ハリス氏、大規模集会で「最終弁論」 トランプ氏の「混乱」拒否訴え

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米大統領選の投票日を１週間後に控え、民主党候補のカマラ・ハリス副大統領は２９日夜、首都ワシントンでホワイトハウスを背にした大規模集会で有権者への「最終弁論」を行い、米国民には「次の章」を書く力があると訴えた。ハリス氏はまた、共和党候補のドナルド・トランプ前大統領がもたらす混乱と分断を拒否するよう呼び掛けた。（写真はホワイトハウスに隣接する広場「ザ・エリプス」で行われた選挙集会で演説するカマラ・ハリス副大統領）
　ハリス氏陣営が会場に選んだのは、ホワイトハウスの敷地に隣接する広場「ザ・エリプス」で、ここは２０２１年１月６日にトランプ氏が連邦議会議事堂への襲撃を自身の支持者に扇動した場所だ。２１年の襲撃事件では、少なくとも５人が死亡し、警官１４０人が負傷する事態となった。
　ハリス氏は、今回の大統領選は「すべての米国民の自由に根差した国か、混乱と分断に支配された国か」を選ぶものになると述べ、トランプ氏が４年近く前にこの場所で議事堂に「武装した暴徒を送り込んだ」ことを改めて指摘した。
　トランプ氏については、「情緒が不安定で、不平不満だらけ。抑制されない絶対的な権力を求めている」と非難した。
　集会のテーマはその後、米国の未来に対する明るい展望へと切り替わった。照明に照らされたホワイトハウスを前に大統領に就任する準備は万全というイメージを演出し、「皆さん、今夜ここで私は訴える。私たちはそんな存在ではない」「皆さん一人ひとりには、ページをめくり、これまでに語られてきた中で最も素晴らしい物語の次の章を書き始める力がある」と大勢の支持者に呼び掛けた。
　ハリス氏は集まった参加者を前に、物価高に苦しむ中流階級を支援するための詳細な経済政策の概要を説明。また、人工妊娠中絶規制を求める共和党についても触れ、女性自身の体に関する決定権について政府が「指図」するべきではないと訴えた際は、一段と大きな歓声を浴びた。
　さらに、ハリス氏の大きな弱点の一つでもある、７月に大統領選から撤退したジョー・バイデン大統領の政権継続にすぎないとする意見にも反論した。
　「私の政権は（バイデン政権とは）異なるものになる。直面する問題が異なるからだ」と明言した。
　一部の支持者は、ハリス氏が演説する７時間以上前から会場に並んだ。陣営側は、７万５０００人が参加したとしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/10/30-20:03）

Kamala Harris urged Americans to write the next chapter for their country and reject Donald Trump's chaos and division as she delivered a powerful closing argument to voters Tuesday against the glowing backdrop of the White House.
The Democratic vice president warned against Trump's lust for unchecked power as she addressed a mass rally at the site where her Republican rival riled up a mob before the deadly January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power, she said in the speech, exactly a week before Americans go to the polls in the most dramatic and divisive election of modern times.
But Harris then pivoted to an optimistic vision of the United States' future, using the setting of the White House lit up against the night behind her as a symbolic pitch to show that she is ready for the presidency.
America, I am here tonight to say: that's not who we are, Harris told the huge crowd of flag-waving supporters.
Each of you has the power to turn the page, and start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.
Harris's campaign claimed 75,000 people attended the rally. The number could not be immediately verified, but the crowd was unusually large in an election that has seen heavy enthusiasm on both sides.
- 'Chaos and division' -
Crowds stretched from the Ellipse, a park bordering the White House grounds where Harris spoke, all the way back to the Washington Monument, the obelisk towering over the National Mall.
Speaking from behind bulletproof screens next to blue signs saying Freedom, Harris warned that the election was a choice between a country rooted in freedom for every American, or ruled by chaos and division.
Harris reminded the crowd that Trump stood at the same spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the Capitol.
After Trump urged supporters in a speech there to fight like hell, many then marched on the iconic domed seat of government to disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden's victory, in an assault that left 140 police officers wounded and shocked the world.
But while her speech began with the dramatic attack on Trump, she soon switched to a recap of her detailed plans to help financially struggling middle-class Americans.
She got one of the biggest cheers when she referred to Republicans seeking to curtail abortion, saying the government should not be telling women what to do with their bodies.
Harris also addressed one of her main weaknesses -- the fact that some voters still see her as a continuation of Biden, who dropped out of the White House race in July.
My presidency will be different, because the challenges we face are different, she vowed.
- 'Cleansing' -
Although there is still a week to go, the Harris campaign cast her speech as a closing argument -- a nod to her career as a prosecutor.
I think of this as a cleansing for what happened on January 6, said Mitzi Maxwell, 69, who came from Florida with her mother to see all the love and passion and excitement that she (Harris) has become known for.
Some Harris supporters queued for more than seven hours before the speech, whose sheer scale and energy was a direct challenge to Trump, a politician who has always boasted about his ability to draw crowds.
Harris and Trump remain in a dead heat in the polls, with both desperately trying to convince undecided voters in seven key swing states.
Trump has spent the last two days trying to tamp down a firestorm over his weekend rally in New York's famed Madison Square Garden, at which a warm-up comedian jibed that Puerto Rico was a floating island of garbage.
Biden on Tuesday came under fire for responding to the comments by appearing to call Trump's supporters garbage, although he later said he was referring to the Republican's rhetoric.
The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters, Biden said on a campaign call for Harris.
Trump called the comments terrible, and his running mate J.D. Vance said they were disgusting.
In a TV appearance, Trump said the comedian who made the comments about Puerto Rico probably... shouldn't have been there.
Earlier, addressing supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, however, Trump called the New York event a love fest, the same phrase he has used to describe the Capitol riot.
The Republican later rallied in blue-collar Allentown, in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most crucial of the seven battleground states that are expected to decide the election -- and a city that is home to a large Puerto Rican community.
Fears of a repeat of the chaos from four years ago hang heavy over this year's election, with Trump repeatedly indicating that he might again refuse to accept the result if he loses.