On Wednesday night, former Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the Emerge gala, where she was honored as a Trailblazer Award recipient. Her 16-minute speech wasn't exactly anything new from her, though it did remind us she hasn't changed much. As she and her particularly failed and poorly vetted running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), continue to make headlines, it's becoming increasingly clear that America dodged a bullet in electing Trump once more.
There's still that cackle, for instance, and her cringe factor, as well as how she's thrown the Trump administration under the bus, especially on the economy, as Jeff covered earlier on Thursday.
Kamala Harris is back in all her cringey glory pic.twitter.com/KdI5rX0uoW
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 1, 2025
Early on, we also heard a point from Harris we've heard plenty of times from her and former President Joe Biden, which is how America has supposedly failed to live up to the Declaration of Independence, which she brought up a moment before.
"Now, of course, I recognize that America has never fully lived up to these ideals, that for all the gains we've made, the American dream has for decades been slipping further out of reach for so many, and that the American people deserve leaders who make their lives better and make our country stronger. But sadly, we have seen quite the opposite over these past few months," she said, then mentioning how it was around the time of the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's second term. "Now, I know tonight's event happens to coincide with the 100 days after the inauguration, and I'll leave it to others to give a full accounting of what has happened so far. But I will say this, instead of an administration working to advance America's highest ideals, we are witnessing the whole wholesale abandonment of those ideals. And what we are also seeing in these last 14 weeks is Americans using their voice and showing their courage," she added.
Such remarks in a way sounded similar to what Harris would say towards the end of her speech, which is about the "chaos" that is supposedly coming from the Trump administration. What a way to strike a tone! Further, it's hardly an original claim, as plenty of other Democrats are using the word "chaos" to describe the president.
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After ranting and raving about this Trump administration trying to "make some people afraid," she tried to then exude hope.
"We all know President Trump and his administration, and their allies, are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious. They are counting on the notion that if they make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others," Harris claimed. "But what they're overlooking, what they have overlooked is that fear is not the only thing that's contagious."
"Courage is contagious, the courage of Americans who are banding together in the face of the greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history; Americans across the political spectrum who are declaring that the president's reckless tariffs hurt workers and families by raising the cost of everyday essentials, devastate the retirement accounts that people spent a lifetime paying to, and paralyze American businesses, large and small, forcing them to lay off people, to stop hiring, or pause investment decisions," she added. Trump has room to improve on the economy, and there are negotiations being made when it comes to the tariffs. But the Biden-Harris administration fared particularly poorly on the economic. Biden finished with a net -20.7 on that issue, per RealClearPolling. Virtually all polls going into the 2024 election had Trump leading Biden or Harris on the economy.
Harris spewed more Democratic narratives about the Trump administration, including when it comes to "the courage of Americans, we are seeing, who are rallying at Social Security officers to protect their hard-earned benefits; of Americans who are speaking out to say, it is not okay to violate court orders, not okay, saying it is not okay to detain and disappear American citizens or anyone without due process; the courage of judges to uphold the rule of law in the face of those who jail them; of universities that are defying, unconstitutional demands that threaten the pursuit of truth and academic independence."
It was particularly ironic for Democrats to take to social media last Friday and decry the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan, who allegedly hid an illegal immigrant at her courthouse, after they had previously ranted about "the rule of law," just as Harris did.
And, when it comes to this supposed "academic independence" that Harris is talking about, a narrative that Harvard University went with, such once supposedly fine institutions of higher learning don't like that the Trump administration is directing them to crack down on the antisemitism that's been rampant on college campuses.
From there, Harris referenced certain Democrats specifically by name. "And I will tell you, the courage of all these Americans inspires me, and I have been inspired by the movements like the one in Wisconsin that put Susan Crawford on the Supreme Court; by the State of the People Power Tour that is aiming to ignite a grassroots movement, to lift up voices, and advance freedom and justice; and by leaders across the spectrum, including congressional leaders, like Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, AOC, and Bernie Sanders, all who in different ways, have been speaking with moral clarity about this moment," she continued.
Kamala Harris: I'm really inspired by Democrat leaders like Chris Van Hollen, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost AOC, and others. pic.twitter.com/OlEBpiJ5hw
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 1, 2025
It's interesting that Democrats still bring up the election of Susan Crawford, a Democrat-backed liberal judge to Wisconsin's state Supreme Court. That same night, Wisconsin voters also overwhelmingly voted for a ballot initiative to do with voter ID, which passed with a greater margin than Crawford beat Republican-backed Brad Schimel by. And, while Harris recorded a video message supporting Crawford, it was curiously not released until after Crawford won the election.
The "movement" against the second Trump administration also doesn't exactly seem to be a "grassroots" one, especially as protestors are paid, something that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) laughably tried to deny.
Those Democrats that Harris mentioned are indeed top figures in the party right now. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) has been particularly vocal, including and especially with her X posts that are often hit with Community Notes, including to do with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Crockett is also particularly leftist and particularly racist.
Another top Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), has been doing rallies, with her team also putting out videos about such stops, leading to plenty of speculation about her future plans. She's embarked on such rallies with still another figure on that list, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). As to what those future plans might be, there's chatter that AOC might run for president in 2028, if she doesn't primary Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that year, whom she leads in the polls.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt certainly had something to say about this part of Harris' speech on Thursday, as did the Trump War Room account. "I think I speak for everyone at the White House, we encourage Kamala Harris to continue going out and do speaking engagements," she offered.
🤣🔥Karoline Leavitt on Kamala Harris:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 1, 2025
"We encourage Kamala Harris to continue going out and do speaking engagements." pic.twitter.com/euoeKBMGO1
Karoline Leavitt: "I think I speak for everyone at the White House, we encourage Kamala Harris to continue going out and do speaking engagements." 😂😂
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) May 1, 2025
We also hope to see more speaking engagements from Tim Walz, Jasmine Crockett, and David Hogg! pic.twitter.com/FytNljwJXv
Harris also went off about the "absolute chaos" supposedly taking place in the Trump administration, though Harris tried to turn that into a positive.
"Right now, we are living in their vision for America, but this is not a vision that Americans want. We are living in a moment when the checks and balances upon which we have historically relied have begun to buckle. And we here know that when the checks and balances ultimately collapse, if Congress fails to do its part, or if the courts fail to do their part, or if both do their part, but the President defies them anyway, well, friends, that is called a constitutional crisis. And that is a crisis that will eventually impact everyone because it would mean that the rules that protect our fundamental rights and freedoms, that ensure each of us has a say about how our government works, will no longer matter. And if that happens, the one check, the one balance, the one power that must not fail is the voice of the people," she went on to say, when one could certainly argue that it's the district judges who need to be reined in who are creating "a constitutional crisis" and affecting our system of checks and balances.
As she went on to point out that "I know a lot of folks are wondering, what's going to guide us through this moment? How are we all going to figure out how to chart the course? But that's not a reason to throw up our hands," Harris gave a reminder as to how that doesn't look to be her. She brought up elephants at the San Diego zoo and their behavior during an earthquake to protect each other, offering that, with a cackle, it was "a powerful metaphor."
Man, this is hard to watch.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 1, 2025
Is this how Kamala Harris wants to make her debut back into the public spotlight? pic.twitter.com/i9Ii9IwQG7
As she concluded her remarks, Harris interestingly made it seem that she might not actually be the one who is the Democrats' leader, but rather that may fall to others.
"I am not here tonight to offer all the answers, but I am here to say this, you are not alone, and we are all in this together. And straight talk, things are probably going to get worse before they get better, but we are ready for it. We are not going to scatter. We are going to stand together, everyone, a leader, and emerge. You have a special role to play. Organizing is as important as ever. Mobilizing is as important as ever. Running for office is as important as ever," she said to conclude. "So please, everyone here, please keep doing what you are doing. And to everyone, let's lock it in. Lock it in. Gear up for the hard work ahead. And please, always remember, this country is ours. It doesn't belong to whoever is in the White House. It belongs to you. It belongs to us. It belongs to we, the people. Thank you. God bless you, and god bless America."
Even worse for Harris, is that not long after, CNN's Harry Enten reminded how much voters still prefer Trump to Harris and over Democrats. Whatever the polls say about Trump, Democrats fare much worse.
There's more.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 1, 2025
"What about when he's matched up against Congressional Democrats?"
"Well what do we have here?! It's the same exact picture!"
"Donald Trump comes out ahead!"
This is HUGE: "When you actually match him up against folks in the real world, all of a sudden his… pic.twitter.com/GOiOKDOb2Z
