In the shadow of Jan. 6, Harris concludes her case against Trump

The speech billed as Kamala Harris’s closing argument mirrored the almost concluded marketing campaign itself: her phrases have been principally about regular financial pledges, whereas the ambiance pulsed with irregular stakes.

She stood in the very spot the place Donald Trump urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to disrupt the certification of an election.

She started and ended with references to that democracy-rattling episode, as spectators gathered in the spotlit backdrop of the nation’s most storied monuments.

“It will probably be the most important vote you ever cast,” the Democratic presidential nominee started in her speech Tuesday to tens of hundreds on Washington’s Nationwide Mall.

“We are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators. The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised,” she stated, closing with references to American historical past.

The majority of her speech, nevertheless, was spent on the nuts-and-bolts guarantees of her marketing campaign. These are the points her workforce spends its advertising {dollars} selling, the ones believed to swing extra votes: new housing development, tax credit for households, and abortion entry.

As can be the norm on this marketing campaign, there have been protests.  For anybody asking why this election is so shut, one demonstrator carried a protest signal ascribing it to Harris’s unflinching help for Israel.

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But a quantity of individuals attending this rally, individuals already planning to vote for Harris, described the stakes as a lot greater than run-of-the-mill marketing campaign pledges.

A husband and spouse, vacationers from Chicago, received misty eyed as they mirrored on the day they’d simply skilled of their nation’s capital.

“This is a sacred time,” Dave Andersen stated, referring to the Nov. 5 election. 

“I’m optimistic that the very dark hour of Jan. 6 was a reminder that there’s good and evil. And we continually need to put our effort on the good side of human nature.”

WATCH | Kamala Harris delivers ‘closing argument’ forward of U.S. election: 

Kamala Harris warns against 2nd Donald Trump presidency

One week earlier than election day in the U.S., Vice-President Kamala Harris used what she referred to as her ‘closing argument’ speech to warn against a second Donald Trump presidency at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., the similar place the place Trump helped incite the Jan. 6 assaults. In the meantime, Trump described his controversial weekend rally as a ‘love fest.’

What Trump is speaking about doing

This, in any case, is an election the place dozens of Trump’s former officers have not endorsed him – beginning along with his earlier vice-president.

His former defence secretary, a high defence official, another defence secretary, and chief of staff, have all referred to as him a fascist, somebody with fascist leanings, or a menace to the United States. 

Trump needs to invoke the 226-year-old Alien Enemies Act to assist mass-deport undocumented migrants; revoke the broadcast licences of information networks he deems unfair; use the military for home causes; examine his opponents; pardon individuals who rioted on his behalf on Jan. 6; replace extra bureaucrats with political employees; punish suppliers of transgender remedy for minors; and gain power over setting rates of interest. He is expressed help for police violence. 

Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris attend a rally on the Nationwide Mall one week earlier than the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

He is already warning about this election being rigged; he is once more declared that he cannot lose legitimately, priming his supporters for a combat, if that occurs.

What made Andersen and his spouse so emotional was the arc to their day, which included visits to their nation’s monuments and ended with this rally.

He discovered himself considering of all the individuals who’d served the republic, from the founders, to the troopers, to the White Home cooks and employees he noticed throughout his tour there Tuesday.

Trump spoke on this location on Jan. 6, 2021, urging his supporters to go to the Capitol, hoping to cease certification of the final election. (Jim Borgi/Reuters)

Probably the most poignant second, he stated, got here at the Lincoln Memorial, etched with some of the most immortal traces in American oratory, the Gettysburg Deal with. That speech honouring Civil Warfare useless concludes with Lincoln’s want that authorities of the individuals, by, and for the individuals be their enduring legacy.

So the couple received misty eyed as the day ended, with them lingering close to the Washington Monument, after watching the Harris rally.

Mary Andersen referred to inscriptions on the Franklin Roosevelt monument throughout the Mall and puzzled if Trump supporters know their nation’s historical past: “Have they ever read those quotes? Does it matter to them?” 

Vacationers Dave and Mary Andersen had an emotional day visiting the Nationwide Mall, reflecting on their nation’s historical past. After which they noticed the marketing campaign occasion. (Alex Panetta/CBC Information)

Victor Dimbo spoke of his personal private expertise with democracy. The Maryland actual property agent referred to his native Nigeria’s historical past with strongmen and political violence.

“You don’t know about power,” he stated, referring to individuals who have solely recognized absolutely democratic nations. 

“Power where everybody’s scared. The ultimate power. Where you say something against your president — somebody will knock on your door at night and take you.”

Jeanne Blue, a geriatric-care supervisor, stated preserving U.S. democracy is extra necessary than anything. (Alex Panetta/CBC Information)

The No. 1 challenge: Elections themselves

He described his horror watching the TV in his dwelling workplace, the afternoon of Jan. 6, seeing individuals scale and smash their method into the Capitol to maintain Trump in workplace.

He referred to Trump as a masterful salesman – to get all these individuals to consider in a rigged election, and prepared to threat their freedom for him.

When requested about this election, he stated, as he walked in the lengthy line towards the Nationwide Mall: “I’m very worried. I’m praying.” 

When the matter of authoritarianism comes up, Trump throws it again at his opponents: He is the one who’s been shot, and blames it on his rivals’ rhetoric. And he is the one prosecuted in a number of prison circumstances, though he reportedly, and repeatedly tried doing the similar to his opponents when he was president.

There’s been a debate in Democratic circles for over a 12 months, about how a lot to make this election about free elections themselves.

Individuals confront each other throughout a pro-Palestinian protest held at Harris’s Oct. 29 rally. (Karen Pauls/CBC)

A serious donor group supporting Harris has warned against messaging that focuses on former officers calling Trump a fascist. 

It despatched an electronic mail saying that its personal analysis discovered it unpersuasive with voters. Different Democrats have agreed, urging a bread-and-butter attraction to voters’ pocketbooks.

However Jeanne Blue referred to as the greater query unavoidable. No single coverage, she stated, is extra necessary than having free and honest elections.

“Think about the location,” stated Blue, who works as a geriatric care supervisor throughout the river in Arlington, Va.

“The Trump presidency ended in this spot, on Jan. 6, with an attack on our democracy. An attack on all our people. Were he to ever resume that seat of power why wouldn’t we expect him to pick up exactly where he left off? That’s why I’m here.” 

U.S. Park Police patrol the Nationwide Mall on horseback as attendees begin arriving for the Harris occasion. (Alex Panetta/CBC Information)

Harris’s marketing campaign has tried to do two issues concurrently, as mirrored in Tuesday’s speech. It had the pledge of tax credit and a housing plan, enveloped in warnings of encroaching doom.

Whether or not her message will resonate stays unsure. It confronted stiff competitors for consideration, from different marketing campaign occasions.

From protesters, chanting. From Trump, deflecting a controversy involving a racist joke, about Puerto Rico, by a comic at his rally.

And at last, from Harris’s personal boss. President Joe Biden overshadowed her message in his personal inimitable method: he commented on the Puerto Rico uproar in such mangled syntax it remained open to interpretation whether or not he was referring to the racist joke, or to Trump voters, as “garbage.”

It was the 2024 U.S. election in a nutshell.