The Democratic National Convention seemed to blot out all other news this week. A handful of weeks ago it was inconceivable how united, energetic, and celebratory the DNC would turn out to be. It demonstrated a lot of good showmanship, fine oratory, and crisp logistics, but there was also something intellectually and politically significant going on: The Democrats were stealing many of the themes Republicans have owned for decades, like family, freedom, patriotism, and even masculinity.
What is significant is not just that they tried. Anybody can say, “No, we’re the patriotic party” just as Trump has occasionally claimed to represent democracy and even to be “great for women and their reproductive rights“. The significant thing is that across the board they made a good case. They redefined and reframed the themes in such a way that the Democratic claim to them now seems more authentic than the Republican claim. (Do you want to raise your sons in the masculinity of Donald Trump and Hulk Hogan, or the masculinity of Tim Walz and Mark Kelly?)
That’s what I’ll examine in the featured post “The Convention that Ate Republicans’ Lunch”, which should appear between 10 and 11.
The weekly summary should be short this week, and come out around noon.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
I look forward to your emails each week, as a summary of the week before, with clear analysis that helps me understand the issues. I was disappointed, however, that you said Democrats were “stealing” themes Republicans “have owned” for decades. I can see why Peggy Noonan might use the word stealing, which she did, but why would you concede to that lie? We’ve always claimed those themes also, but we were being honest and sincere. Maybe you had a reason or maybe it was an oversight, but I couldn’t resist mentioning that it bothered me.
Good point. At The American Prospect https://prospect.org Rick Perlstein has just published a column on the Democratic Party being true to itself now, rather than too polite to take its own side in an argument.