Kamala Harris Didn’t 'Anticipate' So Many People to Stand by 'Corruption' in Donald Trump's Second Term: 'The Powerful People Who Bend the Knee at the Foot of a Tyrant'

Former Vice President Kamala Harris said the warnings she gave about President Donald Trump second term came true, but she didn’t expect one thing.

Harris said what she “had not anticipated was the capitulation” of powerful people during an interview with Keke Palmer on the actress’ podcast “Baby, This Is Keke Palmer,” on Tuesday, October 13.

Palmer also interviewed Harris for a special episode of the podcast in 2023, when Harris was still vice president.

Harris, 61, said she was surprised by how many important figures have gone along with the Trump administration. “The number of powerful people who have stood quietly by in the face of what they know to be corruption and behavior and approaches that are contrary to the best interest of our country — the powerful people who you know bend the knee at the foot of a tyrant. I hadn’t anticipated that that was going to happen, to the degree it has,” she said.

She has made similar comments before. In an October 2025 interview with the BBC, Harris said many billionaires had been “bending the knee at the foot of a tyrant” since Trump took office. She suggested that some billionaires wanted “to be next to power” to get a merger approved or avoid an investigation.

Also that October, while in London promoting her book, Harris said she had believed, “perhaps naively,” that “the titans of industry would at least be part of the backstop.”

In her first post-election interview, in July 2025, she told Stephen Colbert the level of capitulation was something she “did not see coming.”

Harris told Palmer she has “come to realize that there are some people, and in particular among some of the most powerful, who are purely transactional.”

She added, “They’re in it to get what they can get out of it.”

Harris said this is one reason she encourages Americans to be “transactional voters” during upcoming elections instead of sitting them out, despite what she called “failures of the system.” The 2026 midterm elections are set for Tuesday, November 3.

Harris also spoke about the Trump administration’s decision last month to strip journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico of their White House press credentials. Federal Judge Timothy Kelly later issued a temporary restraining order restoring their credentials for 14 days.

“If you can’t stand people to watch what you’re doing and listen to what you’re saying, one has to ask, what are you doing?” Harris told Palmer. She said a president who wants to keep the media out of the White House is “in the wrong place,” according to a report.

At the close of the interview, Palmer asked Harris if she intends to run for president in 2028. Harris laughed and said she hasn’t decided yet, noting it won’t matter much if Democrats don’t make significant progress in the midterm elections, TMZ reported. Harris previously told the BBC in October 2025 that she’s “not done” with politics.

Harris, who served as vice president from 2021 to 2025, lost the 2024 presidential election to Trump, winning 226 electoral votes, after she replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket. In July 2025, Harris said she wouldn’t run for governor of California, and she later published 107 Days, a book about her presidential campaign.