Harry Reid Attacks Donald Trump, Holding Nothing Back
Harry Reid is not taking the election of Donald Trump lying down. While many Democratic leaders, including Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, and current the President, Barack Obama, have graciously accepted Trump’s win, the outgoing Senate Minority Leader is going after the President-elect with everything he has. Reid ruthlessly attacked Trump in a statement released Friday covered by Politico, among other outlets.
Winning the electoral college does not absolve Trump of the grave sins he committed against millions of Americans. https://t.co/lkL1w6qCo7
— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) November 11, 2016
As USAToday reminds us, Reid has long been a critic of Trump. However, he has not jumped on the bandwagon of Democrats who have spoken about creating a peaceful and respectful transition of power when Trump assumes control of the White House in January. Instead, Reid, who will soon turn over the reigns of Senate Minority Leader to New York Senator Chuck Schumer, is going out guns blazing, figuratively of course, with a scathing statement aimed against Trump.
“The election of Donald Trump has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry in America. White nationalists, Vladimir Putin and ISIS are celebrating Donald Trump’s victory, while innocent, law-abiding Americans are wracked with fear – especially African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Muslim Americans, LGBT Americans and Asian Americans. Watching white nationalists celebrate while innocent Americans cry tears of fear does not feel like America.”
Reid’s attack on Trump is made possible in part by the fact that he’s retiring in January and won’t be part of the Senate that works with Trump over the next four years. Of course, neither Clinton nor Obama will be working with Trump directly once he’s sworn into office. Yet, unlike Reid, both have encouraged the American people to give Trump the opportunity to bring the nation together.
Harry Reid Calls Trump "a Sexual Predator Who Lost the Popular Vote" https://t.co/mZ8lh54Kj4 pic.twitter.com/WVyYSPr2zd
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) November 11, 2016
Meanwhile, Harry Reid believes that Trump has already said and done too much during his campaign to bring people together. In his statement, Reid specifically mentions minority groups that Trump offended in some way during his campaign.
“I have heard more stories in the past 48 hours of Americans living in fear of their own government and their fellow Americans than I can remember hearing in five decades in politics. Hispanic Americans who fear their families will be torn apart, African Americans being heckled on the street, Muslim Americans afraid to wear a headscarf, gay and lesbian couples having slurs hurled at them and feeling afraid to walk down the street holding hands. American children waking up in the middle of the night crying, terrified that Trump will take their parents away. Young girls unable to understand why a man who brags about sexually assaulting women has been elected president.”
If Trump wants to roll back the tide of hate he unleashed, he has a tremendous amount of work to do and he must begin immediately.
— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) November 11, 2016
Harry Reid’s attack at Donald Trump also made mention of the fact that when each and every vote across the nation is officially counted, Hillary Clinton appears likely to win the popular vote. To Reid, more people voting for Clinton than for Trump does not give the President-elect the mandate to follow through with the radical promises he made on the campaign trail.
“Winning the electoral college does not absolve Trump of the grave sins he committed against millions of Americans,” Reid wrote towards the end of his statement.
Unlike other Democratic leaders like Obama and Schumer, Reid has made no effort in the days after the election to contact Trump as a gesture of goodwill to help move the country forward together; a sentiment Clinton mentioned in her concession speech Wednesday morning. Instead, Reid has expressed in his statement concern that Trump will only marginalize people, not bring them together.
“We as a nation must find a way to move forward without consigning those who Trump has threatened to the shadows. Their fear is entirely rational, because Donald Trump has talked openly about doing terrible things to them. Every news piece that breathlessly obsesses over inauguration preparations compounds their fear by normalizing a man who has threatened to tear families apart, who has bragged about sexually assaulting women and who has directed crowds of thousands to intimidate reporters and assault African Americans. Their fear is legitimate and we must refuse to let it fall through the cracks between the fluff pieces.”
Reid’s attack on Trump ends with a glimmer of hope, leaving the door slightly ajar for Trump to make good on all of the things Reid perceives as wrong with his campaign. However, Reid’s tone is not the least bit optimistic about Trump being able to pull that off.
“If Trump wants to roll back the tide of hate he unleashed, he has a tremendous amount of work to do and he must begin immediately,” the soon-to-be-retired Senator says to close out his statement.
[Featured Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]
