Kamala Harris Slams Trump's Border Wall as She Kicks Off 2020 Presidential Bid
Democrats golden girl uses speech to slam President's policies
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Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris launched her 2020 presidential bid owing to 'lead with integrity' and 'speak the truth' in a speech which, unsurprisingly, indirectly bashed President Donald Trump
Harris criticized Trump's border wall as 'a medieval vanity project' before slamming the administration's immigration policy.
'When we have children in cages, crying for their mothers and fathers, don't you dare call that border security, that's human rights abuse,' Harris said.
Although didn't Trump by name, it was obvious who she was referring to.
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The Democratic Presidential candidate went told the crowd of 20,000 supporters that 'foreign powers are infecting this White House like malware.'
"With faith in God, with fidelity to country, and with the fighting spirit I got from my mother, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States," she told added.
"And as we embark on this campaign, I will tell you this; I am not perfect. Lord knows I am not perfect. But I will always speak with decency and moral clarity and treat all people with dignity and respect. I will lead with integrity, and I will speak the truth," she added.
Harris, who is 54, is looking increasingly likely to become the Democrat party's favorite as she taps into the targeted demographic of young, female and minority voters.
"I'm running for president because I love my country. I'm running to be president of the people, by the people and for all people," she told her hometown crowd.
Harris spoke with a giant American flag with yellow and purple campaign signs waving behind her as 'Work That' by Mary J. Blige blurred out as she exited the stage with mixtape version of 'My Shot' from the musical 'Hamilton.
The Presidential candidate campaign launch seems to make the chances of Hillary Clinton returning less like likely.
But recent reports say Clinton told close friends and advisers she hasn't entirely "shut the door" on possible 2020 presidential campaign
I'm running for president. Let's do this together. Join us: https://t.co/9KwgFlgZHA pic.twitter.com/otf2ez7t1p
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 21, 2019
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According to the DailyMail: Her address was filled with soaring rhetoric and repeated the line 'let's speak the truth' as one of the passion points of her campaign.
But her words also featured pointed criticism of President Trump, charging him with making America 'weaker.'
"Under this administration, America's position in the world has never been weaker. When democratic values are under attack around the globe when authoritarianism is on the March, when nuclear proliferation is on the rise, when we have foreign powers infecting the White House like malware, let's speak that truth."
"And let's speak the truth about what are clear and present dangers. And let's speak the biggest truth, the biggest truth of all. In the face of powerful forces trying to sow hate and division among us, the truth is that as Americans, we have so much more in common than what separates us," she said.
"We are here because the American Dream and our American democracy are under attack and on the line like never before,' Harris said. 'We are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question. Who are we? Who are we as Americans?"
"So, let's answer that question to the world and each other right here and right now. America: we are better than this."
She slammed the 'people in power' who 'are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other.'
"But that is not our story. That is not who we are. That is not our America,' the California senator said.
"The United States of America is not about us versus them."
In addition to her attacks, her speech had red meat for liberals, advocating for 'Medicare for All,' universal kindergarten and 'debt-free' college.
"I am running to declare, once and for all, that health care is a fundamental right, and to deliver that right with 'Medicare for All.' To declare education is a fundamental right, and we will guarantee that right with universal pre-k and debt-free college," she said.
She also called for criminal justice reform, a decrease in the gender pay gap and a middle-class tax cut.
"I am running to guarantee working and middle-class families an overdue pay increase. We will deliver the largest working and middle-class tax cut in a generation," she vowed.
Republicans were quick to attack her 'liberal policies.'
"It's fitting that Harris chose the most liberal district in deep-blue California to launch her campaign. Government-run health care, weaker borders, and higher taxes might be popular there, but her liberal policies are out-of-step with most Americans."
President Trump has led this country to record economic highs and strengthened our national security, and it's why he's going to be re-elected in 2020,' said Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Ahrens in a statement.
Harris declared her plan to run last Monday and slipped in a few campaign appearances before Sunday's formal launch. She heads to Iowa for a town hall in Des Moines this Monday evening.
By beginning her bid in the town where she was born, she used her speech to highlight her biography and her work for the community - a tactic similar to one Barack Obama used when the then-first term senator announced his candidacy.
"It was just a couple of blocks from this very spot nearly 30 years ago as a young district attorney, I walked into the courtroom for the first time and said the five words that would guide my life's work. Kamala Harris for the people," she said.
Harris argued she's the kind of leader who can unify the country and would fight for the needs of all Americans.
My whole life, I've only had one client: The people,' Harris said, echoing the words she has used in courtrooms and has adopted as her campaign's slogan.
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, has drawn deeply from symbolism as she has rolled out her campaign. Her first name, pronounced 'comma-la,' is from the Sanskrit word for 'lotus flower.'
She entered the race on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Campaign aides say she has drawn inspiration from Shirley Chisholm, who in 1972 became the first black woman to run for president from a major party.
If Harris were to win the White House, she would be the first African-American woman and first person of Asian descent to be president.
Her first news conference as a candidate was on the campus of Howard University, the historically black college in the nation's capital that she attended as an undergraduate.
On Friday, she was in South Carolina to speak to members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, of which she is a member.
