California Sen. Kamala Harris called the shutdown of the federal government a “crisis of the President’s own making” in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday.
Harris, who published a new memoir this week ahead of likely 2020 presidential run, demurred on whether she will challenge President Donald Trump for the White House.
Harris said she would make a decision soon and she believes the country is ready for a woman of color as president.
“We have to give the American people more credit, and we have to understand that the American public and the people of our country are smart people, who will make decisions about who will be their leader, based on who they believe is capable, who they believe has an honest desire to lead, to represent, to see them, to be a voice for them even if they have no power,” Harris said. “Those are the kinds of people who we are as a country. And so the pundits can talk all day, and all night, and there’s a lot of chatter about which demographic will do this or that. It has been my life’s experience that the American people are smart and they make decisions about what’s in the best interest of their household, their family and their community. And I have faith that in 2020, and in any other election, that will be their motivation when they vote.”
But she argued that the American people deserve better leadership than they are seeing under this President, stating that the shutdown has thrown lives into chaos.
“It is a false choice to suggest that we’re going to hold 800,000 federal workers and all of the services that they provide hostage for this president’s vanity