Former Vice President Kamala Harris slammed President Trump for sending the U.S. hurtling toward an economic downturn in her first major speech since losing the 2024 presidential election to him.
Predicting that Trump’s trade war is “clearly inviting a recession,” the losing Democratic candidate rallied supporters to push back against what she called Trump’s mercurial mismanagement of the government and economy.
“Americans are banding together in the face of the greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history,” Harris said late Wednesday. “The president’s reckless tariffs have hurt workers and families by raising the cost of everyday essentials.”
In the most extensive public remarks since her defeat, Harris said she’s appalled by Trump’s threats to the freedom and livelihoods of everyday Americans.
“Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” Harris said.
Harris has been mentioned as a possible candidate for president in 2028 or for California governor in 2026. But she did not give any clues about her closely watched political future in the speech to EMERGE, a group that promotes women in politics.
The Wednesday night speech was timed to mark Trump’s first 100 days back in the White House. Aside from her post-election concession speech, Harris has barely mentioned Trump by name in public since the November vote.
In the 15-minute speech, she acknowledged the anxiety and fear that has gripped many of her supporters since Trump took office. But she urged supporters to organize to fight back.
“They are counting on the notion that if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others. But what they have overlooked is that fear is not the only thing that’s contagious,” Harris said. “Courage is contagious.”
Harris is gradually ramping up her public presence as Democrats search for a path forward after November’s election, in which Trump won the popular vote and Republicans also won control of both houses of Congress.
A crowded field of high-profile Democrats — from governors to businessmen — are jockeying for leadership roles within the party, but the former vice president retains unique influence and power because of her political seniority.
