Harry Reid Is Not Going To Pretend That Electing Donald Trump Is OK

UNITED STATES - JUNE 30: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., conducts a news conference in the Capitol to call on Republicans to cut the Congressional recess short and work on Zika legislation, June 30, 2016. ... UNITED STATES - JUNE 30: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., conducts a news conference in the Capitol to call on Republicans to cut the Congressional recess short and work on Zika legislation, June 30, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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On the floor of the Senate Tuesday, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D- NV) delivered a wide-ranging speech centered on the vulnerability and anxiety liberal voters, minorities, women and members of the LGBT community have been expressing all over the country.

“We have a responsibility to be the voice of the millions of Americans sitting at home, afraid they are unwelcome in Trump’s America,” Reid said.

It was the first extensive speech Reid has given on the outcome of the election since returning to Washington after Trump won his shocking victory last week.

Reid targeted Trump’s newest named senior adviser Stephen Bannon directly and called him out for his racist headlines and past comments against Jewish Americans.

“By placing a champion of white supremacists a step away from the Oval Office, what message does Trump send?”

Reid entered into the record a list of hate crimes that have been reported around the country since Trump was elected.

“They are many. They are awful. They are frightening,” Reid said. “Many of our fellow Americans believe that Trump’s election validates the kind of bullying, aggressive behavior Trump modeled daily,” Reid said.

Toward the end of the speech, Reid read from a letter he received from a 7th grade girl after the election.

“I’m extremely scared especially being a woman of color,” the letter read. “I want to feel safe in my country but I no longer can feel safe with someone like Donald Trump leading this country.”

“Trump must act immediately to make Americans – like that seventh-grade girl – feel that they are welcome in his America,” Reid said.

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Notable Replies

  1. Give 'em hell, Harry!

    I just hope he keeps speaking out as a private citizen.

  2. Reid not only said it—he put in the Congressional Record for the future.

  3. Thank God Ms. Cortez-Masto will succeed him, but I still weep that he will no longer be leading us in the Senate. He was one of the true good men.

  4. I had read the article that Josh links in the editor blog earlier in the day. Interesting read. I was thinking that Trump is putting unqualified people in positions to blow up government, but if you listen to Eliot Cohen’s take it is more like he’s handing out these positions as perks that maybe big donors would be given cushy diplomatic posts. No experience necessary. Also sounds as if they very well might punish enemies a la Omarosa’s suggestion.

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