like his controversial comment about the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, which was often touted by President Joe Biden as his reason for running, his links to Project 2025 had been “totally discredited.”

Trump lamented the so-called “coup” against Biden, who was probably sitting on a beach in “crime-ridden” California, where everything Kamala Harris “touched turned bad,” with its “terrible, terrible crime trouble, and every other form of trouble.”

“You go into Los Angeles and you can’t walk down the streets,” and “San Francisco is unlivable,” Trump said. If Harris is elected, he said, “this country would turn out to be a big version of San Francisco.” Gentle reminder, he was supposed to be responding to Walz.

Trump then complained that Democrats had wrongly claimed he called veterans “losers” and “suckers” after he had done so much for the military, and the Biden administration had abandoned “$85 billion” in equipment in Afghanistan, although it was more like $7 billion. Trump was briefly interrupted by Brian Kilmeade, who said Harris had been “the last one in the room, and she was the last one in the room when that decision was made.”

Trump then managed to speak uninterrupted for another three minutes, about Afghanistan, China, and people falling off of planes. He mentioned crime rates, the border, and a recent report that found that U.S. employers added 818,000 fewer jobs in the year ending in March than initially reported.

“They thought they were going to keep those numbers until right after the election, when they could announce a revision. But they weren’t able to do that because they had a leaker and somebody leaked the numbers. They were fraudulent job numbers, just like they have fraudulent crime numbers,” Trump said. Another gentle reminder, he was supposed to be responding to Walz.

Still fresh off of a scandal in which he was accused of advising against peace talks between Israel and Palestine, Donald Trump claimed that he had done more for Israel than “any person.”

“The highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, made a really bad and poorly delivered speech talking about freedom and fighting for Comrade Kamala Harris for President, yet she hates Israel and will do nothing but make its journey through the complexities of survival as difficult as possible, hoping in the end that it will fail,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in the early hours of Thursday. “Judge only by her actions!”

“Yet Shapiro, for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had,” Trump continued. “I have done more for Israel than any President, and frankly, I have done more for Israel than any person, and it’s not even close.”

It’s far from the first time that Trump has claimed he’s done more for minority groups than the individuals involved in their actual liberation movements. In November, Trump rattled Black voters while attempting to make inroads with them by swearing that he had “done more for Black people than any other President,” including President Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery.

“Shapiro has done nothing for Israel, and never will,” Trump continued on Thursday. “Comrade Kamala Harris, the Radical Left Marxist who stole the nomination from Crooked Joe, will do even less. Israel is in BIG trouble!”

Harris has been fielding fire from both sides of the strenuous issue. Monday saw the quiet launch of a new, self-proclaimed progressive and pro-Israel nonprofit, Zioness, with a Democratic political lineup to beat the band, reported Slate. Meanwhile, attendees inside the DNC were caught hiding and even hitting protesters waving a banner that read “Stop Arming Israel.”

Meanwhile, a pro-Palestine protest that was expected to draw upwards of 50,000 attendees brought just 2,000 people to the footsteps of the DNC. On Wednesday, Harris’s campaign told the Uncommitted Movement that they would not be inviting a speaker to discuss Palestine on the convention stage, sending the movement reeling.

“I’ve had some pretty crushing days, but to be honest today took the cake,” wrote Georgia state Representative Ruwa Romman, who is Palestinian American. “I do not understand how there’s room for an anti choice Republican but not me in our party.”

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s speech at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday espoused hope, urging middle-class America to peel control of the government back from the hands of MAGA Republicans. But the uplifting messaging didn’t stop short of chopping down Donald Trump and J.D. Vance’s reported plans for a second term.

“Their Project 2025 will make things much, much harder for people who are just trying to live their lives,” Walz said. “They spend a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I’ve coached high school football long enough to know, and trust me on this, when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

“It’s an agenda nobody asked for,” Walz continued. “Is it weird? Absolutely. But it’s also wrong. And it’s dangerous.”

Trump recently tried to brush off the “weird” comments—which Walz is credited with originating—that have plagued his and Vance’s campaign. Trump insisted to a small crowd in York, Pennsylvania, on Monday that Walz was, actually, the weird one.

“We’re like you, we’re exactly like you,” the Epstein-socializing, family-separating, woman-hating, millionaire former reality TV star and convicted felon said about himself and his vice presidential pick Vance, who became the target of an online joke that he had screwed a couch.

“He is weird,” Trump continued, referring to Walz. “Did you ever see him go on the stage and go, like, crazy? Between his movement and her laugh, there’s a lot of crazy. I’d say a step further than weird, weird is a nice word by comparison.”

Speaking after Walz’s speech, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker shared his interpretation of the “weird” label.

“The truth of the matter is that Donald Trump is going to show us who he is. There’s a wackiness and a weirdness going on in that candidacy,” Booker told CNN. “We all have our weirdness. I don’t like talking down to anybody. The reality is I believe they’re trying to say that this behavior is not the kind of behavior you want to see in the White House.”

Before exiting the stage, the former football coach had one more pep talk for “team” America.

“It’s the fourth quarter. We’re down a field goal,” Walz told the crowd, “but we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball. We’re driving down the field, and boy do we have the right team.”

Queue Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

In an unexpected clash of American personalities, Oprah went after Ohio Senator J.D. Vance at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, cutting the Republican vice presidential pick down to size for his disturbing, sexist beliefs.

“Despite what some would have you think, we are not so different from our neighbors,” Oprah said. “When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted. No, we just try to do the best we can to save them.”

“And if the place happens to belong to a ‘childless cat lady,’ well, we try to get that cat out, too,” she added to wild screams from the crowd.

The former daytime talk show host was referring to a 2021 interview in which Vance argued that childless Americans don’t have a “direct stake” in the future of the country, deriding Democratic Party leaders as “childless cat ladies.”

“It’s just a basic fact—you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC—the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”

Voters didn’t react well to the misogynistic, divisive tone. A pair of polls conducted weeks apart by centrist Democratic pollster Blueprint indicated that Vance’s favorability had fallen from -7 to -11 by August 12. Approximately 50 percent of respondents said they were aware of Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comment, while 55 percent said they were bothered by it.

Saturday Night Live actor Kenan Thompson had a whole new take on Project 2025 at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday: make it ridiculous.

Appearing on stage with a gigantic copy of the 920-page Christian Nationalist manifesto, the sketch comedian spoke with several Americans over video call, highlighting how the conservative agenda’s proposals would immediately and negatively impact peoples’ quality of life.

“You ever see a document that could kill a small animal and democracy at the same time? Well here it is,” Thompson quipped.

“You know how, when you download an app and there are hundreds of pages there that you don’t read, it’s just the terms and conditions and you just click agree?” he continued. “Well, these are the terms and conditions of a second Trump presidency. You vote for him, you vote for all of this.”

“Let’s take a look,” he said.

After seamlessly improv-ing through a sound issue during an interview with, ironically, an A/V technician, Thompson spoke with a married gay woman, an OB/GYN, and a Department of Education civil servant who doubled as a union president. Flipping through pages of the giant book, Thompson cited exact sections of Project 2025 that would uproot not just their personal liberties, but also their livelihoods.

The sketch threw the stadium into laughter, but Thompson wound down the bit with a dose of reality.

“Just remember, everything that we just talked about is very real, and it’s in this book,” he said, directing people to check out the full text of the document at Harris’s website.

Watch the full bit below.

Donald Trump still can’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that Democrats have chosen Vice President Kamala Harris as their presidential nominee.

“I watched Joe Biden Monday night, and was amazed at his ANGER at being humiliated by the Democrats,” Trump posted on Truth Social, referring to the president’s appearance on the first night of the Democratic National Convention. “I was happy to have played a part in his demise in that it all began on the evening of June 27, 2024, THE DEBATE, which I think was heavily pushed and promoted by Comrade Kamala Harris.”

Trump claiming that Biden’s ousting after his abysmal performance in his first presidential debate against Trump was the “first ever COUP of the President of the United States,” which sounds a little like sour grapes given the failure of Trump’s own attempted coup on January 6.

“The good news is that I believe Joe Biden, the Worst President in the History of the United States, who served with the Worst Vice President in the History of the United States, is now seething,” Trump added. “I don’t know why he gave up, I don’t know why he quit. He got 14 Million Votes, she got NONE. He’s an angry man now, and he should be!”

But Biden didn’t appear angry as he delivered his address on Monday. Instead, he quipped that he started his 50-year tenure serving the country by being “too young to be in the Senate” and ending it “too old to stay as president.” In an emotional farewell, Biden shared that he had “made a lot of mistakes” in his career but “gave [his] best” to the country.

Rather, it’s Trump who has been an angry, seething man since Biden’s withdrawal from the race. For days after Biden’s announcement, Trump kept attacking him as though Biden were still his opponent. It’s only gotten worse for Trump since then, as Harris and running mate Tim Walz continue to get under his skin. In a news conference last week, Trump admitted as much, saying of Harris, “I’m very angry at her.”