In Charlamagne Tha God Town Hall, Vice President Harris Lays Out Her Vision for Black Americans, Slams Trump’s “Weakness”
Vice President Harris: It is a “sign of weakness that you want to please dictators and seek their flattery and favor … would demean America’s military … don’t have the courage to stand up for the Constitution.”
Harris: “Ask Donald Trump what his plan is for Black America … I’ll tell you what it is. Look at Project 2025.”
Today, Vice President Kamala Harris joined Charlamagne Tha God of The Breakfast Club for a live town hall while in Detroit, Michigan, where she took questions spanning topics including lowering costs and strengthening the economy, criminal justice reform, expanding access to health care, protecting civil rights, and more over the course of over an hour. She called out Donald Trump for being a “weak” and “unfit” leader who has sought the approval of dictators and demeaned America’s military, and warned about the dangers of his Project 2025 agenda for Black Americans.
Harris called out Trump as too “weak” and “unfit” to lead our country: She said that while Trump “tries to project” “a sign of strength” by “trying to name call and demean and divide,” he is actually a “weak” and “unfit” leader. She added that “it’s a sign of weakness” to “want to please dictators and seek their flattery and favor,” “demean America’s military,” and to not “have the courage to stand up for the Constitution.”
Harris warned listeners about what Trump’s dangerous Project 2025 agenda would mean for Black Americans: Harris encouraged voters to “ask Donald Trump what his plan is for Black America,” making clear that his plan is to enact his “Project 2025” agenda that would include bringing back “stop and frisk,” “ending the ability of Medicare to negotiate drug prices,” and calling to “‘terminate’ the Constitution.”
Harris spoke about her roots in the Black church tradition and Trump’s claims that he better understands the Black community: Harris described how she “grew up in the Black church” and how her faith has taught her the importance of “lifting one another up” instead of measuring strength by “who you beat down.” She added, on Trump: “And then he’s selling $60 Bibles or tennis shoes and trying to play people as though that makes him more understanding of the Black community. Come on.”
On Why Trump Has Proven Himself to Be Too Weak and Unfit to Lead Our Country:
Vice President Harris: “One of the things that I think is really ironic, but at play. Donald Trump, through his – his way of trying to name call and demean and divide, tries to project as though those things are a sign of strength, when in fact, the man is really quite weak. He’s weak. It’s a sign of weakness that you want to please dictators and seek their flattery and favor. It’s a sign of weakness that you would demean America’s military and America’s service members. It’s a sign of weakness that you don’t have the courage to stand up for the Constitution of the United States and the principles upon which it stands. This man is weak and he is unfit.”
Charlamagne Tha God: “So why is everybody sitting around acting like Donald Trump isn’t going to plan to steal this election if he loses? Like you know Republican officials won’t certify the results of the election. We know it’s Donald Trump’s Supreme Court. Why are people acting like this is going to be a free and fair election – and he won’t try to steal it?”
Vice President Harris: “Well, but those are two different points.”
Charlamagne Tha God: “Okay.”
Vice President Harris: “So it will be a free and fair election if we, the American people, stand up for that. You know, I see it as this. I think that there – democracy has – it’s like two points of nature. One, there’s a fact about a democracy that when it is intact, it – the strength that it possesses in terms of the protection of people’s individual rights and liberties. When a democracy is intact, we protect your rights and your liberties – strength. Democracy is also very fragile. It will only be as strong as our willingness, we the people, to fight for it. And that as much as anything, is what’s at play in this election. Fight for our democracy. Flawed, though it is, imperfect, though it may be, because there are very two real paths right now. The man has told you he intends to terminate the Constitution. The man has told you all these things about his disregard and disrespect for your freedoms and liberty, including the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body. And he hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention they would do exactly what they did.”
On What Trump’s Dangerous Project 2025 Agenda Would Mean for Black America:
Vice President Harris: “Ask Donald Trump what his plan is for Black America. Ask him. You know, I’ll tell you what it is. Look at Project 2025. Project 2025 tells you: the plan includes making police departments have stop and frisk policies. The plan includes making it more difficult for workers to receive overtime pay. The plan includes ending the ability of Medicare to negotiate drug prices. You know what we have done? He said he would, we did, which means that that’s how we brought down the cost of prescription medication. His plan includes making it more difficult for working people to get by, and to destroy our democracy.
“You know what he says he’ll do? ‘Terminate’ the Constitution of the United States. Let me remind folks, you know what’s in the Constitution of the United States? The Fourth Amendment, which protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Fifth Amendment, the Sixth Amendment, the 14th Amendment. And he’s going to ‘terminate’ the Constitution of the United States, which, in most of those amendments, one thing or another was about a movement spurred by Black people to ensure that we would be equally protected under the law.”
On Vice President Harris’ Commitment to Partnering with the Black Church:
Vice President Harris: “So first of all, that allegation, of course, is coming from the Trump team, because they are full of mis- and disinformation, because they are trying to disconnect me from the people I have worked with and that I am from, so that they can try and have some advantage in this election, because otherwise they have nothing to run on. I grew up in the Black church. I grew up, I grew up attending 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland, California.”
Reverend Solomon Kinloch Jr.: “That’s church.”
Vice President Harris: “Yes, that is church. My pastor is Amos C. Brown of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, California … I have, throughout my career, and as vice president and recently been actively engaged in the Church and church leaders, not only so we can share in fellowship, but so we can share in what we can do together that is about supporting the community, the strength of the community, the cohesion of the community. And it is my long standing work, and therefore my pledge, going forward: I will always work closely with the Church, because I understand who our church leaders are and who the congregation is.
“We are talking about people who are driven by faith and the ability to see what is possible by faith. Where I was raised, and I know many of us were, understanding that our God is a loving God, that our faith propels us to act in a way that is about kindness and justice and mercy, that is about lifting one another up. And let’s talk about the contrast here. Donald Trump and his followers spend full time trying to suggest that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down, which is absolutely contrary to the Church I know, where our church, and my church is about saying true leadership, the measure of that is based on who you lift up. And right, and then he’s selling $60 Bibles or tennis shoes and trying to play people as though that makes him more understanding of the Black community. Come on.”
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