Kamala Harris calls Trump's border wall a 'medieval vanity project' that will never get her vote


Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said Monday night that under no circumstances will she ever vote for President Trump's border wall, calling it a "medieval vanity project."
Harris was at Drake University in Iowa for a CNN town hall, one day after she officially launched her presidential campaign. She was asked about everything from taxes to health care to the criminal justice system, which she argued is "deeply flawed." Harris spent years as a prosecutor and California's attorney general, and she said her career "has been based on the understanding that, as a prosecutor, my duty was to seek and make sure that the most vulnerable and voiceless among us are protected."
If elected president, Harris said, the first thing she would do is pass the LIFT (Livable Incomes for Families Today) the Middle Class Act, which would benefit married couples earning up to $60,000 a year, single parents making up to $80,000 a year, and single filers bringing in up to $30,000 a year. She also supports the Green New Deal, a plan to combat climate change by moving toward 100 percent renewable energy. "Climate change is an existential threat and we have got to deal with the reality of it," she said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Harris also said she feels "very strongly" about single payer health insurance, and wants to see Medicare for all enacted. "We have to appreciate and understand that access to health care should not be thought of to be a privilege," she said. "It should be understood to be a right." Now, insurers care more about making a profit, and that is "inhumane," Harris said, adding that she wants to see private insurers eliminate all paperwork and approval processes. Catherine Garcia
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Today's political cartoons - April 20, 2025
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - Pam Bondi, retirement planning, and more
By The Week US
-
5 heavy-handed cartoons about ICE and deportation
Cartoons Artists take on international students, the Supreme Court, and more
By The Week US
-
Exploring the three great gardens of Japan
The Week Recommends Beautiful gardens are 'the stuff of Japanese landscape legends'
By The Week UK
-
Judge threatens Trump team with criminal contempt
Speed Read James Boasberg attempts to hold the White House accountable for disregarding court orders over El Salvador deportation flights
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Biden slams Trump's Social Security cuts
Speed Read In his first major public address since leaving office, Biden criticized the Trump administration's 'damage' and 'destruction'
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
El Salvador refuses to return US deportee
Speed Read President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador said he would not send back the unlawfully deported Kilmar Ábrego García
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Trump says electronics tariff break won't last
Speed Read The tariff exemptions on smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices are temporary, the administration says
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Man charged in arson attack on Pennsylvania's Shapiro
Speed Read Governor Josh Shapiro and his family were sleeping when someone set fire to his Harrisburg mansion
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
White House pushes for oversight of Columbia University
Speed Read The Trump administration is considering placing the school under a consent decree
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
-
Supreme Court backs wrongly deported migrant
Speed Read The Trump administration must 'facilitate' the return of wrongfully deported migrant Kilmar Ábrego García from El Salvador, Supreme Court says
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Two judges bar war-powers deportations
Speed Read The Trump administration was blocked from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport more alleged Venezuelan gang members
By Peter Weber, The Week US