With one week remaining until the 2024 election, Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday urged Americans to “turn the page” from “petty tyrant” Donald Trump, calling the ex-president “unstable,” “obsessed with revenge,” and not at all focused on their needs as she stood within sight of the White House to make her campaign’s “closing argument” against the ex-president.
Standing on a stage at the Ellipse, where Trump exhorted a riotous mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol nearly four years ago, Harris noted what Trump had done in the very place where she was standing and reminded the crowd of roughly 75,000 supporters that Trump was “the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago, and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election — an election that he knew he lost.”
“Americans died as a result of that attack. One hundred and forty law enforcement officers were injured because of that attack, and while Donald Trump sat in the White House watching as the violence unfolded on television, he was told by his staff that the mob wanted to kill his own vice president, and Donald Trump responded with two words: ‘So what?’”
“That’s who Donald Trump is and that’s who is asking you to give him another four years in the Oval Office,” she said.
Harris also told the crowd and the millions watching at home that Trump is “consumed with grievance” and “out for unchecked power”, and claim that he would use to punish his perceived enemies and reward friends if returned to the Oval Office for a second four-year term.
“He has an Enemies List of people he intends to prosecute. He says one of his highest priorities is to set free the violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers on January 6th,” Harris said.
She also reminded supporters that Trump “intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him,” and has called people who don’t support him “the enemy within.”
“This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better,” she added.
According to Harris campaign officials, the vice president’s speech was meant to lay out her “closing argument” in this election and she called on Americans to “turn the page” on nearly a decade of rancorous and divisive zero-sum politics that began when Trump announced his first campaign for the presidency in June 2015.
Harris said Trump has “never understood” the concept of a democracy in which people aren’t “required to agree on everything.”
“It’s not the American way to not have disagreements. We don’t shy away from robust debate … And the fact that someone disagrees with us does not make them the enemy within. They are family, neighbors, classmates, coworkers, they are fellow Americans, and as Americans, we rise and fall together,” she said.
“America, for too long, we have been consumed with too much division, chaos and mutual distrust, and it can be easy then to forget a simple truth — it doesn’t have to be this way,” she continued, adding that “it is time to stop pointing fingers” and instead time to “start locking arms” instead.
“It is time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and division. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America, and I am ready to offer that leadership as the next President of the United States of America,” Harris said.
Earlier in the day, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told reporters on a call that Harris would deliver “an optimistic and hopeful message” that is “really grounded in her belief in America” and targeted towards voters who still haven’t decided who to cast their ballot for this year.
“We know a lot of these undecided voters. They’re exhausted. They’re certainly frustrated by the state of the partisanship and divided political system that really was defined under Donald Trump, his chaos, his lack of focus on real solutions about the things that the American people are concerned about, and that’s why we know tonight is really important,” she said.
To that end, Harris also used the prime time address to the nation to explain who she is to undecided voters, describing herself as “someone who has spent most of my career outside of Washington, DC.”
“I know that not all the good ideas come from here. I am not afraid of tough fights against bad actors and powerful interests, because for decades, as a prosecutor and a top law enforcement officer of our biggest state, I won fights against big banks that ripped off homeowners, against for profit, colleges that scammed veterans and students against predators who abused women and children and cartels that trafficked in guns, drugs and human beings,” Harris said.
Referencing her middle-class upbringing, the vice president said her mother had instilled in her “a drive to hold accountable those who use their wealth or power to take advantage of other people” and “he drive to protect hard working Americans who aren’t always seen or heard and deserve a voice.”
“That’s the kind of president I will be,” she said, adding later that she is “not perfect” and would probably “make mistakes.”
But here’s what I promise you, I will always listen to you even if you don’t vote for me, I will always tell you the truth, even if it is difficult to hear. I will work every day to build consensus and reach compromise to get things done, and if you give me the chance to fight on your behalf, there is nothing in the world that will stand in my way,” Harris added.
Turning to her economic plans, she reiterated pledges to impose federal bans on price gauging and lower costs, contrasting her approach with the “national sales tax” that would be instituted if Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office and imposes an across-the-board 20 per cent import tariff on all imported goods.
“Donald Trump’s answer to you is the same as it was the last time, another trillion dollars in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, and this time, he will pay for it with a 20 per cent national sales tax on everything you buy that is imported,” she said.
“Think about it — clothes, food, toys, cell phones, a Trump sales tax that would cost the average family nearly $4,000 more a year. And on top of that, you will pay even more if Donald Trump finally gets his way and repeals the Affordable Care Act, which would throw millions of Americans off their health insurance and take us back to when insurance companies have the power to deny people with pre existing conditions. Well, we are not going back,” Harris added.
She also promised to strengthen Social Security and Medicare — programs that Trump has said he would cut if elected — and strengthen the Affordable Care Act while continuing policies that have led to reductions in prescription drug prices, and she pledged that she would sign legislation to restore national abortion rights that were taken away by “Donald Trump and his hand selected Supreme Court” more than two years ago.
“One in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban, many with no exceptions, even for rape and incest. The idea that a woman who survives a crime of a violation to her body should not have the authority to make a decision about what happens to her body next that is immoral, that is immoral, and Trump’s not done,” she said, adding that the ex-president “would ban abortion nationwide, restrict access to birth control and put IVF treatments at risk and force states to monitor women’s pregnancies” if he is returned to power.
The Ellipse, the historic location for the rally within sight of the White House’s South Lawn, was not chosen for its value in terms of electoral college votes. Washington, DC has never been a battleground and only has three electoral votes, which have always gone to Democrats.
But Harris campaign officials chose the location of the Ellipse because the White House backdrop will symbolize what a president can do for good when it comes to getting things done for Americans and uniting the country.
O’Malley Dillon, who managed President Joe Biden’s victorious 2020 campaign against Trump, said the Ellipse is significant for two reasons.
Not only does the White House visual “a reminder of the gravity of the job, how much a president can do for good and for bad, to shape the country and impact people’s lives” but the location will be a “stark visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump, and how he’s used his power for bad, really focusing on himself and spreading division and chaos and inciting a mob to try to maintain his own power and put himself over the country.”
Harris and her aides hope the visual of Harris, talking about her positive vision for the country and common-sense plans in the same place where Trump urged on a riotous mob, will remind voters of why they are exhausted and frustrated by the state of politics in the age of Trump. They also hope it will help Harris harness the enthusiasm of voters who want to move forward and enter a new era of politics that is unburdened by the rancor of the Trump years.
As she closed her remarks, Harris returned to the theme of contrasting herself with Trump, telling the crowd of supporters: “We know what Donald Trump has in mind — more chaos, more division and policies that help those at the very top and hurt everyone else.”
“I offer a different path. I ask for your vote,” she said as offered a “pledge” to skeptical voters that she would “seek common ground and common sense solutions to make your life better.”
“I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress. I pledge to listen to experts, to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make, and to people who disagree with me. Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table,” she said.
“I pledge to you to approach my work with the joy and optimism that comes from making a difference in people’s lives, and I pledge to be a president for all Americans, and to always put country above party and self.”
