Kamala Harris breaks post-election silence with Trump-bashing speech: "This country is ours"
San Francisco, California - Former US vice president Kamala Harris hit out at Donald Trump and his backers on Wednesday, in her first major speech since losing November's election.
The defeated Democrat told supporters the apparent "chaos" of the last three months was actually the realization of a long-cherished plan by conservatives who are using Trump to twist the US to their own advantage.
"What we are, in fact, witnessing is a high velocity event, where a vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making," she told an audience in San Francisco.
"An agenda to slash public education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatize its services. All while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest."
"A narrow, self-serving vision of America where they punish truth-tellers, favor loyalists, cash in on their power, and leave everyone to fend for themselves."
Trump's first 100 days in power have been marked by a dizzying array of executive orders targeting the rights of immigrants, critics of his administration, and institutional guardrails against unchecked power.
With entire swathes of the administrative state being dismantled and the US engaged in a global trade war, recent polls have shown a majority of the country is becoming disenchanted with the political and economic turmoil.
Harris mulls return to political office
Harris, who is thought to be mulling a run for the governorship of her home state of California in 2026 or a possible White House run in 2028, has largely stayed out of the limelight since her crushing defeat.
On Wednesday she was a guest speaker at an event run by Emerge, a political organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for public office.
She told the crowd that Trump was targeting universities and courts because he wanted to cow the opposition.
"President Trump, his administration, and their allies are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious," she said.
"They are counting on the notion that, if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others."
But, she said, there were judges, academics, politicians, and regular people who were standing up to the government.
"Fear isn't the only thing that's contagious. Courage is contagious," she said. "The courage of all these Americans inspires me."
"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."
Cover photo: REUTERS