Vice President Kamala Harris compared last year’s Capitol riot to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in an anniversary speech pitching the Democrats’ bills to overhaul federal elections as tools essential to preserving American democracy.
“Will [Jan. 6] be remembered as a moment that accelerated the unraveling of the oldest, greatest democracy in the world? Or a moment when we decided to secure and strengthen our democracy for generations to come?” Harris said Thursday, speaking from Statuary Hall, a symbolic site overrun by pro-Trump rioters last year.
KNOWN CAPITOL RIOT LEADER SPENT ONE DAY IN JAIL WHILE 80 OTHERS LANGUISH IN ‘DC GULAG’
The vice president compared the events of Jan. 6 to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, stating that “certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived them where they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault.”
“Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendar but a place in our collective memory,” she said. “Dec. 7, 1941, Sept. 11, 2001, and Jan. 6, 2021.”
Harris, then vice president-elect and a sitting California senator, was in the U.S. Capitol hours before the attack for a meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee. She returned that evening as lawmakers counted votes into the night. Harris said that the day showcased “the dual nature of democracy, its fragility and its strength.” She was sworn in at the Capitol weeks later alongside President Joe Biden under heavy security.
“The strength of democracy is the principle that everyone should be treated equally. That elections should be free and fair. That corruption should be given no order,” Harris continued, tying the events of Jan. 6 to Democrats’ election bill push. “The strength of democracy is that it empowers the people.”
“And the fragility of democracy is this. That if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand,” the vice president said. “The violent assault that took place here — the very fact of how close we came to an election overturned, that reflects the fragility of democracy.”
Democratic leaders are pushing for action on voting legislation, with Biden and Harris set to deliver remarks on the matter next week in Georgia. Tapped by the president to lead the White House’s efforts, Harris is nonetheless hampered by Democrats lacking the votes necessary to turn the bills into law.
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Harris several times invoked “the people,” reprising a slogan from her halted 2020 presidential campaign. “The American spirit is being tested,” she argued. “The answer to whether we will meet that test resides where it has always resided in our country — with you, the people.”
