Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic Senator from New York who is running for President in 2020, standing in front of the Trump International Hotel on Central Park West in New York City, drew a strong contrast between herself and those who would stand up for American values as “brave” while attacking Donald Trump as a coward and Washington in the pockets of special interests. Here are highlights from her speech –

Our president is a coward… that’s not what we deserve. We deserve a president who is brave, who will walk through fire to do what is right. We deserve a president who inspires us to stand for something greater than ourselves.

Look up at that tower, a shrine to greed, division and vanity. – now look around you, the greater strength by far is ourselves. We are here to reject the politics of fear..

The ideals of this country – opportunity, equality, justice – are worth fighting for. We are here to embrace our shared humanity and rise above our differences. We don’t build walls that are emblems of racism and fear. We build bridges, communities and hope…our unity of purpose lifts us higher than any tower.

We are here today because we know that when we join together and fight for our values, Brave wins. .Americans prove this with their own bravery every single day….. 

The people of this country deserve a president worthy of your bravery- who not only sets an example, but follows yours – your bravery inspires me every day, and that is why I ‘m running for president of the United States…. 

I will go to toe to toe with anyone to do the right thing – powerful institutions, the president, even my own party. I’m not running for president because of who I am fighting against, but who I’m fighting for.

I’m fighting for an America where power truly belongs in the hands of the people, where our leaders care about everyone in this country – and lead not from ego but strength of character – where compassion and integrity define our government, not self-interest and corruption – where we don’t just care about profits we make today but the future we are leaving to our grandchildren – I know we can be that America – but it means starting at the root of our problems – greed… 

Right now, the special interests are displacing the interests of the country …opioid manufacturers get a pass rather than the indictments while neighbors are sold addictive drugs on purpose, the NRA stops commonsense gun reform while stray bullets kill our children; dark money is at the heart.. We need to crack open government, …

I will fight against the dysfunction poisoning Washington. As your president, I will answer to you and you alone…

Our goals are ambitious, but truth is not controversial – Americans across party lines support commonsense ideas – make quality affordable health care a right not a privilege, must pass Medicare for All, I have fought for this since my first house race in 2006 – we have a plan to get from current system to single payer – and I know because I helped write it – we will create competition, get costs down, eliminate the greed

On education: it is time to guarantee universal pre-k, … provide high quality education for every kid in America no matter what block they grow up on… We must make higher education affordable, accessible for everyone, reduce the crush of student debt – the fed government shouldn’t be making money off the back of our students,. In my administration, we would refinance all student debt to lowest available rate.

Here’s a big idea: let’s improve and expand the GI Bill to make college free for anyone who agrees to do national public service – young people can pursue their dreams debt free while helping others.

To grow the middle class, we need to start rewarding work again- make full employment a national priority – invest in free job training through apprenticeship, free college at state schools, training, skills, jobs in their community in the fields of their interest. Workers rights are under attack more than ever, I would protect collective bargaining by unions; raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour nationwide,

And transform the infrastructure of work by finally making national paid leave a reality. It is outrageous that we are the only industrialized country in the world without it – you should never have to risk your job, your income to take care of new baby, sick family member or your own medical needs. I refuse to accept the false choice between your paycheck and your family.

I have led this fight in congress since 2013, when not part of national conversation – hear me when I say this, paid leave, equal pay and affordable day care are not just women’s issues – these are economic issues, ones that will determine whether or not our country succeeds.

We need to dismantle institutional racism that holds back millions of families – in health care, education, criminal justice systems- in growing crisis of black women’s growing maternal mortality, in criminal sentencing decisions, in the wealth gap between communities of color and white that only widens generation to generation – these challenges call for solutions both targeted and broad – like higher standards for maternity care, a national commitment to full employment, postal banking, ending cash bail, and legalizing marijuana.

We need to restore our moral leadership in the world – we must secure our borders effectively and fight terrorism relentlessly, but let’s be very clear – racism and fear is not a national security strategy. Building a wall, ripping apart families, banning Muslims and turning our backs on refugees and asylum seekers isn’t just wrong, it makes us less safe. We need to repair our relationship with our allies and stop fawning over our adversaries. We need to leverage our diplomatic tools ot make Americans more prosperous and more secure, and always treat military force as a last resort.

We must bring an end to the endless wars – America’s commander in chief is not a dictator, and the decision to deploy our troops can never be made lightly or unilaterally without Congress.

And we need to protect the integrity of our elections, by holding accountable any threats to our democracy from abroad or right here at home.

The stakes just got higher on Friday – the Mueller Report must be made public. All of it. No one in this country is above the law or immune from prosecution, not even the president. I don’t often agree with Nixon, but he was right to say the American people have a right to know whether their president is a crook.

Finally, we need to treat global climate change like the existential threat that it is. We need to pass the Green New Deal – let’s make this our generation’s moon shot – addressing a global challenge of this urgency will take massive effort, transformational vision, which is exactly why we should do it.

Let’s invest in our crumbling infrastructure, create sustainable green jobs, protect clean air and water as a universal human right. I would go further than others – I also put a price on carbon to use market forces to steer companies away from fossil fuels toward clean, renewable energy.

We can’t afford not to do this. We don’t have time to waste – John F. Kennedy said he wanted to put a man on moon in next 10 years, not because easy but hard. I believe we should look at global climate change in the same way –  look to zero carbon emissions in next 10 years not because it’s easy but because it’s hard, a challenge we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone and one that we will win.

None of these big fights, and equally big goals will be easy – nothing worth fighting for has been – but I have never backed down from a fight, and I am not about to start now.

My faith tells me to care for the least among us – to feed and clothe the poor, help the stranger, the sick, incarcerated. I believe we are all called to be the light of the world, to defeat the darkness and treat others the way we want to be treated.

I am running for president to fix what has been broken, repair our moral fabric, … this fight is so much bigger than any one election. It’s about making a choice and deciding who we are, and who we are going to be. After all, America is and always will be the home of the brave, no matter how difficult the course before us, no matter how dark the hour, the lessons of our history is that justice, fairness and truth are possible but only if we are willing to put everything we have on the line to achieve it – so each one of us has a choice today – will we defend this democracy, will we speak for what we believe in, will we reject the hate, fear, greed and corruption, will we fight with every fiber of our being because everything we care about is at stake.Will we be brave? You already answered that question just by being here, if you are with me, ready to fight and take on this fight with me, join my campaign, kirstengillibrand.com, contribute to help power this movement forward.

I believe in my bones that we can do this – years from now will look back at this moment in history and be able to say we did something about it, we stood up, locked arms and proved to America and the world that when people come together to drive out darkness, hope rises, fear loses and brave wins.