I have spent too much of my time these past year writing about the profoundly successful MAGA counter-revolutionaries. The more I learned, the better I understood what was happening to us all, and the more depressed I became.
It’s a multi-faceted movement, a cult for many, a religious calling for others, and a cynical opportunity for some to implement a long-standing conservative drive to control our politics. Their numbers include the shock troops of the MAGA insurrection who spent years pretending to support the blue, vigorously opposing the “I Can’t Breathe/Black Lives Matter” demonstrators. Until, on behalf of Donald Trump and the patently false claims of a stolen election, they decided to break our laws, storm the Capitol and smash and brutalize its police.
Then, there are the Harvard and Yale Ivy School lawyers, the Federalist Society types who pretend they promote “limited, constitutional government; and the rule of law … [and] individual freedom and traditional values.”
They pledge they will “say what the law is, not what it should be.” They claim to support the literal words of the Constitution, though as we’ve seen with Scalia in Heller, they’re perfectly willing to distort the meaning of the Second Amendment. And, in Dobbs with Alito, they’ve canceled precedent, and the settled law they pledged to respect in their confirmation hearings. Despite their promise, they never hesitated to send us back more than a century to deny women the right to choose. Most recently, in Trump v. United States, with the connivance of the Chief Justice, they blithely betrayed the Founders by transforming our Republic to a faux monarchy, hoping to turn our President, the “Unitary Executive” they call him, into a King.
I’m grateful for Chris Geidner of Law Dork who in one paragraph managed to capture the madness and hypocrisy of our most recent politics: “Someone once explained that ‘there have always been demagogues willing to exploit the people who believe crazy shit.’ Then, he decided to become one and do so himself.
“JD Vance, Ohio’s much-junior senator, is the emptiest vessel the Donald Trump could find when looking for a vice presidential nominee who could take the place of the one whose life Trump’s followers would eagerly have ended on January 6, 2021. Vance is a model of the empty vessel that Trump himself proved to be. Vance’s emptiness, when combined with his will for power, makes him the perfect running mate for Trump — and makes all the more clear why neither man is fit for public office.”
Behind the emptiness of Vance, and Donald Trump’s endemic inability to tell the truth, there is the diabolical scheming of Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership, The Conservative Promise. The Heritage Foundation-supported authors offer this proud playbook, a diabolical but so often delusional roadmap to the authoritarian state they yearn for: “The long march of cultural Marxism through our institutions has come to pass. The federal government is a behemoth, weaponized against American citizens and conservative values, with freedom and liberty under siege as never before. The task at hand to reverse this tide and restore our Republic to its original moorings is too great for any one conservative policy shop to spearhead. It requires the collective action of our movement. With the quickening approach of January 2025, we have two years and one chance to get it right.”
There is nothing like the missionary zeal of the misguided ideologue. And like true believers everywhere they confuse what they dream of, with the reality we actually have to live with. It is clear that they don’t really see or know America all that well.
For example, in their zeal to eradicate the liberties we’ve come to rely on, Project 2025 takes aim at the freedom to watch pornography, the one liberty probably most dear to the young, especially male voters. Perhaps, in their fevered imagination, they thought they could fell two birds they hated most with one proclamation, to get back at Stormy Daniels and punish the transgendered all in one fell swoop:
(Project2025PornP5)
Speaking of J.D. Vance’s compelling theory of “the crazy shit,” MSNBC quite naturally reminds us all that their fearless leader, Donald Trump, the hoped-for MAGA Captain of the USS Project 2025, has his own long history with porn:
And it got me thinking, what really does America think of porn. My first impulse was to imagine widespread born-again puritanical disgust, but with the simplest of googles it was quick to see how far off the mark the Project 2025-ers actually were. I had no idea Gallup had been onto pornography for years now. And lo and behold the numbers of those who find porn “morally acceptable” have been climbing steadily:
I must say the article made clear that many of us—certainly me—have fallen under the sway of Trumpism, and my vision of what America had become had grown far darker than was accurate. Gallup made that clear in several ways: “These results come from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, conducted May 1-10. Since it was first fielded in 2001, this survey has found considerable evidence that Americans are becoming increasingly liberal in terms of what actions or behaviors they find morally acceptable. From 2011 onward, notable shifts in opinion are apparent for actions such as doctor-assisted suicide, gay/lesbian relations, sex between unmarried people and having a baby out of wedlock.” (Emphasis added.)
So back to porn for a moment: “For the first time on record, a majority of Democrats (53%) say pornography is morally acceptable. Last year, this figure stood at 42%. Democrats’ acceptance of pornography has grown by 21 points since 2011 … The 27% of Republicans who regard pornography as morally acceptable is generally stable this year compared with last year’s 25%. However, Republicans have become somewhat more accepting of pornography since 2011, with the percentage “morally acceptable” rising by 11 points. Forty-five percent of independents say this year that pornography is morally acceptable, a five-point increase from last year. Overall, independents’ views on the morality of pornography have been relatively stable since 2011.”
As for some of the other social issues the Trumpists have focused on since 2016, Gallup reveals a far more tolerant America:
(Gallup2018SameSexMarriage)
It’s hard to remember – because vigilance is exhausting and fighting for human rights never easy – that MAGA is fueled by anger, fear, grievance, retribution and hatred. Snopes reminds us that Trump’s future vice-presidential pick, in 2016, J.D. Vance, in a previous life, “wrote in a private message to his former law school roommate: ‘I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a**hole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler. How’s that for discouraging?’”
What has been particularly disturbing is the relentless war MAGA has waged on the progress made in respect for human rights over the last many decades. There’s no clearer example than the continuing attempt to turn the notion of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) into a dreadful negative. How about we actually go back and look at what exactly what these terms mean:
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, Diversity is:
- The quality or condition of being diverse: ‘a band known for the diversity of its music.’
- The condition of having or including people from different ethnicities and social backgrounds. ‘diversity on campus.’
- A variety or assortment: ‘a diversity of opinions.’
As for Equity:
- The state or quality of being just and fair.
- Something that is just and fair.
- Justice achieved not simply according to the strict letter of the law but in accordance with principles of substantial justice and the unique facts of the case.
Then there’s inclusion:
- The act of including or the state of being included.
It’s almost as if MAGA has completely forgotten where we come from. Ignoring our history as an always diverse melting pot, and what actually motivated our Founders. Like what they wrote in their Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …” You can certainly make the case that DEI is but our version of the rights they fought and died for.
As for me, I was shaped by, and came to adulthood in, the 1960s. I picketed and marched; I sat in, organized teach-ins, fought segregation, and worked to end the war in Vietnam. I helped the students and faculty to vote to stop our college’s administration from turning over our class standing to Selective Service. With the remnants of Plessy v. Ferguson and the still existing colored restrooms, water fountains, lunch counters, poll taxes, and the back-of-the bus, it wasn’t difficult to see the dividing lines of the two Americas. If you just opened your eyes and paid the smallest amount of attention, you could see injustice.
And if you were willing to see beyond the mythology of Eisenhower’s America, you could see that the Right – and, in those days, it included the 1% of C. Wright Mills’ “Power Elite” to the white racist Dixiecrat Democrats and the tricky Dick Nixonians – with psychopaths of many varieties, from the KKK to Joseph McCarthy. This unlikely though convenient coalition was determined to maximize the power and privilege of wealthy white men while manipulating the white working class to betray their own interests. Turning the white poor against the others – the native Americans, the black and brown, the immigrants, women – convincing them always to look down at the less powerful, those who they were taught were threatening them, and never up towards the real decision-makers.
There have always been varieties of economic and social classes in this joint enterprise, from the tippy-toe country club Brahmins to the lumpenproletariat, the violent vagabonds who suffer from false consciousness. Please understand that there’s a good reason MAGA wants to ban books and prevent the teaching of slavery and segregation. Because there is no way you can learn about the slave ships, the leg irons, the slave markets in North and South, the forced separation of families, and of course, the lynching without truly witnessing the inhumanity, hatred and the unending violence of the worst parts of our history. And to start to see the similarities between the bigots of the past and the present.
As mad as it sometimes seems, Donald J. Trump, whose father made sure he never worked a real day in his life, maximized his huckster charisma to assemble a MAGA cult willing to overthrow the government. This is not new. Countries and cultures often submit to those coalitions of the top and the bottom, the top motivated to control and own the wealth, while the bottom is driven to violently abuse those they falsely imagine as responsible for their misery: the blacks, the browns, the women or the gays. Watch if you can an entire Trump rally. There is no substance to it: no policy other than sloganeering and false claims about how great things were in once upon a time in Trumpovia.
A great example of the lure of, even love of power, seems to explain Usha Vance, the Indian-American wife and formerly very successful lawyer. According to a recent report in the Washington Post, many of her friends remember how once she was appalled by Donald Trump, yet now Ms. Vance faithfully stands by her husband who yearns to be Trump’s Vice-President. And now she’s forced suffer the indignity as her very own Project 2025-loving, insurrection-forgiving J.D. Vance is exposed day after day for his moronic anti-feminist diatribes against cat-loving women and families without children.
Like the slanderous mischaracterization of DEI, Vance’s bizarre posturing about family reveals so much about the cultural war they are waging. NPR offers this report: “Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance’s criticism of prominent Democrats as “childless cat ladies” has unleashed fury among women, with many now reclaiming the age-old sexist trope as a call to action this election season. In a 2021 interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, then-Senate-candidate Vance complained that the U.S. was being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs and ‘a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too … It’s just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,’ Vance continued. ‘And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?’
Obviously no one had reminded Vance that George Washington had no children.
NPR continued: “He has called falling U.S. birth rates a ‘civilizational crisis,’ and advocated in recent years that adults without children should pay higher taxes and have fewer voting rights.”
TIME magazine weighed in: “Vance defended his 2021 remarks on “The Megyn Kelly Show” on Friday, saying ‘obviously it was a sarcastic comment … I’ve got nothing against cats, I’ve got nothing against dogs,’ Vance told Kelly … ‘People are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said … I’m sorry, it’s true. It is true that we become anti-family. It is true that the left has become anti-child. It is simply true that it’s become way too hard to raise a family.’
But, luckily, for the moment at least we’ve been saved from what seemed just a few weeks ago a likely MAGA triumph. Of course, we owe thanks to Joe Biden, who in the face of the twin disasters of Charlottesville and COVID, managed to craft a union of people of color and white suburban women to provide us with four years of relative safety. And, with little help from Republicans. enabled the Democrats to pass important programs to rebuild infrastructure, cancel student debt, stimulate job creation, and limit the costs of insulin.
Though we escaped disaster, that once successful union began to slowly crumble under the weight of price-gouging, rapidly rising food costs, runaway inflation, a growing housing crisis, yet another rise in health-care costs, and the onslaught of FOX, Newsmax and OAN false news hysteria. The increasingly desperate times in Latin America brought a continuing wave of asylum seekers, and Republicans willing to submit to Donald Trump’s insistence they torpedo the non-partisan immigration solution their conservative Republican members negotiated.
Sadly, things got worse as Biden couldn’t rouse the energy and skill to counter the never-ending barrage of MAGA lies. And, yes, the corruption in his family – Hunter’s massive mistakes – dulled whatever outrage the President could muster about the ever-escalating Trump convictions. Certainly, his Catholicism didn’t help. His reluctance to use the word “abortion” seemed to constrict his ability to rally the country around the Dobb’s betrayal of women’s right to choose. Or to forcefully remind America of the daily horrors of what conservative Republicans wrought upon women in the state after state.
By the time of the debate with Trump, it had become undeniable that a combination of his stutter and diminished energy had endangered any chance of victory in November. You could almost see the words get stuck in his head, as the phrases he formulated in his mind tried to make the journey from the brain and out of his mouth.
His reluctant choice to withdraw makes the defeat of the draconian Project 2025 possible. A consequence of the clear ability of Kamala Harris to rebuild enthusiasm amongst people of color, and to show young people there is a compelling reason to try one more time. There is now a candidate with intelligence, compassion and charisma who is clearly willing to fight and win. To engage women and workers and people of all colors to mount a renewed crusade to defeat the gerrymandered, voter-suppressed state governments the Republicans have foisted on the people. The ultra-sanctimonious Christian nationalist who delude themselves into thinking their God wants teenage girls to give birth to the children of their rapists or that women who miscarry ought to bleed out before getting a medically necessary abortion.
I understand that some may not want to acknowledge that we’re in the midst of a war. But the MAGA fraternity knows full well they’re waging this war, and if you’re not indisputably and wholeheartedly one of them, you’re in trouble. Theirs, thanks to Project 2025, is a wide and comprehensive enemies list, starting Trump’s former generals and ex-cabinet members. Remember who Trump regards as his heroes. So, as Putin learned from Stalin, the threats are everywhere. So yes, if you love to read and love to think and believe in immunization and support the right to organize labor unions and appreciate the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency and think the climate crisis is real, well you’re no friend of MAGA. As we learned last time around, if you believe in counting votes on election day, they might come for you. And if you believe that men who love men and women who love women and men and women who love them both, or understand that some men realize they’ve never felt comfortable being male, or that there are women who’ve never felt real as women, well if you’re that tolerant and believe in their right to choose and not surrender to government intrusion, well you don’t really belong in their America.
The other day Donald Trump chose to speak before the National Association of Black Journalists, and take questions from three black women journalists. It took only a minute before he turned vicious, but one moment stands out. Rachel Scott of ABC News raised the issue that many Republicans had suggested that Kamala Harris was a DEI choice to run as President. When Donald Trump asked her to define DEI, she quickly answered “Diversity. Equity. Inclusion,” though it seemed he either didn’t hear or didn’t understand. As The New York Times reports, then Trump launched into an answer that was met by gasps and boos:
“‘I’ve known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage,’ said Mr. Trump, who makes a point of mispronouncing Ms. Harris’s name. ‘And she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black. Now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know — is she Indian or is she Black? I respect either one but she obviously doesn’t because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a Black person.’”
Of course, Trump wasn’t done and double-downed later that day on Truth Social:
His response, despicable as it is, demonstrates either his complete lack of understanding that with an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, one is both Indian and black. Or his remarks more likely reveals his contempt for those of mixed races.
Either way, Trump betrayed his great discomfort with our changing America. Perhaps those in charge of his 2024 Campaign might want to impress upon him the reality that many potential voters exist in a world similar to that of Kamala Harris. Here are some statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 survey:
In her recent trip to Pittsfield, Kamala Harris said: “Let us make no mistake, this campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. Our campaign has always been about two very different visions for our nation.”
During his appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists, Trump revealed he doesn’t really see this other America, let alone appreciate that Americans of all colors deserve, and are demanding, respect.
In a short time, I have moved from depression and despair to hope. It is a joy to watch and listen to Kamala Harris. In my time I have made a few speeches. Kamala has got it down pat. Nothing helps more than believing in what you’re saying. I don’t know what it’s like to use a teleprompter. But Biden, who can read, had trouble. And Trump, who clearly can’t read, is an unmitigated disaster.
I’ve now watched her speak before a variety of audiences and Kamala’s timing is perfect. If you want to believe again, here are some excerpts of what she’s recently said. Here’s a partial transcript from her remarks on July 23, 2024 in West Allis, Wisconsin. And believe me when the transcript reads applause, there was, in fact, massive applause, and, yes, there were major boos:
“So, friends, we have 105 days until Election Day. And in that time, we’ve got some work to do. But we’re not afraid of hard work. We like hard work, don’t we? (Applause.) And we will win this election. (Applause.) Yes, we will.
So, as Leia told you, before I was elected vice president, before I was elected a United States senator, I was elected attorney general of the state of California. And I was a courtroom prosecutor before then. (Applause.)
And in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds — (laughter) predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So, hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type. (Applause.) (Laughs.)
AUDIENCE: Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And in this campaign, I promise you I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week. (Applause.)
As attorney general of California, I took on one of our country’s largest for profit colleges that was scamming students. Donald Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: As a prosecutor, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse. Well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: As attorney general of California, I took on the big Wall Street banks and held them accountable for fraud. (Applause.) Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: But let’s also make no mistake: This campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. This campaign is about who we fight for. (Applause.) This is about who we fight for.
Just look at how we are running our campaigns. So, Donald Trump is relying on support from billionaires and big corporations, and he is trading access in exchange for campaign contributions.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: A couple of months ago—y’all saw that?—a couple months ago at Mar-a-Lago, he literally promised Big Oil companies—Big Oil lobbyists he would do their bidding for $1 billion in campaign donations.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: On the other hand, we are running a people-powered campaign. (applause.) And we just had—some breaking news: We just had the best 24 hours—(applause.)—of grassroot fundraising in presidential campaign history. (applause.) All right?
And because we are a people-powered campaign, that is how you know we will be a people-first presidency. (Applause.)
And, Wisconsin, this campaign is also about two different visions for our nation: one where we are focused on the future, the other focused on the past.
We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead— (applause); a future where no child has to grow up in poverty—(applause); where every worker has the freedom to join a union (applause); where every person has affordable health care—(applause) affordable childcare—(applause)—and paid family leave. (Applause.) We believe in a future where every senior can retire with dignity. (Applause.)
So, all of this is to say: Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency. (Applause.) Because here’s the thing we all here, Wisconsin, know: When our middle class is strong, American is strong. (Applause.)
But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward. He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda —
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: —will weaken the middle class.
Like, we know we got to take this seriously. And can you believe they put that thing in writing? (Laughter.) Read it. It’s 900 pages.
But here’s the thing: You—when you read it, you will see Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: They intend to end the Affordable Care Act—
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — and take us back, then, to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Remember what that was like?
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Children with asthma, women who survived breast cancer, grandparents with diabetes.
America has tried these failed economic policies before, but we are not going back. (Applause.) We are not going back. We’re not going back.
AUDIENCE: We’re not going back! We’re not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We’re not going back.
AUDIENCE: We’re not going back! We’re not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We are not going back.
AUDIENCE: We’re not going back! We’re not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We’re not going back.
AUDIENCE: We’re not going back! We’re not going back! We’re not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We’re not going back.
And I’ll tell you why we’re not going back: because ours is a fight for the future. (Applause.) And it is a fight for freedom. (Applause.)
Generations of Americas—generations—and we have to remember this: the shoulders on which we stand. Generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom. And now, Wisconsin, the baton is in our hands. (Applause.) (Emphasis added.)
We who believe in the sacred freedom to vote — (applause)—will make sure every American has the ability to cast their ballot and have it counted. (Applause.)
We who believe that every person in our nation—who should have the freedom to live safe from the terror of gun violence—(applause)—will finally pass red flag laws, universal background checks, and an assault weapons ban. (Applause.)
And we who believe in reproductive freedom — (applause) — will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion bans because we trust women to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do. (Applause.)
And when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, as president of the United States, I will sign it into law. (Applause.)
So, Wisconsin, ultimately, in this election, we each face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: A country—(laughter and applause). And to your point—(laughter)—do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law—(applause)—or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?
AUDIENCE: No!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And here’s the beauty of this moment: We each have the power to answer that question. The power is with the people. (Applause.) We each have the power to answer that question.
And in the next 105 days, then, we have work to do. (Applause.) We have doors to knock on, we have phone calls to make, we have voters to register, and we have an election to win. (Applause.)
So, Wisconsin, today I ask you: Are you ready to get to work? (Applause.)
Do we believe in freedom? (Applause.)
Do we believe in opportunity? (Applause.)
Do we believe in the promise of America? (Applause.)
And are we ready to fight for it? (Applause.)
And when we fight—
AUDIENCE: We win!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — we win.
God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)”
Then she gave a great speech on July 25, 2024 to the American Federation of Teachers where she expressed appreciation for the work they do and shared some of her own story:
“And to the members of AFT, I thank you for your service to our nation. (Applause.)
From the public service workers and higher education faculty to the school bus drivers—(applause)—and the custodians to the school nurses and our teachers—(applause)—you all do God’s work, educating our children—the whole ecosystem of who are AFT members.
It is you who have taken on the most noble of work, which is to concern yourself with the well-being of the children of America. And I thank you for that. I thank you for that. (Applause.) And I thank you, also, for your support over the years and for being the first union to endorse me this week. (Applause.)
Thank you. I thank you. (Applause.) I thank you.
And as you may know, I am a proud product of public education. (Applause.) Many of you know that my first grade teacher, Mrs. Frances Wilson, God rest her soul, taught me and educated me and encouraged me and inspired me.
And years later, when I walked across the stage to receive my law school diploma, Mrs. Frances Wilson was in the audience. (Applause.) Yeah. Yeah.
And that’s who you are. I know who you are. I know who you are. This work is personal and it is professional and it is so critically important.”
Then on July 30, 2024 at a campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, Vice President Harris expanded her remarks to confront the issue of immigration:
THE VICE PRESIDENT: As a prosecutor, I specialized in child sexual abuse cases and sexual abuse cases. Well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And as an attorney general, I held the big Wall Street banks accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud—(applause)— 34 counts.
So, in this—
AUDIENCE: Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, in this campaign—
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, in this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week — (applause) — any day of the week, including, for example, on the issue of immigration.
So, I was the attorney general of a border state. In that job, I walked underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico on that border with law enforcement officers. I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels, and human traffickers that came into our country illegally. I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won.
Donald Trump — (applause) — Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk — (applause) — or as my friend Quavo would say, he does not walk it like he talks it. (Applause.)
Where’s Quavo? (Laughs.)
So, look, our administration worked on the most significant border security bill in decades. Some of the most conservative Republicans in Washington, D.C., supported the bill. Even the Border Patrol endorsed it. It was all set to pass. But at the last minute, Trump directed his allies in the Senate to vote it down.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Right. He tanked — tanked the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win an election—
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — which goes to show Donald Trump does not care about border security; he only cares about himself. (Applause.)
And when I am president, I will work to actually solve the problem. (Applause.)
So, here is my pledge to you. As president, I will bring back the border security bill that Donald Trump killed, and I will sign it into law — (applause)—and show Donald Trump what real leadership looks like. (Applause.) (Emphasis added.)
And then she moved on to talk about the economy, the threats posed by Project 2025, and Trump’s personal attacks on her: “And to keep our middle class strong, families need relief from the high cost of living so that they have a chance not just to get by but to get ahead. (Applause.)
And, yes, it is true that by many indicators, our economy is the strongest in the world — (applause) — but while inflation is down and wages are up, prices are still too high. (Applause.) You know it, and I know it. (Applause.)
And when we win this election, here’s what we’re going to do about it.
On day one, I will take on price gouging and bring down costs. (Applause.)
We will ban more of those hidden fees and surprise late charges that banks and other companies use to pad their profits. (Applause.)
We will take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases. (Applause.)
And we will take on Big Pharma to cap prescription drug costs for all Americans. (Applause.)
Our plan will lower costs and save many middle-class families thousands of dollars a year. But Donald Trump has a different plan in mind, one that would raise prices on middle-class families. Just look at his Project 2025 agenda.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I take it you’ve seen it. (Laughter.)
Project 2025 is a plan to weaken the middle class, be clear. And Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: He intends to gut our investments in clean energy jobs.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: He intends to end the Affordable Care Act—
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — to take us back to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions. Do you guys remember what that was? Children with asthma. Breast cancer survivors. Grandparents with diabetes.
Georgia, America has tried these failed policies before, and we are not—
AUDIENCE: Going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — going back. (Applause.) We’re not going back. We’re not going back.
AUDIENCE: We’re not going back! We’re not going back! We’re not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
AUDIENCE: We’re not going back! We’re not going back! We’re not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And we are not going back because ours is a fight for the future and it is a fight for freedom.( .)
Across our nation, we are witnessing a full-on assault on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights: the freedom to vote — (applause); the freedom to be safe from gun violence — (applause); the freedom to live without fear of bigotry and hate —(applause); the freedom to love whom you love openly and with pride — (applause); the freedom to learn and acknowledge our true and full history — (applause); and the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body — (applause) — and not have her government tell her what to do. (Applause.)
Ours is a fight for the future and for freedom. And I don’t have to tell folks in Atlanta that generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom. And now the baton is in our hands — (applause)—each and every one of us.
And we love our country. We love our country. And I believe it is the highest form of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country. (Applause.)
And so, we, who believe in the sacred freedom to vote, will finally pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. (Applause.)
We, who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence, will finally pass universal background checks — (applause), red flag laws — (applause), and an assault weapons ban — (applause).
We, who believe in reproductive freedom — (applause will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion bans. And when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms — (applause) — as president of the United States, I will sign it into law. (Applause.)
So, November 5th — November 5th is in 98 days. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
An—(Laughs.) (Applause.)
So, in 98 days — and let’s level set. Friends, let’s level set. We have a fight in front of us. (Applause.) We have a fight in front of us, and we are the underdogs in this race. We are.
But you see, this is a people-powered campaign. (Applause.) Ours is a people-powered campaign.
In fact, after I announced my candidacy, we saw the best week of grassroots fundraising in presidential campaign history. (Applause.) And if you go to KamalaHarris.com, you can help us build on that success. (Applause.)
So, the momentum in this race is shifting. And there are signs that Donald Trump is feeling it. (Laughter and applause.) You may have noticed.
So, last week, you may have seen, he pulled out of the debate in September he had previously agreed to.
AUDIENCE: Booo—
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So — so, here’s the thing. Here — here’s the funny thing about that. Here’s the funny thing about that. So, he won’t debate, but he and his running mate sure seem to have a lot to say about me. (Applause.)
And, by the way, don’t you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird? (Applause.)
Well, Donald—(applause)—I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage—(applause)—because, as the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face. (Laughs.) (Applause.) (Emphasis added.)
AUDIENCE: Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
So, Georgia, in the next 98 days, we have our work cut out for us. And this is not going to be easy. This is hard work, but we like hard work. Hard work is good work. (Applause.)
So, Georgia, today I ask you: Are you ready to get to work?
AUDIENCE: Yes! (Applause.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Do we believe in freedom?
AUDIENCE: Yes! (Applause.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Do we believe in opportunity?
AUDIENCE: Yes! (Applause.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Do we believe in the promise of America?
AUDIENCE: Yes! (Applause.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And are we ready to fight for it?
AUDIENCE: Yes! (Applause.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And when we fight—
AUDIENCE: We win!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — we win!
God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)”
It is sometimes hard for me to believe how much has changed in the course of just a couple of weeks. Yes, the MAGA threat remains. It is difficult to assess exactly how much damage the Supreme Court has already done –- the unnecessary suffering endured by so many women and their families and the damage that will continue to be done as state after state makes it more and more difficult to vote. The damage their recent decision to cripple the work of governmental regulators will do to our public health and the environment.
But, now at least, it is clear that we are rebuilding a dynamic coalition of young and old, of black and white and brown, of teachers and auto workers, of Americans without regard to gender and sexual preference. There are so many of us who want most of all to leave the bitterness of our most recent past behind and embrace a better future. So I am thrilled to see the ever-increasing numbers of Americans who are saying loudly and clearly, we’re not going back.
