DNC 2020: Michelle Obama gives powerful speech after Bernie Sanders calls on viewers to fight against 'bigotry' and back Biden

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The Democratic National Convention kicked off with some last-minute guests as the family of George Floyd led a moment of silence to mark the start of the first day, titled "We the People".

Michelle Obama headlined the evening's proceedings, ripping into the president's record saying "you simply cannot fake your way through this job" as she pleaded with Democrat voters not to stay at home or cast a protest vote in 2020. "Joe is not perfect, and he'd be the first to tell you that," Ms Obama says. "But there is no perfect candidate, no perfect president, and his ability to learn and grow, we find in that the kind of humility and maturity that so many of us yearn for now."

Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, said Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but Trump golfs while his actions fanned the coronavirus pandemic to kill more than 170,000 Americans in a nation unprepared to protect its people.

Mr Sanders made a direct appeal to his supporters to unify around Joe Biden, highlighting the candidate's progressive credentials on issues that only a few years ago would have been considered radical.

A running theme through the first night was on restoring the "Soul of America", as Democrats and Republicans alike devoted the majority of the virtual real estate to the current president.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser accused Donald Trump of 'plotting' with his bible photo at St John's Church as the daughter of a Covid-19 victim said her father's only pre-existing condition was a Trump presidency.

Republican leaders including former Ohio governor John Kasich, former New Jersey governor Christine Whitman, and former New York City congresswoman Susan Molinari lent their voices to their one-time rivals.

Democrat establishment figures like Andrew Cuomo, Jim Clyburn, and Amy Klobuchar all gave strong endorsements of their party's presidential nominee, even if some of their jokes and one-liners, aiming for inspirational resonance, seemed to linger without reaction in the virtual void of a Zoom meeting.

Mr Biden, meanwhile, appeared briefly during a round table on racism with Gwen Garner, mother of Eric Garner, Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, and other social justice activists.