Harris says fear and division caused by Trump ‘is not who we are’

Kamala Harris has told Americans that Donald Trump’s attempts to sow division and fear are “not who we are.”

She amplified her campaign’s closing argument by delivering it from the same spot where the Republican former president incited the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.

A week after Election Day, the vice president used the speech from the grassy Ellipse near the White House to promise Americans she would work to improve their lives while arguing that her Republican opponent was only in it for himself .

Trump “spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other: that’s who he is,” Ms. Harris said. “But America, I’m here tonight to say, that’s not who we are.”

She reminded voters of Trump’s role in the events of January 6 and his focus on his self-interest.

“Look, we know who Donald Trump is. “He is the person who stood in this place almost four years ago and sent an armed mob to the Capitol to overthrow the will of the people in a free and fair election,” she said.

She has not delivered a treatise on democracy — a staple of President Joe Biden’s own efforts to draw a contrast with Mr. Trump.

Instead, she wanted to make a broader case for why voters should reject Mr. Trump and consider what she has to offer, while introducing herself to voters still clamoring for more information and encouraging the crowd to visualize their diverse futures that are at stake on election day.

“He has an enemies list of people he intends to prosecute,” Ms. Harris said. “He says one of his highest priorities is to release the violent extremists who attacked law enforcement on January 6.

“Donald Trump plans to use the US military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls ‘the enemy from within’. This is not a presidential candidate thinking about how to improve your life.”

Her speech drew a huge crowd to Washington, and an overflow crowd filed under the Washington Monument on the National Mall. Her campaign hopes this setting will help capture the attention of battleground voters who still don’t know who to vote for — or vote at all.

Before Ms. Harris’ comments, her campaign organized a speaker list of everyday Americans, rather than the star power seen at some of her recent events or the parade of elected officials often scheduled at Washington events.

They included Amanda Zurawski, a woman who nearly died of sepsis after she was denied care under Texas’ strict abortion ban, and Craig Sicknick, the brother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died in the aftermath of the 6 attack January.

The speech came days after Ms. Harris traveled to Texas, a reliably Republican state, to appear with megastar Beyonce and highlight the impact on women after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. That, too, was a speech intended to resonate with voters far away in the battleground states.

The vice president’s final address has been in the works for weeks. But aides hoped her message would have more impact after Trump’s rally on Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where speakers hurled cruel and racist insults.

The Democratic candidate said the event “underscored the point I made throughout this campaign.”

“He is focused and basically fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our country,” she said.

She sought to craft a pragmatic and forward-looking plan for the country, including reminding voters of her economic proposals and a pledge to work for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy,” Ms. Harris said. “He wants to put them in jail. I give them a place at my table. And I promise to be a president for all Americans. To always put the country above the party and above oneself.’

Central to her message was also that she positioned herself as a “new generation” leader after Trump and even her current boss, Biden.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” she said. “We need to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms. It is time to turn the page on the drama, conflict and confusion.”

She acknowledged that “a lot of you are still getting to know who I am” following her surprise rise to the top of the Democratic list after Biden dropped out of the race in July, and used her comments to try to answer voters’ curiosity.

“I recognize that this has not been a typical campaign,” Ms. Harris said, adding that she is “not afraid of tough fights against bad actors and powerful interests.”

“I’ll be honest with you: I’m not perfect. I 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 compromises 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.”

Before the speech, Trump used comments to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to accuse Ms. Harris of closing with a message that fails to address the everyday problems and kitchen-table concerns of ordinary Americans.

He said Harris “keeps talking about Hitler and the Nazis because her record is terrible,” a reference to the vice president amplifying his former chief of staff’s warnings that Trump spoke admiringly of the Nazi leader during his time in office.