At the DNC, Harris and Democrats reclaim the American flag

Efforts to portray the Democratic Party as unpatriotic date back to the 1960s and continue into the current era of the MAGA movement. Peter Loge, director of the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs who served in the Obama administration, told Business Insider that liberals have been reluctant to fly the flag in recent years.

“Part of it is that Donald Trump and many Republicans have tried to make patriotism a Republican issue,” he said. “If you fly the flag, you are not only America first, but America only.”

But this year, things changed, with organizers making it easy to see their love for their country. While Trump allies handed out signs calling for “mass deportation now,” Democrats held up signs that simply read “USA.” Patriotic chants echoed through the United Center, where some delegates wore cowboy hats.

Many of the week’s speakers were from military backgrounds or had a military focus as their main topic. Loge said the focus on veterans and defense not only builds patriotic sentiment, but also counters Republican attacks.

“Democrats are often seen as weaker on defense in the military, and Trump is going to demonstrate that. Women are often seen as weaker on defense and the military, which is unfair, but it’s a stereotype that we carry,” he said. “Putting law enforcement and the military first is saying, ‘Look, Democrats are really strong on the military and defense.’”

Peter Kauffman, a Democratic strategist who worked for Hillary Clinton and a Navy veteran, told Business Insider that the focus on defense has been growing for years.

“There’s a new generation of Democrats and progressives who have served in the military who are no longer willing to sit back and let Republicans try to appropriate patriotism,” he said.

Vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, who spent 24 years in the National Guard, spoke about his service and his relationship with guns. He bragged about being a better shot than most Republicans in Congress, some of whom questioned how he represented his time in the National Guard.

Another veteran, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, took aim at Trump’s famous campaign slogan, which the former president borrowed from President Ronald Reagan, to argue that Democrats actually have a better appreciation for the arc of the nation’s history.

“The inequality of the American journey has made some skeptics,” Moore, a rising star in the party, said in his speech. “But I’m not asking you to abandon your skepticism, I just want that skepticism to be your companion, not your captor. And I’m asking you to join us in this work, because making America great doesn’t mean telling people you’re not wanted. And loving your country doesn’t mean lying about its history.”

When Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego took the stage, he introduced himself as a “husband, a congressman and the proudest Arizonan you will ever meet. But I am even prouder to be a Marine.” Near the end of his speech, Gallego, who is running in a key U.S. Senate race, invited other veterans to come on stage to rousing applause.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, himself an Army veteran, has said he gave the order to kill Osama bin Laden in 2011.

“(Harris) will maintain the American military as the strongest in the world, the strongest ever,” he said.

Harris herself has strongly committed to a national defense policy that has sounded downright hawkish, promising to ensure that the country remains “the strongest, deadliest fighting force in the world.” And while her candidacy is historic, Harris has never directly mentioned her potential status as the first female president. Instead, she has stressed that her life story “can only be written in the greatest nation on Earth.”

“We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world,” Harris added at the end of her speech.

The patriotic message has obvious political advantages. Harris and her fellow Democrats are trying to gradually build a permission structure that will allow more centrist voters and perhaps even some Republicans to support her candidacy.

“Democrats are saying to moderates or Republicans, ‘I understand you’re not a hard-line Democrat, you don’t like a lot of policies, but in this case, in this context, it’s OK to vote for Harris,'” Loge said.

Several former Republican lawmakers got much-appreciated speaking time at the DNC. They made it clear that they didn’t agree with Harris on every issue, but that the stakes in the election went beyond party unity.

“I want to be clear to my Republican friends watching at home: If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you are not a Democrat, you are a patriot,” former George W. Bush lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan said during his speech at the convention.

Over the past decade, Loge said Democrats have been “timid” or “embarrassed” to embrace classic American patriotism, but Harris and Walz are trying to rethink the association with the flag. Not only are they giving moderates permission to vote for them, they’re also giving staunch liberals permission to proudly declare their love for their country.

This shift, Kauffman and Loge agree, is both strategic and genuine.

“Democrats serve, too,” Kauffman told Business Insider. “We love our country and we have no reason to turn away from it.”

“It’s easy for professors like me, journalists like you, and pundits to say that it’s all about strategy and tactics,” Loge said. “It’s easy to forget that politics is all about people’s beliefs.”