Harris makes remaining pitch: Concern and division ‘not who we’re’

By Zeke Miller | Related Press

WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris instructed People on Tuesday that Donald Trump’s efforts to sow division and concern are “not who we’re” as she bolstered her marketing campaign’s closing argument by delivering it from the identical website the place the Republican former president fomented the Capitol rebel in 2021.

One week out from Election Day, the vice chairman used the deal with from the grassy Ellipse close to the White Home to pledge to People that she would work to enhance their lives whereas arguing that her Republican opponent is simply in it for himself.

Trump “has spent a decade attempting to maintain the American folks divided and afraid of one another: That’s who he’s,” Harris stated. “However America, I’m right here tonight to say: That’s not who we’re.”

Delivering her capstone speech from the place the place Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, spewed falsehoods concerning the 2020 presidential election that impressed a crowd to march to the Capitol and take a look at unsuccessfully to halt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, Harris reminded voters of Trump’s function almost 4 years in the past and his deal with his personal self-interest.

“Look, we all know who Donald Trump is. He’s the one that stood at this very spot almost 4 years in the past and despatched an armed mob to the USA Capitol to overturn the desire of the folks in a free and truthful election,” she stated.

However Harris didn’t ship a treatise on democracy — a staple of President Joe Biden’s personal makes an attempt to attract a distinction with Trump. As an alternative she aimed to make a broader case for why voters ought to reject Trump and take into account what she gives, whereas introducing herself to voters nonetheless clamoring for extra data and inspiring the gang to visualise their divergent futures hanging within the steadiness on Election Day.

“He has an enemies record of individuals he intends to prosecute,” Harris stated. “He says one in every of his highest priorities is to let loose the violent extremists who assaulted these legislation enforcement officers on Jan. 6. Donald Trump intends to make use of the USA navy towards Americans who merely disagree with him. Individuals he calls ‘the enemy from inside.’ This isn’t a candidate for president who is considering easy methods to make your life higher.”

Her speech drew an enormous crowd to Washington, with an overflow crowd spilling beneath the Washington Monument on the Nationwide Mall. Extra critically, her marketing campaign hopes the setting will assist be a focus for battleground state voters who stay on the fence about whom to vote for — or whether or not to vote in any respect.

Forward of Harris’ remarks, her marketing campaign organized a audio system record of odd People, slightly than the star energy that has been featured at a few of her latest occasions, or the parade of elected officers usually in this system at Washington occasions. They included Amanda Zurawski, a girl who almost died from sepsis after being denied care beneath Texas’ strict abortion ban, and Craig Sicknick, the brother of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died within the wake of the Jan. 6 assault.

Ruth Chiari, 78, of Charlottesville, Virginia, was attending the rally along with her husband to “help democracy.”

“I feel all people understands what’s on the poll,” she stated as she waited in line close to the Treasury constructing to enter the occasion. “We’re both going to have an autocrat or freedom.”

Kathleen Nicholas, 36, a authorities relations employee in Washington, remembered Jan. 6 and liked the distinction of the gang and ambiance to that day. “I like she selected this place for her closing,” she stated. “Having one thing that may be a direct distinction to that day is what we would have liked.”

With time operating out and the race tight, Harris and Trump have each sought huge moments to attempt to shift momentum their method.

The deal with got here days after Harris traveled to Texas, a reliably Republican state, to seem with megastar Beyoncé and emphasize the results for girls after the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade. That, too, was a speech meant to register with voters far-off within the battleground states.

The vice chairman’s newest deal with has been within the works for weeks. However aides hoped her message would land with extra affect after Trump’s rally Sunday at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York, the place audio system hurled merciless and racist insults. Harris stated the occasion “highlighted the purpose that I’ve been making all through this marketing campaign.”

“He’s targeted and really fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our nation,” she stated.

Harris sought to put out a realistic and forward-looking plan for the nation, together with reminding voters about her financial proposals and pledging to work for entry to reproductive care, together with abortion.

“Not like Donald Trump, I don’t consider individuals who disagree with me are the enemy,” Harris stated. “He needs to place them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at my desk. And I pledge to be a president for all People. To at all times put nation above occasion and above self.”

Additionally central to her message: positioning herself as a “new technology” of chief after Trump and even her present boss, Biden.

“It doesn’t need to be this fashion,” Harris stated. “We now have to cease pointing fingers and begin locking arms. It’s time to flip the web page on the drama and the battle and confusion.”

She acknowledged that “lots of you might be nonetheless attending to know who I’m” after her shock elevation to the highest of the Democratic ticket after Biden dropped out of the race in July, and used her remarks to attempt to reply voters’ curiosity.

“I acknowledge this has not been a typical marketing campaign,” Harris stated, including that she is “not afraid of powerful fights towards dangerous actors and highly effective pursuits.”

“I’ll be sincere with you: I’m not good,” she stated. “I make errors. However right here’s what I promise you: I’ll at all times take heed to you, even should you don’t vote for me. I’ll at all times inform you the reality, even when it’s arduous to listen to. I’ll work each day to construct consensus and attain compromise to get issues executed. And should you give me the prospect to battle in your behalf, there may be nothing on the planet that may stand in my method.”

Forward of Harris’ speech, Trump used remarks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida on Tuesday morning to accuse Harris of closing with a message that doesn’t deal with on a regular basis People’ day-to-day struggles and kitchen-table issues.

He stated Harris retains “speaking about Hitler, and Nazis, as a result of her report’s horrible,” a reference to Harris amplifying the warnings from his former chief of employees that Trump spoke admiringly of the Nazi chief whereas in workplace.