Vice President Kamala Harris: 'I am very concerned' about the status and future of American democracy

On Sunday's edition of NBC's Meet the Press, Vice President Kamala Harris warned that the internal threat to American democracy is not being taken seriously enough.

Harris explained that the turmoil that has been churned by former President Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election having been stolen has sullied the international reputation of the United States as well as the global faith in its status as a beacon of democracy:

I have met with and I have had conversations with over one hundred foreign heads of state – presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, kings – and you know when we as the United States walk into those rooms around the world, we have had the honor and privilege historically of holding our head up as a defender and an example of a great democracy. And that then gives us the legitimacy and the standing to talk about the importance of democratic principles – rule of law, human rights – and one of the things though that comes with that privilege is that we hold ourselves out to be a role model, which means the rest of the world, like any role model, watches what we do to see if it matches up with what we say.

So you look at everything from the fact that there are eleven people right now running for secretary of state – the keepers of the integrity of the voting system of their state – who are election deniers.

Moderator Chuck Todd asked Harris, "what message is that sending to the world?"

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Harris replied:

Well, you couple that with people who hold some of the highest elected offices in our country, who refuse to condemn an insurrection on January 6th. And I think what it sends is a signal that causes people to question, 'hey, is America still valuing what they talk about,' which is the integrity of democracy which means protecting rule of law and the sanctity of these systems and speaking up when they are attacked. And I'm very concerned about it, Chuck, I'll tell you, I'm very concerned about it because there are so many issues going on in the world that I think require – at least how we as Americans have traditionally thought about what is right, what is good, what should be fought for, what should be human ideals and certainly the ideals of democracies – and I think that through the process of what we've been through, we're starting to allow people to call into question our commitment those this principles.

Watch below or at this link.

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