THE PEOPLE’S PROSECUTOR: KAMALA HARRIS MAKES HER CASE FOR PRESIDENCY IN DNC ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

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August 31, 2022 (Chicago)—In her acceptance speech for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination delivered last week in Chicago, Vice President and former prosecutor Kamala Harris presented her case to the American people. She spoke of domestic and foreign policy priorities, sharply contrasting her goals with those of her opponent.

“My entire career, I have only had one  client. The People,” said Harris, former California Attorney General and a former district attorney.  “With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the past. A chance to chart a New Way Forward.”

Pledging to be a President for all Americans, she added, “You can always trust me to put country above party and self. To hold sacred America’s fundamental principals—from the rule of law to free and fair elections, to the peaceful transfer of power,” alluding to her opponent, former President Donald Trump, convicted of felony fraud and facing numerous pending charges related to his efforts to overthrow the 2020 election results.

Harris said that if elected, she would strive to unite Americans around “our highest aspirations” and be a President “who leads and listens, who is realistic, practical, and has common sense. And always fights for the American people.”

She spoke of growing up in a middle class neighborhood where she was raised by her mother, an immigrant from India who came to America with dreams of becoming a scientist and curing breast cancer.  She also shared fond memories of her father from Jamaica, who “taught me to be fearless” and recalled joy in the family’s household in her early years.

Her parents met at a civil rights meeting and from them, Harris learned about attorneys who fought courtroom battles to protect civil rights and decided she wanted to become a lawyer.  She became a prosecutor to hold accountable criminals like a man who abused her best friend. Highlights of her legal career included protecting women and children, seniors facing elder abuse, workers cheated out of wages, veterans and students victimized by scams. 

She also prosecuted drug cartel leaders and human traffickers, took on big banks as California’s Attorney General, holding out for a better settlement when other state AG’s were willing to finalize a deal. Her effort resulted in “$20 billion for middle class families who faced foreclosure,” said Harris, who also successfully lobbied for passage of a homeowner bill of rights in California.

On border issues, she faulted Trump for persuading Republicans in Congress to block an immigration reform bill that had bipartisan support and support from the Border Patrol. She pledged to sign that bill if Congress sends it to her as President,  but added that she believes it is possible to have border security as well as to “live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants” including an earned pathway to citizenship for immigrants.

She called the November election one of the most important in our nation’s history, adding that the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House would be “extremely serious.”

She urged voters to consider both the “chaos and calamity” when Trump was president, but “also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the election.  Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes,” she said. “When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers.  When politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob and send help, he did the opposite. He fanned the flames.”

She reminded the crowd that Trump has been found liable by a court for committing sexual assault, as well as guilty of 36 counts of felony fraud.

She warned that after the recent Supreme Court ruling granted presidents broad immunity for actions while in office, voters should consider what Trump seeks to do if put back into power  “without guardrails.”

Specifically, she cited Trump’s pledge to free violent convicted felons who stormed the capitol and assaulted  police officers, his vow to jail political opponents and journalists, and his stated intent to deploy the military against U.S. citizens.

Harris noted that Project 2025 was written by Trump’s closest advisors as a guidebook to a second Trump presidency.  “It’s sum total is to pull us back into the past,” she said. “But America...we are not going back to when Donald Trump tried to cut Social Security and Medicare. We are not going back to when he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, when insurance companies could deny people with pre-existing conditions.”

She slammed Project 2025 and Trump’s recent statements pledging to eliminate the Department of Education, which “funds our public schools” and his call to end programs such as Head Start, which provides preschool and childcare.

She faulted Trump for putting his own personal interests over the needs of the nation, also criticizing Trump’s plan to slash taxes for himself and “his billionaire friends” which economic analysts have said would“ add 5 trillion dollars to the national debt”. She also accused Trump of seeking to raise taxes on the middle class by $4,000 a year.

Harris pledged that building a strong middle class “will be a defining goal of my presidency...”That’s why we will create an opportunity economy...where everyone has a chance to compete and a chance to succeed, whether you live in a rural area, small town, or big city....instead of a Trump tax hike, we will pass a middle class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans.”

Harris noted that Trump hand-picked Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v.Wade, quoting him saying “I’m proud to have done it.”  But in traveling the country speaking with women, their husbands and fathers, Harris said she has heard true stories of the serious consequences of that ruling, in states that have since outlawed most abortions. “Stories of women miscarrying in a parking lot. Getting sepsis, losing the ability to ever have children again....children who have survived sexual assault, potentially force to carry the pregnancy to term. All because doctors are afraid of going to jail for caring for their patients.”

She also spoke of couples cut off from in-vitro fertilization treatments, unable to have children.  “This is what is happening in our country because of Donald Trump,” said Harris. “And understand,  he is not done.”

Trump has waffled his stance on abortions, but his allies, conservatives in Congress and Project 2025 have a broader agenda that includes limiting access to birth control, banning medication and enacting a nationwide abortion ban. ”He plans to create a national anti-abortion coordinator and force states to report on women’s miscarriages and abortion,” Harris said, voicing outrage. “Simply put—they are out of their minds!”

By contrast, she said,  “We trust women,” adding that if Congress sends her a bill to restore reproductive freedom, she will sign it.” 

Other freedoms are at stake, she noted, including freedom from gun violence in schools, freedom to love who you please, and freedom to “live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis.” Trump aims to rollback protections on clean air and water, as well as boost production of fossil fuels, denigrates renewable energy and has no plan to address the climate crisis.

“We must also be steadfast in advancing our security and our values abroad,” she said. “As Vice President, I have confronted threats to our security, negotiated with foreign leaders, strengthened our alliances, and engaged with our brave troops overseas.”

As Commander in Chief, Harris said she will assure a strong military and fulfill our

“sacred obligation” to care for our troops and their families. “And I will always honor, never disparage, their service and their sacrifice.” Trump, by contrast, has called military members “suckers and losers” and has often made disparaging comments about disabled veterans and even former GOP presidential nominee John McCain, a former prisoner of war, saying he didn’t like soldiers “who were captured.”

Trump poses a danger to U.S. allies, Harris suggested, noting that Trump “threatened to abandon NATO. He encouraged (Russian President) Putin to invade our allies—said Russia could quote `do whatever the hell they want.’”

By contrast,  Harris said five days before Russia attacked Ukraine, “I met with President Zelensky to warn him about Russia’s plan to invade. I helped mobilize a global response—over 50 countries—to defend against Putin’s aggression. And as President, I will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies.”

As for the Israel-Gaza war, Harris said she has been working with President Joe Biden toward ending the conflict.  “I will always ensure Isarel has the ability to defend itself,” she said, voicing outrage at the Hamas slaughter of Israeli civilians, but also calling the scale of suffering in Gaza “heartbreaking” with innocent lives lost and desperate, hungry people fleeing. 

“President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity,  security, freedom and self-determination,” she stated.

Harris also vowed to assure America, not China, leads the world in space and technology, also pledging to stand up against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.

“I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim-Jong-Un, who are rooting for Trump. Because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors...In the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand—and where the United States of America belongs...I love America with all  my heart,” said Harris, who believes in “an America where we look out for one another, and recognize that we have so much more in common than what separates us.  That none of us has to fail for all of us to succeed.  And that in unity, there is strength.”

She pledged if elected “to fight for the ideals we cherish, and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on earth—the privilege and pride of being an American.”