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Kamala Harris closed the Democratic National Convention on 22 August with a barnstorming speech to accept her party’s nomination as their candidate for President in the US elections in November.
In her remarks, aimed squarely at disaffected Republicans, independent voters and the undecided, she sought to cast herself, not Donald Trump, as the true American patriot, committed to defending American democracy, freedom, and values, and ready to lead from Day one.
She also set out what was at stake in this election, not just for America but the world. While Trump fawned on dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, she said, “In the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand, and I know where America belongs.”
Her delivery ranged from human warmth to steely gravitas. At times, especially when talking about national security issues, Harris stood tall, looked straight into the camera, and spoke forcefully, drawing on her record as a tough prosecutor, and trying to convey strength as a future Commander-in-Chief.
When relaying her personal story, empathising with the struggles of ordinary Americans, or discussing sensitive topics such as abortion and gun safety, she slowed and lowered her voice, looked around the room, and used more body language to engage the audience.
Harris sensibly avoided playing up her position as potentially the first female President in US history. Instead, she pitched herself as being the embodiment of the American dream, the daughter of immigrants, growing up in the middle class, and achieving success through hard work, and perseverance.
She offered a vision of pragmatic, forward-looking government, for all Americans, not just those who voted for her, in contrast with the prospect of more chaos and division under Trump. “In many ways, Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting him back into the White House are extremely serious… Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States supreme court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution.”
Harris even managed to thread the needle successfully on the highly contentious issue of Israel/Gaza– at least for the audience in the room, if not for the pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside the Convention, who remained angry that they had not been given a speaking slot at the Convention.
Stressing her and Joe Biden’s efforts to free the hostages and achieve a ceasefire, she stoutly affirmed her support for Israel’s right to self-defence, whilst also recognising the “heartbreaking” scale of suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, and their right to “dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”. It was good enough, for the moment, though concerns over the administration’s handling of the war will continue to hang over her campaign going forward.
The tone of her speech was in keeping with that of the convention as a whole – in part joyous, and optimistic, in part deadly serious about the issues at stake.
Where Biden’s campaign erred in building up Trump as a larger-than-life threat to American democracy, Harris and other speakers at the Convention sought to take him down with a series of jabs designed to get under his skin.
Harris described the Republicans as “out of their minds” on abortion. Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, branded the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 Agenda, designed to influence any future Trump administration, as “weird, but also wrong and dangerous”.
Former Republican Congressman, Adam Kinzinger, one of many former Republicans opposing Trump, described him as “a weak man pretending to be strong, a small man pretending to be big. He is fragile, vain and weak.”
In a pointed reference to Trump’s recent comment that immigrants were taking “black jobs” Michelle Obama jibed “who’s gonna tell him that that job he is seeking might turn out to be one of those black jobs”. Comedian DL Hughley joked – “Trump will finally find out what it’s like when you get left for a younger woman.”
A running theme of the convention was how Harris was all about public service, “for the people” whereas Trump was all about himself. Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin lambasted the “cult of personality” around Trump. Former President Obama said: “Kamala won’t be focused on her problems, but on yours.” Former President Clinton said, when listening to Trump, “count the ‘Is’ not the lies”. Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, said of his wife that “empathy is her strength…she’s always been there for our children, and I know she’ll be there for yours too.”
Another compelling contrast between the Republican and Democrat Conventions was the very visible, genuine warmth and respect on display between the Biden, Harris, and Walz families, compared with the somewhat stiff, awkward embraces of the Trump family members.
