Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday each delivered remarks on the state of the country under President Donald Trump’s second term and criticized the administration’s recent actions.
Obama, who preceded Trump’s first term, sharply criticized Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal government, crackdown on immigration and dissent, and intimidate news outlets and the legal establishment.
“So, this is the first time I’ve been speaking publicly for a while,” Obama said during an on-stage interview at Hamilton College. “I’ve been watching for a little bit.”
“Imagine if I had done any of this,” Obama said, later adding: “It’s unimaginable that the same parties that are silent now would have tolerated behavior like that from me, or a whole bunch of my predecessors.”
Obama went on to say that he doesn’t think Trump’s new tariff announcement “is going to be good for America.” However, he said that he is more concerned with what he described as the White House’s infringement of rights.
“I’m more deeply concerned with a federal government that threatens universities if they don’t give up students who are exercising their right to free speech,” Obama told the crowd of college students. “The idea that a White House can say to law firms, if you represent parties that we don’t like, we’re going to pull all our business or bar you from representing people effectively. Those kinds of – that kind of behavior is contrary to the basic compact we have as Americans.”
Obama had previously warned of the dangers facing the country if Trump were reelected, while campaigning for Harris during the final stretch of the 2024 presidential race. “Just because (Trump) acts goofy,” the former president said at the time, “doesn’t mean his presidency wouldn’t be dangerous.”
In separate remarks, Harris on Thursday said Trump’s moves since he returned to office were largely predictable.
“There were many things we knew would happen,” Harris said in a video of her remarks at the Leading Women Defined Summit. “I’m not here to say I told you so,” she added before laughing.
Harris said she recognizes that Trump’s return to the Oval Office has created “a great sense of fear.”
“We are seeing organizations stay quiet. We are seeing those who are capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats. And these are the things that we are witnessing, each day in the last few months in our country and it understandably creates a great sense of fear,” Harris said.
Earlier this week, Trump announced a deal with the law firm that employs former second gentleman Doug Emhoff – Willkie Farr & Gallagher – which the president said includes the firm agreeing to provide at least $100 million in pro bono legal services throughout his second term. It was another example of high-profile firms cutting deals with the White House as Trump has targeted firms that have done work with his perceived political enemies.
Before the Willkie agreement was announced, Emhoff addressed the matter saying, “The rule of law is under attack. Democracy is under attack. And so, all of us lawyers need to do what we can to push back on that.”
Harris’ Thursday remarks, video of which were first reported by MSNBC, are her most direct comments since the start of Trump’s second term.
The former vice president, who lost to Trump in the November election, went on to say that while fear is “contagious,” so is courage.
“Fear has a way of being contagious. When one person has fear, it has a way of spreading to those around them and spreading. And we are witnessing that, no doubt,” Harris said at the gathering of female leaders of color.
“But I say this also, my dear friends, courage is also contagious,” she added.
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