Kamala Harris says ‘guardrails’ against Trump ‘failed’

Former Vice President Harris said Thursday that any checks and balances to stop President Trump are not working.

While on tour to promote her new book about the campaign, “107 Days,” Harris spoke to a sold-out audience at the Warner Theater with journalist and podcaster Kara Swisher.

“The key is that the guardrails have mostly failed,” Harris said. “Except for one, and that’s the power of the people and God.”

“So now, in this moment, if the Supreme Court is not a guardrail … from a legal perspective, what are the guardrails that you see?” Harris continued. “Just the people.”

Harris called congressional Republicans “complicit” and said they “knew something was wrong but failed to speak up.” Instead of “speaking out,” Republicans “live in fear of retaliation and are more focused on their own political survival than speaking out and taking the hits that may come.”

During the conversation, Harris praised congressional Democrats for defending Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that could expire at the end of the year. That sparked a fight with Republicans that has led to a government shutdown that is about to enter its tenth day.

“I know there are a lot of Republicans who know this is wrong, but they don’t stand up,” she said.

Harris said she’s “honest with all my friends here – I don’t know that it’s not going to get worse before it gets better…something happens every day.”

In response, Harris criticized the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and angrily blasted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s assertion during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday that circumcised boys are more likely to have autism.

“My mother was a consultant at the (National Institutes of Health), and she would leave us in the Bay Area to go to NIH and work with scientists whose goals were to reduce pain and improve the human condition,” Harris said.

Speaking about “what these people are doing right now, ending the war on cancer and denying science and firing scientists,” Harris said it “takes me personally.”

Of Kennedy’s circumcision claims, Harris said: “It’s weird. It’s terrible.”

“I don’t see a way right now to stop this before the end of his term,” Harris said. “But I know we have to fight.”

“We have to fight,” the former presidential candidate continued. “We have to stay strong. We can’t get used to this. We can’t be overwhelmed, we can’t be silenced.”

Harris briefly touched on “something that obviously went viral the other day,” drawing laughter. On Monday, during her book tour, she stopped at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, where she talked about how “there’s so much in this moment that’s trying to make people feel like they’ve lost their minds, when in fact, these motherfuckers — they’re crazy!”

The statement drew laughter and applause from the audience, and Harris started laughing herself.

Source link