Kamala Harris didn’t hold back during her appearance at the Leading Women Defined Summit on Thursday, April 3, 2025, using the stage to call out what she described as dangerous silence and constitutional backsliding under Donald Trump’s second term.
The former Vice President made the call with a sharp, unscripted “I told you so” moment that drew knowing laughter from the crowd.
“We’re seeing people stay quiet. We are seeing organizations stay quiet. We are seeing those who are capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats,” Harris said. “These are the things we are witnessing each day in the last few months in our country.”
After a beat, Harris added with a smile, “I’m not here to say I told you so,” before breaking into laughter along with the audience. “I swear, I wasn’t going to say that.”
The speech marked one of Harris’s most pointed public rebukes of the Trump administration since her defeat in the 2024 presidential election, which followed her elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race.
A Candid Moment After a Stinging Loss
According to the new book Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House by journalists Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen, Harris was reportedly “completely shocked” by the election outcome—believing, along with her running mate Tim Walz, that victory was inevitable. “She bought the hype,” Parnes told Tara Palmeri on the podcast Somebody’s Gotta Win.
The book chronicles the internal tensions, missteps, and media miscalculations that defined the final months of the 2024 campaign after Biden’s departure. Critics say Harris’ campaign struggled to gain traction in key battleground states despite strong polling early on.
A Warning and a Call to Action
Now reemerging into the political spotlight, Harris appears determined to reshape the narrative around her loss—casting it not as a failure, but as a warning sign of democratic erosion and civic disengagement.
“This moment is not about me,” Harris said during her California speech. “It’s about whether we have the courage to name what’s happening—and whether we have the will to stop it.”
Her remarks come as several of Trump’s initiatives face legal hurdles and global markets reel from the economic impact of his renewed tariff policies.
Taking Swipes at Trump—and Elon Musk
In her February appearance at the NAACP Image Awards, Harris also delivered a fiery speech that many interpreted as a veiled critique of both Trump and Elon Musk, now serving as Department of Government Efficiency chief.
Without naming names, Harris criticized policies that “strip people of rights under the guise of efficiency and order.”
Though the former VP has remained mostly quiet since November, these back-to-back appearances suggest she’s not done speaking out—and may be laying the groundwork for a continued role in American political discourse.
As Harris put it Thursday: “What we do now matters. Silence is not neutrality—it’s complicity.”
Whether or not her “I told you so” moment signals a broader political return, one thing is clear: Kamala Harris is back in the arena—and she’s not pulling punches.
