Former Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her first major public address since losing the 2024 election, speaking Wednesday night at Emerge America’s 20th anniversary gala in San Francisco. In a fiery speech, Harris sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s leadership during his first 100 days in office and used a viral video of elephants during an earthquake to call for Democratic unity.
Speaking to a crowd of Democratic supporters, Harris warned against the dangers of division and painted a grim picture of the current administration, accusing Trump of creating “the greatest manmade economic crisis in modern presidential history” and engaging in a “wholesale abandonment” of American ideals.
Midway through her speech, Harris veered into what many online later mocked as an odd digression, referencing a recent video from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. In the video, a herd of elephants is seen forming an “alert circle” to protect their young after a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California.
“Please allow me, friends, to digress for a moment,” Harris said. “It’s kind of dark in here, but I’m asking for a show of hands — who saw that video from a couple of weeks ago, the one of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo during the earthquake?”
Describing the scene, she continued, “As soon as they felt the Earth shaking beneath their feet, they got in a circle and stood next to each other to protect the most vulnerable. Think about it. What a powerful metaphor.”
She used the moment to encourage Democrats not to “scatter” in times of political crisis. “Those who try to incite fear are most effective when they divide and conquer… but in the face of crisis, the lesson is: don’t scatter. The instinct has to be to immediately find and connect with each other.”
The remarks — especially the elephant metaphor — were met with mixed reactions. While some praised the imagery, social media users were quick to ridicule the speech as confusing and overly symbolic. One user referenced a popular saying: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Harris’ speech marked a return to the spotlight after months of relative silence following her election defeat. Though she did not address swirling rumors about a possible run for California governor in 2026 or a third presidential bid in 2028, she emphasized the importance of continued activism and unity among Democrats.
She praised fellow progressives and Democratic leaders, including Cory Booker, Chris Van Hollen, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for speaking out against Trump’s agenda. Harris also denounced the administration’s actions on issues ranging from tariffs and education to immigration, accusing the president of violating court orders and threatening due process.
Concluding her speech with a call to action, Harris told the crowd: “Things are probably going to get worse before they get better. But we are ready for it. We are not going to scatter. Let’s lock it in. This country is ours. It doesn’t belong to whoever is in the White House. It belongs to you. It belongs to us.”
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Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available reports from Fox News, New York Post, and NBC San Diego. Statements and quotes are attributed to their respective sources and public speeches. This content is intended for informational purposes only and does not reflect any political endorsement or bias.
Source: Fox News, NY Post, NBCSanDiego
