NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – The first night of the Democratic National Convention featured a slate of female leaders from New York who took turns ripping GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton were among the speakers Monday night at the United Center in Chicago—a lineup that also included President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and a surprise appearance by the party’s nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Hochul, 65, was the first of the three to rally the crowd, repeatedly slamming Trump for his legal troubles in the state, including his conviction this year in the Manhattan hush money case.
“Donald Trump was born a New Yorker but ended up a fraud, a philanderer and a felon,” the governor said. “He wasn’t raised with the New York values that I know. He never had to worry about childcare costs or groceries or rent. He never had to worry about anything or anyone but himself.”
“Trust me America if you think you’re tired of Donald Trump, talk to a New Yorker,” Hochul added. “We’ve had to deal with him for 78 long years.”
The governor went on to say: “Trump hasn’t spent much time in New York lately, except that is to get convicted of 34 felonies. And that’s just fine with us, because New York’s motto is ‘Excelsior’—ever upward—and Trump takes us ever downward.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, greeted the crowd a short time later to chants of “AOC, AOC!”
The 34-year-old congresswoman told the boisterous crowd that Trump “would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends.”
“And I’m tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people out from under the boots of greed trampling on our way of life,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The truth, Don, is you can’t love this country if you only fight for the wealthy and big business.”
AOC was followed by Clinton, who campaigned to be the first female president but suffered a surprise defeat to Trump in 2016. The former secretary of state and U.S. senator from New York praised Biden as a “true patriot” who “brought dignity, decency, and confidence back to the White House.”
“Donald Trump fell asleep at his own trial and when we woke up, he made his own kind of history—the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions,” she said.
Clinton, 76, then nodded and smiled as the crowd cheered, “Lock him up, lock him up!”
She also noted the similarities between Trump’s attacks on Harris and herself, vowing Harris would break the “highest, hardest glass ceiling.”
“It’s no surprise, is it, that he’s lying about Kamala’s record,” she said. “He’s mocking her name and her laugh—sounds familiar—but we have him on the run now.”
Tuesday night’s lineup at the convention will include former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama and Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Two men who were on the shortlist for Harris' running mate pick, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, are also scheduled to speak, among others.