A week from today the first Election Night results will be just hours away, but tonight Kamala Harris plans to double down on her critique and contempt for Donald Trump in the very place where the former president riled up the MAGA mob to attack the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other, the Vice President will say of her self declared “dictator on Day One” rival from the Ellipse in Washington DC. “That’s who he is.”
“But America, I am here tonight to say: that’s not who we are,” the VP intends to say in her closing argument remarks, according to excerpts from the campaign in this margin of error, tight race
Starting around 4 pm PT/7 pm ET, the symbolism of Harris speech at the what some consider the scene of the Trump’s greatest crime from almost four years ago is self evident as a contrast, if nothing else. Local officials estimate that the crowd will be around 20,000. However, organizers and party insiders say it could go up to 50,000 tonight.
Harris merchandise is displayed ahead of Kamala Harris’s speech on the Ellipse just south of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 29, 2024.
As Harris makes her near final appeal to the electorate, the “unstable” and “obsessed with revenge” Trump will be in the battleground state of Pennsylvania trying to mop up the racist, sexist and mess of his Madison Square Garden rally of October 27.
Trump earlier today in Florida said the NYC rally was full of “love in the room,” while slamming her of offering voters “a campaign of destruction ..a campaign of absolute hate.”
From the remarks that her campaign released Tuesday, Harris plans on leaning into the contrast with the three time GOP candidate.
“I pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to make your lives better,” the Veep will tell the crowd. “I am not looking to score political points,” shell added. “I am looking to make progress, I pledge to listen to experts. To those who will be impacted by the decisions I make. And to people who disagree with me. Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail.”
“I’ll give them a seat at my table. And I pledge to be a President for all Americans,” Harris is scheduled to say tonight from the Ellipse in language she has been using at campaign events over the past month. “To always put country above party and above self.”
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will be at the Vice President’s side tonight. Running mate Gov. Tim Walz will not be in D.C., but instead out on the campaign trail in Georgia. Considered to be an electoral liability by some Democrats, President Joe Biden will be at the White House right near the Ellipse this evening participating in “a campaign call,” according to his schedule. As close as he will be, Biden will not at the rally itself. “It’s for her,” POTUS said today in Maryland of why he would not be attending the rally for his chosen successor.
Some political operatives and pundits have pushed for the VP to talk less about Trump and his sins, and more about her plans for the future to help move the needle. Yet, today’s certain to be widely covered speech, from what we’ve seen, is continuing the line of attack Harris has been on the last month.
With all that as the backdrop, a dust-up of sorts seems to be developing between the VP and podcast superstar Joe Rogan.
Days after dropping his three-hour wide ranging and sometimes unintentionally funny interview with the former Celebrity Apprentice host, the ex-Fear Factor host is say that teh Harris campaign in demanding Rogan fly to where ever the VP is for a one hour chat. Rogan wants Harris to sit with him for three-hours in his Austin, TX studio.
The two sides may come to a last minute agreement, but time is running out before the November 5 election and with nearly 50 million Americans having already voted.