Seen and heard around the 2020 DNC.
Things seen & heard around DNC so far
Even with the Democratic National Convention going mostly virtual, Milwaukee is still getting national attention this week. Find more updates at jsonline.com/DNC2020.
Eric Trump visits Milwaukee police union
President Donald Trump’s son, Eric, visited Milwaukee’s police union’s offices Tuesday and said Democrats should have talked on the first night of the DNC about the injuries to police officers during recent unrest over police brutality and racial discrimination.
“We are on the right side of this issue,” he said to an audience of about 20 or 30 at the Milwaukee Police Association’s offices.
Trump said his father has been “the one person who stood up for” law enforcement and urged those in attendance not to pay attention to most of the media.
Eric Trump’s visit followed a rally President Donald Trump held in Oshkosh that was attended by hundreds on Monday and precedes a stop Vice President Mike Pence will make in Darien on Wednesday.
— Molly Beck, Allison Garfield and Alison Dirr
Et tu, DNC logo?
When the logo for the 2020 Democratic National Convention was unveiled early this year, Wisconsin was at the heart of it — its silhouette formed the center of the zero in “D20.”
But Wisconsin was recently replaced by a silhouette of the United States of America on the 2020 Democratic National Convention website and elsewhere.
Local officials noticed and were “taken aback” at the change, said one source, who asked to remain anonymous.
“There’s nothing Milwaukee about the convention at all,” the source said. “We got hosed.”
— Mary Spicuzza
Wisconsin Democrats enthusiastic
“Last night was so exhilarating,” said Felesia Martin, first vice chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and a Milwaukee County Board supervisor.
The personal stories, she said, “captivated my imagination but captured my heart, entered my spirit.”
But many also said that focusing on November’s general election is key.
“As much fun as it is to go to these conventions and to experience it, we know that the real prize is what happens Nov. 3,” said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who highlighted local efforts to increase voter turnout.
— Alison Dirr
Colbert gives virtual tour of Milwaukee
A segment of Monday’s “Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert” featured a satirical virtual tour of Milwaukee.
The video showed people using virtual reality to visit Milwaukee from home, spoofing local breweries and tailgating at Miller Park, where a cartoon fan burned a brat.
The tour also took people to abandoned factories (Louis Bass Inc. in Walkers Point) and abandoned malls (Northridge) and “the most segregated neighborhoods in America.” Ouch.
It also made fun of the Bronze Fonz statue downtown for being a relic of a show from 40 years ago. OK, so Milwaukee isn’t perfect, but leave the Fonz out of it, Colbert.
Colbert noted that a virtual DNC continues the Democratic presidential nominee’s tradition of not visiting Wisconsin.
— Jordyn Noennig
If a protest happens outside a virtual convention ...
Though their voices were heard by only a few aside from a handful of journalists and folks bicycling to work or walking their dogs Monday evening, protesters traveled to Milwaukee for the Democratic National Convention’s first day.
One of the louder groups was seven people wearing bright yellow vests calling themselves #BernieOrVest. They are supporting Bernie Sanders delegates who say they may not vote in favor of the Democratic platform if it doesn’t include “Medicare for All,” said protester Eric Kestner from Seattle.
“In 2016, we feel the election was rigged and we’re getting ready again because if they did it once, they’ll do it again,” said Kestner.
The group supports Black Lives Matter, a Green New Deal, a $15 minimum wage and efforts to defund the police. They stood outside a chain-link fence, which encircles the Wisconsin Center where some segments of the DNC are being held, and shouted through a bullhorn to a mostly empty street. They wore masks.
Farther down Phillips Avenue, at the intersection of West Wisconsin Avenue, three people with Extinction Rebellion sat on the ground holding small inflatable globes. The environmental protest group started in Britain in 2018.
Nearby stood one man holding an American flag with a poncho over his body painted with the words “I’m here for Fernando Franco Delgado,” a Mexican student killed in Ecuador in 2008 by Colombian troops.
Just over an hour before the convention was set to begin, a small group of about a dozen protesters marched through downtown toward the Wisconsin Center chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho. Corporate Joe has got to go.”
They were trailed — and outnumbered — by what appeared to be legal observers with the American Civil Liberties Union. The legal observers act as witnesses to political demonstrations to document the events, including any incidents of police misconduct or violations of protesters’ rights.
— Meg Jones, Mary Spicuzza and Jordyn Noennig
It’s quiet downtown
The DNC began on a beautiful, clear summer day in Milwaukee, but only a handful of media members wandered the city, capturing photos of the RiverWalk or joking about the empty city.
“Am here in Milwaukee. Went to the arena where I was told DNC being held. Walked right through perimeter. No security. Banged on doors. Yelled. No one answered,” tweeted Danielle Kurtzleben (@titonka), who’s covering the DNC for NPR.
An hour before the DNC kicked off, downtown looked like ... a regular Monday night, a far cry from the masses of crowds eagerly anticipated by bars and restaurants.
Major Goolsby’s on Kilbourn Avenue had a chalkboard sign outside with a plea: “Welcome DNC! Media! Protesters! If you’re here, we love you!”
DNC attendees — what’s left of them — were asked to sign a pledge promising not to visit any Milwaukee bars, unfortunately.
— Sarah Hauer
New York Times, other national media portray Milwaukee as a ‘ghost town’
“For a community that has long suffered from an inferiority complex, winning the convention over cities like Miami and Houston had served to lift Milwaukee’s civic self-esteem. But now it is not hard to find local Democrats depressed about the lost chance to showcase their city for a national audience, and the vanished revenue that would have come from an influx of some 50,000 visitors.”
— From “It’s Convention Time: 2Minute Speeches, No Pomp, a Forlorn Milwaukee,” published on NYTimes.com Aug. 16.