CHICAGO — Vice President Kamala Harris ceremonially accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president Thursday night in a speech that alternated between calls for unity and stinging rebukes of former President Donald Trump as an "unserious man" whose return to the White House could have devastating consequences for the United States.
"With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past," she said, casting herself as someone who can bring a deeply divided country together.
Like a prosecutor making a closing argument, Harris denounced Trump point by point, repeatedly accusing him of preparing to systematically erode the democratic values of the country if he returns to the White House.
"Consider what he intends to do if we give him power again," she said, her voice rising. "Consider his explicit intent to set free violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol. His explicit intent to jail journalists, political opponents, and anyone he sees as the enemy. His explicit intent to deploy our active duty military against our own citizens."
"Just imagine," she said, "Donald Trump with no guardrails."
Over and over, she compared her vision with Trump's, accusing him of supporting the wealthy over the middle class, blocking a bipartisan border bill, and seeking to ban abortion across the nation and force states to report on women’s miscarriages.
"Simply put, they are out of their minds," she said.
Harris did not specifically mention that she is the first woman of Black and South Asian descent to be a major party nominee. But she recounted her own personal biography, describing growing up in "a beautiful working-class neighbourhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers." She went on to say she was driven to be a prosecutor so she could protect people like a high school friend who had confided to her that she was being sexually assaulted by her stepfather.
"Every day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge, and I said five words: Kamala Harris, for the people," she said.
On foreign policy, Harris tried to find a middle ground on an issue dividing her party: the war between Israel and Hamas. She vowed that she would ensure Israel never again has to face "the horror that a terrorist organisation called Hamas caused on Oct 7." But she also said that "what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating."
She closed with a plea to voters to choose optimism over darkness in the election in November.
"America, let us show each other, and the world, who we are and what we stand for: freedom, opportunity, compassion, dignity, fairness and endless possibilities," she said.
An image showing former US President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris is seen on a vehicle as police officers patrol on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention (DNC), in Chicago, Illinois, the United States, on Monday. (Photo: Reuters)
Here is what else happened Thursday:
Gun violence: Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who in 2012 was shot in the head by an attempted assassin, capped off a series of speakers who had been affected by gun violence and said they trusted Harris to fight for greater gun control measures. "He shot 19 people. He killed six. Terrible day. I almost died, but I fought for life and I survived," Giffords told the crowd. Earlier, Rep Lucy McBath of Georgia, whose son was killed in a shooting, was joined on the stage by the families of children slain in Uvalde, Texas; Newtown, Connecticut; Charleston, South Carolina; and Chicago.
Courting swing states: Two of the final speakers before Harris were governors of critical swing states, a nod to the fact that victory will come only if a number of those states end up in the Democratic column. Gov Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan mocked Trump as out of touch, guessing that his "first word was probably 'chauffeur.'" Gov Roy Cooper of North Carolina, who withdrew from vice presidential consideration so his Republican lieutenant governor wouldn't take over while he was out of state, declared that "Kamala will fight for you."
Trump reacts: Trump called into Fox News immediately after Harris' speech to deliver a rambling rebuttal in which he appeared to be accidentally hitting buttons on his phone. He mostly repeated criticisms he has made of her on the campaign trail, and accused her of not talking enough about issues, including border security, that he has made central to his campaign.
Patriotic appeals: Several speakers sought to bolster the vice president’s credentials to be commander-in-chief, delivering on a promise by the party to focus on patriotism. Rep Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who is running for the Senate, urged delegates not to "give an inch to pretenders who wrap themselves in the flag but spit in the face of freedom it represents." Sen Mark Kelly of Arizona and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta both vouched for Harris' national security credentials, with Panetta invoking the mission to kill Osama bin Laden as the kind of moment that needs a steady hand like Harris, not a volatile one like Trump.
Populist messages: Early speakers showcased some of the party’s leading populist voices, who promised that Harris will take on big businesses and confront corporate greed. Sen Bob Casey, from the swing state of Pennsylvania, said "prices are up because corporations are scheming to drive them up." And Sen Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said that Harris "can't be bought and she can't be bossed around," an allusion to the “unbought and unbossed” slogan used in 1968 by Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress.
Kennedy withdraws in Arizona: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed paperwork to withdraw from the presidential race in Arizona, a spokesperson for the Arizona secretary of state’s office said Thursday night. The move comes a day before Kennedy, an independent candidate, was set to give an address in the state about the future of his struggling campaign.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
