Vice President Kamala Harris packed a lot into her closing argument on Tuesday night, addressing a massive crowd at the Ellipse in Washington, from the same place near the White House where Donald Trump incited a mob of supporters on Jan. 6. 2021, to attack the Capitol to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president.
And Harris finished in time — just before the New Yorkl Yankees’ Luis Gil threw the first pitch to L.A. Dodgers lead-off batter Shohei Ohtani in game 4 of the World Series. Meanwhile, as the game was being played, Trump was holding a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
With early voting already underway in most of the states, Harris picked the Ellipse — preferring a symbolic spot and not a swing state stage — to dramatically appeal to the sliver of voters who will decide who the next president will be.
“Many of you watching have probably already cast your ballots. But I know many others are still considering who to vote for — or whether you’ll vote at all,” she said. “So tonight, I will speak to everyone about the choice and stakes in this election. Look, we all know who Donald Trump is. He is 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.”
Takeaways, a week before the election:
Trump focus is on his problems — not yours
Harris in the closing days of the campaign is using more direct language to remind people that the 2024 election is not normal. If elected again Trump would be a “petty tyrant.”
“This election is more than just a choice between two parties and two different candidates,” she said. “It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division.”
That Trump — with his constant stream of lies, grievances, racist and sexist attacks, embrace of debunked conspiracy theories and clear authoritarian intent — is running about even with Harris is a testament to his appeal.
That’s why Harris needed to argue again — can’t say it enough — that Trump is about himself — and not you.
She laid it out: Trump has an enemies list of people he wants to prosecute. He wants to “set free the violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers on January 6th.” Trump wants to use the military against people “who simply disagree with him. People he calls—quote—“the enemy from within.
“This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better. This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power.”
Harris did not mention Trump’s Puerto Rican voter crisis
The vice president made the calculation that she did not need to use this speech to address a swelling crisis for Trump, since so many others were doing it for her in other spaces.
At Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe said Puerto Rico was a “floating pile of garbage.”
Trump on Tuesday, talking to reporters at Mar-a-Largo, called the rally a “love fest.”
Meanwhile, the remark is mobilizing Puerto Rican voters — whose numbers are sizable in Pennsylvania, the most crucial swing state, with 19 electoral votes.
Though Harris didn’t bring it up — well, former President Barack Obama sure did, at a Monday rally in Philadelphia.
Said Obama: “The man holds this big rally at Madison Square Garden, and the warm-up speakers were trotting out and peddling the most racist, sexist, bigoted stereotypes. One guy called Puerto Rico, “an island of garbage.” — These are fellow citizens he’s talking about. Here in Philadelphia, they are your neighbors. They are your friends. They are your coworkers. Their kids go to school with your kids. These are Americans. They’re people. That is the reason why this election should not be close.”
But it is.
A thought exercise: We don’t have to agree on everything
The voters who are still agonizing between Harris and Trump are looking, perhaps for someone who meets all their specs. Harris and her allies — especially the Republicans who are stumping for her and Trump’s former top national security staffers — are making the point that Trump is too dangerous to ever again be in the Oval Office. And that should count in making a decision.
Said Harris, “Our democracy doesn’t require us to agree on everything. That’s not the American way. Just the opposite. We don’t shy away from robust debate. We like a good debate. And the fact that someone disagrees with us does not make them ‘the enemy from within.’”