Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid offered a blistering assessment of President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, saying the Republican "has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry in America."
"I have heard more stories in the past 48 hours of Americans living in fear of their own government and their fellow Americans than I can remember hearing in five decades in politics," Reid, a longtime Nevada Democrat who will retire in January, said in a statement. "Their fear is entirely rational because Donald Trump has talked openly about doing terrible things to them."
For months, Reid has been a vocal critic of Trump, labeling him a racist unfit to lead the country for his calls to ban Muslims from entering the country and charged rhetoric about Mexican immigrants.
Nationwide, from New York to Los Angeles, people took to the streets Wednesday and Thursday to protest Trump's election.
The nation needs to heal, said Reid, whose protege, former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, won his seat to become the first Latina in the Senate.
"We must first put the responsibility for healing where it belongs: at the feet of Donald Trump," he said.
In his victory speech, Trump struck a conciliatory tone, vowing to bring the country together.
