Sawt Falasteen - Harris attacks Trump's 'extremist' agenda in speech to teachers

Harris -- the country's first female vice president and seeking to make history again in November -- has enjoyed a groundswell of support from labor groups, ethnic minorities and her own party since announcing her 11th-hour candidacy to replace President Joe Biden as the candidate.

The first union to endorse her -- the American Federation of Teachers -- applauded at their convention in Houston as Harris warned that America was witnessing a "full-on attack" by Trump's Republicans on "hard-won, hard-fought freedoms."

"While you teach students about democracy and representative government, extremists attack the sacred freedom to vote. While you try to create safe and welcoming places where our children can learn, extremists attack our freedom to live safe from gun violence" she said.

"They have the nerve to tell teachers to strap on a gun in the classroom while they refuse to pass common sense gun safety laws."

Harris, 59, jumped into the election after weeks of turmoil over 81-year-old Biden, who bowed out Sunday after a dismal debate performance against Trump accelerated concerns over his mental capacity and persistently low polling numbers.

Calling herself "a proud product of public education," she connected her personal story to her political outlook, telling her audience that the work of teaching was "personal and it is professional, and... so critically important."

The former top prosecutor for California tied the event to a key campaign message about refusing to go back to Trump's America, praising her audience as "visionaries" who look to the future.

"You see the potential in every child. You foster it, you encourage it, and in so doing, you shape the future of our nation, which is why I say we need you so desperately right now today," she said.

And she contrasted Democratic efforts to cancel student debt and her vision of investment in public schools and universities with Trump's vow to dismantle the Education Department and cut spending in half.

- 'Freedom' -

Trump, who at 78 is the oldest presidential nominee in US history, has promised he will "not give one penny" of federal funds to schools with vaccine mandates. Every public school in America has vaccine mandates.

The speech came with Harris facing increasingly extreme rhetoric from Trump, who on Wednesday called her a "radical left lunatic" and claimed -- entirely falsely -- that she was in favor of the "execution" of newborn babies.

Trump also alleged on Fox News on Thursday that Harris -- who is due back in Washington later for talks with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu -- had benefited from a Democratic "coup" against Biden.

One of the most urgent tasks facing Harris is to forge her own political identity before she can be defined by Trump as inseparable from the unpopular Biden.

This will include quickly spending some of the $100 million-plus that she has raised in the opening days to tell her personal story and to counter Republican characterizations of her as an out-of-touch liberal and responsible for illegal immigration.

The Harris campaign sought to plant an early flag with its first TV spot Thursday -- an ad featuring the Beyonce hit "Freedom," warning that Americans' rights are under threat from Trump.

Under the slogan "We Choose Freedom," Harris invites voters to unite against Project 2025 -- a radical blueprint for centralizing power in the presidency that was promoted by Trump and prepared by many of his current and former aides.

Trump has recently tried to distance himself from the 900-page plan, which would remake the federal government in his image, removing key checks on his power and purging the entire administration of officials who are not unswervingly loyal.

However the plan tracks closely with many of the policies Trump and his closest advisors have said they want to pursue.

The speech came amid a mushrooming controversy over resurfaced remarks by Trump's vice-presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, calling Democrats a "bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives."

N.Shalabi--SF-PST