Harris’s Closing Argument: Let's Turn the Page on Trump

In Her Closing Argument, Harris Urges America to Turn the Page on Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris is about to deliver what is being billed as her campaign’s “closing argument” — a major address laying out her vision for the country and contrasting it with that of former President Donald Trump. She’ll be doing it in front of an anticipated crowd of thousands at The Ellipse near the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the same spot where Trump riled up a mob of his supporters on January 6, 2021, before they attacked the Capitol.

Harris will reportedly promise to “put country above party and above self” and be a president for all Americans, according to excerpts of her remarks released to the media by her campaign. “I pledge to seek common ground and common-sense solutions to make your lives better," she is expected to say.

She is also expected to repeat her criticisms of Trump as “unstable,” “obsessed with revenge,” “out for unchecked power” and a chaotic and divisive force seeking to instill fear in Americans. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she is expected to say. “He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at my table.”

Harris previewed her speech in a morning interview with “The Breakfast Club” radio show. “I would ask people to imagine the Oval Office — people have seen it on TV, you know what it looks like — it’s either going to be Donald Trump sitting behind that desk writing out his enemies list of who he’s going to seek revenge and retribution on, or it’s going to be me working on behalf of the American people as I always have done, working on my to-do list to see through these policies that are about homeownership, lifting up our small businesses, lifting up families with children and lifting up the discourse in a way that it is not about trashing people all of the time.”

Trump calls MSG rally a ‘lovefest’: Earlier in the day, Trump sought to get ahead of Harris’s expected attack lines by delivering remarks from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where he attacked Harris on immigration and the economy and accused her of allowing rampant bloodshed and squalor in U.S. cities and causing chaos and war globally. He again spread falsehoods about voter fraud and the 2020 election and charged Harris with the very same accusations that have been leveled against him and his campaign. “She’s running on a campaign of immoralization and really a campaign of destruction, but really, perhaps more than anything else, it’s a campaign of hate,” Trump said.

Those comments followed Trump’s own controversial Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, which prompted widespread outcry over the angry, racist and misogynistic rhetoric from many speakers. Some television reporters on Tuesday wondered, perhaps naively, whether Trump would apologize for any of the comments, such as the disparaging jokes by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.”

Trump distanced himself from the comic on Tuesday. “I don't know him. Someone put him up there. I don't know who he is," he told Rachel Scott of ABC News. But he defended the MSG rally during his speech at Mar-a-Lago and said it was an honor to be at the event, despite the massive backlash it sparked and the worries it caused among GOP operatives. “The love in that room, it was breathtaking. There’s never been an event that beautiful,” Trump said. “It was a lovefest. It was love for our country.”

Trump has previously called the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol a “lovefest,” too.

Consumer Confidence Surges, While Job Openings Fall

Americans are feeling more optimistic about the economy, the Conference Board said Tuesday, as its consumer confidence index rose to 108 in October, up from 99 the month before. Another measure of confidence, known as the present situation index, which measures consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions, rose even more sharply, climbing 12 points to 138 in October.

“Consumer confidence recorded the strongest monthly gain since March 2021, but still did not break free of the narrow range that has prevailed over the past two years,” Dana M. Peterson, the group’s chief economist, said. “In October’s reading, all five components of the Index improved.  ... Compared to last month, consumers were substantially more optimistic about future business conditions and remained positive about future income. Also, for the first time since July 2023, they showed some cautious optimism about future job availability.”

A separate report from the Labor Department on Tuesday offered a less buoyant view of the job market. The number of job openings fell to 7.4 million in September from 7.9 million in August, defying expectations for no change from month to month. It was the smallest number of job openings since January 2021. Most of the decline in vacancies was concentrated in the South, however, suggesting that recent hurricanes may have played a role in the disappointing performance.

At the same time, the number of job openings remains modestly above the level seen before the pandemic, as MarketWatch’s Jeffry Bartash noted, and the number of jobs per unemployed worker held steady at 1.1. “The labor market is no longer red hot, but it’s still pretty warm,” Bartash said.

Fiscal News Roundup

• Harris’s Closing Argument: Turn the Page on Trump, and Avert Chaos – New York Times
• Harris to Cast Trump as Chaotic, Divisive in Speech at Jan. 6 Site – Bloomberg
• Harris Reaches for a Big Moment in Her Closing Argument for ‘Turning the Page’ on Trump – Associated Press
• Harris to Present Trump as "Obsessed With Revenge" in Closing Argument Speech – Axios
• Trump Says Vulgar New York Rally Was A "Love Fest" – The Hill
• Trump Ad Claims Harris Will ‘Doom Medicare’ – New York Times
• Trump Says He Would Create ‘Compensation Fund’ for the ‘Victims of Migrant Crime’ – Associated Press
• Speaker Johnson: Trump Is Thinking ‘Big About What We Can Do’ – Associated Press
• Democrats Alarmed Harris’s Economic Message Isn’t Breaking Through – The Hill
• American Consumers Feeling Much More Confident as Election Day Nears – Associated Press
• Deficit Threat Drives Bond Yields Higher – Wall Street Journal
• In a Visit to Baltimore, Biden Will Announce $3 Billion to Reduce Carbon Emissions at US Ports – Associated Press
• Texas Is Slashing $607 Million in Medicaid Funding From Program for Students With Disabilities – Associated Press
• Pentagon Runs Low on Air-Defense Missiles as Demand Surges – Wall Street Journal
• Despite Covid ‘Amnesia,’ the Pandemic Simmers Beneath the 2024 Race – New York Times
• Fresh Out of Prison, Bannon Says MAGA Movement ‘Is Coming to Fruition’ – Politico

Views and Analysis

• Elon Musk Is the October Surprise of the 2024 Election – Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey, Washington Post
• One of Republicans’ Biggest Inflation Cudgels Against Democrats Has Evaporated – Matt Egan, CNN
• Only Care About Your Pocketbook? Trump Is Still the Wrong Choice – Catherine Rampell, Washington Post
• Shoppers Will Bear the Brunt of Trump's Tariffs – Patricia Lopez, Bloomberg
• Trump’s Ugly Racist Rally Finally Unmasks His Real Closing Argument – Greg Sargent, New Republic
• “Put Them in Trauma”: Inside a Key MAGA Leader’s Plans for a New Trump Agenda – Molly Redden, Andy Kroll and Nick Surgey, ProPublica
• What Trump Winning the Election Could Mean for the CDC – Lena H. Sun, Washington Post
• The Hard Truth: Americans Don’t Trust the News Media – Jeff Bezos, Washington Post