Kamala Harris hits out at Trump, pledges 'new way forward' for US

US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris waves as she arrives to speak on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the party’s nomination for president today at the DNC which ran from August 19-22 in Chicago. [AFP]

As red, white and blue balloons streamed onto a Chicago stage and people danced in the aisles, Kamala Harris waved to supporters and basked in the crowd’s adulation after the speech of her political life.

As she accepted her party’s nomination in the US presidential race, nearly every sentence Harris uttered was greeted with raucous cheers, her voice reverberating around the packed auditorium.

Thirteen of those words, delivered early in the speech, electrified the house: “I accept your nomination to be president of the United States of America.”

Harris pledged a “new way forward,” warning that Donald Trump will take America backward if he wins November’s blockbuster election.

The 59-year-old sought to strike a presidential tone as she delivered a message of unity and patriotism for Americans after one of the most extraordinary turnarounds in US political history.

“With this election, our nation has a precious, fleeting opportunity to move past the bitterness, cynicism, and divisive battles of the past —a chance to chart a new way forward,” Harris said to huge cheers from tens of thousands of pumped-up supporters.

Bring economic opportunity

“And I want you to know: I promise to be a president for all Americans.”

The convention became a giant party to celebrate Harris’s astonishing ascent from something of a political afterthought to Democratic standard bearer upon President Joe Biden’s surprise decision to end his reelection bid.

A sea of waving Stars and Stripes flags and chants of “USA” filled the arena as jubilant Democrats anointed Harris. She was later joined on stage by her running mate Tim Walz and their families, as they held their arms aloft while 100,000 red, white and blue balloons tumbled from the ceiling.

Country act The Chicks sang a version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” while pop star Pink also performed as the Democrats rolled out a list of celebrity backers.

But it was Harris’s time to shine on the biggest night of her political life, after becoming the first Black woman to be nominated by a major US party.

She reached out to voters across America’s bitter political divide, promising to bring economic opportunity and protect their personal freedoms on key issues like abortion.

“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations,” she vowed.

Harris then launched a broadside at 78-year-old Trump, whose campaign has been upended by having to face a woman two decades younger, rather than the increasingly frail Biden, 81. “We know what a second Trump term would look like,” she said, saying he wanted to “pull our country back to the past.”

She laid out her personal story as a child of a single working mother, and her career as a prosecutor, saying she has the background and experience to serve the country in contrast to Trump who she said only works for himself and “his billionaire friends.”

Turning to foreign policy, she accused Trump of trying to “cozy up” to foreign autocrats like Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Harris pledged instead to “stand strong” with Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion and support NATO allies—again all in stark contrast to Trump’s isolationist stance.

On the hugely divisive issue of Israel’s war in Gaza, Harris went further than the rhetoric of her boss Biden by calling the scale of suffering in the Palestinian enclave “heartbreaking.”

She vowed to get a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, and cheers erupted when she vowed “self-determination” for the Palestinian people.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have demonstrated throughout the Democratic convention, with several thousands rallying outside it again on Thursday.

The Democrats have been riding a wave of energy and enthusiasm since Harris stepped up. She has wiped out former president Trump’s lead in the polls, drawn enormous crowds and raised record funds.

The torch having well and truly been passed, Biden gave a farewell speech on the first day of the convention and said he had called Harris to wish her luck.

“I am proud to watch my partner Kamala Harris accept our nomination for president. She will be an outstanding president because she is fighting for our future,” Biden, who is on holiday in California, said on X.

Barack Obama, who along with his wife Michelle delivered rousing support for Harris at the convention on Tuesday, said Harris had “showed the world what I have known to be true.

“She is ready on day one to be President and represents the best of America. Let’s get to work.”

Yet Democrats will also be trying to temper their hopes.

Harris told reporters after her speech that the Democrats were the “underdogs” in the election, with a nail-biting sprint to November against a combative opponent.

As he struggles to recalibrate his own campaign, Trump is increasingly resorting to personal insults, racially charged attacks, and dark rhetoric.

He gave a play-by-play commentary on Harris’s speech on his Truth social platform, accusing her of making the United States a “failing nation” while part of the Biden administration.

“She’s done nothing for three and a half years but talk, and that’s what she’s doing tonight, she’s complaining about everything but doing nothing!” he wrote.

Explosive finale

The Democratic Party has leaned hard on saying the convention was meant to be about bringing “joy,” and attendees seemed to respond to the call.

“I’m so elated, I’m so proud to be part of this moment. I’m 57 years old and as a Caribbean-American, I am proud of her,” said attendee Wynnie Testamark as she clutched a US flag moments after hearing Harris accept her party’s highest honor.

“She’s been prepared for such a moment as this, we need a moment like this.” Expectations were high, with party members rewarded with a rendition by Pink of her hit “What About Us,” lighting thousands of phone torches.

In an explosive finale to a high-energy week, Harris at once concluded her unprecedentedly abrupt elevation from supportive deputy to President Joe Biden to aiming to become the country’s first woman president.

The full-to-capacity crowd waved vertical “Harris” banners in their thousands in support of their nominee, who wore a dark jacket set off with a matching cravat, and a US flag lapel pin.