Trump 'wants to be an autocrat', warns Harris at DNC
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The news: US Vice President Kamala Harris has described the November presidential election as “one of the most important” in American history, warning Donald Trump "wants to be an autocrat" if he returns to the White House.
The context: Accepting the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s national convention (DNC) on Friday, Harris framed herself as a champion of the middle class who would fix a housing crisis, expand health benefits and tax cuts for working families, and protect national abortion rights.
The vice president accused her rival of “sending an armed mob” to the Capitol on January 6 after losing the election, warning a re-elected Trump would use the “immense power of the presidency” to serve “the only client he has ever had: himself”.
Harris again linked Trump to Project 2025, a Christian-nationalist blueprint for a second Trump presidency written by a conservative think tank. Critics argue the document, which calls for the consolidation of executive power and a rollback of abortion rights, is authoritarian.
“Its sum total is to pull our country back to the past, but America: we are not going back,” Harris said.
Before Harris took the stage, the convention also heard from civil rights leader Al Sharpton and the ‘Central Park Five’ — who were exonerated for rape in 1989 after Trump called for their execution. Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, who was briefly viewed as a potential Democratic nominee herself, also threw her weight behind Harris.
Harris was formally nominated at the DNC on Wednesday, though it was a foregone conclusion after a series of senior Democrats backed her candidacy when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month. The quick shift to Biden’s deputy avoided the prospect of a contested convention.
What they said: “Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences, but the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious," Harris said at the DNC.
"… [Dictators] know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favours. They know Trump won't hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself."
The source: The Democratic National Convention
