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October 30, 2024 - 7:00am
Washington D.C.
The last place you’d worry about the death of American democracy is the one place everyone seemed terrified of losing it. On Tuesday, as the sun set on a spectacular autumn day in Washington, tens of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall to support Kamala Harris. The crowd was enormous — like a “mini inauguration”, as one local described it.
After snaking through the thicket of Democratic loyalists for over an hour, winding around the lines of people waiting to enter, I settled on the north side of the Washington Monument, near the White House where Harris would soon make her closing argument. I chose the spot for a reason. It was the exact vantage point from which I covered Donald Trump’s remarks at the Ellipse on 6 January, 2021.
Harris made this geographic parallel explicit. “Look, we know who Donald Trump is,” she told the audience. “He is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election.”
Trump’s speech took place on a wind-whipped morning in early winter; Harris spoke at night in perfect weather. Trump’s supporters were furious; Harris’s were optimistic. Both crowds were big — although Harris’s reported 75,000 attendees is an increase on the 53,000 who were present in 2021 — and both were convinced democracy was slipping through their fingers.
“This election is more than just a choice between two parties and two different candidates,” said Harris yesterday. “It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division.” Previous generations, Harris argued, “did not struggle, sacrifice, and lay down their lives, only to see us cede our fundamental freedoms, only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant”.
The biggest difference between the crowds was in regards to class. I’ve never covered a political rally whose attendees looked better off than Harris’s. Trump’s rallies are a mixed bag but the crowd which assembled peacefully at the Ellipse — before some members went on to violently breach the Capitol — was much more working-class. It was filled with people who felt censored by the Beltway-dwellers — the Beltway-dwellers who rallied for Harris on the same turf yesterday.
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SubscribeThe rhetoric coming from Harris, the Dems and the regime media over the last couple weeks has been disgraceful. They have nothing to offer so they sell fear. They want to scare people into compliance. The relentless references to Hit!er and fasc!sts is beyond contempt.
They have taken a page right out of the covid playbook. You are heartless pondscum if you don’t get vaccinated. You are garbage if you vote for Trump. Make no mistake. They have nothing but contempt for half the country. Biden said the quiet part out loud, but the Beltway prima donnas are all there with him.
I get it. Trump says crappy things all the time. His rhetoric is distasteful, but the Harris team have taken it to the next level. Even worse, it’s all by design. They don’t have a plan. The
joy campaign crashed and burned. Now they have resorted to fear porn.
I’ll be happy when Vance takes over and dismantles these clowns one hostile interview at a time, one debate at a time.
I’ll be happy when Vance takes over
Something potentially good to come out of this messy business.
He’s so impressive. If you haven’t read “Hillbilly Elegy” already, order it immediately!
The genius of the guy is partly that he’s so down-to-earth and relatable. Even as someone who had a comfortable middle class upbringing in England, I found myself identifying with him on some things (not the drug addict mum, thank God). And he’s game for a laugh aswell, a really likeable guy.
We will soon know the answer to the question of whether America is a republic for the people or a republic for feudal lords
The disdain of our betters for the rest of us is palpable in the UK too
I don’t worry much for their disdain. I would submit without much difficulty to an elite that had earned even a little bit of the right to be called an elite. What infuriates me is the fact that all their actions demonstrate the absence of any merit that was characteristic of aristocrats. They are incredibly self-confident, cowardly and stupid, that’s what infuriates me. They are stupid to the point of nausea.
Every society is run by an elite class. The one we currently have is unfit for purpose.
Indeed there needs to be an elite; a group of experts and intelligent men and women to sometimes take decisions on our behalf.
I have some caveats though.
Firstly, that they are genuinely wise (no PPE degrees and experience outside politics essential).
Secondly, that, despite their wisdom, they know that they are as flawed as the rest of us (a little humility under covid would have be nice).
Thirdly, that if we vote in one direction, they follow and put in place what we choose even if they think we’re wrong (Brexit).
Do your comments apply to the Republican or Democratic elites (to my mind they apply to both)?
Not equally… I’m not a snob, unlike many others.
We have the same constituency in Canberra, Australia. They have one of the largest yearly incomes and routinely elect upper-class Greens and ALP Labor candidates. They don’t even go to work anymore as most are on Union negotiated work from home deals.
I was happy to leave DC (and the US generally) on Sunday after 10 days, but seeing this rally in the lovely autumn weather we enjoyed all last week would have been an experience.
I can imagine what kind of crowd rocked up – probably the type that inhabit the cute little brick townhouses that line the street in Alexandria, Georgetown and just behind the Supreme Court. The type that can afford to splash out $4,000 rent for a one-bedroom apartment. In other words, not the average Yank.
I attended the Rescue The Republic Rally a few weeks ago.
That was my cup of tea. Wonderful “ordinary people” listening to inspirational speakers.
“He is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election.”
Once more, Kalama lies. No one in the “mob” was armed. The only casualty of the event was an UNarmed Air Force vet who was shot to death.
I was just about to comment on that quote too. Like in the debate she lies over and over again. What made it then even more infuriating was that the moderators were oblivious of her lies but were only “fact checking” Trump.
As an insurrection it was a poor effort