One week before what could be the most indecisive and tense election in the history of the United States, the Democratic vice-president delivered what she herself called her “final indictment” on Tuesday October 29 to the evening. All in front of the illuminated columns of the White House, at the very place where Donald Trump addressed his supporters before the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In front of 75,000 people and surrounded by particularly heavy security, Kamala Harris reiterated the message of unity that has been a growing theme of the home stretch of her campaign. While the programs of the two candidates have largely taken a back seat during this campaign, Kamala Harris tried in this speech to link “the dangers that Trump poses, according to her, to democracy […] “to people’s daily anxieties – including the economy, health care and immigration – recognizing that many voters might not be moved by theoretical warnings about authoritarianism,” explains THE Washington Post.
Trump, the “fascist” responsible for the assault on the Capitol
From a stage flanked by two very large panels bearing the word “Freedom”, and decorated with a row of American flags, the Democratic candidate immediately placed herself in opposition to a Donald Trump who is “unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed by through resentment and in search of limitless power. She vowed to govern in a peaceful climate and in a pragmatic manner, promising to work to “reach a compromise to move things forward”, sparking clamor from the crowd. “I am committed to listening to the experts, those who will be affected by the decisions I make – and the people who disagree with me,” Kamala Harris said. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in prison. I will give them a place at my table,” the vice-president vowed.
“This is the person who stood in this place 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 – a election he knew he lost,” she reminded the crowd. While Donald Trump was recently described by his former chief of staff John Kelly, supported by thirteen former members of his staff, as “certainly authoritarian”, Kamala Harris took up the rhetoric by calling him “fascist”. “Donald Trump intends to use the US military against American citizens who simply disagree with him – people he calls ‘the enemy within,'” he said. -she continued. It is time, insisted the candidate, “to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and the division, it is time for a new generation of leadership in America. And I am ready to offer this leadership”, she said. -she promised.
Cost of living and “dignity of work”
Basically, many Democrats called on him to put forward a clear economic argument, directly addressing his proposals to relieve the wallets of the middle class, in order to win the votes of voters who are not yet won over to his cause. Kamala Harris therefore assured that in the event of victory, she would pursue a “different” policy, focusing on the “cost of living”, with aid in terms of housing and access to health, in particular. She also promised to restore federal protection of the right to abortion, dynamited in 2022 by the Supreme Court, which had become very conservative after the appointments of judges by Donald Trump.
“I always had the instinct to protect,” she said, citing her record as a prosecutor. She promised to ban price gouging in food, cap the costs of insulin and prescription drugs, and help first-time home buyers with down payments. “I will deliver tax cuts to workers and the middle class… I will lead by honoring the dignity of work,” she promised in a solemn tone.
In tone, Kamala Harris tried during this contrasting speech to paint an optimistic and peaceful vision of the world’s leading power, “big enough to contain all our dreams, strong enough to resist fractures and divisions, intrepid enough to imagine a future full of promise. When Donald Trump projects a dark vision of a country in decline, according to him invaded by migrants, the vice-president launched: “Let’s fight for this beautiful country, and in seven days, we will have power. Each of us between you has the power to turn the page and write the next chapter of the most extraordinary story ever told.”