Harris makes her final pitch for her presidency
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Tuesday night, one week before Election Day, Kamala Harris made her closing argument to the American people. America, for too long we have been consumed with too much division, chaos, and mutual distrust. And it can be easy then to forget a simple truth. It doesn't have to be this way.

Standing at a podium on the Ellipse with the White House lit up behind her, the Democratic nominee spoke to what her campaign said was 75,000 flag-waving, cheering supporters. Her campaign chose the tableau for more than the striking visuals. There was symbolism to the location, too. It's the site where former President Donald Trump rallied his supporters on January 6th before they went on to attack the U.S. Capitol. Look, we know who Donald Trump is.

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 that he knew he lost. Harris laid out her closing argument with a message that echoed the setting that Trump poses a threat to democracy.

Donald Trump intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply don't want to disagree. Donald Trump would deliver tax cuts to his billionaire donors. Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. And pointing to the White House behind her, Harris said, If elected,

On day one, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list. When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list full of priorities of what I will get done for the American people. Over about half an hour, Harris hit those familiar notes and also reviewed the agenda she would pursue as president. I will enact the first ever federal ban on price gouging on groceries. Yay!

I'll work to lower the cost of childcare, which is out-- And when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.

Consider This. Kamala Harris has made her final pitch to voters, arguing Donald Trump poses an existential threat to American democracy. Will it win her the White House? From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro. Support comes from our 2024 lead sponsor of Consider This, Anthropic.

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It's Consider This from NPR. Less than a week until election season ends and the presidential candidates are making their closing arguments in massive rallies. Earlier this week, we heard about Donald Trump's six-hour event at New York's Madison Square Garden on Sunday. And now Kamala Harris has delivered her closing message from the Ellipse with the White House as a backdrop. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram watched the speech and joined me to talk about Harris' pitch to voters and where things stand with just days left to go.

Was there more to the setting than just the January 6th, 2021 symbolism? I mean, I think part of it, Ari, was, you know, there is such a powerful statement to have Kamala Harris standing in front of the White House. And in her remarks, you know, she pointed back to the White House, literally, like she turned her back, pointed to it, and asked the people in the crowd to imagine what day one of a Trump administration would look like versus day one of a Harris administration. And she's really trying to draw this contrast between

of Trump having this enemies list and that's what he would come in focusing on versus Harris, she says, would have a to-do list of things that she wants to accomplish. It hones back to her sense of pragmatism that she is like kind of branding herself as in terms of a

politician. You know, but I'll also say this is kind of a show of force, right? This is, according to the campaign, 75,000 people on the National Mall. It's the largest event that Harris has had in her campaign, running against someone, as we know, who is pretty focused on crowd sizes.

So it feels like there were two big planks to the speech, the Trump contrast and her own policy agenda. To start with a Trump contrast, what is her campaign's calculation here about trying to drive people away from him versus trying to drive people towards her? Yeah, I think it's both and, right? She's doing two parts right.

which is one, trying to draw that contrast against Trump. And this is something that, you know, even when Biden was the nominee, the Democrats really struggled with, which is what they call Trump amnesia. It's why you have someone like Kamala Harris calling restrictions on abortion rights Trump abortion bans or Trump tax cuts for the rich. And so she really tries to emphasize Trump's role in a lot of

What she says was the chaos of the years of his administration. On the other side, though, she is really consistent about reminding people at her rallies that she's not trying to run a campaign that's just against somebody or against something. She wants to bring a new generation of leadership to Washington, new ideas. And that's something she's really tried to bring into the fold, too, is say, you know, I'm not just a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency. And I'm also basically trying to run as the candidate entirely against everything Trump stands for.

So when you listen to what she included in that 30-minute speech in contrast to Trump's speech on Sunday that was more than an hour, what were the policy proposals that you think are most notable?

Well, there's a couple that I will say get really strong reactions from the crowds that she's going to. And this is not just in Washington, of course. This is in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and in states all over the country. So one of them is this plan to make it more affordable to take care of your parents while also taking care of your children at home.

home. And one thing I think is really interesting about Harris is that she really likes to bring her own personal experience when she lays out some of these plans. So when she talks about the at-home care for seniors plan, you know, she talks about her own experience caring for her mom who died of cancer. And she knows what it's like to, you know, have to try and

help someone, you know, find food that they can keep down. And she really tries to bring a personal lens to this. And speaking of plans, abortion has been front and center for Democrats ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Is that still kind of the leading talking point for the Harris campaign in this final week? It's a huge one. I mean, keep in mind, this is the issue that really...

Harris took the lead on as vice president, and that certainly carried into her campaign for president here. And it's something that really fires up a lot of voters still, and particularly like we had talked about earlier, some of those Republican voters, some of those independent voters who may be particularly women who have maybe never voted for a Democrat before, but are really considering it this time in this election to cast their ballot for Harris. And we'll see where it kind of falls into play in these last seven days.

And let's note that while Democrats are focusing on Harris's speech today, Republicans are focusing on something that President Biden said on a call with Latino voters shortly before she spoke. The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it's un-American. Deepa, how is this playing out?

I mean, this is an exactly on message for the Harris campaign, right? And Republicans, Trump, they're already using this clip to criticize Biden and Democrats. The White House did weigh in and Biden posted on X trying to clarify his remarks from last night. He said he was referring to the comedian who made the remarks calling Puerto Rico garbage and he was calling that rhetoric trash.

garbage, not Trump supporters. But, you know, this really undercuts Harris's message at a time when she's only got a few days left here to convince Republican voters and independent voters to cast their ballot for her. And today, as she headed out to North Carolina, Harris distanced herself from those comments. She said she strongly disagrees with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.

How do you expect to see Harris spending these final days? I mean, it's just every swing state or bust, Ari. She's hitting all seven swing states, headed to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin today. I will say she's also doing a lot more interviews than she has been the last couple months on podcasts, other types of non-traditional media. And she also sat down with a number of local TV stations in swing states. So last night, even before her rally, she was on the local news in states like

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It's really a matter of appearing in as many places as possible in these last final days of this election, reaching as many voters as possible. The campaign says last weekend they actually knocked on more than a million doors. So there is a lot of momentum in the final stretch here.

NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram, thank you. Thank you. This episode was produced by Brianna Scott. It was edited by Roberta Rampton and Courtney Dourning. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Ari Shapiro.

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That's why, with a dedicated Merrill advisor, you get a personalized plan and a clear path forward. Go to ml.com slash bullish to learn more. Merrill, a Bank of America company. What would you like the power to do? Investing involves risk. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, registered broker-dealer, registered investment advisor, member SIPC.

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