Vice President Kamala Harris told 75,000 fans outside the White House that Donald Trump is a ‘petty tyrant’ obsessed with ‘revenge’ and ‘grievance’ in her ‘closing’ pitch of the 2024 campaign.
She spoke on the Ellipse, a section of the National Mall that features the White House as its backdrop with just seven days to go before the election.
Her impassioned plea with the race essentially tied in the polls was to reach undecided voters and those still on fence about casting a ballot on November 5.
‘This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power,’ she said of the ex-president.
Trump was the main focus of her remarks. She mentioned him 24 times. And she attacked Trump from the start, criticizing him for his response to the insurrection on January 6th.
Kamala Harris speaks on the Ellipse to make her closing argument
She spoke from the same spot he spoke on January 6th, 2021, when he encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol to overturn the election results.
The striking contrast in images is what Harris’ campaign was going for, saying they picked they location deliberately.
‘Donald Trump sat in the White House, watching as the violence unfolded on television,’ Harris said.
‘He was told by his staff that the mob wanted to kill his own vice president and Donald Trump responded with two words: so what?’
‘And that’s who is asking you to give him another four years in the Oval Office,’ she added.
The night was the grand, sweeping event her campaign wanted.
There were about 75,000 people cheering Harris on – with only a few interruptions from Gaza protesters – and all the cable networks carrying her remarks.
The only hiccup was something President Joe Biden said Tuesday on a Zoom call with Voto Latino that started getting oxygen around the same time.
Biden – reacting to a pro-Trump comedian calling Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage’ – said ‘the only garbage I see out there is his supporters.’
The president tried to play clean-up almost immediately as his dig went viral, being likened to Hillary Clinton’s ‘basket of deplorables.’
‘Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage – which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say,’ Biden posted to X Tuesday night.
Trump said it was ‘worse’ than what Clinton said eight years ago.
Her remarks, delivered from the same spot Donald Trump spoke from on January 6th, 2021, were carried by all the cable networks
Supporters could be seen stretching back outside the security perimeter across the National Mall, with the Jefferson Monument seen in the background
Throngs of Harris supporters were packed onto the Ellipse and waved American flags Tuesday night in Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, Harris tried tackling the area where she is most political vulnerable: border security.
Trump and Republicans have attacked her repeatedly on the migration issue.
In her remarks, she pledged to remove illegal migrants who came to the country unlawfully if she becomes president.
‘When I am president, we will quickly remove those who arrive here unlawfully, prosecute the cartels and give border patrol the support that they so desperately need,’ Harris said.
She repeated her pledge to pass a border security bill that was killed in Congress earlier this year after Trump encouraged Republicans to do so.
‘I will work with Democrats and Republicans to work on the border security bill for Donald Trump killed,’ she said.
She also noted: ‘At the same time, we must acknowledge we are a nation of immigrants. And I will work with congress to pass immigration reform, including an earned path to citizenship for hardworking immigrants like farmworkers.’
Her campaign said Tuesday night’s speech would be Harris’ ‘closing argument’ to voters.
Noting her background as a prosecutor, the campaign pointed out she has laid out the evidence and the facts and was not ready to make her final pitch.
The central argument of that pitch is that she is not Donald Trump.
‘I offer a different path. And I ask for your vote,’ Harris said.
‘I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress. I pledge to listen to experts, to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make. And two people who disagree with me – unlike Donald Trump – 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,’ she noted.
Donald Trump is seen addressing supporters on January 6, 2021
Doug Emhoff joined Kamala Harris on stage after her remarks
Harris called on the country to reject ‘the schemes of wannabe dictators’ and to ‘start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told’
Harris called on the country to reject ‘the schemes of wannabe dictators’ and to ‘start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.’
‘I pledge to be a president for all Americans,’ she vowed.
Her remarks were also some of her most personal.
‘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,’ she said.
‘Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list when elected, I will walk in with a to-do list to get done for the American people and I will work with everyone: Democrats, Republicans and independents to help Americans who are working hard and still struggling to get ahead,’ she said.
And she referenced her childhood as the daughter of immigrants, specifically referring to her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who migrated from India with the goal of curing breast cancer.
Her mother died of colon cancer in 2009.
‘I’ve lived the promise of America. I saw how hard our mother worked to give her daughters the same chances this country gave her. Growing up, I was blessed to have family by blood and family by love who instilled in me the values of community, compassion, and faith. They have always defined our nation at its best,’ Harris said.
Protesters were outside the event to protest the situation in Gaza
Supporter of Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris attend a rally on the National Mall one week before the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, in Washington, U.S., October 29, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Security was tight at the outdoor event.
Metal fencing surrounded the entire area south of the White House as long lines formed to go through the magnetometers.
Some supporters reported that the line stretched all the way to the Tidal Basin – a little more than half a mile away.
Thick bullet proof glass stood in front and to the sides of where Harris spoke.
Helicopters buzzed overhead as it got closer to the vice president’s arrival.
Security was seen on the roof of nearby buildings. Snipers were also on the look out.
But once attendees made it onto the Ellipse, they were greeted with a party-like atmosphere, where Pretty Tammi the DJ – dressed in Harris’ sorority colors – was blasting modern hits, including from singer and actress Jennifer Lopez.
‘Make some noise for Puerto Rico!’ she said from the raised platform, a shout-out clearly aimed at those hateful comments made by the pro-Trump comedian at Madison Square Garden Sunday night.
Now J. Lo will be appearing alongside Harris at her Thursday night rally in Las Vegas.
Harris supporters waved American flags as the crowd stretched outside the perimeter, across Constitution Ave and up on the grounds of the National Mall, surrounding the Washington Monument.
A demonstrator holds up a ‘Stop Arming Israel’ sign as Vice President Kamala Harris started her ‘closing argument’ speech at the Ellipse on the National Mall Tuesday night in Washington, D.C.
One man sported a Biden-Harris hat where he put blue tape over the president’s name to accurately reflect who’s now at the top of the Democratic ticket.
D.C.-type celebrities were on hand – MSNBC’s Simone Sanders, former Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman – who’s leading Harris’ GOP outreach in Virginia – and Matthew Friend, the comedian known for his dead-on impressions of American presidents, who performed earlier this year at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Outbursts from Pro-Palestinian protesters peppered her remarks.
One demonstrator held a hand-written ‘Stop Arming Israel’ sign.
Supporters asked for EMTs to remove a man who continued to yell ‘arms embargo now’ even as he was escorted out.
Just beyond the metal security gates, Palestinian flags could be seen – and a large Trump sign.
