Kamala tears into Trump as she finally re-emerges after crushing presidential defeat

After going to ground following her crushing defeat at the polls, Kamala Harris has re-entered the public arena with a scathing assessment of Donald Trump.

US President Donald Trump barrelled into office 100 days ago bringing with him a dizzying array of executive orders tackling everything from immigration and foreign trade structures, to showerhead pressure and plastic straws.

But Kamala Harris has barely said a peep.

At least publicly, Harris appears to have buried her head in the sand since the Democrats’ thumping at the polls last November, and she’s only just re-emerged to deliver a blistering critique of her former opponent.

Despite saying it’s “not in my nature to go quietly into the night”, former US Vice President Kamala Harris has made very few public appearances since her November defeat. Picture: Camille Cohen / AFP

The former Vice President described the fallout from Trump’s global trade tariffs as “the greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history.”

In her first major speech since leaving office, she told the audience on Wednesday that the tariff agenda will “hurt workers and families by raising the cost of everyday essentials, devastate the retirement accounts that people spent a lifetime paying into, and paralyse American businesses, large and small”.

A long-cherished plan

Harris also told supporters in San Francisco that the “chaos” of the last three months has actually been the realisation of a well-established plan, and that conservatives are using President Trump to twist the US to their own advantage.

“What we are, in fact, witnessing is a high velocity-event, where a vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making,” she said.

“An agenda to slash public education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatise its services. All while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest.

“A narrow, self-serving vision of America where they punish truth-tellers, favour loyalists, cash in on their power, and leave everyone to fend for themselves.”

Critics have been appalled at what they say is a vengeful administration carelessly overstepping democratic and constitutional norms, including clashing with the courts.

Although Trump’s supporters have cheered some of the rapid-fire changes, recent polls have shown a majority of the country is becoming disenchanted with the political and economic tumult, particularly from his oft-changing tariffs.

President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office have been a whirlwind. Picture: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Harris, who is thought to be mulling a run for the governorship of her home state of California in 2026 or a possible White House run in 2028, was a guest speaker at an event run by Emerge, a political organisation that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for public office.

She told the audience that Trump was targeting universities and courts because he wanted to intimidate the opposition.

“President Trump, his administration, and their allies are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious,” she said.

“They are counting on the notion that, if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others.”

But, she said, there were judges, academics, politicians and regular people who were standing up to the government.

“Fear isn’t the only thing that’s contagious. Courage is contagious,” she said.

“The courage of all these Americans inspires me.”

- With AFP