Democratic National Convention day 4 live: Kamala Harris accepts nomination, blasts Donald Trump, Pink gets standing ovation

Kamala Harris has attacked Donald Trump, saying she will defend the US and take any action, and not 'cosy up to tyrants' from places like North Korea and Iran because America was not going back to another Trump presidency.

Americans “must be worthy of this moment”, Kamala Harris declared in a patriotic address to claim the Democratic presidential nomination, saying it was time to “write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told”.

But the Vice President mixed her call for unity with a withering attack on Donald Trump, declaring her opponent in November’s US election was “an unserious man” who “wants to be an autocrat”.

In the biggest speech of her life, a month after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, she said her candidacy was “unexpected” but that she was “no stranger to unlikely journeys”.

Ms Harris used the final night of the Democratic convention in Chicago to sell herself to voters as a tough prosecutor from a middle class family who was always “for the people”.

“For my entire career, I’ve only had one client: the people,” she said.

“On behalf of the people … on behalf of everyone whose story could only be written in the greatest nation on earth, I accept your nomination for president of the United States of America.”

The 59-year-old Californian spoke for about 35 minutes, far shorter than Mr Trump’s address at last month’s Republican convention, but the Democratic event ended on a hollow note for some attendees after a rumoured appearance by pop star Beyonce did not eventuate.

Musicians P!nk and The Chicks, basketball legend Steph Curry and actors Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington instead brought the star power.

Ms Harris did not unveil any new policy commitments, instead reiterating her pledges to expand the child tax credit for families, restore abortion rights, and legislate immigration reforms which Mr Trump torpedoed earlier this year.

Having largely avoided foreign affairs during the campaign, she trod a careful line on the war in Gaza which sparked mass protests outside the convention.

The Vice President demanded a ceasefire that freed Hamas’s hostages, as she backed Israel’s right to defend itself while also condemning the “heartbreaking” suffering in Gaza, saying it was time for the Palestinian people to realise their “right to self-determination”.

She also used her speech to warn voters against electing Mr Trump “with no guardrails”, hammering him over his “explicit intent” to free the January 6 rioters, jail his opponents, and deploy the US military against American citizens.

The former president hit back on Fox News, asking: “Why didn’t she do the things that she’s complaining about?”

“She’s got four and a half or five months left … she’s not having success, I’m having success,” he said, after posting on social media during Ms Harris’s speech that she turned the US into a “failing nation” and would lead the country into World War III.

Ms Harris described the election as one of the most important in US history and a “precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past”.

“America, let us show each other and the world who we are and what we stand for: freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities,” she said.

On her tenth wedding anniversary, some of the Vice President’s best lines came from her late mother, who would say to “never let anyone tell you who you are; you show them who you are” and to “never complain about injustice, but do something about it”.

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Originally published as Democratic National Convention day 4 live: Kamala Harris accepts nomination, blasts Donald Trump, Pink gets standing ovation

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