2 months ago
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Kamala Harris gave her first big speech back in the political spotlight in California last night as she heads into the running for governor of that great failed state. During her brief, 15-minute speech at a gala dinner for the non-profit Emerge, she leaned into the "constitutional crisis" she said is underway under Trump. She praised the Democrat leaders that she believes are the future of the party.
Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, AOC, and Bernie Sanders were the names Harris mentioned, saying that these were leaders with courage and endurance.
She began her remarks by saying that the American Dream has been "slipping out of reach for so many," ignoring her own record, and complaining that America has not "fully lived up to" its founding ideals. Trump, she said, has undertaken a "wholesale abandonment of those ideals."
"And folks," she said, "what we are experiencing right now is exactly what they envision for America. Right now, we are living in their vision for America. But this is not a vision that Americans want."
Harris indicated that American citizens are being "disappeared," likely talking about a 2-year-old whose mother took her with her when she was deported to her home country. She said judges were "upholding the rule of law in the face of those who would jail them," likely in reference to the judge in New Mexico accused of harboring Tren de Aragua members on his property then destroying evidence that would implicate one of those men and the Wisconsin judge who interfered in the arrest of an illegal immigrant who had an ICE detainer.
She spoke of the universities "that are defying unconstitutional demands that threaten the pursuit of truth and academic independence." These are the same schools that allowed violent protests that targeted Jewish students, allowed the decimation of the rights of women by allowing men to compete on their athletic teams, prioritized race over merit, and have brainwashed students into being leftist political activists. There is little truth on college campuses, and even less academic independence. Harvard was ranked the worst college for free speech in the nation.
She called it "a constitutional crisis" and said that "the one check, the one balance, the One Power that must not fail is the voice of the people."
"We are living in a moment when the checks and balances upon which we have historically relied have begun to buckle," she said, "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."
Toward the end of her remarks, she recounted a story about elephants from the zoo, using it to elucidate the idea that Democrats must band together and be united in the face of the "constitutional crisis."
"Who saw that video from a couple of weeks ago, the one of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo during the earthquake?" She asked the room. "Google it if you've not seen it. So that scene has been on my mind. Everybody's asking me, what you've been thinking about these days. Well... So in the video 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," she went on, "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, when they try to make everyone think they are alone. 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 stronger."
English (US) ·