107 Days

by Kamala Harris

I want to keep people safe and help them thrive. For me, it’s always been about that work. From the time my mother told me to look after my little sister, I have been a protector. As a prosecutor, my work was protecting vulnerable people, especially women and children, from sexual predators. As California’s attorney general I protected our state from cartels, homeowners from predatory banks,

“Be careful what you wish for.” Her tone was desolate. “You’re about to see how horrible the world is.”

I faced an opponent who majored in malice, and I was damned if I was going to join the chorus of cruelty.

“Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So, hear me when I say… I know Donald Trump’s type.”

The campaign, I stressed, was about two very different versions of our country going forward, one focused on the future, one mired in the past.

In my life I’ve seen over and over that it is often the people with the least who give the most.

He would have been an ideal partner—if I were a straight white man. But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man. Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk. And I think Pete also knew that—to our mutual sadness.

“She looked and sounded more presidential in this convention speech than almost any other candidate I’ve ever seen accept the nomination… Her presentation, her delivery, her confidence—it was a sight to behold.”

My policies, which would have helped young voters with protection for renters, a home down payment, or student debt relief, or elevating the opportunities of non–college graduates, or increasing access to capital, had not cut through the false notion that Trump was some kind of economic savant who would somehow be better for their personal financial position.

What about the kid who doesn’t have a remarkable talent? That is not a system that is going to be productive for the greatest number of people. The system is not working if only the exceptional people are able to succeed.

My talk was of things I knew I could actually do as president and things that I knew would work.

The Fourth Estate is so called because it is a key pillar of democracy. When corporations take it over and put profit ahead of accurate, brave, and truthful reporting, the whole edifice trembles.

Of the third that voted for Trump, a good part of them voted for him on promises unkept.

“This is how fascism begins,” warned Françoise Giroud, a journalist who served in the French Resistance. “It never says its name. It creeps, it floats. When it reaches the tips of people’s noses, they say: ‘Is this it? You think? Don’t exaggerate!’ And then one day it smacks them in the mouth, and it is too late to get rid of it.”

a swell of regret for all the work that I wanted to do.

You gave America your heart and soul. You gave it your all.”