A to-do list, size matters and a 'petty tyrant': Key moments from Kamala Harris' speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris on Tuesday sought to remind Americans what life was like under Donald Trump and then offered voters a different path forward if they send her to the White House, in a speech billed as her campaign's closing argument.

“I will always listen to you, even if you don’t vote for me,” she said, speaking before a massive crowd that spilled from the grassy Ellipse near the White House to the Washington Monument.

Some key moments from her half-hour speech:

Harris chose to speak from the Ellipse on purpose. It's the same spot in Washington where Republican Donald Trump helped incite a mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. But the vice president didn't devote much of her speech to the violence of that day, instead using the field between Constitution Avenue and the White House more as a backdrop — a quiet reminder of the different choices Americans face.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other," she said, adding that he wants back into the White House “not to focus on your problems, but to focus on his.”

Harris spent years working as a prosecutor. She was California's attorney general before she became a U.S. senator. And she often says on the campaign trail that she's only ever had one client — the people. In her speech, she talked about her past work taking on scammers, violent offenders who abused women and children, and cartels that trafficked in guns and human beings.

She said she'd bring with her to the White House an instinct to protect.

“There’s something about people being treated unfairly, or overlooked, that just gets to me," she said.

One week before the election, Harris allowed that “I know many of you are still getting to know who I am.”

The Democratic nominee has been running for only three months in a compressed campaign launched after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Harris still is confronting voters who say they want to learn more about her and how she will govern. So she spent some time Tuesday talking about her career, her goals and background.

“I’ll be honest with you: I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. But here’s what I promise you: I will always listen to you, even if you don’t vote for me."

Harris devoted a good chunk of her speech to talking about policies she'd enact if she were to win the White House, including helping first-time homeowners with down payments and aiding the so-called “sandwich generation" of adults who are caring for young children and older parents by allowing elder care to be funded by Medicare. She said she'd work to pass a bipartisan border security bill that tanked last year after Trump encouraged congressional Republicans to let it die.

And she said she would work to bring back abortion protections. “I will fight to restore what Donald Trump and his hand-selected Supreme Court justice took away from the women of America,” Harris said. The Supreme Court, with three Trump-appointed justices, overturned federal protections of abortion in 2022. Abortion has since become one of the most motivating issues for the Democratic base in the 2024 election.

“On Day One, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list,” she said. “When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list.”

The Ellipse is a grassy expanse between the White House and the Washington Monument that has long played host to political events and national traditions like the annual holiday tree lighting. On Tuesday, the space was packed. Crowds spilled onto the National Mall back toward the Washington Monument, where giant screens and speakers were set up for people to hear and see from afar.

The cheers of the boisterous crowd could be heard from the White House driveway. Harris' campaign said it was her biggest rally to date. She's already packed stadiums and other venues with supporters during her rallies. Harris loves to needle Trump about crowd size — a particular preoccupation for the Republican leader, who claimed the campaign had to bus people in Tuesday to fill the space.

Harris boiled down criticism of Trump into two words: "petty tyrant."

She warned Trump is a man governed by grievances, one who would focus on himself and his “enemies list” when he got into the White House. She harked back to the nation's founding when Americans fought for freedom, then sped through decades of hard-fought civil rights battles.

“They did not struggle, sacrifice and lay down their lives only to see us cede our fundamental freedoms. They didn't do that only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant," she said. "These United States of America, we are not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators.”

Just moments before Harris was to speak, Biden was on a campaign call reacting to a comic who called Puerto Rico garbage during a Trump rally last weekend. The president said, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

He’d joined a national call organized by the advocacy group Voto Latino. Biden urged those on the call to “vote to keep Donald Trump out of the White House," adding, “He’s a true danger to not just Latinos but to all people."

Biden's remarks were quicky seized on by Republicans who said he was denigrating Trump supporters, a distraction for Harris when she is trying to reach out to GOP voters.

Biden quickly sent out a social media post seeking to clarify his remarks.

“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable," Biden said of Trump. “That’s all I meant to say.”

The event was framed as a campaign finale meant to lay out in stark terms the choice for voters next week. But it's far from Harris' last campaign event. She'll be hitting all the key battleground states as she makes her last pitch to voters.

She will headline events in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania on Wednesday, and on Thursday she will have rallies in Arizona and Nevada. More events are expected before Election Day.

The campaign is looking to pick up voters across many different demographics in the hope that a swing vote here and there may add up to a win in a razor's-edge race with Trump.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff wave during a campaign rally on the Ellipse in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Supporters wave flags as Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden took a swipe against Donald Trump's supporters on Tuesday as he reacted to the Republican presidential nominee's weekend rally at Madison Square Garden, which was overshadowed by crude and racist rhetoric.

In a call organized by the Hispanic advocacy group Voto Latino, Biden responded to a comic at Trump's rally who called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Biden's initial comments were garbled.

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. Well, let me tell you something, I don’t, I don’t know the Puerto Rican that I know, the Puerto Rico where I’m fr -- in my home state of Delaware. They’re good, decent honorable people,” he said.

The president then added: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.”

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’”

Biden then took to social media to personally clarify what he said.

“Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” he posted on X. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.”

In referring to Trump's supporters as “garbage,” however, Biden's tone was at odds with the message that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is seeking to present as she aims to cast a broad appeal, including to disaffected Republicans. Shortly after Biden's comments, Harris spoke from the Ellipse in Washington, vowing to be a president who would unite the country.

“I pledge to be a president for all Americans,” said Harris, who is Biden's vice president.

Republicans quickly highlighted Biden's remark. Trump called up Florida Sen. Marco Rubio during his rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to recount what happened.

“Moments ago Joe Biden stated that our supporters, our patriots, are garbage,” Rubio said. ”He’s talking about everyday Americans who love their country.”

A Trump campaign fundraising text that went out after that declared, “KAMALA’S BOSS JOE BIDEN JUST CALLED ALL MY SUPPORTERS GARBAGE!” before ensuring recipients that Trump himself thinks, “YOU ARE AMAZING!”

Even some prominent Democrats began distancing themselves from Biden's comments. Speaking on CNN, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he would “never insult the good people of Pennsylvania or any Americans even if they chose to support a candidate that I didn't support.”

The comments recalled then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton dismissing Trump supporters during a 2016 fundraiser in New York by saying that half would fit into a “ basket of deplorables.”

Clinton later called that characterization “grossly generalistic.” But it became a defiant rallying cry for many Trump backers who said the insult encapsulated the elitist attitudes of Clinton and the Democrats.

As reactions to Biden's reaction began to fly, meanwhile, Trump was asked in an interview Tuesday night with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity about the racist and vulgar joke at his New York rally. He responded: “Somebody said there was a comedian that joked about Puerto Rico or something. And I have no idea who he is.”

The former president added, "I can’t imagine it’s a big deal.”

With Election Day now just a week off, Biden has worked to maintain relevance, furiously promoting his administration’s accomplishments while Harris in her race against Trump.

But his efforts to remain in the political spotlight might not always be so helpful for the top of the Democratic ticket he’s now promoting. That’s because, while Harris has been sharply critical of Trump for months, repeatedly calling him “unstable” and “unhinged” and even suggesting that he was “ fascist,” she has been careful not to decry his supporters.

In fact, the vice president has campaigned extensively with former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and other former GOP elected officials — hoping to woo conservative crossover voters. The Democratic convention — and Harris ads — have highlighted the stories of everyday Americans who talked about having voted for Trump in the past but now say they are supporting the vice president.

On Tuesday’s call, Biden also said that Trump “doesn’t give a damn about the Latino community” and urged rejection of the former president even as Trump’s campaign says its support is rising among Hispanics, particularly men.

“Vote to keep Donald Trump out of the White House,” Biden said. “He’s a true danger to, not just Latinos but to all people. Particularly those who are in a minority in this country.”

President Joe Biden speaks during an event about his Investing in America agenda, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr.)

President Joe Biden, left, is escorted by Col. Tasha N. Lowery as he walks from Marine One after arriving at Fort McNair in Washington, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)