STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're about to hear both presidential candidates at length. Former President Trump and Vice President Harris made big speeches at iconic locations outside of swing states, so let's listen to selections from both - in the order they took place.
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DONALD TRUMP: And I just want to say a very big hello to a special place, New York, and to an incredible arena, Madison Square Garden. Incredible.
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INSKEEP: Trump appeared Sunday, and the advanced speakers stole the show. The comedian who called Puerto Rico a floating pile of garbage and also talked of Black men and watermelons, the speaker who called Harris the antichrist and the speaker who said she had low IQ. The former president started out cheerful.
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TRUMP: I'm asking you to dream big again. We're going to dream big again. We haven't been dreaming big at all.
INSKEEP: And then he turned a corner.
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TRUMP: Tell Kamala Harris that you've done a terrible job, that Crooked Joe Biden has done a terrible job. You've destroyed our country.
INSKEEP: Trump reviewed his proposals for tax cuts. He has added new tax cut promises throughout the campaign, each matching a crucial constituency, from Nevada restaurant workers to senior citizens.
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TRUMP: And I'm announcing a new policy today that I will support a tax credit for family caregivers who take care of a parent or a loved one. It's about time that they were recognized, right?
INSKEEP: He offered varying details of his plans for sweeping tariffs. At one point, he said he would raise those taxes on imports. And at another, he said he could raise the taxes dramatically if other countries impose tariffs on U.S. goods.
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TRUMP: It's called an eye for an eye. And I will never apologize for defending America. I will protect our workers. I will protect our jobs. I will protect our borders. I will protect our great families, and I will protect the birthright of our children to live in the richest and most powerful nation on the face of the Earth.
INSKEEP: The reference to the birthright of our children was notable, as Trump has proposed to reinterpret the Constitution to end birthright citizenship, making it easier to expel the children of immigrants. Trump repeated charges his campaign has never been able to document about other countries emptying prisons and asylums.
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TRUMP: There has never been anything like it anywhere in the world for any country. Kamala has imported criminal migrants from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions from all around the world, from Venezuela to the Congo. A lot of people are coming from the Congo prisons.
INSKEEP: Now, Trump is correct about one thing. When he said, there's never been anything like it, that's true. There is not.
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TRUMP: The United States is now an occupied country, but it will soon be an occupied country no longer.
INSKEEP: He said he would evict alleged gang members using a centuries-old law.
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TRUMP: I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Think of that. That's how far back - that's when they had law and order. They had some tough ones.
INSKEEP: The 1798 law allows the government to target citizens of enemy powers in times of war. It was used to confine Japanese Americans during World War II. It's not clear how, if at all, it would apply to immigrants in peacetime. Beyond any policy detail, the former president spoke up for himself, aware that critics have questioned his age and mental state.
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TRUMP: Isn't it nice to have somebody that's your president that doesn't need a teleprompter? Isn't that - we haven't been on teleprompter for a long time.
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TRUMP: I haven't been on this teleprompter.
INSKEEP: He rambled on - what Trump calls doing the weave.
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TRUMP: And when Newt or when the speaker or when Tommy Tuberville - who's here someplace, the great senator from Alabama - or when any one of our literally 75 - by the way, should I introduce all of them by name? I should.
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TRUMP: Should I?
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TRUMP: No? Yes? I don't know. It's a lot. Speakers, should I? I don't know? Will they be angry? Yeah, they will. It's a lot of introducing, right? Let's keep going with this speech, all right? But, you know, when you have a - when you're in this profession - I have a friend who wanted to come in. I said, what's your - do you like speaking? Well, I do, but I have a great fear of speaking. I said, don't be a politician.
INSKEEP: Trump spoke for approximately 54 additional minutes, talking about Ohio voters, Afghanistan, Russia, Israel, President Biden's mental state, back to immigration, to a leading Ohio congressman, and on to his conversations with the billionaire Elon Musk as well as a rival candidate who threw his support behind Trump.
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TRUMP: Robert F. Kennedy cares more about human beings and health and the environment than anybody, and he's going to be absolutely - having him is such a great honor. I've been friends of his for a long time, and I'm going to let him go wild on health. I'm going to let him go wild on the food. I'm going to let him go wild on medicines.
INSKEEP: Kennedy has campaigned for years against the safety of vaccines. Trump has talked of giving both Kennedy and Musk powerful roles in government.
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TRUMP: We are one people, one family and one glorious nation under God. We will never give in. We will never give up. We will never, ever back down, and we will never, ever, ever, ever surrender.
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INSKEEP: Former President Trump spoke Sunday at Madison Square Garden, one of two speeches we're hearing at some length in the order they took place.
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing) America, America, God shed his grace on thee.
INSKEEP: That's a warm-up for Vice President Harris in Washington. She came to a stage near the White House - the same place Trump fired up a crowd that went on to attack the Capitol on January 6.
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VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: America, that's who Donald Trump is, and that's who is asking you to give him another four years in the Oval Office...
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: No.
HARRIS: ...Not to focus on your problems, but to focus on his.
INSKEEP: Harris mentioned Trump's talk of releasing January 6 attackers and using the military against protesters from the left.
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HARRIS: This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power. Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is. But America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are. That is not who we are.
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INSKEEP: Several times, the vice president addressed her campaign's vulnerabilities, like that she rose to the nomination abruptly without a primary process.
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HARRIS: Now, look, let me say, let me say I recognize this has not been a typical campaign.
INSKEEP: She acknowledged that some people still don't know her and spoke of her time as a California prosecutor. She used a word we heard Trump repeatedly use - protect. Trump said he would protect jobs, protect borders. Harris promised to protect hardworking Americans.
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HARRIS: I won fights against big banks that ripped off homeowners, against for-profit colleges that scammed veterans and students, against predators who abused women and children and cartels that trafficked in guns, drugs and human beings. And I did this work because, for as long as I can remember, I have always had an instinct to protect. There's something about people being treated unfairly or overlooked that, frankly, just gets to me. I don't like it.
INSKEEP: She argued that Trump is out to protect himself.
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HARRIS: On Day 1, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list. When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list...
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HARRIS: ...Full of priorities of what I will get done for the American people.
INSKEEP: She touched another of her vulnerabilities - her closeness to the incumbent, with his approval rating below 40%.
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HARRIS: I have been honored to serve as Joe Biden's vice president...
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HARRIS: ...But I will bring my own experiences and ideas to the Oval Office. My presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different.
INSKEEP: She said the priority now is to cut Americans' costs. She talked of holding down grocery bills and building more housing, while saying Trump had different plans.
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HARRIS: Another trillion dollars in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations...
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HARRIS: ...And this time, he will pay for it with a 20% national sales tax on everything you buy that is imported. Think about it - clothes, food, toys, cellphones.
INSKEEP: Trump has not proposed a national sales tax, although he has promised tariffs - taxes on imports, which tend to raise prices. The vice president brought up one of her strongest issues - abortion rights.
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HARRIS: I will fight to restore what Donald Trump and his hand-selected Supreme Court justices took away from the women of America.
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INSKEEP: She predicted Trump would sign a national abortion ban, which he has said he would not, and then she addressed Trump's signature issue.
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HARRIS: On another subject, politicians have got to stop treating immigration as an issue to scare up votes in an election...
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HARRIS: ...And instead treat it as the serious challenge that it is that we must finally come together to solve. I will work with Democrats and Republicans to sign into law the border security bill that Donald Trump killed.
INSKEEP: In a 32-minute speech, the vice president appealed several times for the votes of Republicans who support the Constitution and others who disagree with her on issues.
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HARRIS: Unlike Donald Trump, I don't believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I'll give them a seat at the table.
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INSKEEP: Vice President Harris last night in one of two campaign speeches we heard in the order they were delivered. The first was by former President Trump at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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