CNN
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Kamala Harris warned Americans Tuesday night that Donald Trump would open a floodgate of revenge against his political rivals, including ordinary Americans, while promising to work for the American people.

“In less than 90 days, either Donald Trump or I will be in the Oval Office,” Harris said from the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., turning to face the White House behind her as she delivered what his campaign billed as a “closing argument” speech.

“If he were elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office on day one with a list of enemies. If elected, I will come in with a to-do list full of priorities about what I will do for the American people.”

While Trump told his supporters to “fight like hell” on January 6, 2021, shortly before they ransacked the US Capitol, Harris described the election as an existential choice between the freedoms she promised to protect and the “chaos and division ‘ that caused that. she said she would follow Trump back to the White House.

“Donald Trump plans to use the US military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls ‘the enemy from within’. This is not a presidential candidate thinking about how to make your life better,” Harris said. “This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with resentment and bent on unchecked power.”

Speaking from the Ellipse for about half an hour, Harris weighed her policy plans against Trump’s, casting herself as the former president’s foil — a president who would expand Medicare to home health care, where Trump would try to cancel the program; a president who would support women’s reproductive rights while Trump would further restrict them; a president who values ​​compromise, while Trump revels in conflict.

“Our democracy does not require us to agree on everything. That’s not the American way,” Harris said. “We love a good debate. And the fact that someone disagrees with us does not make him “the enemy from within.” They are family, neighbors, classmates, colleagues.”

“It can be easy to forget a simple truth,” she added. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

One hundred days after President Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, Harris continued to keep him at arm’s length in her comments. Harris said it was an “honor” to serve as Biden’s vice president. But it would not define her administration or her goals in office.

“My presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different,” Harris said. “Our top priority as a nation four years ago was ending the pandemic and saving the economy. Now our biggest challenge is to reduce costs, costs that were already rising before the pandemic and are still too high.”

Shortly after wrapping up her remarks, Biden was forced to clean up comments he made earlier that evening about a get-out-the-vote call, which drew immediate backlash from many who interpreted them as “garbage.”

Harris on Tuesday sought to tie her personal story to how she would lead the country — a reflection of the fact that many Americans still say they want to know more about the vice president, who is campaigning in an incredibly short time frame, and her plans.

And while her speech didn’t provide more policy details, she again argued that her background — a child of immigrants who became a prosecutor — had prepared her to keep her promises.

“For as long as I can remember, I have always had an instinct to protect. There is something about people being treated unfairly or overlooked that affects me,” Harris said. “It’s what my mother taught me. A drive to hold accountable those who use their wealth or power to take advantage of other people.”