As most people know, the sitting president lives in the White House during his or her tenure, but where the sitting vice president lives might not be common knowledge: He or she lives at the U.S. Naval Observatory, which is only a few miles to the northwest of the White House.
Much of the public might not be aware of this, in large part because Americans generally don’t get to see the Naval Observatory. As a day-to-day matter, major political events simply don’t happen there.
But there are exceptions. Just as much of the country was starting to learn about former White House chief of staff John Kelly’s newest and most provocative accusations about Donald Trump, Kamala Harris’ aides announced that she would deliver remarks at the vice presidential residence — a rarity for both her and her predecessors.
Those who assumed the Democratic candidate would address Kelly’s comments were quickly proven correct. NBC News reported:
‘It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans,’ Harris said. ‘All of this is further evidence for the American people of who Donald Trump really is.’ Harris said Kelly’s comments furthered her belief that Trump is ‘unstable’ and unfit for office, adding that he has now surrounded himself with people who would allow him to operate with ‘unchecked power.’
“Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable,” the vice president added. “And in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions. Those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses would no longer be there and no longer be there to rein him in.
“So, the bottom line is this: We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power. The question in 13 days will be: What do the American people want?”
Hours later, Harris participated in a CNN town hall and continued to keep the focus on Kelly’s assessment of his former boss: The Democrat not only endorsed the retired general’s description of Trump as a “fascist,” she also described the former White House chief of staff’s new comments as “a 911 call to the American people.”
Harris went on to say, in reference to Trump’s critics from his own inner circle, “We must take very seriously those folks who knew him best.”
But wait, there’s more. The Harris campaign also organized a press call with retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson, a former senior counselor to Kelly and a Republican, as well as retired Army Reserve Colonel Kevin Carroll.
“Let’s be clear, the dangers of a second Trump term don’t lie solely in his rhetoric, but in his actions,” Carroll told reporters. “The last time Donald Trump was in power, he did try to enlist the military into his attempts to overturn a free and fair election that he knew he lost. He tried to weaponize our military against American citizens, including peaceful protesters. Again, he floated ‘terminating,’ in his words, the U.S. Constitution that service members swear an oath to, that these actions are outrageous and unacceptable. They fly in the face of everything our country stands for.
“The only reason Trump was stopped the last time was because people like General Kelly stood in the breach and acted as a check to Trump’s worst impulses. A second time around, those guardrails won’t exist. ... He’s surrounding himself with little loyalists and toadies who will greenlight every one of his wishes, letting him bulldoze the tenets of our democracy and lock up fellow Americans, including sitting members of Congress, whom he calls ‘the enemy within.’”
By all appearances, the point of these furious efforts was to drive home a relatively simple point: This is it. This is the moment that might very well change everything. This is the five-alarm fire. This is what the whole campaign might very well be about.
A retired four-star general, who served at the Republican candidate’s side for two years, desperately wants his fellow Americans to know that he heard Trump disparage veterans. He heard Trump offer private praise for “Hitler’s generals” and the “good things” the former president thought Hitler did. He saw Trump try to abuse his powers. He knows why Trump meets the “definition of ‘fascist.’” He understands as well as anyone in the country that Trump “prefers the dictator approach to government.” He explained that Trump wants a military that puts its loyalty to him over its loyalty to the Constitution.
Harris and her team see this as the front page, above-the-fold news that we’ve been waiting for — the news that should decide who the nation’s next president will be. It’s now up to the electorate to decide whether it agrees.