In a key moment of her campaign, US Vice President Kamala Harris criticised former President Donald Trump on Tuesday, speaking at the same Washington, DC, location where Trump once told supporters to “fight like hell” before they stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Addressing a large crowd at the Ellipse, Harris shared her vision for a “new generation of leadership,” just days before the elections on November 5.
“We know who Donald Trump is,” Harris said. “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, an election that he knew he lost,” as quoted by CBS News.
Setting herself apart from her Republican rival, she warned that Trump’s return would bring “more chaos, more division,” while favouring the wealthy elite at the expense of others. She declared herself a stabilising alternative. “America, we know what Donald Trump has in mind,” she said. “More chaos. More division… I offer a different path. And I ask for your vote.”
The vice president called Trump “unstable,” “obsessed with revenge,” and “out for unchecked power,” asserting that he would enter the White House “with an enemies list.” Harris, in contrast, promised to “walk in with a to-do list.”
“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other,” she said. “But America, I am here tonight to say: that’s not who we are.”
She urged the nation to “stop pointing fingers and start locking arms,” calling for unity over division. “It is time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and division.”
In Baltimore, President Joe Biden told reporters he would be watching Harris’ speech, adding, “because it’s for her, it’s her night.”
According to campaign officials, the crowd at the National Mall grew to over 75,000 as Harris ended her speech with a promise to pursue “common-sense solutions” and find “common ground.”
