Harris calls Trump a ‘tyrant,’ assails ‘feckless’ CEOs in MSNBC interview ahead of memoir release

In her first interview since losing the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination to Donald Trump, former Vice President Kamala Harris sharply criticized the Republican incumbent, calling him a “tyrant,” and questioned the willingness of some corporate leaders to speak out against him.

Harris spoke with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday for a conversation that touched on the role of the private sector in defending democratic norms, a topic she has long pressed since the scandal-marred 2024 race. She described a landscape in which she says powerful business figures have not acted as counterweights to the executive branch, saying, “I worked closely with the private sector over many years, and I always believed that if push came to shove, those titans of industry would be guardrails for our democracy, for the importance of sustaining democratic institutions.” She added that, in recent times, “one by one by one, they have been silent. They have been, you know, yes, I use the word feckless.”

Harris went on to argue that democracy and capitalism are interdependent, insisting that “Democracy sustains capitalism. Capitalism thrives in a democracy.” She rejected the claim that the billionaire class would face ruin if they spoke out against Trump, ridiculing the notion that wealth would be sacrificed for conscience or civic duty. The former senator and attorney general framed the issue as a test of whether private institutions will stand up for the shared enterprise of governance, rather than simply pursuing private gain. The message, she indicated, is that such leadership is essential to preserving the rule of law and the integrity of public institutions in the face of a president she characterized as attempting to bend federal power to satisfy personal whims.

The discussion also touched on the climate of political risk facing critics of Trump’s administration, with Harris acknowledging the real consequences that critics have faced. “I understand their hesitancy to speak out,” she said, noting that the administration has pressed back against opponents. Still, she urged industry leaders to “stand up for the sake of the people who rely on all of these institutions to have integrity and to at some point be the guardrails against a tyrant who is using the federal government to execute his whim and fancy because of a fragile ego.”

The interview aired Monday night on MSNBC, a day before the release of Harris’s memoir, 107 Days, which recounts her tumultuous experience replacing former President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee after Biden stepped aside from the race. While the narrative of that year centers on a party in flux, Harris’s remarks here emphasize a call to action for business leaders to reassert their role as civic actors, not merely as profit-seeking entities.

Harris’s public remarks come at a moment when the former vice president remains a central figure in Democratic debates about the party’s identity and strategy in a polarized political environment. In her recounting of the 2024 campaign, she is expected to offer a detailed account of the pressures and decisions that defined the nominating contest and the transition of leadership within the party.

Beyond the political spotlight, Harris also addressed the broader question of how corporate power interacts with democratic norms. She argued that a robust democracy is essential to sustaining the conditions under which capitalism can flourish—an idea she framed as a test of whether the private sector will risk backlash from a powerful presidency in order to safeguard institutional integrity.

As she prepared for the book’s release, Harris’s comments reflected a broader theme in her public remarks: the need for principled leadership across sectors to guard democratic institutions against any attempt to undermine them. The discussion with Maddow, rich with implications for how the 2025 political landscape may evolve, underscored Harris’s belief that accountability and guardrails are a collective responsibility that should extend beyond the halls of government.