WASHINGTON ― Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Friday reacted to Donald Trump winning this week’s presidential election, releasing a statement saying Americans should not forget the hatred and fear the president-elect brought to the country.
Some other Democrats in Washington have said they will work with Trump on areas where they agreed, but Reid, just months from retirement, said the president-elect should be responsible for healing the country.
“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. “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.”
“Winning the electoral college does not absolve Trump of the grave sins he committed against millions of Americans.”
- Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
Reid, who has served for three decades in the Senate and held office in Nevada before that, said Trump’s election was unlike anything he had seen in politics.
“The election of Donald Trump has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry in America,” he said. “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.”
Reid, who has called Trump a “human leech who will bleed the country,” also urged Americans not to normalize Trump’s fear and divisiveness.
“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,” he said. “Their fear is legitimate and we must refuse to let it fall through the cracks between the fluff pieces.”
On Thursday, Trump visited Washington, D.C., for the first time as president-elect. There, he met with President Barack Obama at the White House and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill.
“We now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed, because if you succeed, the country succeeds,” Obama said.
Trump appeared restrained during the visit, but lashed out on Twitter hours later, criticizing the media and nationwide protests against him.
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