Kamala Harris reemerges to rebuke Donald Trump’s policies: ‘We are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of America’s ideals’

Kamala Harris reemerged on a public stage on Wednesday, just as Donald Trump’s administration was marking 100 days in office. The former U.S. vice president and presidential candidate abandoned the low profile she had maintained since her election defeat to criticize the Republican president at a charity gala in San Francisco. “Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” she said in her longest speech since leaving the White House with Joe Biden last January.

Harris has been rarely seen since then. She has been captured by photographers only a few times in Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband, Doug Emhoff. One of these occasions was after the massive wildfires that destroyed the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, where she met with some of the volunteers and firefighters battling the blazes.

The former presidential candidate was the keynote speaker at the 20th anniversary of Emerge, an organization that has prepared approximately 6,000 women to join the ranks of the Democratic Party. The organization supported approximately 400 female candidates across the country in the last election. Andrea Dew Steele, the organization’s founder, coordinated Harris’ campaign for San Francisco district attorney in 2003, the position that launched her into national politics.

With her speech on Wednesday, Harris sought to energize the Democratic camp. “We all know, President Trump and his administration and their allies are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious [...] But what they’re overlooking, what they have overlooked, is that fear isn’t the only thing that’s contagious. Courage is contagious,” said Harris, who was greeted with a standing ovation at the Palace Hotel.

With a speech that barely lasted 15 minutes, Harris is once again putting herself in the spotlight, at a time when her party is seeking voices willing to speak loudly and clearly about Trump’s excesses and the chaos his administration has unleashed in just a few months.

“It’s an agenda. 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,” Harris said. “All while abandoning allies and retreating from the world. And folks, 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.”

The former vice president’s reappearance comes after weeks of rumors suggesting she is considering launching a campaign for the governorship of California, her party’s biggest prize. The current governor, Gavin Newsom, is reaching the end of his term with no chance of reelection in 2026. Several prominent Democrats and a couple of Republicans have already announced their intention to participate in the fall 2026 elections. But Harris, who received 9.2 million votes last year in the state, would immediately become the favorite.

Harris continues to receive donations despite her defeat. The 2024 election surpassed $1.5 billion in support, making it the second most expensive race in history behind the 2020 presidential election. The former vice president continues to solicit funds through the Harris Fight Fund, a committee that receives support from the national Democratic Party and state agencies. Harris has about $4.5 million to spend.

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