Kamala Harris pledges ‘consensus,' torches Trump at site of Jan. 6 speech
Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to “reach compromise” with political opponents if elected president, while also labeling her Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump, a “petty tyrant.”
One week before Election Day, Harris gave a speech at the Ellipse near the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the same location Trump held a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, at the same time that a crowd of his supporters and others stormed the U.S. Capitol to try and stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
During her remarks, Harris promised to work with both major parties on policy issues, saying she would “build consensus” and “reach compromise” in order “to get things done.”
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“I will always listen to you, even if you don’t vote for me,” she stated. “I will work with everyone. Democrats, Republicans and independents to help Americans who are working hard and still struggling to get ahead.”
Harris denounced Trump as “unstable” and “obsessed with revenge,” claiming that the former president would use the U.S. military against his political enemies if reelected.
The claim was in reference to a recent interview on Fox News, in which Trump spoke about “the enemy from within” and suggested using the U.S. armed forces to deal with them.
“We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical Left lunatics,” stated Trump. “I think they’re the big — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by [the] National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”
For his part, Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Trump's remarks, noting that the GOP presidential nominee was referring to “marauding gangs of dangerous, violent people who are destroying public property” rather than nonviolent political opponents.
During her speech, Harris also called Trump “a petty tyrant” who wants “unchecked power,” claiming that Trump “has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other.”
“As Americans, we rise and fall together,” she added. “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.”
Harris focused on other issues as well, promising to support a child tax credit, make childcare more affordable, build millions of new houses, advance immigration reform, and sign a bill legalizing abortion nationwide.
According to a report released last month by the Freedom Forum, nearly half of Americans surveyed believed that Trump was a “threat” to the First Amendment, while 37% said the same of Harris.
