‘Remember the 1930s’: Kamala Harris’s warning about Donald Trump
The Democrats’ failed 2024 presidential candidate drew laughter from the Gold Coast audience when she was described as one of the most successful women in world history. ‘I am unemployed right now,’ she replied.
Former US vice-president Kamala Harris says the world must remember the lessons of history in a clear reference to the policies of the man who beat her in the 2024 presidential race.
The remarks were made in the final moments of an hour-long question and answer session at the Australasian Real Estate Conference, where the 49th US vice-president was the headline speaker.
As her foe Donald Trump over the weekend revived his trade war and this time took aim at the European Union, Ms Harris told real estate agents on the Queensland Gold Coast that the world needs to “remember the 1930s” and the global divisions that led to World War II.
“I do worry frankly about what’s happening right now in our world,” Harris said on Sunday.
“I do worry that it is important that we remember history. It’s important we remember the 1930s.”
History had “taught us isolation does not equal insulation”, she added.
“It is important we understand and remember history which taught us the interdependence and interconnection between nations. History has taught us the importance of relationships of trust. The importance of friendships, integrity and honesty.
“There’s so much about foreign affairs that is just, like, the importance of having good friendships, consistency, honesty, being there for each other when you need them. Holding up standards, international rules and norms.”
The Democrats’ presidential candidate in 2024, who lost to Republican Mr Trump in November, drew laughter from the audience after event founder John McGrath described her as one of the most successful women in the history of the world.
“I am unemployed right now,” she replied.
Ms Harris’s visit to Australia comes as she prepares to decide whether to run for president again in 2028 or instead aim for the Californian Governor’s Mansion in next year’s midterm elections.
Questioned on stage by Mr McGrath in front of more than 4000 real estate agents at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre at Broadbeach, Ms Harris spoke of her upbringing and career and gave insights into lessons learned.
Mentioning her parents marching in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and her own experience with desegregation in schools, she spoke of acting with principle and purpose and of never accepting limitations set by others.
“I don’t hear no. I eat no for breakfast. I don’t hear no until maybe the 10th time,” she said.
On breaking barriers, she said it wasn’t a case of being on one side and ending up on the other side of the barrier.
“There’s breaking involved. And when you break things sometimes you get cut and sometimes you bleed. And it’s worth it every single time.”
Speaking on the challenges of rising to the top as a woman, Ms Harris said her first elected office was in 2004 when she became district attorney for San Francisco, the first of her gender to do so in California, a state of almost 40 million people.
Succeeding after starting as the rank underdog, she took a call from a colleague who said he had heard all the women in the office were now in high heels and short skirts.
“What he meant by that … is the women in the office otherwise felt they had to dress a certain way that was demure, or dress like men, in order to be taken seriously,” she said.
“The shift that occurred was that they started to thrive in an environment where they knew they could be themselves and not be objectified or not be somehow taken less seriously because, you know, they decided to wear make up.”
She shared some advice from her late mother, breast cancer scientist Shyamala Gopalan, on being ambitious.
“For those who are ambitious and you’re on a path where you may be the first to do many things, don’t hear no, and I’ll offer you the advice my mother gave me. She said, `Kamala you may be the first to do many things, make sure you’re not the last’.”
Australia and the US shared the same growing problem of housing unaffordability, and it was going to take “government working with the private sector” to solve the crisis, with clear incentives for building more homes to create supply, she said.
Mr McGrath noted the public often held politicians and real estate agents in the same low regard. Ms Harris said the agents would be around for a long time and their reputations would follow them.
“When you’re first looking at the property, you know what’s wrong with it. You have to figure at some point they (the buyer) are going to figure that out,” she said.
There was no opportunity for the media or audience to ask questions at Ms Harris’s tightly controlled and stage-managed appearance.
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