Kamala Harris issues scathing message to Donald Trump in first significant appearance since election defeat

Former presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has condemned President Donald Trump and his administration, suggesting the Republicans have been 'fear-mongering' over the course of his first 100 days in power.

The former vice-president was beaten by a landslide when Americans headed to the polls back in November, with Trump taking all seven swing states.

Five months have passed since defeat, and in that time she's been forced to witness her arch rival make drastic changes to how the US is run.

Now, speaking to an audience of Democrats in San Francisco, Harris has reflected on the 78-year-old's time in the Oval Office, issuing a scathing message to him in what is her first significant appearance since the election defeat.

"We all know President Trump and his administration and their allies are counting on the notion that fear can be contagious. They are counting on the notion, that if they make some people afraid it will have a chilling effect on others," she rallied.

"But what they're overlooking - what they have overlooked - is that fear is not the only thing that's contagious. Courage is contagious.

"The courage of Americans who are banding together in the face of the greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history."

Effects of Trump's tariff war

She went on to cite the global trade war the US finds itself in, with Trump placing a 245 percent tariff on Chinese goods coming into the country, while placing tariffs on every other country before pausing plans for 90 days as his administration works out trade deals.

China retaliated, placing levies on US goods to 125 percent, while also reducing exports of rare earth minerals.

Harris continued: "Americans across the political spectrum, who are declaring that the president's reckless tariffs hurt workers and families by raising the cost of everyday essentials. Devastate the retirement accounts, that people spent a lifetime paying into. And paralyze American businesses, large and small. Forcing them to lay off people. To stop hiring or pause investment decisions."

Former Vice-President Kamala Harris has been forced to watch on from the sidelines as President Donald Trump continues to ruffle feathers (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

Social security and mass deportations

Her speech continued: "The courage of Americans we are seeing who are rallying at Social Security offices to protect their hard-earned benefits. Of Americans who are speaking out to say, 'it is not okay to violate court orders'. Not okay. Saying it is not okay to detain and disappear American citizens - or anyone - without due process."

On Thursday last week (April 24), hundreds of people flooded a Social Security Administration Office to protest the Trump administration's cuts to social security.

As part of Trump and Elon Musk's plans to streamline the US government through the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is headed by the world's richest man, the workforce for Social Security has been heavily axed.

Harris also mentioned the mass deportation of alleged criminals who did not face trial before being exiled to El Salvador.

The most high-profile of which would be Maryland dad Kilmar Armando Ábrego García, who in March was among 250 people to have been mass deported to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), which is considered to be the 'world's worst prison'.

Following his exile, the Trump administration admitted that it had made an 'admin error' which was to blame for García being flown to the Central American country.

Trump and Harris pictured during their second debate of last year's presidential campaign (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Cuts to college funding

She added: "The courage of judges to uphold the rule of law in the face of those that would jail them. Of universities that are defying unconstitutional demands that threaten the pursuit of truth and academic independence."

Referencing Harvard University, which the education department froze a whopping $2.3 billion in federal funds after the college rejected a list of demands set out by the Trump administration.

Some of those orders were to 'immediately shutter all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, offices, committees, positions, and initiatives, under whatever name, and stop all DEI-based policies'.

Harris' 15-minute speech went on to suggest that the US is going through a time of 'constitutional crisis'.

Cry for Americans to rally together

She continued: "We are living in a moment when the checks and balances upon which we have historically relied have begun to buckle.

"We here know that when the checks and balances ultimately collapse, if Congress fails to do its part or if the courts fail to do their part - or if both do their part but the president defies them anyway - well, friends, that is called a constitutional crisis.

"That is a crisis that will eventually impact everyone because it would mean that the rules that protect our fundamental rights and freedoms - that ensure each of us has a say about how our government works. Will no longer matter."

Adding: "And if that happens. The one check, the one balance, the one power that must not fail, is the voice of the people."