How Harris’ Big Speech Sets a Trap for Trump

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As Kamala Harris launched into a momentous speech for the final debate of her historic campaign, there was one place that seemed as obvious as it was powerful: the launching pad of failure. riot On January 6, 2021—This is perhaps the clearest example of the real threats posed by returning former President Donald Trump to the White House.

On Tuesday evening, just a week before voters decide on a presidential campaign that has been as omnipresent as it has been exhausting, Harris will take the stage on the 52-acre lawn between the White House and the Washington Monument, also known as the Washington Monument. Ellipse. While she’s not expected to speak solely about democracy or the threat Trump poses to democracy, the message will be impossible to miss as Harris addresses thousands of people in person and with many more people watching across the country from where Trump is. persistently His legions will force the Congress to ignore his electoral failure and keep him in power. This was an unprecedented, ugly moment in American history. ended Nine people were killed, nearly 150 law enforcement officers were injured, and hundreds more were traumatized.

And it’s not hard to imagine how Trump would react to such a blatant provocation. Footage of Harris speaking on hallowed ground where Presidents light national Christmas trees and Menorahs quietly reminds voters that Trump speech This was not a normal outcome of any White House term, and the self-serving thinking behind it could become the norm if he were allowed to return to power. This moment will undoubtedly prompt Trump, or at least many of his surrogates, to once again defend his own actions on Jan. 6 and those of his supporters, more than 1,500 of whom have been charged, including felonies, in connection with that day. Cases were filed against 571 people based on To the Ministry of Justice. That’s exactly the message Democrats want Trump to emphasize in the week before Election Day.

And, Jan. 6 aside, the setting of the White House speech might also inspire voters to imagine what a younger president might come up with if given the chance. The essence of this This argument is finding receptive audiences, especially in states where voters may not like Harris but are receptive to the suggestion that the United States must move past the chaos of the Trump years.

The general outline of the event is based on an account from a senior Harris campaign official who was granted anonymity to discuss the delicate planning around a speech that is not yet entirely open to tweaks.

It has been clear for weeks that Harris has been increasingly sharpening her message on the choice voters face between her campaign vision and Trump’s, whose attempt to return to power is fueled as much by grievances stemming from Jan. 6 as by a desire to avoid any culpability for it. and other criminal investigations, all or most of which are likely to collapse if he regains presidential powers. The either-or option is a compelling argument for voters who expect Presidents to follow the rules they are charged with enforcing. So the Harris campaign is returning to the idea that the race is actually between a prosecutor in Harris and a criminal in Trump.

But the fact remains: Nearly 3 out of 4 are Republicans. said On its third anniversary in January, pollsters said it was time to move on, including 4 in 5 Trump supporters. in some corners GOP members in jails or prisons for actions related to January 6 (including those who attacked law enforcement with weapons) martyrs One fraudulent political system. Actually Trump’s raised Low interest money used for legal defense funds and at rallies record Prisoners singing the National Anthem protest against their detention In normal times, such an embrace of lawlessness would be disqualifying for the GOP, which prides itself on law-and-order rigidity, but this is not the Republican Party of old.

As voters see Harris deliberately returning to what some see as a crime scene, it could highlight the criminal scrutiny Trump faces if he fails to grasp the shield of a second term as President.. After more than a year of Trump portraying the cases against him as politically motivated, it’s Harris’ turn to make it clear to American voters that Trump could be the real criminal juror.

At the end of a campaign showing Harris, this is sure to be a powerful two-way message.‘ The ability to tap into symbolic settings to convey larger points. (I’m thinking of Friday’s dystopia warning It’s about abortions performed in Texas, where a strict abortion ban is in effect.) But there’s no telling what Trump’s defenders will make of this move, especially given how Trump convinced him to do so. For this reason Many people say he is actually the victim of a corrupt justice system.

But in many ways, Trump’s own trajectory has spent recent weeks walking into traps set by Harris and her allies. This was most evident during their solo debate, where Harris threw one set piece after another in an attempt to embarrass her opponent. But at Trump’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden, Trump’s campaign set themselves up by inviting speakers. bent over lewd and racist comments. So far, the former President has been unwilling to make the minimum effort necessary to show that he rejects these hateful words.

It’s rarely a good bet to think Trump can put his ego on hold for the sake of a bigger prize, as he’s shown many times since announcing the first of his three presidential bids since 2015. That’s why he didn’t recall the mob in 2021, broke basic etiquette days later and didn’t attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, and continues to work overtime to undermine faith in democracy. At this point, Harris’ choice to deliver perhaps the biggest speech of her campaign is sure to catch Trump’s attention. Harris advisers say this will be a tactic that will be repeated every day in swing states over the past week in an attempt to expose Trump’s worst impulses. If history serves, it cannot resist.

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