Rev. Al Sharpton (00:00):
... help Rev. They told me, "You wasted your time. She's not going to win statewide." She ran and she won. Then there's a Senate seat open up and she decided to run for the U.S. Senate. And they said, "Well, you know that's going to be next to impossible, especially with her background." She had fought criminal justice cases, fought against some of the profiling. And it added a lot of strength, because her having been a prosecutor, they couldn't say she was anti-police or anti-whatever. And she got it from both sides, attacks, unfairness. She ran though and went to the U.S. Senate. She was the one that helped to introduce the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act in the U.S. Senate. She was the one that would debate the other side.
(01:11)
And then when we ended up with President Biden stepping back, there's some that said, "We need a primary." And we said, "We already had it." When we voted for Biden, we voted for Harris, which meant that if something happened with Biden, she was supposed to get it. But she was so used to people doubting, she took it with ease. We got angry, she was calming us down. And she had to calm me down now, because we are in trouble and we should have listened and come out in the numbers that we should have come out with. Make no mistake about it, I have no idea what she's going to decide to do in her future, but I know what she's done with her past. She's the first woman in the history of this country to be the vice president of the United States. She's the first Black woman to have the nomination of a major party. And she is the second largest vote getter. She got more votes than Barack Obama, than Bill Clinton, she got more votes than anyone in American history. Whatever she decides to do, she's made her point in history. Now we need her to help us. Whatever she decides to change history around. I bring you the Former Vice President of the United States, the Honorable Kamala Harris.
MUSIC (02:58):
... freedom, putting it in my car.
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Wherever I choose to go, it will take me far.
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I'm livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden, golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden.
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Livin' my life like it's golden, golden.
Kamala Harris (03:18):
Good morning then. Good morning, good morning. Good morning. Let's have a seat. Let's get into this. Come on. Good morning. Good morning. Oh, it's so good to... Thank you all, thank you.
Rev. Al Sharpton (03:36):
I think they're happy to see you.
Kamala Harris (03:47):
Oh, it's good to be back. It's good to be back. Thank you all, everyone. And good morning. And thank you for all the work everyone here does and for taking the time this morning for us to all get together. And Rev, thank you for your longstanding leadership, for your friendship, for being an advisor, for being an inspiration, especially in the most difficult times. I thank you for that.
Rev. Al Sharpton (04:12):
I thank you. I thank you for being here. Thank you. The first gentleman is with us too.
Kamala Harris (04:17):
Yeah.
Rev. Al Sharpton (04:17):
Doug. Stand up, Doug. Let me go right into some of the things that I really wanted to talk to you about.
Kamala Harris (04:31):
All right.
Rev. Al Sharpton (04:32):
Today, even with the tenuous ceasefire, the war is no longer contained. It's become a regional war in terms of Iran. And we get mixed signals from the president, which is not strange to me, that one day we're going to stop, one day we're going to start, one day it's not a war, one day it is, and on Easter Sunday, using all kind of profanity and attacking a religion or mocking it. I mean, from the first strikes, you have been about your opposition to this war and to this engagement. And as you see it now, explain to me why there's such a danger on a global level, which I believe was the basis that you had opposed this engagement from the beginning and had said that. And it seems like, not that you wanted to be right, that you have been right, because we're losing lives on all sides and we don't even know why.
Kamala Harris (05:42):
That's right. Well, you are correct, Rev. From the beginning, I have been unequivocally opposed to this war of choice that Trump has entered. Let us understand, first of all, this president is the first president of the United States since World War II, who does not believe in the alliances that we have with friendly nations, does not believe in the strength of them, the recognition of the history with them, and the importance that that relationship bears on our standing around the world, our influence around the world, not to mention our national security. This is the first President of the United States post-World War II who has not considered the United States of America to have a responsibility to be a standard bearer around international rules and norms, such as sovereignty and territorial integrity. Look what he did as it relates and what he has been doing as it relates to Ukraine.
(06:59)
And why is this important? Because America's strength in the context of the globe and the world relies on a number of things. Yes, it relies on the fact that we have the most lethal fighting force in the world, our military, and it relies on what we call our soft power, which is the importance that we have placed in being a participant with other democracies around holding up international rules and norms such as human rights, such as the importance of respecting relationships. Foreign policy is a lot like your friendships in your personal life. The strength of the friendship is going to be based on some mutual recognition of the history of the friendship, what you've been through together. It's going to rely on trust, which is a reciprocal relationship. You give and you receive trust. It's a back and forth.
(08:12)
Friendships rely on consistency. Do I follow through on what I say? What I've said? Well, none of this can be counted on when it comes to Donald Trump. None of it. It is, yes, evidence of his lack of character, but it is harmful to the people of America, not to mention people in allied nations around the world. So he enters into this war, a war of choice. Remember, the man said, the man said he got rid of their nuclear arsenal. " Obliterated it," he said. You know how he likes to use those kind of words? "Obliterated it." Which is not an ambiguous term, that means you took it out. Well, evidently he didn't do that.
(09:19)
He is causing U.S. service members, 13 to have lost their lives, hundreds, it is estimated of others to be injured, some very seriously, putting U.S. service members at risk. Abandoning alliances, he's been pointing fingers at NATO, right? So understand what that is. Those are friends of ours that we have had, and that bond formed mostly out of what happened in the 1930s, again, post World War II. Under our administration, we expanded NATO. We brought two more countries in. He's now pointing fingers at these friends of ours who don't want to go along with his war of choice.
(10:16)
And I've mentioned all of this to say two things in particular which keeps me up at night, frankly, as your former vice president of the United States. And it is this, America has increasingly under Donald Trump, become more unreliable as a partner to our friends. And America has increasingly, second point, lost influence. So when we otherwise could say, "You know, in X country, we're concerned about human rights violations," even if it did not directly affect our national security, we had some level of authority to speak about these things in a way that we had earned the ability of people to listen and pay attention and maybe try to do better. We have become more unreliable under this man and we are losing influence. And my concern is not only just the fact of it, but it's going to take a while and some serious work way beyond the end of this man's term to regain whatever we had.
(11:43)
I will tell you, Rev though, what gives me some sense of optimism includes this, as vice president of the United States, I met with over 150 world leaders, presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, and kings,
Kamala Harris (12:01):
... many of them multiple times and formed relationships. I have traveled the globe many times over. And I will share with the friends here, one thing that I realized is that the relationship that we have with allied nations, yes, can be forged and reinforced by the leaders, but I will tell you, the true strength of those relationships is the people of those nations feeling some level of identity and connection with the people of our country.
(12:40)
And that includes the people in this room because I will tell you, in meeting with so many foreign leaders, the first foreign leader that I invited to my home as vice president was then German Chancellor Angela Merkel. I had her over for breakfast and we sat down, it was called a bilateral meeting. We sat down and we talked about everything. It was before Russia invaded Ukraine.
(13:03)
We talked about Russia and China and a number of things. And then she leaned over to me and she said, "Please tell me what's going on in your country with voting." Because she was very concerned about the erosion that she was reading about and hearing about in the United States around obstruction of voting rights.
(13:29)
I bring it back to Nan because here's the point there, she was fully aware of the leaders and the activists and the heroes that we honor who fought for voting rights. She knew of the struggle. She knew of the work it requires and she knew what was at stake.
(13:49)
And I will tell the folks here that, again, part of the relationship that we will ever have with the people of other nations will be because of folks like the folks in this room who are always fighting for the ideals of America, always fighting for what we know to be true commitment to freedom, to justice, to liberty, and to equality. So there we go.
Rev. Al Sharpton (14:24):
Let me ask you this... And I'm sure you remember, many out there remember President Trump said on day one he was going to deal with inflation and make America affordable again and to bring down the prices of groceries. It's safe to say these things didn't happen. So I mean, what do you make of this? I know...
(14:51)
I'm the preacher, but you practice better than me. I'd be up in the middle of the night saying, "I told you so." But how do you on a serious side deal with the fact that we are dealing at a time this war exacerbates it, what's going with the Strait of Hormuz all exacerbates it. And we are paying for this. This is not just some foreign affair issue-
Kamala Harris (15:19):
That's right.
Rev. Al Sharpton (15:19):
... somewhere else.
Kamala Harris (15:20):
That's right.
Rev. Al Sharpton (15:21):
The American citizens, black, white, red, blue, don't matter, are paying for this war.
Kamala Harris (15:28):
That's right. And the American citizens will always pay for war. So that is true. First of all, just to answer the first question, and I heard friends in the room say, "He lied." He lied. He told the American people on day one he was going to bring down prices and costs, and he lied.
(15:49)
I will say this; however, when you look at the numbers in terms of that election, one third voted for him, one third voted for us, and one third did not vote. And I do believe there is a healthy number of the folks that voted for him that believed him and voted based on that very important issue, which is: can they afford to get through life with dignity and being able to take care of their family? It's without any question, I would say the number one issue for most people in our country.
(16:28)
And you look at it though, what he has done is instead of taking care of the average everyday folk in America around their need for affordability, he'd been taking care of his rich friends and his own family. You look at what's been happening, the cost of gas, the cost of food, unemployment, inflation have gone up since he has been president. And then now he has...
(16:59)
He says what he's thinking. I mean, here's the thing. We don't have to kind of like, "What does he mean when he says that?" That's the one problem we don't have. So he just said the other day, "The government shouldn't be responsible for affordable childcare."
Rev. Al Sharpton (17:22):
That's what he said.
Kamala Harris (17:23):
This is the same man who pretended that he's a family first president. They're asking for at least $200 billion. I heard today the number may be as high as $400 billion, 200 to $400 billion for this war. Meanwhile, they've cut Medicaid, premium prices for healthcare have gone up, SNAP benefits, WIC.
(17:47)
Everybody in this room knows what WIC stands for, Women, Infants, and Children. SNAP benefits, which are intended and were created to feed hungry children, hungry seniors, people who have the right to expect that their government wants to alleviate their suffering.
(18:10)
So he, again, has shown his character on issues like this and his character is he is telling the American people he doesn't care about you. But I would caution us to understand it's not only about him. At some point, he will be termed out office and understand it's not just about the individual, it's about the apparatus, if you will.
(18:50)
I would prefer to just talk about the cronies who are allowing this to happen. Members of Congress, Rev, I'm going to use the F word, who are feckless. It's an appropriate F word who don't...
(19:19)
And I served, as you mentioned, Rev, in the United States Senate, for four years. I know a number of these folks, and I know that so many of them know what's wrong with this. I know they know it, but they don't have the courage to stand up.
(19:38)
They want to walk around with their flag pin, having their staff run around and chase them like their royalty. They don't want to give up those jobs, and they know it's wrong. The other thing I've come to...
(19:57)
I know we're all spending a lot of time thinking about how could people be this way. I've come to the realization that some people are purely transactional. By that, I mean, they're in it for what they can get out of it, and whoever is harmed in the process, so be it. They're not burdened with doing what is morally right, what is principled, what is value based. They're in it for what they can get out of it.
(20:35)
And the second point I've come to realize, sadly, is that I do think it is part of the frailty of human nature for some, which is the need to just be next to power, no matter what it does. And these are the things that we're seeing, come from people who are otherwise powerful and have taken an oath to represent the people in their best interests.
(21:07)
So this is what we're seeing happen. I think we need to understand it's bigger than him. We have midterms coming up, and anyone who is facilitating this, either by their silence or actively, needs to be held accountable.
Rev. Al Sharpton (21:31):
One of the things you said that I want to go back to quickly is the standing in the international community that has been severely damaged by this president. And how can that even be restored? It's going to take years. He's broken commitments, promises. He's in many ways excoriated some of the allies. How do you rebuild a global kind of image of where the United States was that he's taught up in a year and a half?
Kamala Harris (22:11):
You're right. One, we're going to have to... I think it's going to take more than one election to do... All right. Okay.
Rev. Al Sharpton (23:03):
Shh! Now, y'all know I don't allow disruptions at my convention. Y'all know how quiet and laid back I am. What do y'all think y'all?
Kamala Harris (23:17):
So I'll say this back to your question right now, and I thank everybody here. It will be about what it's going to take to repair and revive relationships, but there's another piece to this that is equally problematic, which is, you know that saying nature abhors a vacuum, right?
Rev. Al Sharpton (23:41):
Right.
Kamala Harris (23:42):
I mean, back to the point about relationships. The other thing about relationships we know in our personal life, you have to be present. You have to be there. So the other thing the man has done is he cut USAID, which
Kamala Harris (24:00):
... which was a commitment that we made and funded over many years, that the United States of... We still didn't fund it enough by the way, but we did fund it, aid that we would give to nations in need, whether it be because they were dealing with a health epidemic. You know, for years, it was HIV/AIDS, cholera, hunger. And through USAID, we would give aid and assistance to nations in need. And by the way, that was not pure benevolence. There was also an understanding when you do that, you earn the credibility to then talk about some other things.
Rev. Al Sharpton (24:41):
That's right.
Kamala Harris (24:42):
So it's not like it's purely selfless to do it. It's not like what they would have you say, "Oh, American tax dollars shouldn't be going to this." America benefits from that. Our national security benefits from it, if you want to understand, right? There's multiple purposes. Well, he cut that, so we're not giving that level of aid, but the other thing, nature abhors a vacuum. When you are not present in these relationships, other people will fill the void. So see, China. I mean, somebody asked me the other day, "What's your take on China's connection to all this?" And I jokingly, half-jokingly said, "Well, China's just sitting back eating their popcorn."
(25:25)
But what they're also doing is filling the void. When I was vice president, I was very intentional, and one of the things I was very proud of is I was doing the work of attempting to change the narrative around the relationship between the United States of America and the continent of Africa, because you know, we have historically... When we have worked on the relationship, it's been about aid, but my point was it needs to be about partnership, right? Understand that on the continent, the median age, I think, now is about 19 years old. The predict is that by the year 2050, one in four people occupying Mother Earth will be on the continent of Africa.
(26:09)
Which presents either a wonderful opportunity for partnership and investment, understanding this population of people are going to have such a huge impact on the future of the world, or it's going to present a risk if we just ignore the needs of the people who are there. For example, in many African nations, their economy is based on agriculture, right? So the work that we could do in partnership around new ways of... You know, I've been spending a lot of time in the South, as you and I talked about. When I leave here, I'm going to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and then Arkansas later. But agriculture, and in fact, some partnerships with our local farmers and farmers on the continent.
(26:56)
Well, he's pulled back, because you know, the way that he's thinking of foreign policy, it seems, is when he talks about America first, it's to withdraw from these relationships and these connections. And then he kind of, Rev, acts like a mob boss. So then he's kind of like, "Well, you know, you take Eastern Europe and I'll take the Western Hemisphere, and then you over there, you get Asia, and we'll just divide it up," right? Instead of understanding, historically, America has always been about our global leadership, imperfect though we have been. So what is happening is by withdrawing for a number of reasons, not to mention what he has called African nations.
Rev. Al Sharpton (27:49):
Yeah.
Kamala Harris (27:50):
And so-
Rev. Al Sharpton (27:50):
As whole countries.
Kamala Harris (27:51):
Right. What is happening is the other thing that is going to require the work after he leaves office is understanding that people have filled our void, in particular China. And how's that going to work, then, when again, relationships are based on, "Who's been with me? Who's been here?" I'll give you another example and then we can go on to the next question. When I was vice president, I spent a lot of time focused on the Indo-Pacific. Again, you got to be present, so I spent time and traveled to Vietnam, to Singapore, to South Korea, to Indonesia, to Japan. Why did I go to those places and have multiple meetings with those leaders? Because China is attempting to influence that whole region of the world, which we have a direct connection to. California is right in the Pacific, right? 40 million people. We have a direct interest in what happens in that region, so we need to be present. You look under the Trump administration, they have pretty much withdrawn from our relationships with Indo-Pacific countries, again leaving a void. So while he struts around boasting about how he will annihilate a whole people, what he is in fact doing, and this is why it's important to watch what he does and not just listen to what he says, what he is doing is making us weaker, unreliable, and less influential.
Rev. Al Sharpton (29:40):
There's an inordinate amount of influence that social media has.
Kamala Harris (29:47):
Yeah.
Rev. Al Sharpton (29:47):
Both good and bad.
Kamala Harris (29:48):
Right.
Rev. Al Sharpton (29:49):
And so much to a degree that Australia just banned social media. Do you think governments should regulate social media?
Kamala Harris (29:59):
So, I actually was in Australia in the last 12 months twice, and met with the commissioner who championed this restriction for social media for children 16 and understand. It's interesting. She says she'd prefer to not call it a ban, but a delay, so this is how she thinks of it. It's a delay on when children can have access to social media. And it's relatively new and we'll see how it plays out.
(30:29)
I mean, here's the thing. We should trust parents to understand that parents are right to be concerned about the amount of time their children are spending on social media and the impact it's having on their mental health. It's real, Rev. It's real. And you know, over 30 states now in the United States have, for example, banned cell phones in schools, and are seeing very positive outcomes for that. And I think that is something that we are seeing that increasingly, we're seeing that whatever the drawback, the benefit outweighs the drawback.
(31:16)
But the work that has to be done is understanding that also, we've got to have guardrails on what big tech is doing, and whether it be social media or what's happening with AI. Back to the social media piece, I was actually very pleased to see that of the advocates for guardrails on social media were all these parents who just won that case against Meta and YouTube around the harm to children, so many of whom have actually died by suicide. And when we talk about suicide rates among children, and then you look at the suicide rates among black children, we cannot ignore the reality of how, among the many factors that impact the mental health and wellbeing of our children, this is one of them.
(32:13)
And the additional point I would make is if we're sitting around waiting for governments to handle this, we may be sitting around for a long time. And I will say, though, states are taking it on, like New York has done some interesting work. California's done some interesting work. So governments can, but again, this administration, through Trump, has basically said... It's either federal legislation or nothing, but you know there's going to be no federal legislation, because half his cabinet are invested in the technology and are in the pocket of big tech. So where we would like to know and believe that government traditionally has a role to play in reducing harm, we've seen it with some state governments. I don't know if we're going to see it with the federal government anytime soon.
(33:06)
Then you could say, "Well, then where else could the protections come from?" Well, it's not going to come from the industry itself, because the industry has already figured out a business model where the algorithm is fueled by fear. And fear fuels the algorithm, and the algorithm fuels profit. So that's going to be difficult, to expect that they will self-police, because they pretty much said that they're not going to.
(33:40)
So then who's left? This is where I say the consumer, who as we know, when we know our market power, our ability to have an impact on the marketplace, we can actually create movements that are about progress. And part of that will be, and I say this to NAN, is the work that we will continue to do to educate the people, the public, our friends and neighbors, the folks where we organize, to help them understand the effects of social media, so that they will know what to demand of the market.
Rev. Al Sharpton (34:28):
One of the things that NAN has been on the forefront of, and that you've been there longer than most, is voting rights and the protection of voting rights.
Kamala Harris (34:39):
Yeah.
Rev. Al Sharpton (34:40):
I am honored to have, in one of our offices, a picture of us marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Kamala Harris (34:48):
Yeah.
Rev. Al Sharpton (34:48):
And you were helping to wheel one of the foot soldiers.
Kamala Harris (34:52):
Yes. Yeah.
Rev. Al Sharpton (34:52):
And I and Ben Crump was with you.
Kamala Harris (34:55):
Mm-hmm.
Rev. Al Sharpton (34:55):
But you've been to Selma before, when you were running for president. Voting rights is at risk with the whole way he is now trying to change the qualifications for voting, passports, which is a poll tax, because if you don't have a passport, you need almost $200.
Kamala Harris (35:17):
That's right.
Rev. Al Sharpton (35:18):
And redistricting. Talk to us as one who's dealt with [inaudible 00:35:26] Rights Act, and you tried to get it passed.
Kamala Harris (35:35):
Yep.
Rev. Al Sharpton (35:35):
I remember that there was the meetings, and they had three of you to meet and be the committee to get it through, and the last minute, the Republican who loved Donald Trump, hugged him by the waist, turned on us. You called me and said, "Rev, I tried my best, but I think we're losing our ally." You championed
Rev. Al Sharpton (36:00):
... In that about voting rights. Talk about that.
Kamala Harris (36:02):
Yeah. So to your point about poll taxes, literacy taxes, this is not new in our history. And it's an agenda that has been in play since we got voting rights. And to fast-forward to today, yes, it's more of the same. And so the way it is taking on is one, first they're pushing redistricting. First, remember they were pushing redistricting in red states. And then blue states said, "All right, well, we're going to play fire with fire then." Okay? So that was right. They have been doing the work for years of building a Supreme Court that is configured as we now have it. And they're about to make a decision on Section two of the Voting Rights Act. And I am sad to say I do believe they are going to kill it.
(37:05)
And that will mean that the legal tool that we have to be able to litigate in a court, what are clearly racist, influenced laws to prevent certain people from voting, we're going to lose the tool that we have had before. They then are proposing the SAVE Act. One must ask, save who? And what they will do is basically, to your point, Rev, to register to vote, you're going to have to prove your citizenship by a passport or a birth certificate. So it is estimated that over 20 million Americans don't have a passport or access to a passport. And to get one is at least $100, if not close to 200, which is in essence a poll tax, right?
(38:11)
On the birth certificate piece, well, if you are a woman who got married and took your spouse's name, you are among the over 60 million women in America who are in that situation, which means that if you need to prove your citizenship with your birth certificate, it will not match, for example, your driver's license, which again is an obstacle because already you got to leave work to vote. You got to have somebody take care of the kids to vote. You got to figure out, is that the day that you can actually get to wherever the polling place is?
(38:53)
All this is happening. What else is happening? They have been purging voter rolls. What else has happened? I believe in two dozen states, they have gone in and taken ballots. Fulton County. I was down in Georgia and I was asked somebody, I said, "Tell me something, in Fulton County, you know when they sent those federal agents to come and get the ballots? Did they take the 2024 ballots?" "Nope." So that one was okay, I guess. They took the 2020. And then he comes up with an executive order around mail-in voting. Well, guess who when he's hanging out at his resort spa at Mar-a-Lago votes by mail.
(39:42)
So not only is the intent to obstruct clear, the hypocrisy again, as always, abounds. Here's what I'd say. First of all, as part of our activism and our work, we're going to have to register folks to vote as we always do, but I'd start with this. Ask folks to make sure that they check right now their voter status. Don't wait until election day to see if, for example, your name got purged from the rolls. Ask today for folks to check on their polling location, because part of what the shell game they've been playing includes closing the place where your mother and your grandmother always voted, so that on election day, she's going to that local elementary school to find out it's not a polling place any longer. So let's do some of the work right now.
(40:37)
Then the last point I would say on this Rev, and I know it's a bit controversial, but here's how I feel about this. You know how I was talking earlier about how people are so transactional? I think we need to be transactional voters. I think, yes, it is right when we are trying to get folks to register to vote and to go vote. And it is absolutely right that we remind everyone of our history, especially when they're trying to erase it. We remind people of the lives, the bloodshed on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the sacrifice of those young people at the lunch counter. The assassination of Dr. King, there are so many things that we must remember about history so that what compels us to vote includes not only our civic duty, but honoring the ancestors. Yes. And here's what I'm suggesting in addition. Get yours.
(41:38)
Vote and say, "I'm voting because I expect something out of this. " You're not going to take for granted that I'm going to vote because I'm a good citizen and it's my civic duty to vote so that you don't even worry about whether you're producing what I need because, "Oh, we can count on them to vote because they remember the Edmund Pettus Bridge." I'm saying it's okay to also give people permission to be transactional and to say, "If you're going to get my vote, this is what I expect. I'm going to vote because I expect to get something out of this. I'm going to get mine by voting." That's what I would offer. I think it's okay to give people permission to be transactional voters.
Rev. Al Sharpton (42:26):
I know we are over the time, but I need to ask you this. There was ... Slow down, slow down, slow down. I promised Ms. Harris a certain time. I'm going to respect the time-
Kamala Harris (42:55):
I'm all right. I'm all right.
Rev. Al Sharpton (42:55):
... Because I'll need her to come again. This is a convention, not a revival.
(42:55)
It was a debated in your campaign in the 107 days that whether you should talk to people like Joe Rogan and hard right-wing people in media. If you were to run again, would you talk to them?
Kamala Harris (43:11):
Yes, I would. Listen, I will talk with anyone if it means talking with the American people. What I do not believe in, however, is gatekeepers. I do not believe in the theories some people would push, which is that you got to go talk to that person to talk to the people. I don't believe that, and I don't believe in that. And I don't believe in gatekeepers. So yeah, and I wrote about it in my book, about the Joe Rogan piece. But yeah, I'll talk with folks as long as I know that the ability in that moment is to talk to the American people.
Rev. Al Sharpton (43:55):
So in your openness to talk to the American people, as I said in introducing you, you and I go back over a quarter-century.
Kamala Harris (44:05):
Yes.
Rev. Al Sharpton (44:07):
And if there's anyone that has had open communication it is you and I. So are you going to run again in 28?
Kamala Harris (44:14):
Okay.
Rev. Al Sharpton (44:23):
I tried to be subtle, but I just figured I'd go right at it.
Kamala Harris (44:27):
Well, that's as subtle as Reverend Al Sharpton could ever be. We love you for many things, but not being subtle. Listen, I might. I might. I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking about it. But let me say this. Let me say this. I am thinking about it, but let me also say this. I served for four years being a heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States. I spent countless hours in my West Wing office footsteps away from the Oval Office. I spent countless hours in the Oval Office in the Situation Room. I know what the job is, and I know what it requires. I also know one of the things that I've been doing, Rev, is I've been traveling the country the last year. I've been spending a lot of time in the South and many other places. And the one thing I'm really clear about also is the status quo is not working and hasn't been working for a lot of people for a long time.
(45:49)
And part of the issue is the need to get rid of some of the bureaucracy in government and to understand that the people want ... They don't want process. They want progress. And that's the work that needs to be done. I think that, look, the American people have a right to expect that anyone who wants to run for office and be a leader, that it can't be about themselves. And what they want for themselves, it's got to be about the American people. And that's how I think of it. And I am thinking about it in the context of then is who and where and how can the best job be done for the American people. That's how I'm thinking about it. I'll keep you posted.
Rev. Al Sharpton (46:45):
Keep me posted.
Kamala Harris (46:45):
I'll keep you posted. Okay.
Rev. Al Sharpton (46:45):
All right.
Kamala Harris (46:45):
All right.
Rev. Al Sharpton (46:48):
Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Come on.
MUSIC (47:19):
Wherever I choose to go, it will take me far.
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I'm living my life like it's golden.
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Living my life like it's golden.
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Living my life like it's golden.
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Living my life like it's golden.
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Living my life like it's golden. Golden.
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Living my life like it's golden.
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Living my life like it's golden.
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Living my life like it's golden.
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Living my life like it's golden.
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Living my life like it's golden. Golden.