Vice President Kamala Harris will unload on former President Donald Trump in her speech at the Ellipse in Washington on Tuesday night, blasting the GOP presidential candidate as “unstable” and “obsessed with revenge.”
According to excerpts released by her campaign Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Harris plans to say that Mr. Trump “intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls — quote — the enemy from within.”
“This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better. This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power,” Ms. Harris will say, according to the excerpts.
Ms. Harris will warn that if Mr. Trump wins a second term next week, he will stew over a list of enemies “he intends to prosecute.”
She said he will also release from prison the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an unsuccessful bid to stop Congress from certifying Mr. Trump’s 2020 election loss.
“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That’s who he is,” Ms. Harris will say. “But America, I am here tonight to say: That’s not who we are.”
Ms. Harris will tell voters that she offers “a different path” for the country, one that will cast aside the chaos and division that she says follows Mr. Trump.
“I pledge to seek common ground and common-sense solutions to make your life better. I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress,” she will say, according to the released excerpts.
“And I pledge to be a President for all Americans. To always put country above party and above self,” Ms. Harris plans to say.
With one week until Election Day, Ms. Harris will speak with the White House in the background.
The campaign says the site was selected to underscore the chaos that surrounds Mr. Trump as well as to make sure voters connect the image of Ms. Harris and 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Mr. Trump held a rally on the Ellipse where he told his supporters to “fight like hell … to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Some of those supporters then marched to the Capitol and stormed the building as Congress was certifying what Mr. Trump had repeatedly said, and still says to this day, was a rigged election.
Chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon said the Harris campaign chose the Ellipse site to remind voters “how much a president can do for good and bad to shape the country and impact people’s lives.”
She said the speech is aimed at swing voters who haven’t made up their minds in the final days of the election.
“We know a lot of those undecided voters. They’re exhausted. They’re certainly frustrated by the state of the partisanship and divided political system that really was defined under Donald Trump, his chaos and his lack of focus on real solutions about the things the American people are concerned about,” she said.
Robert Rowland, who teaches presidential rhetoric at the University of Kansas, says it’s surprising that Ms. Harris would center her closing remarks around the threat she says Mr. Trump poses to democracy.
“Her campaign should consider if focusing on Jan. 6 or the threat to democracy is reaching anyone who isn’t already on board with her campaign,” he said.
Mr. Rowland said Ms. Harris would be better off leaving the messaging about Mr. Trump’s fitness for office to surrogates and others, so she could focus on promoting her economic agenda and other proposals.
“It’s a strong message to point to the people who worked for Trump who now say he shouldn’t be near the Oval Office, but that’s better coming from others,” he said. “Her base already despises Trump so it’s not a message for them. She’s struggling for male voters, but it’s not a message that’s going to activate them.”
Some Democrats also have advised Ms. Harris against ripping the GOP nominee.
This week, a pro-Harris super PAC, Future Forward, told the campaign that attacking Mr. Trump as a “fascist” or questioning his character is a mistake.
In an email circulated to Democrats, according to a report in The New York Times, the PAC argued that Ms. Harris’ focusing on proposals as president would be a more effective message with just days left to go in the race.
Ahead of her speech, the Harris campaign amended its permit application to accommodate 40,000 people at the site from the original estimate of 20,000.
The campaign declined to comment on attendance beyond saying it will be one of her “larger speeches.”
The Ellipse speech will be the centerpiece of a pre-Election Day blitz for Ms. Harris.
Ahead of the remarks, she will do five interviews, including four with TV outlets in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh — the four largest metropolitan areas in the key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
After the speech, she’ll travel to Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin on Wednesday, followed by a western trip for events in Reno, Las Vegas and Phoenix on Thursday before hitting Wisconsin again on Friday.
Ms. Harris will spend Saturday in Georgia and North Carolina.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.