Kamala Harris is finally responding to our calls: She condemned Trump's first 100 days, calling on Democrats to band together

The former vice president panned Trump's agenda, saying he pulled America to the brink of a constitutional crisis, devastated the economy, and abandoned world allies.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the keynote address at the Emerge 20th Anniversary Gala in San Francisco on Wednesday. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Marking her return to the public sphere, former Vice President Kamala Harris sharply condemned the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term Wednesday, saying he had pulled America to the verge of a constitutional crisis, devastated the economy, and abandoned world allies.

"Instead of an administration working to advance America's highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals," Harris said.

Much of Trump's support, which led to his victory in November, had been pegged to an expectation that he would usher in a booming economy.

Instead, Harris said, Trump created the "greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history."

Harris delivered the remarks, which ran around 15 minutes, in the keynote address at the Emerge 20th Anniversary Gala at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, honoring the group’s role in electing more Democratic women in California politics.

She delivered a message crafted to rebuke Trump but also stressed that people should band together to resist the administration's policies and defend the most vulnerable. She applauded Democrats who had resisted so far, specifically naming her former Senate colleagues Cory Booker of New Jersey and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, among others.

At one point, Harris gave an example of elephants at the San Diego Zoo who, during a recent earthquake, formed a circle and protected the calves.

"We know those who try to incite fear are most effective when they divide and conquer, when they separate the herd, when they try to make everyone think they are alone," she said. "But in the face of crisis, the lesson is: Don't scatter. The instinct has to be to immediately find each other and to know that the circle will be strong."

Before Wednesday, Harris had mostly stayed out of the public eye since she left office as vice president in January, and she has opted not to weigh in on Trump and his policies in the way other prominent Democrats have.

But on Wednesday, she didn't hold back. She panned Trump for imposing "reckless tariffs" and tied them to a rise in cost of everyday essentials, saying they devastated "the retirement accounts that people spent a lifetime paying into" and paralyzed the growth of business big and small.

Harris played off Trump and his allies' common refrain of "promises made, promises kept." Instead, she said, he was "not lowering costs, not making life more affordable, not what they promised."

Harris argued that while what's unfolding now in the Trump administration may feel chaotic, it actually is an implementation of a long-planned agenda that reflects a narrow vision of America. Much of it was laid out in the conservative policy blueprint Project 2025, which Harris warned voters on the campaign trail was Trump's agenda, despite his protestations.

Trump disavowed Project 2025 during the presidential race and denied ties to it. That changed after he was elected, however, as it was set into motion.

She called it a “narrow, self-serving vision of America” under which Trump and his allies “punish truth-tellers, favor loyalists, cash in on their power and leave everyone else to fend for themselves — all while abandoning allies and retreating from the world.”

Harris said that the United States faces a potential constitutional crisis and that it is a moment when voices of dissent as well as those who organize are more important than ever.

Privately, Harris has gone further. She has held conversations with elected officials, supporters, experts, and allies to talk about how Democrats need to think longer-term about their own priorities and agenda. Part of her focus has been on looking at how to revolutionize the way Democrats communicate and engage with the American public, a person close to Harris said.

Harris shot to the top of the Democratic ticket last year, abruptly replacing President Joe Biden just 15 weeks before Election Day. The historic switch happened after Biden took part in a devastating debate against Trump in June, when he at times stared off into space and couldn’t complete a sentence.

A firestorm of concern from the party about Biden’s cognitive abilities erupted, and eventually he bowed out of the race. Harris brought new life to the ticket, filling venues across battleground states and shattering fundraising records.

But after a whirlwind 107-day, $1.5 billion presidential campaign, Harris couldn’t overcome discontent among voters who wanted change.

That hasn’t happened, however. Instead, his tariff policies have triggered chaos in the markets and brought on fears of a trade war. He has been accused of ignoring court orders and has pushed the limits of presidential power — including, at times, intimidating independent institutions, such as universities, saying they must capitulate on policies that support diversity, for instance, or their federal funding will be cut.

An NBC News Stay Tuned poll, powered by SurveyMonkey, found that 55% of adults disapprove of his handling of his job. Several other national polls timed for the 100-day mark had similar results, including one from Fox News, one of Trump’s favorite outlets. The Pew Research Center found that Trump’s approval stood at 40%.

“There is a clamoring for her voice right now,” said a former Harris senior adviser who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “No one can better prosecute the case while inspiring a call to action than the former vice president.”

“Clearly many voters are regretting their 2024 choice, and Harris utilizing Emerge’s 20th anniversary as the vehicle to deliver pointed remarks is the right place at the right time with the right group of people,” the former adviser said.

Some of Harris’ advisers have insisted that she simply ran out of time to make her case — she had come onto the scene too late. She hasn’t yet said whether she intends to run again for president or whether she would run for governor of California. But all options remain on the table, according to two advisers.

Harris has taken part in lower-profile public events, one of them this month when she spoke at the Leading Women Defined Summit.

“We’re seeing people stay quiet. We are seeing organizations stay quiet. We are seeing those who are capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats. And these are the things we’re witnessing each day in these last few months in our country, and it understandably creates a great sense of fear,” Harris said then. “There were many things that we knew would happen.”

“I’m not here to tell you I told you so,” she added, laughing. “I swore I wasn’t going to say that!”