- Thursday, May 01, 2025
The former vice president said the conservatives are using Trump to their own advantage and warned of a constitutional crisis if Congress or the courts “fail to do their part”
By: India Weekly
In her first major speech since losing the November election, former US vice president Kamala Harris attacked the Donald Trump administration on Wednesday (30), and exhorted Americans to oppose “the greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history.”
In her address to a hometown crowd in the San Francisco Bay Area, Harris said Trump’s tariffs and economic policy were “clearly inviting a recession”.
The former vice president said 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 United States 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 said.
She said Trump’s politics benefited the rich and described his “narrow, self-serving vision”, where they “punish truth tellers, favor loyalists, cash in on their power, and leave everyone else to fend for themselves”.
“An agenda to slash public education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatize its services. All while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest.”
In his second term, Trump has signed 142 executive orders, more than any recent president, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
These orders concern a dizzying array of issues, ranging from immigration to foreign aid to showerhead pressure.
The end of the first quarter also marked the first contraction in the US economy in three years.
Trump blamed former president Joe Biden for the weak GDP and sought to highlight strong domestic demand.
Also read:
US Congressman Shri Thanedar moves to impeach Trump
US judges block Trump’s move to withhold school funds over DEI
Threat to revoke Harvard’s ability to enrol foreign students
Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 42 per cent, while 36 per cent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, according to recent Reuters/Ipsos polling.
Reuters/Ipsos polling also showed that Democrats are less confident in their leadership than Republicans are in theirs, 71 per cent to 83 per cent.
‘Courage is contagious’
Democrats have not found a unified response to Trump.
Some party members want to lay low and expect Trump’s policies to ruin his reputation, while others including progressive representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders are holding rallies around the nation.
Harris came out for open opposition, urging her allies to speak out loudly, and praising Senators Cory Booker, Sanders, and activists for “moral clarity” and courage.
She warned of a looming constitutional crisis if Congress or the courts “fail to do their part”.
Harris exhorted Americans to work together: “In the face of crisis the lesson is: don’t scatter.”
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.”
Harris plans
Harris, who is thought to be mulling a run for the governorship of her home state of California in 2026, has largely stayed out of the limelight since leaving Washington in January.
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.
This event marks her political re-emergence, and she may run for the White House in 2028. (Agencies)
