Kamala Harris calls for unity to stop Trump as she accepts nomination

Kamala Harris gave the most important speech of her life in Chicago on Thursday. For the vice president of the United States, who has been in Joe Biden’s shadow for the past four years, it was her big night. Accepting the Democratic presidential nomination gave her the opportunity to ride the wave of enthusiasm she has raised in just a month and present herself to Americans as the right person to lead the country. Harris called for unity and promised to be a president for all Americans in a euphoric closing of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) that for the first time puts the White House within reach of a Black and Asian woman. At the same time, Harris also warned of the risks of a second Donald Trump presidency.

Kamala Harris did not have an easy task. Speakers of the caliber of Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey had appeared on the stage of the United Center, the Chicago Bulls stadium where the convention is being held. But Harris also knows how to talk to a crowd — she’s used to delivering closing statements from when she was a prosecutor — and she gave a well-crafted speech. What’s more, she has the winds in her favor.

With her infectious laugh, campaign slogans that she has popularized at lightning speed (“We’re not going back,” “When we fight, we win”...) and an audience that clung on her every word — from the moment she took the stage until the moment tens of thousands of balloons fell down —, Harris was met with a level of support unimaginable just over a month ago, when Joe Biden was still the party’s candidate.

Kamala Harris prioritized her call for American unity. “With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past. A chance to chart a New Way Forward. Not as members of any one party or faction. But as Americans,” she said.

“I know there are people of various political views watching tonight. And I want you to know: I promise to be a President for all Americans,” she continued.

The support of independents and undecided voters — who TV star Oprah Winfrey appealed to the day before — will be decisive on November 5. As will the vote of women, who Harris addressed by highlighting her support for reproductive rights. “Why exactly is it that they don’t trust women?” she asked in reference to the Republicans. “We do trust women.”

In the speech, Harris spoke little about her platform. She promised a law to guarantee the right to abortion throughout the country, which since the 2022 Supreme Court ruling has been regulated by the states, and another law to protect the right to vote. Harris also pledged to cut taxes on the middle class, a move that would benefit more than 100 million Americans. Those were her most tangible proposals, which, in reality, cannot be implemented by a president but rather U.S. Congress. The rest of the speech kept to generalities and character, trying to mix firmness and optimism, toughness and joy.

There were no details on her economic plans or many other items on her agenda, but she did not shy away from thorny issues, such as foreign policy and immigration.

Harris pledged to secure the border, accusing Trump of undermining the law that would have helped stop illegal immigration, one that she intends to bring back. “I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants- And reform our broken immigration system. We can create an earned pathway to citizenship- And secure our border,” she said.

Cease-fire in Gaza

On foreign policy, Harris emphatically guaranteed support for Ukraine and NATO allies, in stark contrast to the dwindling support of Trump and some Republicans: “In the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand, and where the United States of America belongs.” On the Gaza war, she called for the release of Israeli hostages and an immediate ceasefire. “President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity. Security. Freedom. And self-determination,” she said.

The call for unity did not stop Harris from repeatedly attacking Trump. “This election is not only the most important of our lives. It is one of the most important in the life of our nation. In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious,” she said, recalling his role in the assault on the Capitol. Throughout the DNC, Democrats presented the election as a choice between a felon and a prosecutor.

“Consider what he intends to do if we give him power again,” she warned. “Consider his explicit intent to set free the violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol. His explicit intent to jail journalists. Political opponents. Anyone he sees as the enemy. His explicit intent to deploy our active-duty military against our own citizens. Consider the power he will have — especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”

She accused Trump of trying to ban abortion nationwide and of seeking to force states to report women’s miscarriages. “They are simply out of their minds,” she said, further pushing the idea that the Republican candidates are “weird” and “dangerous,” two of the epithets Democrats have most often used against them.

The Democrats other central argument was to present Trump as a self-centered egoist who only looks out for the rich, versus Harris who will work for the American people. She expressed this in her own way, noting that throughout her career as an attorney, senator and vice president she has had only one client, the people, while Trump’s only client, both in business and politics, has been himself.

“We know a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success. And building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. This is personal for me. The middle class is where I come from,” the candidate said. Bill Clinton joked the day before in his speech that if she wins the election she will surpass him as the president who has spent the most time in a McDonald’s (where she worked and he was a regular customer).

Harris herself, who was celebrating her 10th wedding anniversary, drew on her family roots. “My mother was 19 when she crossed the world alone. Traveling from India to California. With an unshakeable dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer,” she said. Harris parents met in UC Berkeley, California. She grew up in a “working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses and construction workers,” she said, explaining she decided to become a prosecutor after learning in high school that her best friend’s stepfather was sexually abusing her. She also spoke about her accomplishments as a prosecutor.

Candidate without primaries

“I am no stranger to unlikely journeys,” she said, including her nomination: “The path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected.”

Kamala Harris is, in fact, the first candidate to be nominated without winning a single primary vote since 1968, when the DNC was held in Chicago, amid violent protests over the Vietnam War. There were fears of a repeat of that history, but that did not happen.

Compared to the hotly contested 2020 Democratic primaries, which Joe Biden narrowly won, Harris has managed to become the nominee by walking the red carpet reluctantly laid out for her by Biden himself. The president won the primaries overwhelmingly before bowing to party pressure to withdraw after his disastrous Atlanta debate against Donald Trump. The vice president and candidate thanked him in her speech and defended his accomplishments and character.

Although the joy that has gripped her campaign is also reminiscent of Barack Obama’s 2008 journey, the process could not have been more different. Obama won a dog-eat-dog primary against Hillary Clinton, the party establishment’s favourite. Kamala, in comparison, was nominated at a virtual roll call after Biden withdrew and the delegates gave her their support. Now she has two and a half months of frenetic campaigning ahead of her. Her popularity has skyrocketed and she is leading in the polls, although that guarantees her nothing, as Hillary Clinton well knows.

On the same day Trump traveled to the border in Arizona to paint an apocalyptic picture of the United States, Harris opted for optimism: “I see an America where we hold fast to the fearless belief that built our nation, that inspired the world, that here in this country, anything is possible, nothing is out of reach.” During the speech, Trump attacked Harris and tried to refute her accusations, first through his social network, Truth, and then with a phone call to Fox News.

The candidate also outlined her governing style: “I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads and listens; who is realistic, practical and has common sense; and always fights for the American people. From the courthouse to the White House, that has been my life’s work,” she said.

“When you break through a glass ceiling, you’re going to get cut, and it’s going to hurt,” she wrote in her memoir The Truths We Hold. Now she is trying to break that glass ceiling with laughter. Harris is only the second woman to be nominated for the presidency by one of the two major parties and the first Black and Asian woman to do so. But where Hillary Clinton failed in the battle against Donald Trump, she hopes to win.

Closing ranks

Unlike Donald Trump, Kamala Harris fits squarely into the recent history of the Democratic Party. The former president broke with most of the traditional leaders of the Republican Party. George W. Bush, the only living former president of the Grand Old Party, did not attend the Republican convention in Milwaukee last month. Neither did any of the former Republican presidential or vice presidential candidates. Not even Mike Pence, who was Trump’s own vice president and has made it clear that he will not vote for him. Republican unity has been somewhat shaken by the purge of dissenters. Because the Republican convention was held just after the attempted assassination on Trump, Nikki Haley agreed to give a speech of support, but was booed.

In comparison, the Democrat party has more fully closed ranks behind Harris. Four Democratic presidents named her as the heir to their legacy, starting with the current one, Joe Biden. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton also gave important speeches at the convention, while Jimmy Carter, the other living president, aged 99, sent his grandson Jason as an emissary of his support.

“Selecting Kamala was the very first decision I made when I became our nominee and it’s the best decision I made my whole career,” Biden said in his speech. “She’s tough, she’s experienced, and she has enormous integrity.”

“America is ready for a new chapter,” Obama said in his speech. “America is ready for a better story. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris.”

“Kamala Harris is the only candidate in this race with the vision, the experience, the temperament, the will, and yes — the sheer joy —to do that on good and bad days. To be our voice,” added Clinton, who also named her as his political heir. “There comes a new generation to pick up where we left off. That’s the opportunity we’re givennow. To pick an extraordinary woman, clearly up to the job, who’ll bring us together and move us forward.”

“My grandfather can’t wait to vote for Kamala Harris,” said Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter’s grandson. “Kamala Harris carries my grandfather’s legacy. She knows what is right and she fights for it.”

On Thursday, shortly before her speech, two of Harris’ nieces came on stage to explain how to pronounce their aunt’s name, Kamala, a Sanskrit name meaning lotus flower, an important symbol in Indian culture.

“Words are incredibly powerful,” Harris wrote in her memoir. It remains to be seen whether her words on Thursday have the power to propell a daughter of immigrants with a name many Americans cannot pronounce to victory on November 5.

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