Wednesday night brought us President Joe Biden's farewell address. On Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris gave remarks of her own, and they were just as bad as you were expecting. Harris gave brief remarks before signing the desk drawer in her Ceremonial Office. It's a tradition going back to the 1940s, and she only spoke for about five minutes, yet there was still plenty of cringe.
Although Harris failed in her bid as Biden's replacement nominee, even losing the popular vote against President-elect Donald Trump last November, she still began by declaring, "I just have to say again, I am so proud of our team, and this is a team that spans many years of doing extraordinary work." Not only did Harris fail in her presidential bid, her vice presidency was also rocked, and early on, by exits from staff and anonymous reports about a difficult work place.
Her remarks only got more bizarre from there. "On behalf of the people, and as you have all heard me say many times, I am fully aware that I am the public face of a lot of our work, and so I have the benefit of running into people all over our country who thank me," she continued, already sounding as if she was slurring her words a bit. Beyond that, though, it was quite the pretentious claim to make, though she sort of tried to turn that around by continuing to thank her team.
KAMALA: "I am fully aware that I am the public face of a lot of our work and so I have the benefit of running into people all over our country who thank me." 😳 pic.twitter.com/lXuqTlphIk
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) January 16, 2025
"And I will tell you I am fully aware that when they are thanking me, they are thanking our team for the extraordinary commitment that you each have and as a team have, to lifting up the American people, lifting up their condition, lifting up their hopes and dreams and understanding, through it all, the nobility of public service," Harris continued. Those might sound like nice words, but the American people have suffered mightily under the Biden-Harris administration, and responded by rejecting Harris and giving Trump a second term.
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"We have each taken on a life and a calling that is about doing work in the service of others, and doing it in a way that is fueled, yes, with ambition, yes with a sense of almost stubbornness about not hearing no, and knowing we can make a difference," she continued. Gesturing, Harris spoke further from there, mercifully offering that "I'm not going to go through a laundry list of all of our accomplishments, we know what they are," though they don't amount to very much considering how the country has fared under her and Biden.
From there, though, Harris made a point hinting she may very well run for office again. Her eyes have been set on a potential run for governor back home in California for next year, if not potentially another presidential run. "But I will tell you that everyone here has so much to be proud of, and our work is not done, and as you all know me, because we have spent long hours, long days, and months and years together, it is not my nature to go quietly into the night," she shared, her voice rising in volume this time, as she even emitted a bit of her signature cackle. "So don't worry about that!"
Later, at the end of the signing event, Harris said to laughter "I'll keep you posted" when asked what was next for her.
🚨 Kamala says she's not going anywhere: "It is not my nature to go quietly into the night! Ha ha ha!" pic.twitter.com/wZeJp6SGKh
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) January 16, 2025
Harris went on to sign the desk, bragging how she's met every former vice president who also signed the desk, besides Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. She offered that while they may have disagreed on policy, they "have shared a common experience" as evidenced by the tradition, which "is the work of caring about our country, it is the work of understanding we hold these offices in the public trust, with the duty and the responsibility to uphold the oath we take, to respect, to defend the Constitution of the United States, to do our work on behalf of the people of the United States."
And yet Harris still wasn't done patting herself on the back, as she spoke of how she was signing the desk "with great honor and with the knowledge that our work here has mattered, it has meaning, it has impacted people we may never meet, people who may never know our name, but who are ever, forever, grateful, for the work that you each and we all together have done."
Moments later, she insisted that Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who pretty much stood there useless the entire time, take a selfie, a feat which he couldn't quite accomplish.
"Take a selfie," Kamala commands. "Dougie's gonna take a selfie!"
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) January 16, 2025
"Dougie" proceeds to take a picture of the drawer.
"Oh. Ok. Ok. Come on." pic.twitter.com/CWS8FMcaCF
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