Harris warns of the dangers of another Trump presidency in a speech on Jan. 6 site By Reuters
Written by Jeff Mason, Arlene Eiras and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Kamala Harris warned tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington for her biggest rally that Republican rival Donald Trump is seeking unbridled power as their fierce presidential race enters its final week.
Harris spoke on Tuesday evening at an outdoor rally estimated by his campaign to count more than 75,000 people in an area near the White House where on January 6, 2021, Trump spoke to his supporters before they stormed the US Capitol.
“We know who Donald Trump is,” Harris said. He said the then-president sent an “armed mob” to the US Capitol to try to reverse his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
“This is an unstable, vindictive, grudge-filled, unbridled power-seeker,” Harris said when his campaign called him his closing argument ahead of the 5-way election.
More than 53 million Americans have voted in the election, according to the Election Hub at the University of Florida, in the battle that will decide who will lead the richest and most powerful country in the world for four years.
Harris was draped in American flags on stage and surrounded by blue and white “FREEDOM” banners with the brightly lit White House behind him.
The crowd included adults and college students, people from overseas, from New York and from nearby Virginia. Many women come in groups with other female friends.
“It’s important that we don’t go back to the bad practices of the past under President Trump,” said Saul Schwartz, a former civil servant from Alexandria, Virginia.
“She’s everything I’ve always wanted in a president. She’s happy. She’s real, she’s strong. And she’s a woman,” said Danielle Hoffmann of Staten Island, New York. “It’s time for you guys… to take the back seat because we’re driving now,” he said, speaking to the men in general. Her husband, she noted, is a Trump supporter.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Harris’ lead had dropped to just 44% to 43% of registered voters.
Harris has led Trump in every Reuters/Ipsos poll since he entered the race in July, but his advantage has been steadily shrinking since late September.
Trump and his allies want to downplay the violence of January 6.
Thousands of his supporters stormed the Capitol, sending lawmakers running for their lives after Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, where as president in 2021 he told the crowd to “fight like hell” to prevent Congress from conceding his defeat.
Four people died in the massacre at the Capitol, and one police officer who was protecting the Capitol died the next day. Trump has said that if he is re-elected, he will pardon more than 1,500 participants accused of crimes.
“We have to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms,” Harris told a crowd in Washington on Tuesday and urged Americans to put divisiveness behind them.
TRUMP SAYS NEW YORK RALLY ‘IN ABSOLUTE LOVEFEST’
In Florida earlier in the day, Trump wanted to continue the racist and other offensive speech made by allies at his rally in New York on Sunday.
Trump did not comment on remarks made by speakers at Sunday’s event in which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and disparaged black Americans, Jews, Palestinians and Latinos.
Trump’s campaign had previously said comments about Puerto Rico did not reflect the former president’s views, but Trump on Tuesday called the New York event “absolutely romantic” and said he was honored to participate.
President Joe Biden is furious with the Trump campaign over comments he made about Sunday’s rally during a fundraising call on Tuesday.
According to a text sent by a White House spokesman to X, Biden said: “the only garbage I see floating around is from his supporters – his – his demonization of Latinos is absurd and un-American.”
Many news organizations quoted the same words but without the apostrophe.
Biden later posted on X, a social media platform: “Earlier today I called the hate speech about Puerto Rico made by a Trump supporter at his rally in Madison Square Garden trash — the only word I can think of to describe it. The demonization of Latinos is absurd.
HISPANIC VOTERS
As Harris spoke in Washington, Trump visited a predominantly Hispanic town in Pennsylvania, two days after Hinchcliffe’s comments about Puerto Rico angered a New York rally.
The US Census Bureau says Puerto Ricans are the largest Hispanic group in Pennsylvania, which holds the highest number of Electoral College votes among the seven states expected to decide the election.
“I’d like to start with a very simple question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? I’m here today with a message of hope for all Americans,” Trump said.
Harris, who would become the first female president, and Trump, who is seeking a return to office after his 2017-21 term, have split on support for Ukraine and NATO, abortion rights, taxes, basic democratic values and the potential costs of trade wars.
On tariffs, Trump on Tuesday spoke openly about the European Union. “They’re cruel,” he said in Pennsylvania. “They sell millions and millions of cars in the United States. No, no, no, they’re going to have to pay a big price.”
