Colbert to Harris: Would You Like to Say I Told You So?

Kamala Harris appeared on the Late Show Thursday for the first time since her election loss to President Trump and Stephen Colbert asked her if there was something she'd like to say.

• "You said he would prosecute his political enemies, he would cut Medicaid and Medicare," Colbert said, per the New York Times. "He would ignore court orders, he would alienate our allies, he would give massive tax cuts to the rich. And I know you're not here to say, 'I told you so,' but would you like to?" Her response: "You are correct that I did predict a lot of it. But Stephen, what I did not predict was the capitulation. I didn't predict that." Those who had capitulated, she said, included some who "consider themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy."
• She said she didn't watch TV news for months after the election because she's "not into self-mutilation." She told Colbert she watched cooking shows instead.

• Harris told Colbert it was "completely naive" for people who oppose Trump to think they can just "ride out" his presidency, the Washington Post reports. "There are a lot of people who think they're riding out the storm as an excuse to be feckless," she said.
• On her decision not to run for governor of California, she said, "Just, for now, I don't want to go back in the system. I think it's broken," HuffPost reports. She said she "always believed that as fragile as our democracy is, our systems would be strong enough to defend our most fundamental principles," but "right now that they're not as strong as they need to be" and she doesn't want to go "back in the system." Colbert told her, "To hear you say that it's broken, to hear you say that our systems aren't strong enough, is harrowing."
• Harris said she wants to travel the country and talk to people but she doesn't "want it to be transactional, where I'm asking for their vote."
• The former vice president was on the show to promote her upcoming book, 107 Days. She told Colbert that questions about her campaign would be answered in the book. She said it would also explain how husband Doug Emhoff "dropped the ball" on her 60th birthday, weeks before the election.
• Colbert and other late-night hosts joked about Trump's decision to bring back the Presidential Fitness Test, the Times reports. "Yeah, which means now children will have to be as fit as President Trump," Colbert quipped. Jimmy Fallon said: "Trump's very into fitness. In fact, right now he's trying to run from the Epstein story as fast as he can."