Kamala Harris tells room of undecided Pennsylvania voters that Donald Trump is a 'fascist'

24 Oct 2024, 02:11 by https://www.facebook.com/17108852506 · AlterNet

Vice President Kamala Harris during a live CNN town hall on October 23, 2024 (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)
Carl Gibson
October 24, 2024Push Notification

Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a live CNN town hall on Wednesday night, speaking to a room of undecided voters in a critical suburban county outside of Philadelphia. And she opened the hour-long event by telling the audience that former President Donald Trump was a fascist.

Before taking questions from the audience, Harris opened by telling the roomful of voters — which included registered Democrats, Republicans and independents — about former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly recent New York Times interview. On Tuesday, Kelly told the Times that his old boss met the dictionary's definition of a fascist. She also noted that General Mark Milley — whom Trump appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2019 — told journalist Bob Woodward that the former president was a "fascist to the core."

"The people who know Donald Trump best, the people who worked with him in the White House and the Situation Room in the Oval Office — all Republicans, by the way — who served in his administration, his former chief of staff, his national security advisor, former secretaries of defense and his vice president have all called him unfit, and dangerous," she said. "They have said explicitly he has contempt for the Constitution of the United States. They have said he should never again serve as president of the United States."

"I think one has to think about why would someone who served with him, who is not political, a four-star Marine general, why is he telling the American people now? And frankly, I think of it as he's just putting out a 911 call to the American people," she continued. "Understand what could happen if Donald Trump were back in the White House. And this time we must take very seriously those folks who knew him best, and who were career people, are not going to be there to hold him back."

As Harris pointed out, Trump has called for the "termination" of articles of the U.S. Constitution in reference to his 2020 election loss. And in Kelly's New York Times interview, he candidly said that Trump would not prioritize upholding the Constitution if he were elected to a second term. Harris urged town hall attendees to seek out the audio of Kelly warning Americans about the danger Trump presents.

"Don't take my word for it in fact, go online and listen to John Kelly," she said. "There are undecided voters who clearly, by being here have an open mind, want to talk in a way that is grounded in issues and fact. And when they hear these facts, I think it compels a lot of people to be concerned about the future of our country with Donald Trump at the lead."

Cooper then asked Harris directly if she agreed with Milley's description of Trump, saying: "You've quoted General Milley calling Donald Trump a fascist. You yourself have not used that word to describe him. Let me ask you tonight, do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?"

"Yes I do. Yes I do," she said.

Watch the clip below, or by clicking this link.