Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday gave her first public speech after losing the 2024 presidential election.
While addressing the crowd at the Emerge conference, Harris took the opportunity to slam President Donald Trump and his policies, claiming he was causing a “constitutional crisis” and otherwise being a very bad man.
The former vice president began by touting the ideals on which America was founded. “I have always believed in the ideals of our nation … That all are created equal and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights,” she intoned, also acknowledging that “America has never fully lived up to these ideals.”
Then, she went full Orange Man Bad, claiming that the country is moving further away from its foundational values under Trump. “We are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals…” she said.
Harris further stated that the nation is witnessing “a high velocity event where a vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making.”
“It’s an agenda — a narrow self-serving vision of America where they punish truth tellers, favor loyalists, cash in on their power, and leave everyone to fend for themselves…”
Kamala Harris Bashes Trump's economic policies.
— Jeff Charles, The Nullifier🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) May 1, 2025
"It's an agenda, a narrow self serving vision of America where they punish truth tellers, favor loyalists, cash in on their power and leave everyone to fend for themselves, all while abandoning allies and retreating from the… pic.twitter.com/jINYwJbLou
Harris claimed this supposed agenda includes defunding education, privatizing government services, slashing taxes on the wealthy, and destabilizing democratic checks and balances.
After that, Harris droned on about how Trump is putting the nation into a “constitutional crisis,” one of the Democrats’ favorite terms as of late. “When the checks and balances ultimately collapse… that is called a constitutional crisis,” she babbled.
Kamala Harris claims Trump is causing a "constitutional crisis."
— Jeff Charles, The Nullifier🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) May 1, 2025
"We are living in a moment when the checks and balances upon which we have historically relied have begun to buckle." pic.twitter.com/RTOycz8Xw3
Then, the former vice president veered off into a weird story about elephants, explaining how it shows how Americans should embrace unity or something.
So that scene has been on my mind. Everybody’s asking me, “What you’ve been thinking about these days?” Well—hahaha—so in the video, for those who haven’t seen it, here those elephants were. And as soon as they felt the earth shaking beneath their feet, they got in a circle and stood next to each other to protect the most vulnerable. Think about it—what a powerful metaphor. Because we know those who try to incite fear are most effective when they divide and conquer, when they separate the herd. But in the face of crisis, the lesson is: don’t—don’t scatter. The instinct has to be to immediately find and connect with each other, and to know that the circle will be strong.
She concluded: “We are not going to scatter. We are going to stand together.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris gave her first major public address after losing to Trump last year.
— Jeff Charles, The Nullifier🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) May 1, 2025
Her speech was supposed to be attacking Trump, but somehow veered off into ranting about elephants. pic.twitter.com/2RwAKxwhlI
I suppose that was supposed to be inspiring, but it was more bizarre than anything else. Perhaps she could have used a John Williams-esque film score behind her as she spun the tale.
This being Harris’ first appearance since the election, there is much speculation about where she is headed next. There is talk of her possibly running to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Polling shows she would have a favorable chance of becoming the next official to push the Golden State further into ruin.
However, other polls show Democrats wanting Harris to take another shot at the White House, further demonstrating that they have almost definitely learned their lesson from last year and are sure to do better next time.
Either way, it is clear that Kamala Harris isn’t quite done with politics yet – even if politics is done with her.
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