On October 29, exactly one week before the November 5 Presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, in a short 30 minute speech billed as her “closing argument” before next weeks election, delivered a very strong, forceful and convincing case against Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Harris made a sharp contrast with Trump and appealed directly to the few remaining undecided voters who could sway the election across the 7 tightly contested battleground states.
The Ellipse was chosen as the setting for Harris’ speech to emphasize what Trump did on January 6, 2021 as he inflamed and incited his supporters to attack Congress to try and stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election win. With the White House as the backdrop, the location was meant to remind Americans of the “gravity of the job” and what occurred on January 6, 2021. An estimated 75,000 people, if not more, attended the event at the Ellipse on the National Mall making it the largest event of her White House bid. It dwarfed the October 27 Madison Square Garden event held by Trump where 19,500 people attended.
Harris said Trump is “consumed with grievance” while casting herself as focused on Americans’ needs. Harris said this:
“America, we know what Donald Trump has in mind: more chaos, more division, and policies that help those in the very top and hurt everyone else. …I offer a different path.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The link to review the full transcribed speech is in the postscript below.
FIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM ADDRESS
Following are the 5 major takeaways from the Harris speech:
“WE KNOW WHO DONALD TRUMP IS”
Harris portrayed Trump as a vengeful “petty tyrant” who is only out for himself and “unchecked power,” arguing he would bring an “enemies list” to the White House while she would bring a “to-do list” of priorities. Harris said this:
“Look, we 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!”
Harris said one of Trump’s “highest priorities is to set free the violent extremists” who led the January 6 attack on the Capitol, a reference to her opponent’s campaign pledge to “absolutely” pardon the convicted felons “if they’re innocent.” Harris railed on Trump’s phrase “the enemy within” to describe his political opponents and said this:.
“This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better. … 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 framed herself as a unifier, arguing that while Trump demeans and threatens his adversaries, she would work with them. Harris said this:
“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.”
The overture was ostensibly aimed squarely at Republican voters who oppose Trump but are still on the fence about voting for a Democrat. On the campaign trail, Harris has highlighted her support from former Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and more than 230 former White House officials from past Republican administrations. Harris said this:
“We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms. 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.”
Harris made a promise to her skeptics and said this:
“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.”
MESSAGE AIMED AT SMALL SLIVER 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 hide the failures of the Biden-Harris administration. This coming from a spokeswoman speaking for a man who does nothing but lie, engages in name calling and who does nothing but cling to the past.
Ahead of the speech, the Harris campaign said the closing argument was aimed at two different audiences of undecided voters, totaling about 3% to 5% of the electorate, who could swing a razor-close election.
One camp is the “persuade to participate” voters. 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 don’t closely follow the daily news of the campaign.
The second group consists of more engaged traditional swing voters the independent and Republican voters from suburban areas who may have supported Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primaries against Trump but aren’t on board yet with Harris.
Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told reporters this:
“These are very much the people we’ve been talking to all along,. … And there’s no doubt that we think we have opportunity to peel away support from Trump from the past.”
LAST-MINUTE INTRODUCTION
Harris remarked on the unusual circumstances of the election. She became the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the race a very short 100 days ago.
She’s put together a snapshot campaign to try to introduce herself to voters, yet with Election Day just days away, some still say they don’t enough about her. Harris said this:
“I recognize this has not been a typical campaign. … I know that 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 that not all the good ideas come from here.”
She touted her record as a prosecutor who has taken on “tough fights 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 hard-working Americans who aren’t always seen or heard and deserve a voice.”
“MY PRESIDENCY WILL BE DIFFERENT”
Harris used her address to try to answer one of the most recurring questions of her campaign: how her presidency would be different than Biden’s four years in office. Harris said this:
“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 that when Biden and her entered the office in January 2021, the top priority as a nation was to address the COVID-19 pandemic and revive the economy. She said:
“Now our biggest challenge is to lower costs − costs that were rising even before the pandemic. And they are still too high. I get it”.
Harris has faced a challenge to try to chart her own course while still serving loyal to the president she serves whose approval rating has remained low for much of his presidency.
Harris ended her speech with a patriotic tone, reminding Americans of those who fought in Normandy and for civil rights and equality for women and slammed Trump in the process and said this:
“They did not struggle, sacrifice and lay down their lives only to see us seed our fundamental freedoms. They didn’t do that only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant. … These United States of America, we are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators. The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised.”
Links to relied upon and quoted news sources are here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/us/politics/harris-speech-ellipse-trump.html
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4960797-vice-president-harris-speaks-at-ellipse/
https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-crowd-size-washingtion-dc-rally-1976987
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
There is no doubt that the Harris speech, along with her debate performance against Trump, will be remembered as her finest hours during a very difficult election. She looked and sounded like a President.
Her closing argument speech was in sharp contrast to Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City a day earlier and it underscored her argument against him. Speakers at Trump’s event made offensive, crude and racist remarks about minorities and Harris. Trump called his event a “love fest” when it was nothing more than a “hate fest” and a display of American Fascism.
POSTSCRIPT
FULL TRANSCRIPT: Kamala Harris’s ‘Closing Argument’ Speech at DC National Mall