Among the "Hotties for Harris" — Live from the DNC in Chicago

“Hotties for Harris” party, Chicago — August 20, 2024

One thing that I’ve found genuinely shocking about the Democratic National Convention here in Chicago is the absolutely shambolic logistics. People talk about waiting on buses for literally four hours to get from one convention site to another, and then giving up. There appears to be one mass security checkpoint that everyone must self-organize their own lines to enter through, leading to people just hanging around aimlessly outside the perimeter with no clue what to do. I’ve heard from credentialed would-be attendees just giving up and leaving.

In contrast, it never took us more than about three minutes to get through the security checkpoints at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee, so feel free to draw your own conclusions about the comparative logistical prowess of the two parties.

A lobbyist from Arizona for the Fantasy Sports industry told me she couldn’t get in despite having a “penthouse pass” that I’m sure her organization spent an enormous boatload for. I was chatting with a local Illinois State Representative, Cyril Nichols (D), who was marveling with me about how terribly the convention was organized. I spotted New York Times reporter Theodore Schleifer try and fail to cut the line so he might have a chance of gaining admittance, only to realize that no special allowances had been made for our media betters.

Here’s a long and amusing tour myself and my camerawoman Meagan recorded of the scene — it aired as a kind of comedy show last night on “System Update,” Glenn Greenwald’s show. Additional amusing segments included our bizarre encounter with Rick Wilson of “The Lincoln Project,” the scam organization that seems to just blatantly swindle funds from paranoid Democrats so it can spend millions of dollars on so-called “overhead,” and a relative pittance on its “Never Trump” ads. Before I could even get to my actual questions about the blatant scamming of the organization, Rick and his possibly inebriated handler, Whitney, had a funny meltdown.

I was also eagle-eyed enough to catch former Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) skillfully cutting the line with a “stop and chat” maneuver that would’ve made Larry David extremely proud.

And here are some more traditional interviews with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Rep. Al Green (D-TX), with more to come. Also don’t miss my exclusive tour of the “Hotties for Harris” party, which I was deemed “hot” enough to attend. It’s one of the great honors of my life.

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