Leading off the line-up of Democratic contenders at the South Carolina Democratic Convention, Senator Harris pumped up the crowd by leaning into prosecuting Trump's crimes.
June 22, 2019

Kamala Harris lit up the audience at the South Carolina Democratic State Party Convention this morning with a fiery speech in which she embraced her experience as a prosecutor, rather than making excuses for it. She is positioning herself to be the one to prosecute the predator in the Oval Office, and framing the American electorate as the jury to whom she must present the evidence. If her record of reducing witnesses in the Senate to liquified puddles of skin is any indication, she's got more than a fighting chance. If today's speech can be counted as her Opening Statement? Defense counsel should be quaking in their boots.

So I stand before you as a candidate for the President of the United States prepared to do our work, for helping our nation see what can be, unburdened by what has been, and see the vision of the future, respecting our past. I know that we have in this White House a president who says he wants to make America great again. Well, what does that mean? Does that mean he wants to take us back to before schools were integrated? Does that mean he wants to take us back before the Voting Rights Act was enacted? Does that mean he wants to take us back before the Civil Rights Act was enacted? Does he mean he wants to take us back before Roe v. Wade was enacted? Because we are not going back. We are not going back. We see a future. We see a future. And I'm going to tell you not only am I child of parents who were active in civil rights fighters and marchers, I also had a career as a prosecutor. So let me tell you a little bit about that. I know how to take on predators. I took on the big banks and won over $20 billion. I took on for-profit colleges and put them out of business. I took on oil companies who were polluting our environments. I took on transnational criminal organizations who were preying on women and children. I know how to get that job done. And I did it for the people. For the people. So let me tell you we need somebody on our stage when it comes time for that general election who knows how to recognize a rap sheet when they see it and prosecute the case. So let's read that rap sheet, shall we? He asked Black Americans, he said, "What do you have to lose?" Well, we know civil rights investigations are down, hate crimes are up. We had a lot to lose. Let's look at that rap sheet where he told working people that he would help them, but instead passed a tax bill benefitting the top 1% and the biggest corporations of this country. Said he would help the farmers, but passed what I call the Trump Trade Tax. Trump Trade Policy By Tweet, and now we have farmers who have soybeans rotting in bins and auto workers who may be out of their job by the end of the year. Let's look at that rap sheet where he said he would give everyone healthcare but he's still trying to rip healthcare away from folks, and turn back the clock on Obamacare. Let's talk about looking at that rap sheet where he has embraced dictators like Kim Jong-un and Putin and taken their word over the word of the American intelligence community. Let's prosecute the case. Let's prosecute that case. And let's not turn back the clock, let's start the next chapter, shall we? Let's start the next chapter. Let's turn the page.

She didn't call the Stable Genius In Chief a predator...directly, at least. She did wait a beat, though, after she said she knew how to prosecute predators, and look knowingly into the crowd to absorb their applause. THEN, she talked about beating predatory banks, oil companies, and human traffickers, signaling her allyship to the many other victims of this president's (and the GOP's) racist, misogynistic, elitist policies — victims who needs a strong advocate standing up for them.

Jason Johnson was jumping out of his skin with excitement, calling it "the best Senator Harris I have ever seen," and "the best speech she has ever given." Joy Reid summed up the craftiness of the speech, saying, "Kamala Harris, being a prosecutor has been her defining brand in a negative way. This was it in a very positive way. You can see her getting up on that stage with Donald Trump and prosecuting him live on television."

Who among us doesn't want to see someone — ANYONE — prosecute Donald Trump on live television?!?

And just because it's Saturday and we deserve this, here's your mood to take in to the rest of the day.

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