Kamala Harris attacks Trump in first speech since loss

(CN) — In her first public address since losing the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump by more than two million votes, former Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the president’s first 100 days in office and encouraged citizens to speak up against him.

“Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” Harris said with an uncharacteristic scowl on her face.

“What we are also seeing in these last few weeks are Americans using their voice and showing their courage,” she added, reviving her signature smile.

Harris delivered the keynote address Wednesday evening at Emerge America’s 20th anniversary gala at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Emerge, a political action group that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for political office, charged $250 to attend the event and $25 to watch it virtually.

“Here in our country, power ultimately lies not with the wealthy or well connected, but with all of us. With we the people,” Harris told the cheering crowd, most of whom were women.

The former California Attorney General has mostly avoided the public eye since her loss in November, choosing not to weigh in on Trump’s presidency like other top Democrats have. But on Wednesday night, Harris condemned Trump and his infamous Project 2025 agenda.

“Some people are describing what’s been happening in recent months as absolute chaos,” Harris said. “But friends, let us not be duped. Understand what we are in fact witnessing is a high velocity event. A vessel is being used for the swift implementation for an agenda that has been decades in the making.”

On the campaign trail, Trump often dismissed questions about Project 2025, claiming not to know what it was or who wrote it, but has since hired some of its authors to administrative positions.

In his first 100 days in office, Trump has issued more than 100 executive orders, dozens of which are pending litigation under claims that they violate the U.S. Constitution. Most recently, the president implemented sweeping tariffs against more than 90 countries that have upended markets and spurred a global trade war. He paused many of those tariffs for 90 days starting April 9.

Harris called the aftermath the “greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history.”

“The president’s reckless tariffs hurt working families, devastate retirement accounts and paralyze American businesses large and small,” she said.

Earlier, his administration canceled the student visa statuses of more than 1,500 international students to discourage organized campus protests, but abruptly reversed course just last week. Some students, like Rümeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil, still face legal trouble.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ordered Trump to facilitate the return of an American citizen deported to El Salvador, yet he hasn’t done so.

“It is not OK to violate court orders,” Harris said. “It is not OK to detain and disappear American citizens or anyone without due process.”

In order to combat Trump’s organized chaos, Harris urged voters to continue organizing themselves.

“Don’t scatter,” she said. “Organizing is as important as ever. Mobilizing is as important as ever. Everyone here, please keep doing what you are doing.”

Harris called the current situation a “constitutional crisis” and implored citizens to remember the power they have to vote for the leaders they want.

“This country is ours,” she said to close out her roughly 20-minute speech. “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.”

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