Kamala Harris called out the Trump administration so hard at yesterday’s rally
On Monday, January 21st, California Senator Kamala Harris announced that she’s running for president in 2020. Harris formally launched her campaign with a rally in Oakland yesterday, January 27th—and she didn’t hesitate to condemn the Trump administration. The New York Times reports that the Democratic senator addressed a crowd of more than 20,000, where she made the case that “our American dream and American democracy are under attack.” She went on to ask the audience to consider what America stands for, casting the current administration’s policies as “not our America.”
"When we have leaders who bully and attack a free press and undermine our democratic institutions, that’s not our America," she said. "When white supremacists march and murder in Charlottesville or massacre innocent worshipers in a Pittsburgh synagogue, that’s not our America. When we have children in cages crying for their mothers and fathers, don’t you dare call that border security, that’s a human rights abuse!"
HARRIS: When we have children in cages crying for their mothers and fathers, don't you dare call that "border security." That’s human rights abuse.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) January 27, 2019
Harris went on to condemn the Trump administration for its depiction of immigrants as the root of America’s problems. “People in power are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other,” she said. “But that is not our story. That is not who we are. That is not our America. The United States of America is not about us versus them…I’m running to be a president of the people, by the people, for all the people.”
People in power are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other. But that is not our story. That is not who we are. That is not our America. pic.twitter.com/HPB7YOgfTz
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 27, 2019
Harris didn’t just focus on the Trump administration’s policies. CNN notes that she pledged to work for tax credits for the middle class and Medicare for all. She also discussed her plans to reform the criminal justice system and addressed her past as attorney general of California, pointing out that she has prosecuted sexual assault cases and fought to keep drug offenders from being incarcerated.
I’m running to fight for Medicare for All, universal pre-K, debt-free college & more. To guarantee middle-class families a pay increase of up to $500/mo with the largest working-class tax cut in decades — paid for by reversing this Admin’s gifts to big corporations & the top 1%.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 27, 2019
Harris has faced criticism for her time as attorney general, with a recent New York Times op-ed pointing out that she defended the death penalty and opposed legislation requiring the attorney general to investigate police shootings.
If elected president, Harris will be the first woman—and the first woman of color—to hold the country’s highest office. She already made history with her election to the Senate in 2016, when she became the second black female senator. So far, Vox reports that she will (so far) face former Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, former Representative John Delaney; and Representative Tulsi Gabbard in the Democratic primaries.
