Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. (Photo: Susan Walsh/AP)
Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid released a scathing statement on Friday tearing into President-elect Donald Trump.
“If
this is going to be a time of healing, we must first put the
responsibility for healing where it belongs: at the feet of Donald
Trump, a sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his
campaign with bigotry and hate,” Reid said.
Reid’s statement further declared that “white nationalists, Vladimir Putin and ISIS are celebrating Donald Trump’s victory” in Tuesday’s election, “while innocent, law-abiding Americans are wracked with fear.”
The
Nevada senator and former boxer is well known for his willingness to
lob political grenades into the national discussion. In late October,
the Democrat claimed that the FBI had “explosive information about close ties and coordination” between Trump and the Kremlin. After his comments, CNN reported that the FBI had opened an investigation into ties between Trump aides and the Russians.
Reid, in his final weeks in office, clearly has no interest smoothing a transition to the upcoming Trump administration.
In his Friday statement, Reid accused Trump of demonizing wide swaths of the American public.
“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,” he said.
“If
Trump wants to roll back the tide of hate he unleashed,” Reid
concluded, “he has a tremendous amount of work to do and he must begin
immediately.”
Yahoo News reached out to Trump’s spokeswoman for comment.
View Reid’s full statement below:
“I
have personally been on the ballot in Nevada for 26 elections and I
have never seen anything like the reaction to the election completed
last Tuesday. 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.
“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.
“I
have a large family. I have one daughter and twelve granddaughters. The
texts, emails and phone calls I have received from them have been
filled with fear – fear for themselves, fear for their Hispanic and
African American friends, for their Muslim and Jewish friends, for their
LBGT friends, for their Asian friends. I’ve felt their tears and I’ve
felt their fear.
“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.
“If
this is going to be a time of healing, we must first put the
responsibility for healing where it belongs: at the feet of Donald
Trump, a sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his
campaign with bigotry and hate. Winning the electoral college does not
absolve Trump of the grave sins he committed against millions of
Americans. Donald Trump may not possess the capacity to assuage those
fears, but he owes it to this nation to try.
“If Trump wants to roll back the tide of hate he unleashed, he has a tremendous amount of
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