Kamala Harris manufacturers Donald Trump a ‘wannabe dictator’ at enormous final ditch rally

Kamala Harris urged voters to “turn the page” on Donald Trump as she branded the ex-President a “petty tyrant” and a “wannabe dictator.”

With just a week to go before polls close, tens of thousands turned up to hear the Vice President outline her final argument in the race to a huge crowd in Washington DC.

It’s the same spot President Trump used for his infamous “stop the steal” rally, that led to the storming of the Capital Building on January 6 2021.

An estimated 60,000 people attended the event between the main rally and an overflow area which stretched back to the Washington Monument.

“It is time to turn the page on the drama and the conflict, the fear and division,” she told the crowd. “It is time for a new generation of leadership, and America, I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States.”

” Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is but America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are.

“It doesn’t have to be this way.”

She joked that Mr Trump would turn up at the White House on day one of a second term with an enemies list, while she would arrive with “a to-do list.”

President Joe Biden did not attend the speech, saying it was a moment” for her.

But the outgoing President committed a potentially damaging gaffe while it was being delivered. Mr Biden was forced to clarify after it appeared he’d dismissed Trump supporters as “garbage.”

Reacting to a Trump-supporting comedian declaring Puerto Rico a “floating heap of garbage”, saying: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

He wrote on Twitter : “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage–which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”

Ahead of Harris’ remarks, her campaign showcased a line-up of ordinary Americans who spoke about their dream and priorities, rather than the celebrities rolled out at recent Harris events.

They included Amanda Zurawski, a woman who nearly died from sepsis after being denied care under Texas’ strict abortion ban, Craig Sicknick, the brother of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack, and a Pennsylvania husband and wife who previously vote for Trump but now back Harris.

Analysis: Good vibes only – perhaps for the last time

An American campaign rally is a very different affair to what we have on our side of the pond.

Aside from being many hundreds of times the size of the average political event in the UK, the most striking thing about Kamala Harris’ rally last night was the number of young people there – hardly any of whom appeared to be weird.

It was closer to a music festival than it was to Labour Party Conference – with a high energy DJ spinning hits to keep spirits high for the several hours it took the park to fill up.

It was strictly good vibes only – perhaps for the last time between now and Inauguration day.

Ms Harris described last night’s speech as the most important she’s ever had to deliver – a final pitch, addressed not to the crowd before her, but the conscience of the American people.

She urged Americans not to return to the White House a “petty tyrant”, a “wannabe dictator” – a convicted felon who acts in his own self-interest and that of his golf club buddies.

The Vice President took a tour of the issues that hold the Democrats’ base together – including reproductive rights, the cost of living, valuing and respecting immigrants, access to healthcare.

But at the heart of the speech was an impassioned plea to undecideds, Republicans – and people considering staying home on November 5th, that this one is really important and maybe it’s time to step up.

Whether it will work, we won’t know until next Tuesday night – but nobody can accuse Kamala Harris of not trying.