He is a ‘petty tyrant’, your honour. Kamala Harris makes her closing argument

Washington: One week before she hopes to make history as the first woman to occupy the Oval Office, Vice President Kamala Harris framed the US election as a referendum on Donald Trump and a chance to turn the page on years of chaos, anger and distrust.

In a “closing argument” delivered at the same place where Trump gave his own fiery address before the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Harris offered voters a sharp contrast to her Republican rival and vision for how she would govern as president.

He’s a divider; she’s a uniter. He wants to jail his opponents; she wants to offer a seat at the table. He has an enemies list; she has a to-do list.

Vice President Kamala Harris promised a new generation of leadership at her speech on The Ellipse in front of the White House.Credit: Bloomberg

“This election is more than just a choice between two parties and two different candidates,” she said from behind bulletproof glass.

“It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division.”

It was no coincidence that Harris chose The Ellipse, a 21-hectare park south of the White House, where tens of thousands of people gathered to hear her speak.

“I will always listen to you,” Kamala Harris said in her speech.Credit: AP

It was here, almost four years ago, that Trump told his supporters to “fight like hell” to stop President Joe Biden’s election victory from being certified on a day that will forever be remembered as one of the darkest moments for American democracy.

This election is the first to take place since the Capitol riots and the first since Trump’s judges on the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right of women to have abortions.

The consequences of both events continue to be felt across the country, with more than 20 states now restricting abortion and the nation bitterly divided on partisan lines, with millions of Americans refusing to accept that the 2020 election was legitimate.

As Harris argued: “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Supporters arrive before Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris speaks at The Ellipse.Credit: AP

But this just wasn’t an anti-Trump speech, nor could it be. Since she was elevated to the top of the Democratic ticket, the challenge Harris has consistently faced is that many voters still don’t really know who she is – even progressive Democrats.

“They’re telling us they haven’t heard enough from Harris about her plans to address the affordability crisis, curb corporate power and reduce healthcare costs,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, a progressive group billing itself as the biggest in the US.

“Many are disillusioned by her embrace of figures like Dick and Liz Cheney, and a troubling number are considering voting third party or abstaining altogether,” Geervarghese said referring to the former Republican vice president and his daughter. Both have endorsed Harris.

Harris also sought to use her speech to outline parts of her policy agenda – the first-ever ban on price-gouging on groceries, expanding child tax credits to parents of newborns, restoring federal abortion protections and implementing the bipartisan border deal that Trump killed.

All will probably require Congressional approval and therefore depend on who wins the House of Representatives and Senate in next week’s election.

Kamala Harris (right) is sworn in as district attorney of California in 2004 as her late mother Dr Shyamala Gopalan holds a copy of the US Bill of Rights. In her speech, she spoke of the values her family instilled in her.Credit: AP

She also gave a glimpse of what motivates her – “There’s something about people being treated unfairly or overlooked that, frankly, just gets to me” – and how her values were shaped by her Indian mother and Jamaican father – “I grew up as a child of the civil rights movement”; “I lived the promise of America”.

She differentiated herself from Biden– who was notably watching from the White House, not there in person – by saying that while it was an honour to serve as his deputy, “my presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different”.

“Our top priority as a nation four years ago was to end the pandemic and rescue the economy,” she said. “Now, our biggest challenge is to lower costs – costs that were rising even before the pandemic and that are still too high. I get it.”

Whether enough voters believe her is the big question. As the campaign hits its final week, polls show the race remains neck and neck, and neither Trump nor Harris have a clear advantage in the seven battleground states that will decide the election.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump dances at a campaign rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania.Credit: AP

Trump was in the most consequential battleground of all while Harris spoke – the critical swing state of Pennsylvania – attempting to clean up the ongoing backlash of his Madison Square Garden Rally.

Earlier, he defended the event as “an absolute love fest” without directly addressing the racist joke made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe about Puerto Rico being “a floating island of garbage”.

In pre-empting Harris’ remarks, he accused her of waging a “campaign of hate”, warning voters that the country could be destroyed if she won the presidency.

“Her message has been a message of hate and division, and my message has been about saving our economy and securing our border,” he said.

With one week until election day – and about 50 million Americans having already voted – there aren’t many undecided voters left to reach. But Harris is banking on the fact that despite being in this race for less than 100 days, she has built a broad enough coalition to win them over.

“We all know who Donald Trump is,” she said, reminding voters how “he stood in 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 that he knew he lost.”

“But that is not who we are.”

Get a US election wrap-up every Tuesday plus a Thursday note from our foreign correspondents on what’s making news around the world. Sign up for our What in the world newsletter.