Vice President Kamala Harris gave a rare public address in front of her official residence in Washington on Wednesday, warning about Donald Trump’s intention to use the presidency to punish his political opponents and employ the military “as his personal militia to carry out his personal and political vendettas.”
Harris accused Trump of seeking “unchecked power,” citing recently published interviews with John Kelly, a retired four-star general who served as Trump’s White House chief of staff and Homeland Security Secretary. Kelly told that Trump claimed he wanted “the kind of generals that Hitler had.” (The Trump campaign disputes Kelly’s allegations.)
Referencing a recent Kelly interview with , Harris stated, “It is clear from John Kelly’s words that Donald Trump is someone who, I quote, ‘certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.’”
It is unusual for a Vice President to make a political statement from the official residence on Observatory Hill. Harris is in the final two weeks of a close race against Trump and her campaign has intensified its messages about the threat to democracy Trump represents.
“And it is clear from John Kelly’s words that Donald Trump is someone who, I quote, ‘certainly falls into the general definition of fascist,’ who, in fact, vowed to be a dictator on day one and vowed to use the military as his personal militia to carry out his personal and political vendettas.”
In recent months, Trump has increasingly used authoritarian language, referring to the threat he sees from “the enemy within” and calling for one “violent day” to crack down on crime in the U.S. Trump has also shared messages on social media calling for military tribunals for his political antagonists like the former Rep. Liz Cheney, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and his own former Vice President, Mike Pence. In December, Trump said he’d only be a dictator on “day one” in order to close the border and expand oil drilling.
At a White House press briefing on Wednesday after Harris’ speech, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, said “Yes” when asked if President Biden believes Trump is a fascist. “The former president said he is going to be a dictator on day one. We cannot ignore that,” she said.
Harris emphasized that point Wednesday, saying that the question of how to respond to Trump’s ambitions will be put to voters on Election Day. “The bottom line is this. We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power. The question in 13 days will be: What do the American people want?”