Is it too late to move the needle?

On the evening of Oct. 29, Kamala Harris delivered the closing argument for her 2024 presidential campaign. The event’s location was an interesting choice: the Ellipse in Washington, DC, with the White House in the background. This made Harris seem almost like an incumbent running for reelection, a perception that may not be too far off the mark, given the fact that many people would argue the vice president practically snatched the torch from an ailing Joe Biden and is campaigning for his second term. This was, of course, the spot from which Donald Trump addressed his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, as they gathered to protest the outcome of an election they believed had been rigged against the then-president.

As most people probably suspected, Harris devoted a large part of her address to painting a dystopian and terrifying vision of America under another Trump presidency. She made several claims about what the 45th president had done or would do in the future – claims that, in various ways, can be described as already debunked, highly disputable, or hyperbole.

A Kamala Harris Hail Mary?

In what could be interpreted as a last desperate attempt to keep people from voting for Trump, Kamala Harris warned her audience that one of her opponent’s top priorities is prosecuting the people he has on an “enemies list.” She also asserted that Trump would sign a federal abortion ban. Most outrageously, though, Harris claimed, “Donald Trump intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him.”

It probably doesn’t need to be explained to most rational people why “outrageous” is the correct word to describe such a statement. Still, it is hard to resist the urge to make a comparison regarding the alleged “enemies list.” The last Trump administration prosecuted none of its critics or political opponents during the former president’s term. The Biden-Harris administration, in less than four years, has prosecuted a long list of political opponents (almost all of them Trump associates) – including Trump himself, multiple times.

Clearly, the main theme was, vote for me, Kamala Harris, because Trump is a monster who will make your lives miserable. That was Hillary Clinton’s theme, as it was Joe Biden’s in 2020 and again in 2024, before his ouster. It has been Harris’ mantra since she supplanted her boss in this year’s presidential race.

The rest of the VP’s address was standard fare from career politicians, whether Democrats or Republicans. She would unite the country, restore America to its status as a global leader, and make everything affordable for everyone. There was also a promise to introduce a federal ban on “price gouging.” Nobody seems willing to explain what this is or how it would work – or even how price gouging would be defined. It does, however, sound a lot like socialist-style price controls – and as history has demonstrated, that has never worked out well for regular people.

The question is, in her final pitch to the nation, did Kamala Harris win anybody over? She was hardly likely to bring any Trump supporters into her camp, no matter what she had said, and people who had already decided to vote for Harris would do so even if she had not given this speech. All those votes are baked in. The unknown factor in these last few days before the election is the undecided voter. And there may be more of them than most political pundits suggest – and almost certainly enough to swing the election to either candidate.