{"id":44293,"date":"2024-10-30T11:40:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T11:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=44293"},"modified":"2026-07-08T02:22:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T02:22:00","slug":"kamala-harris-calls-for-a-new-generation-of-leadership-in-washington-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2024\/10\/30\/kamala-harris-calls-for-a-new-generation-of-leadership-in-washington-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Kamala Harris calls for a \u2018new generation of leadership\u2019 in Washington speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the White House illuminated behind her, Kamala Harris<\/a> asked the vanishing slice of undecided Americans to elect a \u201cnew generation of leadership\u201d, likening Donald Trump to a \u201cpetty tyrant\u201d who had stood in the very same spot nearly four years ago and, in a last-gasp effort to cling to power, helped incite the mob that stormed the US Capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice between her and Trump in the deadlocked presidential contest was \u201cabout whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division\u201d, Harris said, from the Ellipse near the White House\u2019s South Lawn, where tens of thousands of supporters gathered one week before the final votes of the 2024 election are cast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ask for your vote,\u201d she told the crowd, which spilled beyond the park, toward the Washington monument, and the many more watching at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a speech her, campaign billed as the former prosecutor\u2019s \u201cclosing argument\u201d with the American people as her jury, Harris repeatedly gestured behind her as she described the progress she hoped to make as the 47th president of the United States on lowering prices, protecting abortion rights and addressing immigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Woman<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn less than 90 days, either Donald Trump<\/a> or I will be in the Oval Office,\u201d she said as the crowd \u2013 which the campaign placed at 75,000 \u2013 erupted into chants of \u201cKamala! Kamala!\u201d \u201cOn day one, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list,\u201d she continued. \u201cWhen elected, I will walk in with a to-do list.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oval-shaped park also served as reminder of Trump\u2019s actions on January 6, when he exhorted his followers to \u201cfight like hell\u201d and walk to the Capitol where Congress was certifying Joe Biden\u2019s 2020 victory. Aggrieved and \u201cobsessed with revenge\u201d, Trump was \u201cout for unchecked power\u201d , Harris warned, charging that he would spend the next four years focused on his problems, not the country\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Harris framed the stakes of the 2024 election as nothing less than the preservation of US democracy, she sought to offer an optimistic and hopeful tone, in stark contrast to the dark, racist themes that animated Trump\u2019s grievance-fueled rally<\/a> at Madison Square Garden. Harris called on Americans to \u201cturn the page\u201d on the Trump era and \u201cstart writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told\u201d. Americans had forgotten, she said, that \u201cit doesn\u2019t have to be this way\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida earlier on Tuesday, Trump waved off criticism of the rally, calling it an \u201cabsolute love fest\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, Harris recalled attending civil rights marches with her parents as a toddler and the memory of her mother, \u201ca cup of tea in hand\u201d, poring over bills at the kitchen table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived the promise of America,\u201d Harris said, and without an explicit reference to the history-making nature of her candidacy, she grounded it in a fight for \u201cfreedom\u201d that has propelled generations of \u201cpatriots\u201d from Normandy to Selma, Seneca Falls and Stonewall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"side-profile<\/a>
Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, on Tuesday. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey did not struggle, sacrifice, and lay down their lives only to see us cede our fundamental freedoms, only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant,\u201d she said, her voice building as she declared: \u201cThe United States of America is not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent days, Harris has amplified warnings of her opponent\u2019s lurch toward authoritarianism and open xenophobia. Her campaign is running ads highlighting John Kelly, a marine general and Trump\u2019s former chief of staff, saying that Trump met the definition of a fascist. Harris has said she agrees<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n