Kamala Harris preaches unity, slams Trump in Washington speech

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to be a unifying candidate for all Americans in a speech near the National Mall on Tuesday, offering a final argument against former President Donald Trump.
Harris, speaking with the White House’s South Lawn as her backdrop and the Washington Monument in front of her, delivered her remarks at the same place Trump riled up his supporters on January 6, 2021, moments before the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Harris, called Trump a “wannabe dictator” and a “petty tyrant.”
“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other.That’s who he is,” she said. “But America, I am here tonight to say: that’s not who we are.”
In an apparent effort to target undecided voters, including independents and disaffected Republicans, Harris focused much of her message on her commitment to work across partisan lines and to be a president for “all Americans.”
“Our democracy doesn’t require us to agree on everything,” she said. “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.’”
“It is time to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms,” she said at another point.
Harris’ address, which served as an epilogue to her similarly themed acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, attempted to combine two of the major themes of Harris’ short campaign: a hopeful, joyful message about the future of the country, and a somber, urgent message about the danger of a second Trump term.
Early in Harris’ campaign, she employed the former message almost exclusively. In rallies and speeches, she pitched herself as a candidate for the future, offering a new generation of leadership. Early on, she largely avoided invoking the central theme of President Joe Biden’s campaign: that Trump was a danger to democracy.
In recent weeks, though, Harris has returned to the message. As some of Trump’s former allies step forward and question Trump’s fitness for office, Harris has amplified their statements, calling Trump a “fascist” and a “danger to the well-being and security of the United States of America.”
Even as she’s reintroduced Biden’s main message, her campaign has been careful to keep Biden on the sidelines. Harris’ advisers fear Biden appearing on the campaign trail alongside Harris would “only hurt her” in the election’s final days, the New York Times reported Monday.
In recent days, Biden’s extemporaneous comments have provided easy ammunition for Trump’s allies: last week, he suggested Trump should be locked up, before clarifying he was only speaking “politically”; on Tuesday evening, while Harris’ rally in Washington was ongoing, video surfaced of Biden calling Trump’s supporters “garbage,” in response to a comedian at Trump’s rally in New York City Sunday who said Puerto Rico was a “floating pile of garbage.”
Biden later claimed that his comment — “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters” — was in reference to Trump supporters’ “hateful rhetoric,” not supporters themselves.
It did not take long for Trump’s campaign to latch onto the gaffe. “There’s no way to spin it: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don’t just hate President Trump, they despise the tens of millions of Americans who support him,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Harris carefully distanced herself from Biden. “My presidency will be different (than Biden’s) because the challenges we face are different,” she said. Four years ago, she said, the top priority was getting the pandemic in check; now, it’s lowering everyday costs. She touched on her plans to bolster the middle class, including ending price gouging on groceries, subsidizing affordable housing and expanding the child tax credit.
But she quickly pivoted back to her unity message. “I will always listen to vote for you, even if you don’t vote for me,” she promised.
To some in the audience, it was a clear effort to win over Republican voters — the ones she’s tried to reach in recent weeks, alongside former Rep. Liz Cheney. “It was definitely targeted toward, I think, those Republicans who are hesitant to vote for Trump,” said Saulius Puskorios, 57, who traveled to the rally from northern Virginia.
Marcella VanRenselaar agreed. “I wish that I had the rest of my family here, so that they could have heard her, and could have heard the excitement in the audience,” she said. She began to get emotional. “I can’t see myself living in a world where Donald Trump is the president. I just can’t.”
That was a key message Harris tried to convey Tuesday — that Americans would be safer and more prosperous under Harris than Trump. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said. “He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table.”
When the applause subsided, she offered another promise. “I pledge to be a president for all Americans,” she said. “To always put country above party and above self.”
Next Tuesday, Harris will find out if enough voters believe her.