Among those at the event are Cat ladies for Kamala, train lovers for Harris-Walz, Republicans for Harris, Swifties for Kamala.
Actors Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep are joining via video chat, as are Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Jennifer Lopez, Tracee Ellis-Ross and Brian Cranston.
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Oprah concluded by quoting Maya Angelou, saying, “if you know better you have to do better”.
That event has now ended.
Harris is asked by Meryl Streep what preparations are being made for the possibility that she wins, but Trump does not accept the result.
Harris says many Americans who voted for Trump have decided 6 January was a bridge too far.
She says “the lawyers are working” and that is important to speak to friends and neighbours about misinformation, and to respect poll workers, and to not be afraid to vote.
She doesn’t really answer the question.
People who have experienced gun violence are speaking now, again speaking through tears. A woman whose daughter was involved in a school shooting recounts the feeling of not knowing if her daughter, who survived, was alright.
Harris says what is needed is common sense, and assault weapons bans, and notes that she owns a gun.
If somebody breaks into her house, she says, they’re getting shot. She probably should not have said that, she adds, saying her staff will deal with it later.
Tracee Ellis-Ross points out that women who don’t have children still contribute a lot to society. She is saying this because of JD Vance’s childless cat lady comments.
Julia Roberts is speaking now via video link.
She says she wants to be able to travel and have people think it is a good thing she is American, not a bad one.
Harris responds to comments from Thurman’s mother and sister, saying, “First of all, I’m so sorry.”
Thurman’s family only recently learned how she died, Harris says.
Amber’s mom shared with me over and over that the word preventable keeps coming to her, says Harris.
Harris points out that Trump chose three members of the supreme court, which then overturned Roe v Wade. She says he did it intentionally.
In 2016 Trump said he wanted abortion legality to be decided by individual states, while Clinton vowed to defend abortion rights.
He has boasted that he “was able to kill Roe v Wade”.
More from Donegan on that story:
Thurman could have been cured with a D&C, or dilation and curettage, a procedure in which the cervix is dilated to create an opening through which instruments can be inserted to empty out the contents of a uterus. The procedure is a popular form of abortion, but it is also a routine part of miscarriage and other gynecological care. If the tissue was promptly removed, she probably would have been fine: a D&C requires no special equipment and takes only about 15 minutes.
But Georgia’s abortion ban outlawed the D&C procedure, making it a felony to perform except in cases of managing a “spontaneous” or “naturally occurring” miscarriage. Because Thurman had taken abortion pills, her miscarriage was illegal to treat. She suffered in a hospital bed for 20 hours, developing sepsis and beginning to experience organ failure. By the time the Georgia doctors were finally willing to treat her, it was too late.
A woman named Shanette is speaking now through tears about her daughter, Amber Thurman.
“You are looking at a mother who is broken,” she says.
Thurman, a Black 28-year-old mother to a young son died in Georgia after doctors at a hospital there refused to perform a simple procedure that could have saved her life – because the law did not allow them.
Here is the Guardian’s Moira Donegan on the subject:
Hadley Duvall, 22, is speaking now. She has told the story of being raped and impregnated, at 12, by her stepfather, as she helps Harris campaign for reproductive rights.
When Roe v Wade was overturned, she says, she found that while her abuse was over, her story was not.
She thanks Harris for “standing up” for women, and “really showing us that life is not about the hard things you go through”.
“You don’t bow down,’ she says.
Here is Duvall speaking in August:
Harris is asked by a young person about the economy, and the difficulty of going from being a student to an independent adult.
She compares her and Trump’s plans.
She has been stronger than at other times on the economy here, waffling less and talking about her policies more.
Harris references Trump’s response at the debate between the candidates, where he said he had a “concept of a plan” for healthcare. She will give small businesses a $50,000 grant, she says. She says the current small business grant of $5,000 is for a “concept of a business”.
Harris is asked about her plan to tackle the cost of living. The economy is one of the areas where Harris has often been weak in her responses.
She talks about policies she has announced. She says she will take on price-gouging to bring down the price of groceries.
She says she will bring down the cost of buying a home with a tax credit. She will support small business owners.
She takes a swipe at Trump’s family wealth and bankruptcy plans. She says she will extend the child tax credit.
She repeats her idea of an “opportunity economy”.
She says she will sign the bill into law if elected.
Harris is asked by a voter what her specific steps would be on strengthening the border.
“This is not a theoretical issue for me, this is something I have actually worked on,” she says. “I take very seriously the importance of having a secure border.”
She says she has prosecuted cross-border criminal gangs.
She talks about the border security bill that Trump blocked.
“It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl,” she says. It would have allowed more agents.
Trump prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem, Harris says.
Oprah brings up Springfield, and the repeated false claims made by Trump and his running mate JD Vance, about immigrants in the town.
“It seems to us that something happened to you the moment President Joe Biden stepped aside and withdrew his candidacy, that a veil or something dropped, and you just stepped into your power,” Oprah says to Harris.
Oprah stands up and does an impression of Harris walking confidently.
“We each have those moments in our lives where it’s time to step up,” Harris says.
She felt a sense of responsibility, and with that comes a sense of purpose, she says.
“There really is so much at stake”.
Harris walks into the event, hugging Whitmer and Oprah, and taking a seat in an armchair opposite Oprah.
She says when we’ve dealt with so much that is exhausting with this movement trying to divide Americans, it is important to remember what unites Americans.
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
