Sen. Harry Reid on Trump Win: ‘Does Not Feel Like America’

Sen. Harry Reid on Trump Win: ‘Does Not Feel Like America’
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nev. during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
The Associated Press
11/11/2016
Updated:
11/11/2016

The departing Senate minority leader says Donald Trump’s election “has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry” and he now must lead “a time of healing.”

In a statement Friday, Nevada Democrat Harry Reid said white nationalists, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Islamic State extremist group are celebrating Trump’s election “while innocent, law-abiding Americans are wracked with fear.”

He says that “does not feel like America.”

Reid said the fear felt by blacks, Hispanics, gay Americans and others is rational “because Donald Trump has talked openly about doing terrible things to them.”

Reid said Trump’s victory doesn’t absolve him of “the grave sins he committed against millions of Americans.”

He said Trump “may not possess the capacity” to relieve those fears but must begin trying to do that immediately.