Viral Kamala Harris-attributed ‘vengeance’ quote is from 2019 satirical news article

12 September 2024
What was claimed

In 2020 Kamala Harris said that once Democrats were re-elected to the White House, Donald Trump supporters would “feel the vengeance of a nation”.

Our verdict

She never said this. The quote originates from a satirical news website.

A quote about Trump supporters feeling “the vengeance of a nation” if the Democrats are re-elected is circulating on social media and being falsely attributed to Kamala Harris.

Posts sharing the quote have appeared on X (formerly Twitter), and also Facebook, with claims it was said by the now-Democratic presidential candidate in June 2020.

It reads: “Once Trump’s gone and we have regained our rightful place in the White House, look out if you supported him and endorsed his actions because we’ll be coming for you next.

“You will feel the vengeance of a nation. No stone will be left unturned as we seek you out in this great nation. For it is you that betrayed us.”

But this is not a genuine quote from the Vice President.

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Where is the quote from?

The text originates from a satire website called ‘bustatroll’, which published it in an article in 2019. Its about page says: “Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real.”

While the website is no longer active, an archived version of the story can be found online, which is apparently authored by ‘Colon Crusher’. 

It is marked as “Satire and/or Conservative Fan Fiction” underneath the headline: “Kamala Harris: ‘After We Impeach, We Round Up The Trump Supporters’”.

In the same satirical article, Ms Harris is claimed to have also said “the path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men”—a quote from the film Pulp Fiction and is accompanied by a photo of Samuel L Jackson, whose character in the movie said that line.

The same quote being shared online was also previously debunked by US fact checkers in 2020.

False or misleading claims online about politicians have the potential to harm individuals, groups and democratic processes and institutions. 

We have previously fact checked a number of quotes attributed to politicians which we found no evidence were real, including those supposedly from Diane Abbott, Gavin Williamson and Emmanuel Macron. You can read our other fact checks about US politics here.

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