Kamala’s closing argument on the Ellipse was fine, if forgettable

Washington, DC

Vice President Kamala Harris made her last stand at the scene of her opponent Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021 address to his supporters: the Ellipse south of the White House on Washington’s National Mall. Her argument was reminiscent of her predecessor as the Democratic nominee, President Joe Biden: eschewing the nebulous “joy” that had characterized her anointing at the Democratic National Convention, Harris opted to intone about the grave threat a second Trump term would pose to America and western democracy. But can that approach work two presidential elections in a row?

Attendees waved the Stars and Stripes, with backdrops reading “FREEDOM” and “USA” adorning the riders. The inference was clear: it was, in fact, the Democrats who are the party of patriotism, gathering to stand up for freedom, in contrast to the similarly dressed rabble who rolled down the Mall and through the US Capitol while the 2020 election results were being certified 1,392 days ago.

“Look, we all know who Donald Trump is,” Harris said. “He is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election that he knew he lost. Americans died as a result of that attack. A hundred and forty law enforcement officers were injured. And while Donald Trump sat in the White House watching, as the violence unfolded on television, he was told by staff that the mob wanted to kill his own vice president. Donald Trump responded with two words: ‘So what?’”

“It is time to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms,” Harris said. “It is time to turn the page on the drama and conflict, the fear and division. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America. And I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States.”

“In less than ninety days, either Donald Trump or I will be in the Oval Office,” said the vice president, gesturing behind her at the White House. “On day one, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list. When elected, I will walk in, with a to-do list.” This line, of course, begs what has become the notorious Republican response since Harris became nominee: so why haven’t you done the things on it already then?

The speech was perhaps heavier on policy than you might expect, given the occasion and setting. “I believe in the fundamental freedom of Americans to make decisions about their own bodies. And not have their government tell them what to do,” Harris said, to whoops from the audience. “I will fight to restore what Donald Trump and his hand-picked Supreme Court justices took away from the women of America. That today, one in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban, many with no exceptions even for rape and incest. The idea that a woman who survives a crime of a violation to her body would be told she does not have the authority to decide what happens to her body next is immoral.”

On foreign policy, Harris said, “I will always uphold our security, advance our interests, and ensure that the United States of America remains, as we must forever be — a champion of liberty around the world.”

And not one to let bygones be bygones, even King George III caught a stray from Harris. “Nearly 250 years ago, America was born when we wrested freedom from a petty tyrant,” she said. “And those who came before us — the patriots at Normandy and Selma, Seneca Falls and Stonewall, on farmlands and factory floors — they did not struggle, sacrifice and lay down their lives, only to see us cede our fundamental freedoms, only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant.”

Her remarks were capably delivered from the podium — and she barely deviated from the autocue, demonstrating a discipline similar to that shown at the August convention. Word salad was once again off the menu. Yet while the images from the night were striking — the vice president perfectly framed and exquisitely dressed, her hair buoyant, a crowd of tens of thousands stretched far toward the Jefferson Monument — as a result, the speech felt uninspiring, predictable even, rather than “historic” or “tide-turning.” So much for the “vibes.”

Speaking of that “new generation of leadership”: Biden himself opted not to attend the event in his own backyard, instead extricating himself to Baltimore earlier in the day to tout the successes of his infrastructure spending with Mayor Brandon Brown. Continuing a theme since the switcheroo, campaign trail appearances featuring Biden and Harris together remain scarce. How many of the party’s bigwigs can bear to share the same stage?

Yet somehow, the current president managed to pull focus from his VP on her big night. Reacting to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe joking that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally Sunday, on a Voto Latino Zoom call from the White House, Biden said, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.” Echoes of “basket of deplorables,” anyone? Clean up on aisle Biden is already in progress: “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,” someone tweeted from the president’s account at 9:30 p.m. “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.”

According to the Harris campaign, 75,000 were present on the Ellipse — coming from far and wide. Sixty-nine-year-old Mitzi Maxwell had flown up from Orlando, Florida, with her eighty-eight-year-old mother. “I wanted to find a way to help right the ship in terms of this physical space, because what happened on January 6 was awful, and my country doesn’t deserve that. No country deserves that,” she told The Spectator. “I felt by coming I could be a part of cleansing this beautiful park.”

“This is supposed to be the biggest rally today,” a young man excitedly told two middle-aged women on the Metro from Virginia earlier in the afternoon. Most of the car consisted of Harris-Walz supporters descending on the capital from Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties, among the nation’s wealthiest. Outside Farragut West station, an enterprising gent had set up a merch table — half of it for Kamala Harris, the rest for the Washington Commanders and its quarterback Jayden Daniels (hey, it was a hell of a pass).

The Secret Service cordon cruelly deprived the park of the marijuana scent that has come to perfume the city, as lighters were forcibly discarded. A female DJ fought valiantly in an attempt to generate a party atmosphere as the diverse crowd filtered in, cutting the chorus of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” so they could join in — few did. Controversially, she also opted to play the appropriated MAGA anthem, the Village People’s “YMCA.” In the hour immediately before the vice president’s appearance, the playlist turned to a Beyoncé track every other song. “Is this a Beyoncé concert? I love this!” said a white mom volunteer in a camo Harris-Walz hat posted up next to the press rider. “Freedom, freedom, I can’t lose,” blared Queen Bey from the speakers as Harris departed the stage with her husband Doug. The iconic singer is still yet to win the Album of the Year Grammy.

As has become commonplace at Democratic events, a collective of pro-Palestine activists attempted to disrupt proceedings. Some drummed distantly during the National Anthem and the early stages of Harris’s remarks; others popped up later and were dragged out by security through the press area. One older woman brandished a “Kamala: no weapons to Israel” placard as she was escorted out. A larger band made their voices heard as the gathered masses gradually exited after Harris had finished at around 8:15 p.m., chanting, “free free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

It’s not quite fair to ask how effective a rally in the nation’s capital will prove at convincing swing voters in the crucial states seven days out from Election Day — not least because early and absentee voting means America has more of an “Election Season” than an Election Day. But the vice president would have been pleased with how she stuck the landing tonight: none of her speakers insulted a potentially electorally crucial ethnic group, at least. Who knows how long her smile lasted after she saw the remarks the White House’s current occupant had made elsewhere…