Singer and songwriter Billie Eilish implored people to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden this November because President Trump poses an existential threat to society.
“Donald Trump is destroying our country and everything we care about,” Eilish said in a speech played during the third night of the Democratic National Convention. “We need leaders who will solve problems like climate change and COVID, not deny them, leaders who will fight against systemic racism and inequality. And that starts by voting for someone who understands how much is at stake, someone who is building a team that shares our values.”
She continued, “It starts with voting against Donald Trump and for Joe Biden.”
Eilish pleaded with people to register to vote and to do so for Biden and Democrats “like our lives and the world depend on it, because they do. The only way to be certain of the future is to make it ourselves.”
The 18-year-old pop star followed her speech up with a performance of her new song, “My Future.”
Eilish has been an outspoken climate change activist, appearing with teenage climate champion Greta Thunberg and other celebrities in promotional videos and other political messaging, urging people to pressure lawmakers to enact climate reform.
“Our earth is warming up, and our oceans are rising,” Eilish said in a video with actor Woody Harrelson late last year. “Extreme weather is wrecking millions of lives.”
Biden was officially nominated by the Democratic Party on Tuesday, with his vice presidential pick, Kamala Harris, accepting her nomination on Wednesday.
Democrats spent the third night of the convention advocating for women’s rights and climate and gun control reforms. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former President Barack Obama warned that Trump is a danger to the country.
“I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president,” Obama said in endorsing Biden, his former vice president. “I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously, that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.”
