Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her closing argument to voters from the Ellipse on Tuesday, standing in the very spot former President Donald Trump rallied a group of his supporters before they stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. With the White House as her backdrop, Harris reiterated her central argument that Trump is a threat to democracy.
Exactly one week before the polls close, over 75,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. to hear the vice president speak, according to the Harris campaign — about 22,000 more than the 53,000 supporters who gathered there for Trump's infamous Jan. 6 speech, according to the House Jan. 6 committee.
“Look, we know who Donald Trump is,” Harris told the crowd. “He is the person who stood at 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.”
She doubled down on casting Trump as a selfish tyrant who would take down anybody who gets in his way, calling the former president “unstable, obsessed with revenge and out for unchecked power.”
Harris argued that a second Trump term will only lead to more division.
“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other, that is who he is. But America, I am here tonight to say: that is not who we are,” Harris said as the crowd erupted in cheers.
Harris’ speech comes just days after Trump’s inflammatory rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, where he and his MAGA allies spewed hateful and racist remarks that has marked Trump rallies since he first entered the political sphere in 2015 and only grown in extremity this campaign cycle. The 78-year-old Republican nominee described his potential election as a "liberation day" from an "immigrant invasion," repeating once again his promise to enact a mass deportation of immigrants should he serve a second term.
The event appeared extreme even for MAGA. Right-wing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico an “island of garbage,” sparking outrage among Puerto Rican voters across the country and pushback among even fellow Republicans. Rudy Giuliani implied that Palestinian children are taught to kill people at the age of two. And businessman Grant Cardone described Harris as a sex worker, claiming her “pimp handlers will destroy our country.”
In her speech on Tuesday, Harris seized the opportunity to tell Americans for a final time that unlike her Republican counterpart, she stands for unity.
That unity seemed to be felt among the crowd, most of which donned American flags and “USA” signs, not the Harris-Walz campaign attire typical of past rallies. In many ways Tuesday night — the location, the messaging and the patriotic energy of the crowd — was an attempt to reclaim the place where American democracy was severely threatened three years ago.
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Va., who served as an investigators for the House Jan. 6 committee, told Raw Story that Harris’ closing event was a “master stroke.” Riggleman left the Republican Party after Jan. 6 and endorsed Harris in this election.
“The Madison Square Garden rally gave her the opportunity to provide a positive vision for America, where he tried to destroy America,” Riggleman said. “Madison Square Garden was the biggest October surprise self-own in political history.”
He added that the GOP is running on “nativism and bad behavior” and that Harris’ choice to speak from the Ellipse and focus on Democracy was one that will appeal to center-right voters.
“The most important thing for the United States of America is our democratic institutions. Especially for former Republicans, independents, people that are center-right or center-left — this is still, I think, the main focus of this election. It's not to have a repeat of Jan. 6,” Riggleman said.
Throughout the speech, Harris also shared her policy stances on reproductive rights, healthcare and the economy. She promised to work peacefully with GOP members and others who disagree with her stances to build a better future for Americans, contrasting her cooperation with Trump who has repeatedly promised to retaliate against his political enemies.
“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at my table,” Harris said.
With just a week to go until Nov. 5, polls show Harris and Trump are still neck and neck nationwide and in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin and North Carolina.
