Andrew Stiles and Thaleigha Rampersad write for the Washington Free Beacon about Kamala Harris’ closing arguments in the presidential campaign.
Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her campaign’s closing argument Tuesday during a primetime address on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., within sight of the building she hopes to occupy in 2025. Despite reports suggesting the speech would be “optimistic and forward-looking,” Harris was primarily focused on attacking her opponent, Donald Trump, whom she denounced as a “petty tyrant” who was “unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power.”
Voting for her, Harris implied, was the only reasonable and patriotic choice. “This election is more than just a choice between two parties and two different candidates,” she said. “It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division.” Harris, who has served as vice president for nearly four years, repeated her vow to “turn the page and start writing the next chapter” while reminding voters of the “armed mob” that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Roughly 75,000 Harris supporters attended the event, according to the campaign, though some election observers questioned why she was speaking in the nation’s capital—one of the most Democratic areas in the country—rather than a closely contested swing state such as Michigan or Pennsylvania. It was also the only event on Harris’s schedule for the day, raising questions about the vice president’s stamina.
Harris attempted to portray herself as a unifying candidate who would “seek common ground and common sense solutions.” She promised to “build consensus and reach compromise to get things done,” even if it meant listening to “people who disagree with me.” At the same time, she warned of the dire consequences Americans would invite upon themselves by electing Trump to a second term.
