6 lessons from Kamala Harris' closing speech

WASHINGTON – Kamala Harris made her latest case against Donald Trump’s return to the White House, calling her Republican rival “consumed by resentment” as she focused on the needs of Americans, in a speech billed as a “closing argument” on Tuesday evening before next week’s elections.

Harris sought to draw a contrast with Trump to appeal to a pocket of remaining undecided voters who could influence the election in seven tightly contested battleground states. An estimated 75,000 people attended the event at the Ellipse on the National Mall, according to the campaign, making it the largest event of her bid for the White House.

“America, we know what Donald Trump has in mind: more chaos, more division and policies that help those at the top and hurt everyone else,” Harris said in a 30-minute speech as Trump also held a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. . “I offer a different path.”

Yet Harris’ pitch was almost immediately overshadowed by President Joe Biden, who undermined one of the key themes of her speech — a call for unity and civility — by appearing to call Trump’s supporters “trash” at a separate campaign event.

Here are six takeaways from the address:

“We know who Donald Trump is,” Harris said

Harris portrayed Trump, the Republican candidateas a vengeful “petty tyrant” only out for himself and “unchecked power,” arguing that he would bring an “enemies list” to the White House, while she would bring a “to-do list” of priorities.

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

The Ellipse was chosen as the setting for Harris’ speech, not just to reminisce about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — in which Trump supporters tried to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory. But with the White House as a backdrop, the location was intended to remind Americans of the “seriousness of the job,” the Democratic presidential campaign said.

Harris said one of Trump’s “highest priorities is ridding the violent extremists” who led the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol., a reference to her opponent’s campaign promise to ‘absolutely’ pardon convicted criminals ‘if they are innocent’. And she criticized Trump’s phrase “the enemy within” to describe his political opponents.

“This is not a presidential candidate thinking about how to make your life better,” Harris said. “Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is, but America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are.”

Pitch for unity and ‘locking arms’

Harris appealed for unity, arguing that Trump humiliates and threatens his opponents, she would work with them.

“I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy,” Harris said. “He wants to put them in jail. I will give them a seat at the table.”

The overture seemed aimed squarely at Republican voters who are not fans of Trump but are still unsure about voting for a Democrat. On the campaign trail, Harris has emphasized her support from former Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and more 230 former White House officials of previous Republican administrations.

“We need to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms,” Harris said. “It’s time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and the division. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America.”

Harris made a promise to her skeptics.

“I’ll be honest with you. I’m not perfect. I make mistakes,” Harris said. ‘But this is 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 hard to hear.”

Biden is undermining the message by provoking a reaction from the Republican party

However, the unity message of Harris’ speech was tarnished by comments that same evening from Biden, who did not attend the speech and has spent much of Harris’ campaign on the sidelines.

“The only trash I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden appeared to say of Trump during a campaign call focusing on Latino voters. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and un-American.”

Biden responded to a highly criticized insult by comedian Tony Hinchcliffewho called Puerto Rico a “floating pile of trash” during a Trump rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Republicans seized on Biden’s comments. “Just now, Joe Biden declared that our supporters are trash,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said at the Trump campaign rally in Allentown, Pa., as he stood next to Trump. “We are not trash. We are patriots who love America.”

Biden later issued a statement in an attempt to clarify that he was referring to the comedian, a Trump supporter, as trash.

“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as nonsense — and that’s the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden said. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I wanted to say. The comments at that meeting do not reflect who we are as a nation.”

Message aimed at a small group of undecided voters

Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, in a statement on Harris’ speech, accused the vice president of “lying, name-calling and clinging to the past” to cover up the failures of the Biden-Harris administration.

Before the speech, the Harris campaign said it was the closing argument aimed at two different target groups of undecided votersa total of about 3% to 5% of the electorate, which could make for a razor-thin election.

One camp is “convincing voters to participate,” a Harris official told USA TODAY. This includes young voters, voters of color and others who are inclined to vote for Harris but still need to be motivated. The group includes so-called “low-information voters” who do not closely follow the daily news of the campaign.

The second group consists of more committed traditional voters: independent and Republican voters from suburban areas who may have supported Nikki Haley in the Republican primary against Trump but are not yet on board with Harris.

“These are exactly the people we’ve been talking to all along,” Harris campaign chairman Jen O’Malley Dillon told reporters. “And there’s no doubt that we think we have an opportunity to move away from Trump’s past support.”

Last minute introduction

Harris commented on the unusual circumstances of the election. She became the Democratic candidate after Biden dropped out of the race exactly one hundred days ago.

She has created a snapshot campaign to introduce herself to voters. But with Election Day just days away, some still say they don’t know enough about her.

“I recognize that this has not been a typical campaign,” Harris said, prompting some laughter from the crowd. “I know many of you are still getting to know who I am.”

Harris said she is someone who has spent most of her career outside of Washington “so I know not all good ideas come from here.” She touted her record as a prosecutor who has “fought tough battles against bad actors and powerful interests.”

“It’s what my mother instilled in me: a drive to hold accountable those who use their wealth or power to take advantage of other people, a drive to protect hardworking Americans who are not always seen or heard and who need a voice deserve.”

Harris on Biden: ‘My presidency will be different’

Harris used her speech to answer one of the most recurring questions of her campaign: how her presidency would be different from the four years Biden was in office.

“I will bring my own experiences and ideas to the Oval Office. My presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different,” Harris said.

Harris said that when Biden and her entered office in January 2021, the top priority as a nation was tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and reviving the economy. “Now our biggest challenge is reducing costs – costs that were already rising before the pandemic. And they are still too high. I understand,” she said.

Harris faced the challenge of charting her own course while remaining loyal to the president she serves — whose approval rating has remained low for much of his presidency.

Harris ended her speech on a patriotic note, reminding Americans of those who fought in Normandy and for civil rights and equality for women.

“They didn’t just struggle, sacrifice and give their lives to see us achieve our basic freedoms. They didn’t do that just to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant,” she said, referring to Trump.

“These United States of America are no room for the schemes of wannabe dictators. The United States of America is the greatest idea ever conceived by humanity,” Harris said.

Reach Joey Garrison at X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.