Harris accuses Trump of 'wholesale abandonment' of American ideals in
major post-election speech
[May 01, 2025]
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD and JONATHAN J. COOPER
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris used a
high-profile speech Wednesday to sharply criticize President Donald
Trump amid speculation about whether she will mount another presidential
campaign or opt to run for California governor.
In her most extensive public remarks since leaving office in January
following her defeat to Trump, Harris said she’s inspired by Americans
fighting Trump’s agenda despite threats to their freedom or livelihood.
“Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest
ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,”
Harris said a day after Trump reached 100 days in office.
Before Wednesday, Harris had barely mentioned Trump by name since she
conceded defeat to him in November.
In a 15-minute speech, she spoke to the anxiety and confusion that have
gripped many of her supporters since Trump took office but discouraged
despair.
“They are counting on the notion that if they can make some people
afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others. But what they have
overlooked is that fear is not the only thing that’s contagious,” Harris
said. “Courage is contagious.”
Trump went after Harris in a campaign-style rally Tuesday marking his
100th day in office. He sarcastically called her a “great border czar"
and a “great candidate," and repeated some of the applause lines he
routinely delivered during the campaign.
Until Harris replaced Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket last summer,
Trump said, “I knew nothing about her."
Harris cautioned Americans against viewing Trump’s administration as
merely chaotic, casting it instead as a “high-velocity event,” the
culmination of extensive work on the right to remake government.
“A vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that
has been decades in the making," Harris said. “An agenda to slash public
education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatize its
services. All while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest among us.”
Harris chose a friendly audience for her return to the political arena,
addressing the 20th anniversary gala for Emerge America, an organization
that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office. It grew in
part from Harris’ run for San Francisco district attorney in the early
2000s.
The speech was delivered below luminous chandeliers in a gold-trimmed
ballroom in the landmark Palace Hotel.
Harris is ramping up her public presence as Democrats nationally search
for a path forward after November's election, in which Republicans also
won control of Congress. While a slate of high-profile Democrats — from
governors to businessmen — seek leadership roles within the party, the
former vice president retains unique influence and would reshape any
future race she chooses to enter.
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Former Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the keynote speech at
the Emerge 20th Anniversary Gala in San Francisco, Wednesday, April
30, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
She praised Democrats who have been especially prolific in
criticizing Trump, name-dropping lawmakers diverse in their ideology
and style: Sens. Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy and
Bernie Sanders along with Reps. Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost and
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
But she did not take a stand in one of her party's central divides,
neither calling for mass mobilization like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker
or questioning Democratic positioning on key issues like California
Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“I’m not here tonight to offer all the answers,” Harris said. “But I
am here to say this: You are not alone and we are all in this
together.”
But she warned that things will probably get worse before they get
better.
“The one check, the one balance, the one power that must not fail is
the voice of the people,” she said.
Harris, a former state attorney general and U.S. senator from
California, has not discouraged speculation that she might enter the
race to replace the term-limited Newsom, himself a potential
contender for president. And she has not ruled out another run for
the White House.
She did not address her future Wednesday.
She continues to fundraise, using a joint committee that includes
Harris for President, the Democratic National Committee and state
Democratic parties. The committee, the Harris Victory Fund, reported
having about $4.5 million on hand at the end of March, according to
federal records.
In recent fundraising emails, Harris has been blunt about the need
for Democrats to unify ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Democrats need to “organize and stop Trump’s agenda while electing
Democrats everywhere,” she wrote in recent emails. “There has never
been a more important time for a strong Democratic Party — one that
is willing to stand up to Donald Trump, Elon Musk and what they are
doing to this country.”
The event marks a homecoming of sorts. Harris lives in Los Angeles
but she is from the San Francisco Bay Area, where her political
career is rooted. For her first major speech since the election, she
chose familiar terrain and a friendly, in some ways familial, crowd.
Lisa Gotbhi, a health care executive in San Francisco, said Harris'
loss last year was a “shock," but “she’s a voice we need and a
leader we need. Let’s get back in the fight.”
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