Danielle (00:00):
Please join me in welcoming the 49th Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris (00:08):
It's good to be back. Hi everyone. Danielle, thank you for that beautiful introduction and your leadership. Let's sit down and talk. Hi. Okay.
Interviewer (01:01):
Hey. It looks like they're ready. Well, Vice President Harris, welcome back to the Battle Born State.
Kamala Harris (01:08):
Thank you. Hi. I see many friends.
Interviewer (01:13):
You've been to Nevada many times over the years though. You're no stranger to Nevada.
Kamala Harris (01:19):
No. Nevada's my first cousin.
Interviewer (01:23):
But let's catch up. Fill us in. How have you been, and what have you been up to?
Kamala Harris (01:27):
Thank you. I am well. All things considered, I am well. Doug is well and sends his best to everybody. Our kids are well. I've been traveling a lot, and I've had this real need to just listen, and so, I've been traveling our country and listening to a lot of folks and that's been good. It's been good to do. There's a lot of suffering we know, and fear and all of the emotions that one rightly feels when they see the brutality and the injustice of what we have witnessed.
(02:12)
But I will tell you, my travels, there's a lot that should give us hope also, and renew our faith in what is possible, especially when we, like we are doing this afternoon, sit together as a community of people who care and who love and who fight for what's right, and who maintain an understanding that anything that we stand for is worth fighting for and we stand for a lot, and we're up for a good fight.
Interviewer (02:57):
Thank you. A few of us have been traveling this state and doing just that listing, and I think that's really important. Well, you recently gave a speech where you said we need a post-Trump vision specifically calls for a revival of the American dream, and you are speaking to my heart here. I am a diehard believer in restoring the American dream because my family lived it. Can you talk to us about what that looks like?
Kamala Harris (03:25):
Well, let's start with this. Look, for far too many people in our country, the American dream is not real. In fact, for many people in their lived experience, it's what they would consider an American myth, and we have to be honest about that. In my travels, I've been spending a lot of time, for example, in the South. I was in Jackson, Mississippi. What I've been doing is meeting with, in particular nonprofits and then meeting with the folks that they serve. I met this woman, got to know her and I went grocery shopping with her. She is a mother of three children. She receives SNAP benefits. She likes to do hair but she needs a license so she's putting herself through cosmetology school.
(04:25)
Her weekly budget for food for the 4 of them is $150. We went grocery shopping. I went grocery shopping with her. At the discount grocery store, the cart barely can move. She's picking out things, putting them in the cart. I then asked her, and this is a woman with grace and with dignity and poise. I asked her, "Well, what's in the cart for you? " That was the only time she broke down to share that she will eat whatever the kids don't eat.
(05:05)
She was explaining to me when we were kids, like the chef boy RD came in a can. It's now in a red plastic cup, and she was explaining how it's more expensive now than it was a couple of months ago because all terrace and all this ridiculousness, and we go into the beverage aisle and she's buying bottled water. Now, on that type budget, she explained to me she's buying bottled water because you see the water that comes out of her tap is brown, and sometimes it's so bad she can't bathe her children in that water.
(05:45)
She looks at me and she says, "There are a lot of people like me." This was the thing that was most poignant, and she said, "Don't they see me? When they're talking about the economy as this and that, don't they see me?" She's working hard. She's taking care of her children. She loves her children. She's putting herself through school. She wants a better life for herself and her family.
(06:19)
When I talk about the American dream for so many people has become an American myth, I'm talking about that. I'm talking about the woman I met who shared with me, she's documented. Her husband is not. Her children are born here. They are, obviously, and she's a housekeeper and she was explaining to me how the building in which most of the folks that she knows, immigrants live, an apartment building, it's like 30% occupancy right now. It never has been that way. Why?
(06:54)
Because they know that these buildings are where the raids are happening, so families have moved out of those buildings, and are now renting basically unfinished basements in people's house scattered out around the community so that they won't be a target. Paying more money than they should ever be paying for an unfinished basement. How women that live in her community are not going to the hospital to give birth for fear that their baby will be taken from them.
(07:33)
These things are happening in America. When I think about all of this and I think about the fact that right here in Nevada, because of what's going on, we can talk about... We're going to get to that. We're going to get to that. But here in Nevada, it costs 20 more dollars at least to fill your tank than it did months ago. Here in Nevada, it cost $1,500 more a year because of all the tariffs, which we predicted.
(08:13)
When you look at how many people are struggling, I just say that it is time for us I think to agree as part of our vision that not only are we going to deal with the crises of this moment and fight and march and organize and vote, but we also have to have a vision and part of that vision in my mind has to be about a revival of the American dream, an American revival. I'm talking about good old home revival. If any of you have been like at a church revival, you know this and shouting and some singing and some dancing and some... It can be good. But a revival and what does that look like?
(09:06)
Well, where if you work a 40-hour week, you can afford your rent and food on the table, and maybe a vacation from time to time, not scraping to get by, praying you can get through the end of the month. What does that look like? It means affordable housing, affordable childcare, and not scraping to get by. When right now in America, childcare is in some places more expensive than rent. When we talk about caring about families, revival of American dream, where we have a tax code that's not just about benefiting vast wealth, but about benefiting hard work, a public education system.
Kamala Harris (10:00):
... revival of an American dream where we have a public education system that is about preparing our young, bright minds for the workforce of the 21st century and not for a lifetime of debt. These are the things, right?
(10:20)
So that's what I'm talking about and thinking about and calling for, which is we know that when we have been at that state where we believe in that hard work pays off, that being engaged in the community and being a responsible civic member engaged in our community, that that pays off. Because right now there's so many people who don't believe that they can dream and actually achieve something.
(11:02)
And I've traveled not only around our country but around the world. And when you look at what is happening in our country in terms of our psyche right now, we got some work to do. And it's going to be the work of all of us by the way. I know it's the work of the people in this room. That's why we're all here together this afternoon, but it's got to be all of us, right? I mean, I think part of it is about a civic renewal. I'm traveling and people ask me all the time, "What can I do?" Well, you all know what to do. That's why we're all here together. That's why you're active in the party. That's why you're knocking on doors and organizing and reminding people of the power of their vote.
(11:48)
A civic renewal, people say, "Well, what does that mean?" I said, "Well, they've been cutting all the benefits to all of these nonprofits who are taking care of the homeless, who are taking care of families who are in need. Volunteer." You'd be shocked the number of nonprofits that if you call them up and say, "Hey, I got 10 extra dollars, can I send it to you?" Or, "I got one day a month that I can come in for a few hours," what that would mean. I'm like, "Heck, you know what? Do the things that are about the power of neighbor to neighbor, right? The power of the individual in a community." It could mean you're going to go on a Costco run and then you tell that single father or single mother that you know, "Hey, I'm about to run to Costco. Can I pick up anything for you?"
(12:37)
Because in this environment right now, people are feeling so unseen and heard and they're feeling so alone. And when we try to think about how are we going to get through this, we cannot let these forces that are about brutality, we cannot let this administration that is the most corrupt, callous and incompetent presidential administration we've ever seen. We cannot let them distinguish our spirit. They can't extinguish our spirit.
(13:18)
We have each of us a light inside of us. We've known those moments where we enjoyed this so much. It was in each of us. Nobody gave it to any of us. It was in us and we saw it in each other, that light. And in particular in moments of darkness, that light is most important. And so that's how I'm thinking about this moment. And when I talk about I'm calling for a revival of the American dream, it's about all of that, but it is about putting the power with the people, right?
Interviewer (13:57):
Yeah. Thank you for that. I want to say thank you because there was a couple of things you said. You talked about Americans not believing, and I agree. I think they're facing a crisis of hope right now. So thank you for fighting for restoring that American dream, to make it a dream and no longer a myth.
(14:18)
You said you went grocery shopping with a woman. You met her where she was. You went out and you met the voters where they were and you probably made her feel seen for the first time in a very long time. So thank you.
(14:38)
I have another question for you. Often here in America, we can feel isolated from the impacts of global issues, but right now we aren't. We have gas prices soaring and a lot of us look at what's happening with US leadership around the world and we are incredibly concerned and scared sometimes too.
(15:01)
You spent a lot of your time as vice president working to rebuild America's relationships. What do you think about what's happening right now and do you think America's reputation can recover?
Kamala Harris (15:19):
So that's actually a great segue from where we were because a revival of the American dream includes that we as a nation agree that it is consistent with that dream and creating opportunity in our nation that we would have and invest in affordable healthcare and affordable housing and affordable childcare and not in a war that nobody wants, right? Billions of dollars.
(15:47)
And so where we are, I'm very concerned, I must admit. But I think we can get on the other side of this and I also believe it's going to take some time.
(16:03)
As Vice President of the United States, I met with over 150 world leaders, presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, and kings, many of them multiple times and I developed relationships with them. And I will tell you something. Donald Trump is the first President of the United States of either party, Republican or Democrat since World War II, who has thumbed his nose at the importance of America's relationships with our allies, thumbed his nose at it, walked away from them, points fingers at them, calls them names, degrades them in the Oval Office.
(16:48)
He's the first President of the United States of either party who has not assumed a responsibility, imperfect though we may be, to be a standard-bearer around international rules and norms such as sovereignty and territorial integrity. See what's happening in Ukraine. First one.
(17:11)
And these relationships, foreign relations, it's really like relationships in your personal life. So your friendships, the strength of a friendship will be based on do we have mutually recognized the history of the relationship? Where have we been, what we've been through? Is there truth and honesty in the relationship? Is there consistency in the relationship? Can I count on you? Are you present?
(17:44)
And he has abandoned so many of these relationships, NATO. Understand, listen, as vice president, I went and represented the United States of America at the Munich Security Conference every year and I would speak in front of our NATO allies in Munich. And I'll tell you the first time I went, I realized how much the 1930s are in their blood and bones as a memory of how things can go and how bad it can be, and not as much I think in our memory of what tyranny and fascism and brutality and abuse of power can look like.
(18:37)
When I look at what's happening in addition to all of that and because of it, we are losing, we are losing. America has become more unreliable. We've become unreliable to our friends, unreliable as a friend. To the young leaders here, you don't want to ever be an unreliable friend. And we have also therefore lost our influence.
(19:10)
And again, I will say imperfect though we certainly are whatever influence that we may have had to talk about issues like human rights, democracy, we're losing our influence. And what that will mean is extraordinary in terms of America's security and prosperity. Because let's remember, when America isolated ourselves, we have a history of this and then Pearl Harbor happened and then we decided, "Oh, we can't go it alone and disregard what's happening in the world."
Kamala Harris (20:01):
So I'm very concerned about it. When you look at this war in Iran, which the American people do not want, which was not authorized by conference, but even if it was, it should not have been initiated. He talked about obliterating and then he said, "Oh, he did." It's all just bullshit. You made me do that. I promised I'm not going to curse in public anymore.
Interviewer (20:33):
We're in a room amongst friends.
Kamala Harris (20:33):
You made me do that. She was over here, "Just say it." But what is happening, though, is we are not only losing our authority, we are literally engaged where we're talking about billions of dollars, where we're talking about gas prices going up, where we're talking about the American people suffering. And for what? And this is part of how we have to understand how the irresponsibility of this administration is profound. And by the way, back to the analogy about friendships. So as vice president, I also spent a lot of time in the context of the Indo- Pacific and in the Indo-Pacific. I traveled and spent a lot of time with the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia. Because we here on this coast of the country, we know that our relationship to the Indo-Pacific is a direct one. And so I spend time with the leaders of those nations, understanding that where we can have and find common ground, we must.
(21:58)
So they have pretty much completely abandoned that focus. And as we all know, nature abhors a vacuum. So guess who's moving on in? Somebody asked me recently, "Where does China fit into all this?" And I kind of flippantly said, "Well, they just sitting back, eating the popcorn." But really what's happening is they're moving into fill a void.
(22:22)
I spent time as vice president working on changing the narrative between the relationship of the United States of America with the continent of Africa, that it should not only be about aid, but it should be about partnership, understanding that by 2050, it is estimated that one in four people on earth will be on the continent of Africa. You know how he talks about African nations.
(22:49)
Our adversary Russia, you want to know who's the big winner on the Iranian war? Russia. Because of the oil issue, what has he done? He's lifted sanctions on Russia. You know what that means? They're making money to sell oil that otherwise they were prevented from selling. What else does it mean? We're sending artillery, ammunition, air defense that otherwise would be going to Ukraine.
Audience (23:17):
That's right.
Kamala Harris (23:17):
So the consequences are profound. You're talking about taking over Greenland, which is a territory of Denmark, which is a NATO ally.
Audience (23:29):
He's an idiot.
Kamala Harris (23:30):
But anything ... I'm not going to dismiss him as being an idiot. He's dangerous.
Audience (23:38):
Yes.
Kamala Harris (23:39):
He's dangerous. And America's security and prosperity are in the hands and on the line in terms of what he does and does not do. Greenland, anything we want and would have wanted, we could get diplomatically and you're talking about send ... Article 5 of the NATO ... I know you all didn't want to hear all this, but I'm just going to share it with you. Look, the NATO Alliance, right, is the strongest military alliance the world has ever known. And there's a part of it, Article 5, which basically is kind of like all for one and one for all. If you are a NATO ally, if we are both NATO allies and you get attacked, I'm stepping up to help you. Article 5. Okay?
(24:37)
So if we're talking about initiating a military action in Greenland, that would ignite Article 5. But the second point, probably more importantly to make, do you know the only nation of all the NATO allies who has ever benefited from Article 5?
Audience (24:53):
Us.
Kamala Harris (24:55):
Us when our allies stepped up to support us after 9/11.
Audience (25:02):
Yep.
Kamala Harris (25:04):
So it's going to take a while and I have traveled out of the country a couple times since the election and here's what I will say and then we can move on to another subject. But one of the things that I also know from my work internationally is the strength of the relationship between nations, yes, it is dependent on all of the things we've discussed, yes, it is also dependent on the relationship between leaders. And I do believe what fortifies it most importantly is the sense of the connection between the people of nations. And that's where we all come into play. That's where we all come into play.
(25:50)
So we're talking about the midterms. People around the world watch what happens in our elections, obviously, and not only the election for president. So the work that we, the American people do around these midterms will be part of what we signal about what we care about and who we are and that we have not, we in this room, have not abandoned our connection to our ideals and principles and values, right?
Interviewer (26:28):
And speaking of the midterms, because you've referenced our NATO allies having memories of the abuse of power and I'm hoping after these midterms, abuse of power becomes a distant memory when we win back the House and the Senate, right?
Kamala Harris (26:43):
But it's not going to be easy, guys.
Interviewer (26:45):
It's not.
Kamala Harris (26:46):
It's not going to be easy. They are throwing all kinds of obstacles in our way. That decision from the Supreme Court on the Voting Rights Act?
Audience (26:54):
Boo.
Interviewer (26:54):
It's my next question for you.
Kamala Harris (26:57):
Yo, great.
Interviewer (26:58):
Yeah. So last week the Supreme Court threw a devastating blow hammering the Voting Rights Act. How do you think that's going to play into the midterm elections?
Kamala Harris (27:08):
I think it's going to have a profound effect. You already have seen. Look, first of all, I was interviewed recently and they said, the first question was ... because it was the day of it happening. And they said, "Well, when you first heard about it, what did you think?" And because I was in California, we're on Pacific Standard Time, it was really early in the morning. And again, pardon my language, so the first thing I heard about it was at the crack of dawn and I was like, "Shit, I thought this was going to happen in June." I didn't think it was going to ... Because normally a lot of the big cases come down in June.
Audience (27:49):
Yeah.
Kamala Harris (27:50):
Okay. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I just pay attention.
Audience (27:53):
Yeah. Yeah.
Kamala Harris (28:02):
So to answer the question, the midterms, why did they come down with this decision so early?
Audience (28:09):
[inaudible 00:28:11]
Kamala Harris (28:11):
To give all those states ... You see what's happened? Mississippi, Tennessee most recently.
Interviewer (28:16):
Louisiana.
Kamala Harris (28:17):
Louisiana. So they could pull together what they need to do around redrawing their lines. You saw just what happened in Tennessee?
Audience (28:23):
Yep. Yep.
Kamala Harris (28:24):
To redraw those lines to get those ballots printed for the midterms. Understand what's happening.
Audience (28:31):
Yup.
Kamala Harris (28:31):
I was in North Carolina. Let me tell you, I went to go visit a group of students because I'd been reading about how they're organizing around voting. These students attend North Carolina A&T. It is the largest HBCU in America. These young leaders have been organizing because the officials there took their polling place from the campus.
Audience (29:00):
What?
Kamala Harris (29:00):
So whereas we raise our children, especially when they hit that age, college age, whether they're in college or not, where we want them to set up good habits, we know that that's the stage at which you will develop your patterns for what you'll do in your life. So we want, don't we?
Audience (29:20):
Yeah.
Kamala Harris (29:20):
We want that our young people will have as part of their pattern that they vote every election, whoever they vote for. They took their polling place.
Audience (29:32):
Wow.
Kamala Harris (29:32):
Oh, and then when I met with them, they shared with me ... So they organized and went up to the Capitol to go speak. And do you know what they were told in the chamber? You only have five minutes. I'm not finished. You only have five minutes to leave.
Audience (29:53):
Wow.
Kamala Harris (29:57):
The arrogance of
Kamala Harris (30:00):
... the brutality of this attack on voting rights.
(30:06)
And so we should buy all accounts based on merit win the midterms, but it is not going to be easy. People say to me, "Well, you think they're going to cancel the elections?" No, I don't. Because if you thought No King's Rallies were a big deal, people will definitely take to the streets. I don't think they're going to do that. What they're doing systematically is making it more difficult for people to vote.
(30:33)
Look at the SAVE Act. So the SAVE Act that they keep pushing. So what that would do is for new registrants to vote, to prove your identity, you'd have to have a birth certificate or passport. Well, passports cost at least $100 to get. So can you say poll tax? Right? If you are one of over 60 million women in America who changed your name when you were married, the name then on your birth certificate is going to be different than the name on your driver's license or your ID. Have fun going through that bureaucracy to try and reconcile that. And it's already difficult enough to try and take time off, especially if you work in two or three jobs or you have two or three children.
(31:23)
So this is what's at play. They're making it intentionally more difficult for people to vote because they know people are not stupid and are paying attention to the cost of gas and the cost of housing and the cost of this war. And the cost of the brutality on vulnerable people who deserve to have a government that lifts them up instead of beating them down.
(31:51)
So let's get ready for this. This election upcoming in Nevada is going to be so important. Aaron Ford winning for governor is going to be so important. You winning, all these state races because so much of what's been happening is about this shift of power around local and state government. So while we always pay attention to the presidential, which we must, these local races, these state races around the country. And I will say candidly, I think that's where the Democratic Party could have done much better around paying attention to local and statewide elections and issues and supporting that because that's where this is all coming.
(32:51)
It's bubbling up from a longstanding agenda that they've had to invest in those areas so that now you have these state legislators who are doing things like telling those students at North Carolina A&T you have five minutes to get out.
(33:10)
So we have work to do, but we know how to do that work. We know how to do that work. It's like, good, okay. So this is our fight? All right, I got it. Right? Just tell me what the fight is and then I know what to put on. Right?
Interviewer (33:33):
Well, speaking of midterms and what I see now is a room of a fired up Democrats ready, right? Thank you for firing them up. And we get a lot of people asking us what can they do? People are frustrated and they want to know what can we do. Well, you can vote, right? But we obviously have midterms ahead of us. And here in Nevada, we have reproductive rights on the ballot again.
Kamala Harris (34:02):
Yes.
Interviewer (34:03):
The second time, we need to pass it this time. We passed it the first time, but we need to pass it the second time to codify it. So Nevada is a state that prides itself on protecting choice and we've been doing that since Roe v. Wade was overturned, but we kept telling everyone this isn't the end. They're going to keep coming after choice. They're going to keep coming after choice and we saw that they just did again. So what would you tell people who want to get involved? What can they do right now in this moment?
Kamala Harris (34:35):
Well, part of it is, again, the power that we... Okay, let me just step back.
(34:42)
There's so much about this moment that has made people feel all those emotions from anger to sadness to depression, frustration for sure, but it's also made people feel hopeless and powerless and alone. Let's speak to that for a moment. There is nothing that makes you know your strength and your power more than... You know how it feels when you help somebody out? Oh, it makes you feel good, doesn't it? And there's so much good that we can do, just neighbor to neighbor that is about that to just remind us of our power. And when we do it and when we all do it, what that means in terms of strengthening community around as much as anything around hope and a belief that we are being seen and heard.
(35:47)
There is the work that we need to do around... First of all, everybody just check your voter registration status. Anybody you know in another state, remind them to do that. That seems like, oh, why would we do that? We've never had to worry about that before. Well, with all this business of them purging the voter roles, not to mention how they've been going and taking ballots from various states, remind people, check your voter registration status.
(36:10)
Make sure you check your polling location. Part of the game that they're playing, again, to make it more difficult is this shell game, closing voting polling locations. So your parents and your grandparents always voted at that elementary school down the street. And then on election day, if that's the only day they choose to vote, they'll walk down there and it won't be there. So some of the basics too, just let's check those things. Volunteer to be a poll worker, volunteer on a campaign, figure out how you can support candidates.
(36:43)
And in that way it is really... I will tell you, okay, this is a total digression, but campaigns, I've been in a lot of them for myself and others and campaigning is fun, right? You meet the best people, you meet the angels walking among us, right? There are babies that have been born because of my campaigns. Marriages and babies and all that. I see the young people.
(37:23)
But the bottom line is this, and I know we're running out of time. I firmly and strongly believe that when you feel powerless, you are powerless. And when you feel powerful, you are powerful. And we are powerful and we are powerful. And so let's just show ourselves each other our power around the midterms and every day. And every day that we are seeing, we see each other, that this is our country. We love our country and we are going to fight for its ideals. We are going to fight for the dream. We know that that fight can be difficult, but we're not going to let them get in our head and defeat us because there is so much at stake and so much good, so much good to be done.
(38:23)
So thank you all.
Interviewer (38:32):
Thank you, Vice President.