Live Blog: DNC Day 4

By Mark Joyella 

And just like that, convention season winds to a close for another election year. One more major speech–that of Hillary Clinton, who will wrap the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia later tonight. Already we know balloons are in place, and the big speech–like Donald Trump‘s last week–will involve a daughter-delivered introduction. Last week, it was Ivanka Trump introducing her dad, tonight it’s Chelsea Clinton introducing her mom.

Already Trump has weighed in on last night’s big speech by President Obama, telling Fox News host Greta Van Susteren “I don’t think he said what’s going on with the country.” While ratings for the first three nights of the DNC have beaten those for the Republican National Convention, Trump said “we had a tremendously successful convention in Cleveland,” and added that his speech one week ago got “rave reviews.”

CNN reports the Trump campaign is hoping to deny Clinton a ratings win in night four:

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On Thursday morning, Trump’s campaign sent a fund-raising email urging supporters not to tune into Clinton’s acceptance speech on Thursday night.
“Unless you want to be lied to, belittled, and attacked for your beliefs, don’t watch Hillary’s DNC speech tonight,” the email read. “Instead, help Donald Trump hold her accountable, call out her lies and fight back against her nasty attacks.”

But then again, the DNC’s got Katy Perry performing. She shared a photo from her walk-through earlier in the day, which appears to be a close up of her feet on the blue-with-white-stars carpeting on the DNC’s main stage:

guess where I am

A photo posted by KATY PERRY (@katyperry) on

CofhCiBUEAAatpSSpeaking of entertainment, The Oregonian reports a video was played to delegates earlier today about a CARD STUNT that will happen at the end of the convention. Apparently there are cards under all the seats, but we won’t know what the STUNT will be until sometime–probably–after 11 p.m. ET. Any guesses what those cards will show?

8:40 p.m. ET: A Republican for Hillary Doug Elmets, a lifelong Republican who worked in the Reagan White House. Elmets told the DNC crowd “this year, I will vote for a Democrat for the first time,” and then borrowed one of the classic political put-downs of modern times, the “I knew John Kennedy” diss delivered by Lloyd Bentsen to Dan Quayle in 1988. “I knew Ronald Reagan. I worked for Ronald Reagan. Donald Trump, you are no Ronald Reagan.”

9:09 p.m. ET: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Or is it? “I’m Michael Jordan and I’m here with Hillary,” Abdul-Jabbar said, smiling, explaining to the crowd that he said that because “I know Donald Trump couldn’t tell the difference.” The NBA Hall of Famer dismissed Trump’s talk of a Muslim ban as “the very tyranny Jefferson abhorred.”

CofsN8rUsAAzoZZ9:32 p.m. ET: Gen. John Allen In an evening of speeches devoted to national security, Gen. John Allen’s speech was interrupted by chants of U-S-A. Earlier in the evening, Gen. Allen told Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly why he was endorsing Clinton. “She really gets the fact that America is the indispensable power, but that we don’t do it alone.”

9:50 p.m. ET: Trending One of the speeches that seems to be resonating online is the powerful one delivered by Khizr Khan, a Muslim father whose son, Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq. Mr. Khan personally addressed Donald Trump:

Hillary Clinton was right when she called my son “the best of America.”

If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have been in America.

Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, even his own party leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country.

Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words “liberty” and “equal protection of law.”

Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America — you will see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities.

You have sacrificed nothing and no one.

10:01 p.m. ET: The Hour We’ve All Been Waiting For CNN’s Wolf Blitzer says it’s time for Clinton’s speech, calling it “the hour we’ve all been waiting for.” As her daughter introduces her, Clinton watches backstage:

10:46 p.m. ET: Clinton Accepts the Nomination If you’re keeping score at home, this is the moment Clinton formally accepted the nomination and took a step into American history.

How did the speech sound? Some Republicans say the DNC may have hurt the GOP:

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