In her first major public address since her election defeat, Kamala Harris delivered a forceful condemnation of former President Donald Trump’s return to office, warning that his first 100 days had marked a "wholesale abandonment of America’s highest ideals."

Speaking before an audience of Democrats at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, the former vice-president described the early days of the new administration as a calculated effort to instill fear and consolidate power, rather than a chaotic misstep. “

"They are counting on the notion that, if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others,” Harris said. “But what they’ve overlooked is that fear isn’t the only thing that’s contagious. Courage is contagious.”

Her address signaled a reentry into the national political conversation for Harris, who has remained largely out of the spotlight since leaving office in January. Her speech sharply criticized the Trump administration’s rapid-fire policy implementation, pointing specifically to what she called a “high velocity” effort to reshape the federal government in line with long-standing conservative agendas.

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Harris praised Democratic lawmakers and civil society institutions that have resisted the new administration’s moves. She commended judges “who uphold the rule of law in the face of those who would jail them,” US universities rejecting “unconstitutional demands,” (nodding at Harvard, likely), and ordinary citizens standing up to defend social security and civil liberties.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration plans to cut an additional $1 billion in Harvard state funding. The move follows Harvard’s refusal to implement staffing and educational policy changes demanded by the White House as a result of campus protests against "Israel's" genocide against Gaza.

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“Let’s lock it in,” Harris urged, calling on Democrats to continue organizing, running for office, and standing firm on foundational principles. Her appearance at the 20th anniversary gala for Emerge America, an organization founded in part due to Harris’ early political success, served as a symbolic nod to the importance of grassroots mobilization.

Political return after election defeat

Since her loss in the November election, Harris has kept a low profile while weighing future political ambitions. Now based in Los Angeles, she is reportedly considering a run for California governor next year or another bid for the presidency in 2028.

The Trump administration recently dismissed her husband, Doug Emhoff, and other senior Biden-era officials from the board overseeing the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Fear has a way of being contagious.

But courage is also contagious. pic.twitter.com/YaEZfIJ1Zc

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 7, 2025

Emhoff, present at the event, was said to have advised against yielding to White House pressure on a separate legal matter involving his law firm. The former vice president and her husband are caught up in a scandal and lawsuit over their elite Hillcrest Country Club, which has been labeled a "racist aristocracy" that "disregards reports of sexual assault" and rejects anyone not white or Jewish.

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While criticizing the current administration’s sweeping changes, Harris warned that what appeared to be disarray was in fact a deliberate execution of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for government transformation. “Please, let us not be duped into thinking everything is chaos,” she said. “What we are, in fact, witnessing is a vessel being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making.”

Harris called out the administration’s “reckless” tariffs, suggesting they risk inviting a recession, “as I predicted,” she added.

She also highlighted figures leading the opposition, including Senators Cory Booker and Chris Van Hollen, as well as Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose “Stop Oligarchy” tour has been drawing large crowds nationwide.

Despite acknowledging that “things are probably going to get worse before they get better,” Harris emphasized the need for collective resistance. She closed her remarks with a metaphor drawn from a recent earthquake in California. During the quake, elephants at the San Diego Zoo reportedly formed a protective circle around their young.

“The lesson is don’t, don’t scatter,” Harris said, calling for unity in the face of political and constitutional threats.