Kamala Harris warns of ‘petty tyrant’ in speech at site where Trump delivered infamous rally cry on January 6 – The Irish Times

Back at the Ellipse on a busy Tuesday night in America. Let’s return to the open greenery south of the White House and the memories of the shocking chaos and insurrection of almost four years ago. Kamala Harris sought to regain the territory where Donald Trump delivered his proverbial rallying cry on the icy afternoon of January 6, 2021.

In terms of symbolic places, she could not have made a more deliberate choice to offer what was billed as her final message of this extraordinary event. election campaign. Something about this evening seemed significant: the wheel of democratic tradition seemed to reach its limit, to make a full turn.

Harris’ campaign brought the country back to the green patch in Washington, which is remembered as the source of that day when the foundations of the republic itself seemed to be shaking. They handed out confectionery and water, played everything from ABBA to Salt ‘n’ Pepa, and filled the Ellipse with the sounds of people laughing and having fun.

If Kamala Harris is elected president next Tuesday night, that night will become an indelible part of her history, whenever it is recorded in the scrolls.

The campaign was lucky: It was a heaven-sent evening in Washington, mild and completely dry, and by 7 p.m. the sky had turned pink as a staggeringly large crowd tried to navigate the closed avenues around the Ellipse in hopes of catching the president’s speech. themselves.

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The waiting line was overwhelming, with many thousands forced to listen and watch from behind security fencing as some 75,000 people were on and around the National Mall. It was World Series night in America as the Yankees tried to avoid being swept by the Dodgers in Game 4. But the show of support for Harris was intense and heartfelt, and the crowd was delighted when she appeared just after half past seven. And from the outset, she acknowledged the importance of the venue as she tried to make the case against Donald Trump while calling for national harmony in a speech that all broadcast networks broadcast live.

“America, we know what Donald Trump means,” she warned.

“More chaos. Another division. And policies that help those at the top and hurt everyone else. I propose a different path and ask for your vote. This is the man who stood in this very spot almost four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free election that he knew he would lose. Americans died as a result of this attack. As a result of the attack, 140 law enforcement officers were injured. And as Donald Trump sat in the White House and watched the violence unfold on television, his staff told him that the mob wanted to kill his own vice president. And Donald Trump responded with two words: “So what?” America, that’s what Donald Trump is.”

It was a bold, aggressive line of attack after a seismic forty-eight hours of campaigning. Donald Trump’s fulfillment of his long-held dream of a triumphant homecoming at Madison Square Garden on Sunday turned into a furious controversy Monday over an ugly joke by a comedian who compared Puerto Rico to a “floating island of garbage.” The old cliché that American elections invariably contain an “October surprise” seemed redundant in a season when the summer months had already presented unimaginable shocks and surprises. But now a little-known comedian has managed to offend the homeland of some 500,000 voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania and republicans Spent most of Monday and Tuesday explaining and distancing. But the potential damage will only show up on the ballot.

Harris wisely avoided addressing the issue here, mixing her damning profile of Trump with a call for amnesty across all political shades and persuasions.

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“Donald Trump intends to use the US military against American citizens who simply do not agree with him. The people he calls, I quote, “enemies from within.” This is an unstable man, obsessed with revenge, gripped by resentment and striving for uncontrollable power. Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep America divided and fearful of each other. But America, I’m here tonight to say: that’s not who we are. Then you can easily forget a simple truth. It shouldn’t be this way. It’s time to turn the page on trauma and conflict. In less than 90 days, either Donald Trump or I will be in the Oval Office. On his first day of election, Donald Trump will come with a list of enemies. I’ll come with a to-do list. And I will work with everyone—Democrats, Republicans and Independents—to help Americans who work hard.”

As a promise of future bipartisan cohesion, it was a world away from some of the dark, crude rhetoric shouted by guest speakers like Tucker Carlson and Dana White at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, along with other grifters and hangers-on whose presence or words are of no use in furthering Trump’s cause. The mood in the Ellipse on Tuesday night could not have been softer or friendlier, and optimism on the ground has not left the Harris campaign, despite the feeling that that momentum has stalled in recent weeks.

And when she gave her standard campaign speech, consisting of promises to keep and go a few more miles, laying out her plans for tax breaks, housing, Medicare, the many thousands of those who stood on the battlefield might well have let their minds wonder , what it’s like to be Kamala Harris these days. By eight o’clock it was dark, and the event organizers provided glow bracelets with miniature American flags on them, so that the whole scene looked magical and childlike as she spoke.

Harris can never hope to join the ranks of Reagan, Clinton, Obama or Kennedy in oratory power or charisma. But on the other hand, she had only ninety days left to participate, and there was no training, and she was also subject to different standards, unprecedented sentences. No other Democratic The candidate had undergone a surprising transformation, from being a stigmatized vice president in Joe Biden’s weak campaign in those unforgettable weeks to becoming a symbol of the Democrats’ deep renaissance joy. And now she is the first woman since Hillary Clinton to run for the White House. And also as a black woman civil rights activist, taking a stand in the most turbulent election in living memory. Harris is being judged on these criteria, as well as the fact that she is running against a candidate who has destroyed all the old rules of politeness and etiquette that were previously required of White House candidates.

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So, who could watch and listen to Harris without wondering about the incredible burden and pressure this woman is experiencing these days and weeks? And I also wonder what will happen if she doesn’t have enough of these few precious votes?

And as Harris spoke, we could hear sirens blaring in downtown Washington. Outside the perimeter, there was a large and noisy pro-Palestinian protest, a loud reminder that the killing of innocent people in the Gaza Strip could yet cost the Democratic campaign dearly. She shortened her speech to half an hour—the ideal length. And in conclusion, she stepped away from the daily grind, the usual worries of grocery bills and mortgages, to offer a starry view of the Republic on a pleasant night. The sound of her voice would have reached the Lincoln Memorial, the White House lawn. So she swung towards the fences.

“Nearly 250 years ago, America was born when it freed itself from a petty tyrant. Through the generations that have preserved this freedom, expanded it and thereby proven to the world that government of the people, for the people, is strong and can endure. And those who came before us – the patriots in Normandy and Selma, Seneca Falls and Stonewall, on the farmland and on the factory floor – they did not fight and sacrifice and give their lives only to see us surrender ours. fundamental freedoms. Only to see us submit to the will of yet another petty tyrant. People of the United States of America, we are not a vessel for the agenda of wannabe dictators. The United States of America is the greatest idea that America and humanity have ever come up with. A nation big enough to make all our dreams come true, strong enough to withstand any rift between us, and fearless enough to imagine a future full of possibility. So let’s strive for this future. Let’s fight for this beautiful country we love.”

The F-word has been almost the only asset the Republican campaign has had since that shocking July evening in Butler when a deranged twenty-year-old nearly shot Donald Trump. Coming from Kamala Harris, the word sounded less hostile: more like a call to overcome the divisions that have divided this country.

It was all over by half past eight. And by that time news had already spread that the president Joe Bidenasked to respond to the comedian’s insult to Puerto Rico, had this to say: “The Puerto Ricans I know are good, decent, honorable people. The only trash I see are his supporters. His demonization is unconscionable and un-American.”

A statement was later released clarifying that Biden meant “supporters” in the singular. But the audio of his remarks sounded like he was calling all Trump supporters trash, and today the Republican campaign team will be repackaging and re-releasing them as such. Let’s continue.

The timing was unfortunate, to put it mildly, for the Democrats. But for Kamala Harris in Washington, it was an irresistibly powerful night: one of those speeches that will deepen and stick if history takes her path.

In the Bronx, the Yankees and Dodgers, one of the great aristocratic and bitter rivalries in American sports, were still battling until eleven-thirty at night. The Yankees escaped capture, which seemed like a blessing for all of America. Baseball season will continue for at least one more night. Never before had the entertainment and rhythm of the national pastime been so welcome throughout the confused republic.