Both national conventions are now over, leaving plagiarism and resignation scandals in their wake—and, of course, two candidates in the race for president. The Democratic Party and its A-list celebrity supporters reveled in the historic nomination of Hillary Clinton, while the GOP realized that resistance was futile and just gave the nomination to Donald Trump already (with some help from Scott Baio). And just as he offered some post-game analysis following the RNC, John Oliver looked back at the DNC only to find that it looked an awful lot like a GOP gathering at times.
The DNC was packed with powerful speeches from President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as Khizr Khan, a lawyer and the father of an American soldier who was killed in combat. Khan delivered perhaps the most poignant moment of the event, speaking on the loss of his son and wondering just what Trump has sacrificed for this country (other than reading time). But that moment of reflection occurred in the midst of patriotic outbursts that looked like they could have been taking place at the RNC the week before. For every Antonio Sabato, Jr., there was a Meryl Streep pumping up the crowd—in an American flag shirt, no less. And, in response to the RNC’s calls to make America great “again,” the Democrats basically declared this the United States Of Already Pretty Fucking Amazing.
Of course, the Republicans don’t have a monopoly on patriotism. Still, if the Democrats really want to out-GOP their opponents, they’ll have to piss off a lot more musicians.