Kamala Harris and her emotional support governor, Tim Walz, sat down for her only interview during the campaign. We watched all 26 minutes and 38 seconds of the pre-recorded CNN interview so you don’t have to, although, if you want to, we’ve put the full videos at the end of this story.
Was it a train wreck? Yes, because the interview gives Harris’s foes a lot of legitimate fodder, reminds voters that, oh yeah, she’s currently in office now, and didn’t help her overall. So that hurts her. Harris, the vice president in an unpopular administration, wasn’t able to sever herself from the Biden-Harris agenda in the interview (because it’s the Biden-HARRIS administration). She called it “transformative” and essentially supported “Bidenomics.” This also hurts her. She’s been able to dishonestly reposition as the “change agent” when she’s not asked questions about the past four years. That changed tonight.
If this is how Kamala and Tim do on a pre-recorded and most likely edited interview, how are they going to do on the debate stage or in a live unscripted interview?
There is no phoning a friend when you're up there. pic.twitter.com/hSyWCVms6l
— Planet Of Memes (@PlanetOfMemes) August 30, 2024
In one of the most disastrous moments for Harris, interviewer Dana Bash asked whether she has any regrets about not leveling with the American people about Biden’s obvious cognitive challenges sooner. Harris said, “No, not at all.” That’s a devastating answer since we all know what we saw. She lied to us, and she’s okay with that.
She then rambled on about Biden’s personality before trashing former President Donald Trump. Bash missed the obvious follow-up questions: “Then why did Biden step down from the campaign?” And: “How severe are Biden’s cognitive challenges exactly?” And: “How can Biden be competent enough to serve as president right now if he’s not well enough to run for president or be criminally charged?” And: “When did you learn about his cognitive challenges – specifically – and what did you do about it?” And “Will he resign to make you president before the election?” Instead, Bash allowed Harris to babble on about making pancakes and doing a puzzle. And so it went.
Even fake new CNN can’t help Kamala Harris tonight during the interview pic.twitter.com/kzAXFMb0TS
— Mr. Bigglesworth Memes 𝕏 (@Twitermytweet) August 30, 2024
Harris’s other worst moment came when she was asked about fracking. It was one of the rare times that Bash did her job. Harris said she would not ban fracking and claimed she “kept my word, and I will keep my word” but had no real answer when Bash asked why she said in 2019 that she was in favor of banning fracking. “My values have not changed,” she responded. This answer will hurt her in Pennsylvania, and it was slippery and dishonest. So your values haven’t changed but your positions did? Sounds like you’re either lying or you sold them out. Which isn’t a great value. She then rambled about climate change.
Harris’s central problem is that she is trying to run from her own administration’s record and her past values (she was ranked the most liberal senator in the country in 2019, which Bash did not ask her about).
Kamala has a new strategy…
. pic.twitter.com/tLqm1cAuWK— Neil Walker (@NeilatTwitt) August 30, 2024
The optics were also a problem. Harris wore gray, looked very tired, had circles under her eyes, seemed to ramble at times, looked down a lot, and hunched over. Overall, she did not project energy or confidence, and this matters on TV. The setting was blah and looked like a boring office conference room. Having her sit next to Walz made her look small. No one will watch this interview and think, “Wow, she should do more of these. Can’t wait for her to square off against Putin.” They will think, “Yeah, don’t do more interviews. And why was Tim Walz sitting there again?” Even Democratic operatives hopped on TV to claim she didn’t move the needle. That’s the best they could do.
Remember: THIS WAS CNN with a biased interviewer and that was the best they could do.
Harris sounds even worse in snippets of the interview, which will be shared endlessly on social media. Her comments on Israel will likely further enrage the pro-Gaza left AND Jewish voters (she’s for a ceasefire and wants a “deal” she never fully explained but won’t stop weapons shipments to Israel.)
Like any good emotional support puppy, Walz sat there as Harris uttered generality after generality. But he was awful on the few questions he did get, blaming his lies about carrying weapons IN war on his wife and poor grammar. “I speak like they do. I speak candidly. I wear my emotions on my sleeves,” he said, adding later that his wife told him “My grammar’s not always correct.”
That’s a new one. It’s sort of his version of Clinton parsing the word “is.” Maybe every liar should try that. “I wasn’t lying. It was just poor grammar!” Yeah, right. Bash could have asked him about other lies, but when 95% of your air time is spent sitting there like a potted plant or being asked about your lies, it’s not good.
Bash didn’t ask enough follow-up questions overall, and the interview was too short. CNN officials must explain to the American people whether they edited anything out and release the full transcript and outtakes.
Harris seems to forget she’s in office now. Harris was asked what she would do on her first day in office even though she’s already in office. She said people are ready for a “new way” forward. She commented that she wants to turn the page on the “last decade,” prompting Bash to point out that she’s been in office for a third of it. Ouch.
Asked why the Biden-Harris administration hasn’t fixed the economy yet and why prices for groceries and housing are so high, Harris largely blamed the pandemic, but that old dog will no longer hunt. She then admitted that prices for groceries are too high and the border is a problem.
There were some word salads. In response to the “What would you do on your first day in office” question, she said, “Well, there are several things I will tell you – first and foremost one of my highest priorities is to do what we can to support and strengthen the middle class.” This went on for some time. The word salads strike us as a verbal crutch that buy her time to think. Which isn’t confidence-inspiring.
Her interview was filled with such platitudes – I want a deal, I want to help the middle class, I want to reduce costs. But the American people are crying out for specific solutions. In contrast, Trump’s speeches are so long and specific that he threatens to drown people in the details.
Harris mentioned extending the child tax credit three times and investing in the “American family around affordable housing.” Take that, childless cat ladies.
She claimed that she and Biden have brought inflation down. Americans know what they pay for groceries. Denying a reality we all see and feel isn’t going to work, and polls show Americans are most concerned with the economy.
In that light, Bash reminded people that Harris supported the Green New Deal, which would decimate farmers and the American economy. As the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty put it, the “Green New Deal would cost Wisconsin families over $40,000 per year” and “cripple” the agriculture industry. Harris linked climate change to the Inflation Reduction Act, which will completely lose most viewers.
Bash failed most miserably on questioning about the border crisis, allowing Harris to shift a question on the record number of people illegally crossing to Trump getting Congress to kill a border bill.
Bash did not ask the obvious follow-up questions about specific actions taken by Biden-Harris that caused the surge. Nor did she remind people what was actually in that border bill. It’s not good, according to the Heritage Foundation.
If the American people are reminded what’s actually in it, they will applaud Trump for getting it killed.
Also notable was what Bash did not ask about. She didn’t get into Ukraine or Afghanistan. Bash did not ask Harris about the prosecutions of Trump, the attempt to practically bankrupt him, or Harris’s past comments advocating censoring his speech on Twitter. Nor did Bash ask Harris about the DNC’s despicable efforts to kick the Green Party, Cornel West, and (until recently) RFK Jr. off ballots. For that matter, she didn’t ask her about RFK Jr. throwing his support to Trump or about the assassination attempt. Bash also did not ask Harris about big tech censorship, including Mark Zuckerberg’s letter admitting that the Biden-Harris administration sought to censor Americans.
Look for a desperate attempt by the Harris campaign to find a way out of the upcoming debate. It was that bad.
This is an opinion piece.
