Vice President Kamala Harris opened the CNN Town Hall in battleground Pennsylvania with a straight answer to Anderson Cooper’s first question: Do you think Donald Trump is a “fascist”?
“Yes, I do,” she replied.
And that was about the only question she did answer.
As one GOP strategist put it, Harris debated herself and lost. A top Democratic strategist said Harris visited “word salad city,” a familiar destination for the Democratic presidential candidate.
Not Ready for Prime Time
Harris’ calling Trump a fascist invites the observation that she willingly debated him, yet didn’t use that opportunity to call him a fascist or challenge his reputed fascist views.
Forgetting that, the town hall featured several moments that, like her previous interviews, prove that Harris isn’t ready for prime time.
Cooper grilled Harris on her reversal on building a border wall.
“You criticized the wall more than 50 times,” Cooper said. “You called it stupid, useless, and a medieval vanity project. Is a border wall stupid?
Replied Harris:
Well, let’s talk about Donald Trump and that border wall. So remember, Donald Trump said Mexico would pay for it. Come on, they didn’t. How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I saw was about 2 percent.
What Harris didn’t say: Far-left Democrats refused to fund a wall, and far-left lawyers filed lawsuits to stop Trump from appropriating the money from defense funds.
But beyond that, Harris then said the wall is a “good idea.”
“So you don’t think it’s stupid anymore?” Cooper asked.
“I think what he did and how he did it did not make much sense because he actually didn’t do much of anything,” Harris replied.
My Weakness Is My Strength
Another weak moment for Harris was when Cooper asked if she made mistakes in the last four years from which she can learn.
Replied Harris:
I mean, I’ve made many mistakes, um, and they range from — you know if you’ve ever parented a child you know you make lots of mistakes, too. In my role as vice president, I mean, I’ve probably worked very hard at making sure that I am well versed on issues, and I think that is very important. It’s a mistake not to be well versed on an issue and feel compelled to answer a question.
Harris, of course, is childless.
When a member of the audience asked Harris what her weaknesses are, Harris said her weakness is her strength.
“Perhaps a weakness, some would say, but I actually think it’s a strength,” she said, “is I really do value having a team of very smart people around me.”
The Trump War Room spliced scenes from The Office into Harris’ answer.
Harris provided a similar response to a question concerning whether she supported expanding the Supreme Court to 12 justices:
There is no question that the American people increasingly are losing confidence in the Supreme Court, and in large part because of the behavior of certain members of that Court, and because of certain rulings, including the Dobbs decision in taking away a precedent that had been in place for 50 years, protecting a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body. I do believe that there should be some kind of reform of the Court, and we can study what that actually looks like.
That nonanswer included a falsehood. The U.S. Supreme Court did not “take away … a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body” in overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, pro-abortion code for murdering the unborn. Rather, the Court returned the abortion issue to the states, where voters and state legislators can settle the matter democratically.
And, perhaps most famously, Cooper asked this question about her plans as president: “Some voters, though, might ask, you’ve been in the White House for four years. You were vice president, not the president. Why wasn’t any of that done already?”
Harris:
Well, there was a lot that was done, but there’s more to do, Anderson. I’m pointing out things that need to be done that haven’t been done that need to be done.
Reaction — “Word Salad City”
The reaction from the pro-Harris crowd was remarkable.
“When she doesn’t want to answer a question,” Democratic strategist David Axelrod said, “her habit is to kind of go to word salad city.”
Harris “focused a lot more on Donald Trump, I think it’s fair to say, than she did on many specifics in terms of what she would do as president,” Jake Tapper said.
Said Dana Bash:
Well, I’ll just tell you what I’m hearing from people who I’ve been talking to. If her goal was to close the deal, they’re not sure she did that. … And, on the question of who she is, people are understanding that a little bit more. But what she will do? The question about her legislative priorities, name one, there wasn’t one.
“I think that the word salad stuff gets on my nerves,” Van Jones said. “I think that some of the evasions are not necessary.”
On CNN, GOP strategist and Trump advisor David Urban had the best critique of performance.
“Kamala Harris participated in one-person debate last night, and she lost,” Urban quipped:
OK, she was asked direct questions, and she provided very circular answers. My colleagues Van Jones and David Axelrod and others noted that she provided word-salad answers. … Anderson would ask her specifically, direct questions and she didn’t provide an answer to them. … Anderson asked the best question all night. “Why didn’t you do this four years ago? Why haven’t you been doing this?” Ten-minute answer. Didn’t answer the question. So, what she did last night I don’t think helped her cause at all. I think people are looking for … “How are you going to make my life better?” That wasn’t provided. “Donald Trump bad” is not going to get you to the White House.
