Vice President Kamala Harris’ abiding silence following President-elect Trump’s victory suggests an inability to step up as a leader for her base, legal scholars say.
The Democratic nominee has not yet spoken to her supporters, nor encouraged them to accept the election results, since Trump was named the victor of the 2024 presidential race early Wednesday morning. Two sources confirmed to Fox that the Harris campaign was radio silent Wednesday morning and did not provide talking points to surrogates, donors or influencers.
The vice president is expected to deliver remarks at Howard University at 4 p.m. EST on Wednesday, where she will address Americans for the first time since losing the presidential race to Trump. However, analysts say she should not have waited until the afternoon after the election to address her base.
Jonathan Turley, a legal scholar and a Fox News contributor, said Trump’s clear path to victory should have prompted her to concede sooner.
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Vice President Kamala Harris looks at a monitor of the event from backstage, just before her final campaign rally, Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo)
“The true test of leadership is to step forward when it is most needed. Half of this population is deeply aggrieved by this decision. Part of that angst and anxiety was fueled by the rage rhetoric and panic politics on the left, including the Harris campaign,” Turley told Fox News Digital.
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“Just as voters were going to the polls, the New York governor declared a majority of voters to be ‘unAmerican.’ This is the call of leadership to step forward and acknowledge the victory. There are no major challenges or questions. The election is over,” Turley added. “The only remaining matter is a concession. It has to be more than an afterthought in the late afternoon the following day. It needs to be rendered when it is most needed.”
Celebrating on election night are, from left, Barron Trump, President-elect Trump, Melania Trump, Usha Chilukuri Vance, Sen. JD Vance and Ivanka Trump, at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images)
Legal analyst Andy McCarthy, a FOX News contributor and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, suggested that remaining out of sight since the election results is a “graceless” misstep.
“I’d just conclude that this is yet another indication – among countless indications – that she was neither substantively nor temperamentally up to the presidency,” McCarthy told Fox News Digital. “There is no apparent legal strategy at work. She is simply being graceless and suggesting that she and her team do not know what to do… even though what to do is obvious: concede, congratulate the new president, and pledge to cooperate in an efficient transition.”
The campus of Howard University is pictured after the conclusion of an election night campaign watch party for Vice President Kamala Harris, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in Washington. (Susan Walsh/AP)
“I think this has less to do with democracy per se than with Harris’s lacking a grasp of American democratic tradition,” McCarthy continued. “Perhaps she figures Trump doesn’t rate consideration due to his refusal to accept the 2020 election results. But if that’s the case, it’s not sensible, it’s spiteful.”
Harris was not present at her victory event at Howard University on Tuesday night, which came to an abrupt end ahead of Trump being named the winner of the presidential race.
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Despite not making any public appearances or remarks since election night, Harris reportedly called Trump to congratulate him on winning the race ahead of her speech Wednesday afternoon, according to a senior Harris aide.
Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.