UPDATED: Kamala Harris, in her first post-2024 election interview, stated that what has most stunned her about Donald Trump‘s time period is the extent of capitulation.
“I didn’t predict that; I didn’t see that coming,” Harris informed Stephen Colbert on CBS’s The Late Present.
Colbert had requested Harris whether or not she want to say “I informed you so,” on condition that she predicted plenty of issues that Trump is now doing, together with alienating allies and giving tax cuts to the wealthy.
“I believed that on some stage, there ought to be many who take into account themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy, who simply capitulated.”
Harris was not particular, however prompt that congressional Republicans have failed to face to Trump as he amasses energy.
“I believe there are lots of people who suppose they’re driving out the storm as an excuse to be feckless,” she stated. “… We designed our democracy with three, unbiased co-equal branches of presidency. I imply, you see that the president of the US is making an attempt to do away with the Division of Training, and Congress has the position and accountability to face in the best way of that, they usually’re simply sitting on their arms, after which they go on recess as a result of they don’t need to take care of transparency.”
Harris was referring to Home Speaker Mike Johnson’s choice to go on recess final week, sooner than deliberate, staving off Democrats’ efforts to convey laws to the ground to require that Jeffrey Epstein data be made public.
Harris was greeted by a sustained ovation from the Late Present viewers, whereas Colbert usually requested a pleasant listing of questions.
Her look was tied to the discharge of her upcoming e book, 107 Days, which she described as a behind-the-scenes account of her brief presidential marketing campaign.
Harris additionally defined her announcement on Wednesday that she would forgo a run for governor of California and, in the meanwhile, elective politics altogether.
“I simply, for now, I don’t need to return into the system,” Harris stated. “I believe it’s damaged.”
Whereas she stated that there’s “so many good people who find themselves public servants, who do such good work, academics and firefighters and law enforcement officials and nurses and scientists,” Harris stated, “I all the time believed that as fragile as our democracy is, our programs can be sturdy sufficient to defend our most elementary rules. And I believe proper now that they’re not as sturdy as they have to be, and I simply don’t need to for now. I don’t need to return within the system. I need to journey the nation. I need to hearken to individuals, and I don’t need it to be transactional, the place I’m asking for his or her vote.”
Harris introduced on Wednesday that she wouldn’t run, saying that she wouldn’t enter elective politics for now. Her assertion didn’t rule out a 2028 presidential run.
Colbert requested, “To listen to you say that it’s damaged, to listen to you say that our programs aren’t sturdy sufficient, is harrowing.”
Harris responded, “Nevertheless it’s additionally evident, isn’t it? And it’s.”
“It doesn’t imply we hand over. No Completely not. I’m all the time going to be a part of the struggle.”
Harris gave a glimpse of some passages of the e book, together with when Biden informed her that he was dropping out of the race, and the way she navigated staying loyal to him whereas additionally making an attempt to distance herself at factors throughout the marketing campaign. Some pundits say that Biden’s unpopularity finally dragged her down.
“it’s an intuition of mine to be somebody who doesn’t take part in piling on, and I used to be not going to pile on, and I simply wasn’t going to try this,” she stated. “There was a variety of piling on at the moment, and I wasn’t going to take part in that.”
Colbert did press Harris on whether or not, after Biden’s disastrous debate efficiency in June, 2024, she was informed that she higher begin making ready for a presidential run.
“I’ve an unbelievable quantity of respect for him, and I believe that the best way that we ought to be occupied with the place we’re proper now’s to keep in mind that we had a president of the US who believed within the rule of legislation, who believed within the significance of aspiring to have integrity and to do the work on the behalf of the individuals, and that’s the place I’ll depart that,” she stated.
Pressed additional, Harris stated that “there have been some who did” inform her to arrange, however “it was Joe’s choice and he made that call.”
Harris stated that her e book would “assist individuals see from the within” what it’s wish to run for president on such a compressed timeframe, one thing she stated was an “intense expertise.” She stated that throughout the marketing campaign, she would pray that “I hope I’ve performed every thing I can do right this moment.”
The e book additionally will get into what occurred on October 20, her sixtieth birthday, coming simply weeks earlier than the election. Her husband Doug Emhoff additionally was out on the marketing campaign path and, within the scramble, “type of dropped the ball on my massive birthday, Harris stated.