At the Paris Olympics, the second gentleman moves toward first place

PARIS — A glass of sancerre shattered on the marble staircase, slicing through the remarks of the first second gentleman, who might soon be the first first gentleman. “And you’re cut off,” joked Doug Emhoff in the direction of the offender, as another guest shouted a more ceremonial “Mazel tov!” Then everyone was applauding, and this chic foyer in the 16th arrondissement began to feel like the scene of a marriage, or a bar mitzvah — a man taking his next step, a wedding of wealthy donors to a sudden presidential campaign. “Let me paraphrase the quintessential American in Paris: George Gershwin,” said Judith Pisar, co-host of this Thursday fundraiser — and mother of Secretary of State Antony Blinken — to her guests. And here she began to sing: “Thiiings are lookinggg up!” On cue, someone doodled a bar of Gershwin on the grand piano, and the guests cooed with delight. (Democrats abroad are feeling good, if you can’t tell.) “We are psyched about his relentless energies to help ensure that the American people do the right thing in November, when they will face their greatest fork in the road, perhaps ever,” said Leah Pisar, Judith’s daughter, whose work counters antisemitism and extremism. Emhoff,” Leah added, “you are the guy we need.” Doug: the guy they need! “The first Jewish person to ever be a White House principal,” as Emhoff says routinely, and this is an essential part of his own work — which means it’s now an essential part of a presidential campaign. When it was announced July 12 that Emhoff would be leading the U.S. delegation to the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics, Kamala Harris was still veeped in, cuffed by circumstance, toeing the line of loyalty. She’s barnstorming swing states to rock-star receptions, and he’s in Parisian anterooms hearing sweet nothings from dignitaries. Advertisement “I cannot tell you,” Emhoff said, not even 24 hours into his Paris trip, “how many leaders here have already whispered to me: ‘Thank you. You need to win.’” Skip to end of carousel The Style section Style is where The Washington Post covers happenings on the front lines of culture and what it all means, including the arts, media, social trends, politics and yes, fashion, all told with personality and deep reporting. For more Style stories, click here End of carousel Jill Biden opened the Paris Olympics for the United States, and Emhoff is closing them. The second gentleman’s feels like a leg of a relay, with a coaching staff that’s still coming on board after the starting pistol is fired. (Video: Julia Wall, Jessica Koscielniak/The Washington Post) In Paris, Doug is “Doo-GLAHS,” or “monsieur le second gentleman.” He is aw-shucksy, surprisingly soft-spoken, overwhelmed but electrified by the past three weeks. He cites “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to illustrate his SoCal adolescence, and there’s a whisper of Spicolian blasé even when his remarks are as bland as a legal brief. He looks like your dad’s golfing buddy, your county commissioner, your guidance counselor — not necessarily the man who would headline a fundraiser in a gated cul-de-sac off ritzy Avenue Foch. Advertisement A couple hours later, in a quarter-zip and “USA” cap, Emhoff watched Serbia give LeBron James and Stephen Curry a run for their money at Bercy Arena. (James plays for the L.A. Lakers, which is Emhoff’s team; Curry the Golden State Warriors, which is his wife’s team.) Then came the “Kanye is right about the Jews” banner hanging over the 405 in Los Angeles in 2022, and Donald Trump’s dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Ye (formerly Kanye West) and a noted white nationalist. Then came the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas in southern Israel, an event that Emhoff cites as the start of “the worst wave of Jew hatred” since World War II. “Jews — Jews just like me — they’re living in fear,” Emhoff said to a couple hundred people gathered on Rue des Rosiers, adding: “I love being Jewish. And I’m not going to let anyone tell me how to be Jewish, or what to do about being Jewish.” Advertisement Was this a stealth jab at conservatives and bad-faith critics at home? How does the first Jewish White House principal feel about being called “too Jewish,” or “not Jewish enough”? In May at the White House, while celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month, Emhoff said: “Consistent with Jewish values in compassion, kindness, and dignity and human life, my team also is providing critical humanitarian assistance to help innocent Palestinian civilians who are suffering greatly because of the war Hamas has unleashed. It’s heartbreaking.” A year earlier, before Oct. 7, Emhoff helped launched the first “U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.” At UNESCO here on Thursday, Emhoff touted “the first international framework for countering antisemitism,” a nonbinding guide endorsed by 35 nations as of July 23. It was Harris who gave her husband a platform, Emhoff says, and it is his wife who pushes him, even when it’s sad and stressful, to speak out against hate. It was Blinken who once told him to lean into his Jewish identity, and now Emhoff talks about his great-grandparents fleeing persecution in Europe some 120 years ago, about the plastic coverings on the furniture at his grandma’s apartment in Brooklyn, the electric menorah his mother once bought to cut corners, his velour bar mitzvah suit in the 1970s. Blinken had said to him: If that’s what being Jewish means to you, talk about it. Twenty-two people ushered him around the headquarters of UNESCO here, where the staged coffee-table literature included “the impact of artificial intelligence on understanding the Holocaust.” Emhoff is now at a level of officialdom where doors are shut right in front of him — so they can then be opened with a flourish. After the memorial service on Rue des Rosiers, Emhoff led a presidential-size entourage to lunch at L’As du Fallafel, where the front register is taped with photos of Israeli soldiers who were killed on Oct. 7. “Never take big bites of messy food in front of the press, I heard,” Emhoff said, showing off the sandwich. “All right, I’m going to eat it inside. In the span of a 10-year marriage, he may go from husband of California’s attorney general to husband of the 47th president of the United States. Advertisement It was a funny and intriguing 10 minutes, revealing the moment and position that he’s in, and his wife is in, and his marriage is in, and the country is in. At the memorial on Rue des Rosiers, and at UNESCO, the second gentleman spoke of ancient hates as a very modern problem: a “poison coursing through the veins of democracy.” Advertisement At the fundraiser in the 16th arrondissement, in Doug mode, he spoke of the medical “hellscape” unleashed by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the specter of Project 2025’s reactionary wish list, the “creepy weirdo stalker” vibe of JD Vance, that Trump is deteriorating into “the worst version of an already horrible human being” — and how all these forces have necessitated “this fight for our freedom, this fight against hate.” Emhoff was speaking 15 paces from a home office that included the personal effects of Judith Pisar’s husband, Samuel, one of the youngest survivors of Auschwitz. The possible first female president of the United States is in Wisconsin and Arizona, encouraging chants of, “We’re not going back!” And the possible first first gentleman is in Paris, essentially saying the same thing with different words: Never again. Advertisement At the fundraiser, Emhoff concluded his remarks on a lighter note, because he does seem to be having a good time — and having a good time seems to be a strategic part of his wife’s campaign. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/08/11/doug-emhoff-paris-olympics-closing-ceremonies/