Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a speech on Saturday in which she criticized Republican “extremist so-called leaders” ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
In her speech, which was given at a meeting of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Harris blasted Republicans‘ stance on abortion and “big lies” about the 2020 election.
Her remarks came just over a week after President Joe Biden delivered a speech in Philadelphia and blasted former President Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans,” saying that they “represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” Biden’s speech received praise from Democrats, but was strongly criticized by Republicans. The president later clarified his comments after receiving backlash.
In her speech, the vice president said that last week, Biden made clear that “the threats we face as a nation are great.”
And we need to speak truth about that. And so today, we all, by coming together, reaffirm that we refuse to let extremist so-called leaders dismantle our democracy,” Harris said.
She added that “extremist so-called leaders are trumpeting the rhetoric of freedom while they restrict and systematically attempt to take away freedoms,” before mentioning the Supreme Court‘s decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, and rolled back abortion-rights for women in June.
“And now, these extremist so-called leaders are passing laws to criminalize health care providers and punish women. They believe that government should make personal decisions for women,” Harris said. “Those extremist, so-called leaders claim we should return this issue to the voters in the states. Well isn’t that ironic, because some of the same people are the ones passing laws that intentionally make it more different for people in those states to vote.”
The vice president also criticized Republican candidates who are running for secretary of state across the country who deny the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“As big lies are being perpetrated, pay attention to those secretary of state races. In fact, in 11 states right now…Republican candidates for secretary of state deny the results of the 2020 election. Just consider the very people who don’t trust elections want to be responsible for running them,” she said.
Newsweek has reached out to the Republican National Committee (RNC) for comment.
In another speech, on Labor Day, Biden once again took aim at “MAGA Republicans”
“One of the things that is clear to me is that this new group headed by a former president, a former defeated president, we found ourselves in a situation where we’re either gonna look forward or look backwards,” the president said. “And it’s clear which way [Trump] wants to look. It’s clear which way the new MAGA Republicans are. They’re extreme.”
Biden added: “Democracy is really at stake. You can’t be a democracy when you support violence when you don’t like the outcome of an election. You can’t call yourself a democracy when you don’t, in fact, count the votes that people legitimately cast and count that as where you are. You can’t be a democracy or call yourself one if you continue to do what they’re doing.”
The post Kamala Harris Rips ‘Extremist So-Called Leaders’ on Abortion, Election Lies appeared first on Newsweek.
