Washington:
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will On Tuesday symbolically conclude her presidential campaign by delivering her “closing argument” from the same location in Washington D.C. where Republican Donald Trump incited a mob to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 by claiming that the election was stolen from him.
“We’re going to the Capitol” he had instructed his supporters.
“We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about,” Trump spoke to the crowd. “And to use a favourite term that all of you people really came up with: We will stop the steal. Today I will lay out just some of the evidence proving that we won this election and we won it by a landslide. This was not a close election” he had said.
6th of January 2021 was an ordeal that saw Trump being charged criminally for attempting to overturn the election results, while more than 1500 people have been charged regarding the Capitol seige since.
“And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore” Trump had incited his followers. This came in post legal challenges that failed after he declared election fraud. Even though Trump’s own Cabinet refused his allegations, his notions were held high by his supporters.
He officially started this protest when he tweeted on December 19th, 2020, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” He hoped that Mike Pence, the then-Vice President would have his back and would refuse to attest the election results, “Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election … He has the absolute right to do it. We’re supposed to protect our country, support our country, support our Constitution, and protect our Constitution.”
After the violent “protest” went into a tail-spin, hours later, Trump tweeted, “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long.”
Although Trump was not in the protest physically, he was watching it live on Fox News inside the White House. This protest that Trump started, got 7 people dead and 140 injured.
During a rally in Ohio, Trump labelled the rioters as “patriots” and claimed to help them as soon as he got into office.
Choosing to draw the campaign close at the same spot is a strategic move on Harris’ part that underscores her commitment to contrasting her vision for America with Trump’s election lies.
