Vice President Kamala Harris spent the bulk of her “closing argument” to voters Tuesday assailing former President Donald Trump, warning Trump is “unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power,” in her speech from the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., just a week before the election as polls show a virtual tie between the two.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks on The Ellipse just ... [+]
Harris said Trump “would walk into [the Oval] Office with an enemies list when elected” and she “will walk in with a to-do list,” recalling Trump’s reference to his political adversaries as “the enemy from within” and his promise to seek retribution against them.
She also recounted Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, telling the crowd—at the same site Trump spoke to his supporters before the riots—he “sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election,” while also referring to recent allegations in newly unsealed court documents in the federal election subversion case against Trump that he said “so what?” when he was told the vice president was in danger.
Harris said “it’s time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and division” and make way for “a new generation of leadership in America.”
“World leaders think that Donald Trump is an easy mark, easy to manipulate with flattery or favor,” Harris said, adding that “autocrats like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Chinese President] Kim Jong Un are rooting for him” to win the election.
“We know what Donald Trump has in mind—more chaos, more division and policies that help those at the very top and hurt everyone else,” she said. “I offer a different path, and I ask for your vote.”
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt blasted the speech, saying in a statement afterward that “Kamala Harris is lying, name-calling, and clinging to the past,” adding: “As for President Trump, his closing argument to the American people is simple: Kamala broke it; he will fix it.”
Harris also compared her economic plans to Trump’s, alleging Trump would give “another trillion dollars in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, and this time he will pay for it with a 20% national sales tax on everything you buy,” referring to economists’ predictions that Trump’s plans to raise tariffs on imported goods would lead to price increases for consumers. She repeated her promise to “deliver tax cuts to working people and the middle class,” ban what she calls price gouging on groceries, cap the price of insulin, expand the child tax credit and help with down payments for first-time homebuyers.
Harris delivered the speech as she and Trump are neck-and-neck in national polls and all seven battleground states just a week before Election Day. Trump has focused much of his closing message on immigration, telling his supporters during a press conference from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday: “I think what’s happening on the border is the single biggest issue.” Polls consistently show the economy and immigration are top issues for voters.
Trump Vs. Harris 2024 Polls: Harris Leads In 3 Latest Surveys—As Polls Tighten Week Before Election (Forbes)