Kamala Harris Laments 'Broken' System That 'Capitulates' to Trump in Stephen Colbert Interview

American democracy is a "broken" system and former Vice President Kamala Harris is done with elected office for now, she said on the Late Night Show Thursday.

Harris's first post-election interview comes just days after she announced that she would not run for California governor. The failed Democratic presidential candidate also announced the release of her memoir this week, which will detail her 107 days running the "shortest" presidential campaign in history, and which she appeared on the show Thursday night to promote.

"I always believed that as fragile as our democracy is, our systems would be strong enough to defend our most fundamental principles," Harris told host Stephen Colbert. "And I think, right now, that they’re not as strong as they need to be. And I just don’t want to, for now — I don’t want to go back in the system."

"I want to travel the country. I want to listen to people. I want to talk with people. And I don’t want it to be transactional, where I’m asking for their vote."

Calling Harris's perception of democracy "harrowing," Biden-Harris supporter Colbert asked the former vice president if she still wanted to be part of "the fight" anymore.

"I’m always going to be part of the fight," Harris responded.

Those in office who "consider themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy" have "capitulated" to Trump, Harris added.

"Look, we designed our democracy with three independent, coequal branches of government," Harris said. "I mean, when you see that the president of the United States is trying to get rid of the Department of Education, and Congress has the role and responsibility to stand in the way of that, and they’re just sitting on their hands, and then they go to recess."

Former President Joe Biden "believed in the rule of law," Harris professed, when asked a question about Biden's bumbling performance on the presidential debate stage last year. For years Harris vouched for Biden's mental acuity and defended Biden's fitness, despite reports from former White House officials otherwise.

"Let me say something about Joe Biden," she said. "I have an incredible amount of respect for him, and I think that the way that we should be thinking about where we are right now is to remember that we had a president of the United States who believed in the rule of law, who believed in the importance of aspiring to have integrity and to do the work on behalf of the people, and that’s where I’ll leave that."

The former candidate also waited "months" to turn on the news after Donald Trump won the presidential election.

"I'm just not into self-mutilation."

Thursday night marked the eighth time Harris has appeared on Colbert's show. CBS has decided to cancel the show, with the last episode airing next year, citing annual losses on the program of around $40 million. Recently, Colbert has come under fire for platforming partisan politicians instead of maintaining the program's comedic bent.