Transcript of Kamala Harris’s concession speech

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From executive producer Isaac Saul, this is Tangle. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, and welcome to the Tangle podcast, a place we get views from across the political spectrum, some independent thinking, and a little bit of my take. I am your very tired host, Isaac Saul. It is Thursday, November seventh. Man, there is so much happening in the wake of this election. We're doing our best to keep up. And I'm with you for the whole pod today. John is traveling. He We left Philadelphia this morning to head home. The Tangle team is sadly clearing out as we all regroup and go back to our lives working remotely from across the country in the wake of the election. But it was a really wild week with the plug from this American life and then election night and the surprisingly decisive victory for President Donald Trump. It's It's just been a crazy few days, and I'm thrilled to be here spending this morning or this afternoon, I guess, when you get this with all of you. So today we are going to be talking about Kamala Harris's concession speech, which she delivered yesterday, and I think is a fairly important topic.

Before we jump in, though, we're going to do two things. First, a note about tomorrow. One of the things that I love doing is just engaging with readers and listeners. And this feels like an appropriate time for a reader-listener mailbag. So if you have questions that you want answered in the newsletter or in the podcast, now is a good time to do that. You can send your question in by writing to staff@readtangle. Com. We've also got an interview in the bank that I'm going to try and figure out when to get up. That might be tomorrow, an interesting interview with Ken Block, who was one of the lawyers that the Trump team hired to investigate voter fraud in 2020. And I'm very curious to hear your guys' thoughts about that interview. It was fascinating for me to talk to him a little bit. So we've got some content coming out one way or another tomorrow. But if you'd like, you can submit a question to be answered either in the newsletter or the podcast by writing to Staf, S-T-A-F-F at readtangle. Com. And a reminder that our Friday Editions of the newsletter are only available to our paying members.

So you can get that by going to readtangle. Com/membership. Or if you If you want ad-free and premium podcast, you can sign up for that by going to tanglemedia. Supercast. Com. Those are currently separate subscriptions, which we know is a little bit annoying, something we're actually working on fixing in the long term. So stay tuned for some more info about that, but trying to create a genuine bundle that you can manage all in one place, the next level after we got our podcast subscription stood up a few months ago. All right. So with that plug for what's coming tomorrow and later this this weekend out of the way, a quick update on the races that are happening across the country. This is as of about 10:30 AM on Thursday. Collectively, former President Trump now leads Vice President Kamla Harris by just over 200,000 votes across the Blue Wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. However, he leads the popular vote tally by nearly 5 million ballots. Independent candidates, Jill Stein, Robert F. Kennedy, and Chase Oliver collectively received over 1.8 million votes. Also, worth noting, roughly 10 % of the estimated ballots cast are still yet to be counted.

That's right. They're counting a lot of votes, especially in places like Arizona and New York and California. So some of these totals will certainly change over time. Also, Alyssa Slotkin, the Democrat from Michigan, and Tammy Baldwin, the Democrat from Wisconsin, and Jackie Rosen, the Democrat from Nevada, won their Senate races yesterday. Ruben Gallego now leads Kerry Lake, the Republican, 50 40.1% to 47.9%, with 74% of the votes counted. Still, Republicans have secured 52 seats in the Senate, and Republican Dave McCormick is now leading in Pennsylvania. It looks like Republicans are going to end up with either 52 or 53 seats, depending on the outcome of Bob Casey's race. And in the House, there are now 39 House races that have yet to be called. Republicans need 10 more House seats to secure a majority, while Democrats need 32. Privately, Democratic insiders are conceding that Republicans may have a path to expanding their House majority despite those prospects looking grim early on election night. And one more note about all these vote totals is that there is a debate ongoing about how much the Black vote changed in 2024, with exit polls showing the 2020 to 2024 change is nonexistent, while local results show counties with more Black voters moving toward Trump.

All right, that is it for some updates on the race, which brings us to our quick hit section. First up, the Justice Department is beginning the process of winding down two federal criminal cases against President-elect Trump in line with its long-standing policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. Number two, seven of 10 states approved ballot measures establishing a right to abortion in their state constitutions. Separately, four states rejected measures to adopt rank choice voting in their future elections while Washington, DC, voted to adopt a rank choice system. Number three, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points when Fed officials gather for their November meeting today. The Fed will announced its decision at 2:00 PM Eastern. Number four, Ukrainian military officials said a Ukrainian drone strike hit a naval base in a port city on Russia's Kaspian Sea Coast, the country's first attack on a target in the Caspian region. Number 5, Hurricane Rafael made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 storm, knocking out the country's power grid. All right, that is it for today's Quick Hits, which brings us to today's main topic, which is Kamala Harris's concession speech.

So let me say, my heart is full today. My heart is full today, full of gratitude for the trust you have placed in me, full of love for our country, and full of resolve. The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for. But hear me when I say, hear me when I say, the light of America's promise will always burn bright. As long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting, At 4:00 PM on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed a crowd of supporters at her alma mater of Howard University in Washington, DC, to concede the election to President-elect Donald Trump.

Harris Harris said she called to congratulate Trump on the victory and would help aid his administration's transition, but urgent attendees to keep fighting for the issues that motivated her campaign. While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign, Harris said. The fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people. A fight for the ideals at the heart of our nation, the ideals that reflect America at our best. That is a fight I will never give up. Harris initially planned to give remarks on election night, but postponed her speech until the next day as Trump's projected margin of victory increased. Decision Desk, HQ, and other national outlets have declared Trump the winner of the presidential election with an Electoral College margin of 312 to 226 and a popular vote victory of over 4.6 million votes as of 11:30 AM Eastern. While the presidential candidates have accepted the results of the election, several steps remain before Trump retakes the office of President. On December 11th, each state will meet to certify their results, and vice President Kamala Harris will preside over a joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes and formally certify Trump as the winner on January sixth.

Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th President at 12:00 PM Eastern on January 20th in Washington, DC. Today, we'll get into what the right and the left are saying about Harris's speech, and then I'll give my take. We'll be right back after this quick break.

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First up, we'll start with what the writer is saying. In National Review, Philip Klein offered credit to Kamala Harris for conceding. Harris will never win any awards for inspiring oratory, but credit where due. It's a good thing that she accepted the results of the election and that she called President-elect Donald Trump and assured him that she would do her part to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, Klein said. These used to be routine things in politics unworthy of mention. But in 2016, we had an immediate effort to try to delegitimize Trump's victory by claiming he colluded with Russia to steal the election. Then, of course, we had Trump's disgraceful refusal to admit defeat in 2020 that culminated with the Capitol riot. One of the risks of Trump's behavior in the post-2020 election was that he would help set a new standard in which disputing election results and refusing to concede just became standard operating procedure, Klein wrote. We don't know what the next few months will hold, but at least today, Harris deserves credit for setting the tone for a more orderly transition. Hopefully, we will revert to this standard in future elections. In The Federalist, Kyle Griswald argued, Don't give Democrats credit for conceding.

They had no other options. Of course, they acknowledge that he won. After their questioning election results as a threat to democracy rhetoric from the past four years, what the heck other choice do they have? Their we accept the results posture started about five minutes ago, or more precisely, the moment Trump questioned the results of the 2020 election. Before that, Democrats had for decades questioned pretty much every other election they had lost, Griswold said. Not only did they insist against all evidence to the contrary that the 2020 election was the most secure in American history, but they also vilified anyone who disagreed as an election denier. So they've really backed themselves into a corner on election results now. What choice do they have but to concede in 2024? That's not the only or even the primary reason Kamala Harris and her supporters conceded the election on Wednesday, though. They also admitted defeat because they got whooped. Unlike the 2020 election, the margins in 2024 weren't razor thin. Trump beat Harris in a landslide. Democrats got their keisters handed to them, Griswold said. Don't be fooled by Democrats on characteristic acceptance of election results. It's their only move right now.

In the Washington Examiner, Quinn Hillier said Harris's speech struck a near perfect tone. Making a political concession speech is a difficult, emotionally fraught task. In Vice President Kamala Harris's concession remarks Wednesday afternoon, she ably upheld the civic imperatives of the moment, Hillier wrote. Let's not parse every word to identify phrases from Harris that critics believe are dangerous. Sometimes the cause of statesmanship requires a civically lofty language that hides policy disagreements and personal grievances. Harris strove for and almost entirely achieved a constructive tone, an uplifting message, and an appeal to the best parts of American tradition. Harris's record and ideology make her, for some of us, political anathema. In the immediate aftermath of an extremely divisive election, that status shouldn't matter. What matters is whether Harris used the occasion to reinforce the ideals of freedom, civil rights, and the constitutional system writ large. And, of course, to revalidate after four years of discredible violations from her Republican opponent, the necessity of respecting the results of an election and encouraging the peaceful transfer of power. All right, that is it for what the right is saying, which brings us to what the left is saying. The Washington Post Editorial Board wrote that Kamala Harris concedes with dignity and grace.

Days. Harris acknowledged with grace, dignity, and a dash of hope that she had lost the presidency to former President Donald Trump. She didn't make excuses. Instead, she set the tone for how Democrats can responsibly approach Mr. Trump in the coming four years, defending their core values while cooperating for the best interests of the country, the board said. She offered a counterpoint to the worst case scenario circulating on the political left, to the effect that this was the last election of a doomed democracy. Most important, she promised to assist in a peaceful transfer of power. This This last promise is the hallmark of a Democrat. That Ms. Harris offered it so convincingly was a refreshing contrast to 2020, when Mr. Trump prematurely declared victory, twisted arms of federal and state legislators to reverse his loss, and then incited a mob to riot at the Capitol as Congress counted the electoral votes, the board wrote. In her constitutionally prescribed role as President of the Senate, Ms. Harris will be called upon to oversee the ratification of Mr. Trump's victory on January sixth, 2025. In her words, reinforced confidence that there can be no repeat of the struggle four years ago.

In the New York Times, Jesse Wegman said, Harris shows Trump how to concede. Harris performed this task with clarity and grace, a fairly low bar that used to be expected of all losing politicians in this country, and for a simple reason. When you live in a democracy, accepting your losses is what you have to do, not because it's easy, but because it's hard, Wegman said. And yet somehow, Trump gets a pass from this most basic requirement, not simply refusing to acknowledge his own defeat in 2020, but also for lying about a stolen election, violating the laws in the Constitution, and then inciting a violent insurrection at the Capitol in an effort to overturn it. So forgive me if I scoff at the Where is Kamala memes that circulated on Wednesday before she went on camera. No one in America is worse at accepting defeat than Trump and his followers. And that's because under his tutelage, most of the Republican Party has come to believe that the only legitimate elections are the ones that it wins, Wegman said. This is the world we now live in. One party follows basic rules and norms of democratic politics and loses, and the other lies, cheats, and tries to steal and wins.

It's reverse accountability, and it can't be sustained. In MSNBC, Anthony L. Fischer argued that Harris survived the 220-year-old tradition of peaceful transfer of power that Donald Trump broke. Harris brought back from the dead one of America's most storied traditions, presidential candidates accepting the results of an electoral defeat, urging their supporters to do the same, and promising to cooperate with the incoming administration, Fischer wrote. However one feels about a second Trump presidency, Harris is are crucially important for the health of American democracy. To various degrees, 2024 will be the first generally accepted presidential election since George H. W. Bush decisively defeated Michael Dukakis in 1988. But in all of those elections, the vanquish opponent conceded, and with the exception of Al Gore in 2000, they conceded quickly. It was only in 2020 when Trump lost a close election, but decisively that the 220-year-old tradition of peaceful transfer of power was broken, Fischer said. The fact that the words peaceful transfer transfer of power generated applause among Harris's supporters at Howard says something important about the state of America right now. A defeated Trump would never say those words. We know this because he didn't when he was defeated.

All right, that is it for what the left and the right are saying, which brings us to my take. So I thought it was a great speech, and I think several elements of it are worth calling out. First, so much of each side's campaign has centered on the negative places this country has been or could be going. However, in defeat, Harris expressed her love for her country, resolve and loyalty to the Constitution, all without sacrificing her values or positions. She promised not to concede the fight that fueled her campaign, which is what political leaders should do. Second, she made clear that fighting and politics do not just come down to elections. She called for waging the battle and in quieter ways, like how Americans live their lives, treating others with kindness and respect, seeing strangers as neighbors and fighting for the dignity of other people. It's a message our country desperately needs to hear, ideally not just from the loser of this election, but from the winner, too. More than anything, though, her speech is a reminder that government isn't the solution to our problems. Individuals can be a part of large scale movements aimed at cultural change, but they can also make smaller and equally valuable impacts in their day to day lives in their communities.

Third, I appreciated it because it left no doubt. A decade ago, I was taking concession speeches for granted, but after the last few election cycles, I will never take them for granted again. Harris was clear, direct, and genuine. It sucks to lose, but she lost, and she unequivocally stated she would oversee and assist in a peaceful and organized transfer of power. This was an important message as I saw some wisp of election denialism, or at least election skepticism, bubbling up online from the left. For instance, several people have been asking what happened to millions of voters who cast their ballots in 2020 but appear to have sat 2024 out. My answer is very clear. First, votes are still being counted, and they will be for weeks, so these numbers will grow, likely by more than 10 million. Second, don't you remember 2020? Don't you remember how politics was all anyone talked about and how it totally saturated our lives during the pandemic? Voting was also incredibly easy due to widespread, and in many cases, temporary mail-in adoption. So yes, a lot more people voted in 2020. While we're here, I also think this is the best environment we've had in a long time to enact election reform that ensures ballots or process and counted earlier with results released sooner.

There is widespread enthusiasm across party lines for this, and state leaders in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New York, California, and elsewhere would do us a great disservice by continuing to operate so sluggishly. In states with divided legislators where Republicans are demanding voter ID laws paired with such reforms, Democrats might be wise to consider some concessions and compromise. Harris's message was a stabilizing one for the country at a time when globalization will be needed. I've criticized her and Trump a lot in this newsletter, but she does deserve the bipartisan credit she's getting for this. In an election where her opponent has questioned her racial identity, where his supporters have slurred her as an air-headed bimbo, and where she's faced an extraordinary amount of pressure in a very difficult situation, standing up and running a campaign in just over 100 days. And exited with grace. It's more than a lot of us could have done, and it's a testament to the campaign she tried to win with. We'll be right back after this quick break.

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All right, that is it for my take, which brings us to your questions answered. Mike from Altadina, California said, If you were running for President of the United States, who would you choose as your running mate and why? This is a fun hypothetical to consider, especially on the back of this election. I've been thinking about this question since it came in a few weeks ago, and I honestly I have trouble coming up with a great answer. This isn't a cop-out. I am going to give you some names, but I just think perhaps because my brain is so trained to be skeptical of all the politicians I follow, when I look at them, I just see positions to scrutinize and flaws to highlight. So that makes it hard to pick one I'd really feel confident in or think could help me win an election. But if I had to, my process would start with thinking critically about myself. If I were running for President, my bio would be that I'm a former journalist in his 30s, politically moderate, white, Jewish, inexperienced, and from Pennsylvania. I think it's smart politics to diversify a ticket demographically. Not coincidentally, Trump tapped a younger American from rural America while Harris picked an older white man from middle America.

So I'd probably start there. That means no politically inexperienced former journalist Jewish politicians in their 30s from Pennsylvania, which crosses off pretty much not a single politician that I can think of. So I'll have to consider other facets like track record and personality. Unsurprisingly, I'd shoot for a few political moderates with experience and policy chops. The House of Representatives is a mess these days, and I need someone with a big game governing experience, so I'd probably seek out a governor or a member of the Senate. I'd want someone whose policy perspectives I respect, who has a track record of winning elections, and whom I suspect I'd get along with. I think this is underrated, by the way. You definitely want a running mate you like. Given all that, my short list of some of the people from both parties would look something like this. Governor Chris Sunu, the Republican from New Hampshire, Governor Jared Pollis, the Democrat from Colorado, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the Democrat from Michigan, Governor Westmore, the Democrat from Maryland, Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Republican from Alaska, Senator Angus King, the independent from Maine. Senator Deb Fischer, the Republican from Nebraska. Some wild card pics might include Senator Bernie Sanders, the Democrat from Vermont, who has a great working class brand, but we need some moderation, though I do think I'd get along with him.

Some members of the House Problem Solvers Cau must be considered. Representative Jared Golden, the Democrat from Maine, Representative Juan Siscamani, the Republican from Arizona, or Representative Donald Davis, the Democrat from North Carolina. Also, I'd be remiss not to shout out Representative Jake Auchincloss, the Democrat from Massachusetts, whom I just interviewed on this podcast. If you go back a couple of days, you'll get our interview. He's a Tangle reader, which makes me like him, and he's preaching a sermon I very much enjoy right Basically, I'd seek someone with moderate politics, high popularity, serving in a swing-ish state, and with serious policy chops and experience, because those would be my biggest weaknesses. Despite the election we just experienced, I happen to believe the total electorate is slightly left of center on average, so I'd probably look for a centrist or center left running mate. I'd handle the messaging, the speeches, bringing people together, and cleaning up our press messes. And then President Saul, I guess. Finally, I'll just close with this. Call me a coward, but just for whatever it's worth, I would absolutely never want to run for president. It genuinely seems like a terrible job, and I much prefer writing, thinking, and criticizing politicians than being one.

So I love my job and prefer it here. All right, that is it for your reader question today, which brings us to our Under the Radar section. Tech executives who largely dismissed President-elect Donald Trump during his first presidential campaign years ago, sought to curry favor with him ahead of the 2024 election, albeit in private. Met as Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's Tim Cook, Google's Sundar Puchai, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and others reportedly reached out to Trump in the weeks and months before November fifth to offer praise and words of support to the now President-elect. While none of these executives, with the exception of X's and Tesla's Elon Musk, publicly endorsed Trump before the election, virtually all of them have posted congratulatory messages on social media since his victory. After navigating four years of heightened antitrust action and scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions under the Biden administration, these leaders expect Trump to pivot to a more business friendly approach and aim to establish favorable footing with him and his staff. The New York Times has the story, and there's a link to it in today's episode description. All right, next up is our numbers section. The number of times Kamala Harris mentioned democracy in her speech was three.

The number of times she mentioned Donald Trump was one. The number of times Harris mentioned fighting in her speech was 19. The number of times she mentioned freedom was five, and the number of times she referenced the future in her speech was three. The year that William Jennings-Brion sent his opponent, William McKinley, a telegram congratulating him on his election, considered the first public concession in US presidential politics was 1896. The number of concession speeches given by US presidential candidates in the past 128 years was 34. The number of days between the 2000 election and Al Gore's concession to George W Bush was 35. That was the longest gap between a presidential election and a concession in US history, which does not include Donald Trump, who never formally conceded to Joe Biden in 2020. All right. And last but not least, our Have a Nice Day section. One Hollywood actress has made an admirable decision to share her recent success. Anna Kendrick, who is known for her roles in comedies like Pitch Perfect, recently pivoted to direct and star in Woman of the Hour, a Netflix true crime thriller. The movie follows the story of Rodney Alcela, a serial murderer who participated in a televised game show amidst a spree of attacks against and murders of women in the 1970s, and it's a hit.

But Kendrick reported feeling gross about profiting off of it. She said in an interview, I'm not making money off the movie. The money is going to reign and the National Center for Victims of Crime. Relevant has the story, and there's a link to it in today's episode description. All right, that is it for today's podcast. We'll be back here tomorrow with some content, either an interview or a Friday edition, and we'll be back on Sunday, of course, with the Sunday Edition podcast. But remember, those are for our members only. So if you want that, you got to go to tanglemedia. Supercast. Com. Otherwise, you can keep listening for free, and we'll see you on Monday. Have a good weekend. Peace. Our podcast is written by me, Isaac Saul, and edited and engineered by Dimont Thomas. Our script is edited by Ari Weitzman, Will K. Bach, Haley Saul, and Sean braided. The logo for our podcast was made by Magdalena Bacoba, who is also our Social Media Manager. The music for the podcast was produced by Dermot from Tangle. Please go check out our website at readtangle. Com. That's readtangle. Com.