It’s been two months since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, and she has still not held a single press conference or solo national interview. What she has done is enlist some of her most famous supporters to help keep the energy up in her ‘joyful,’ vibes-based campaign.
The latest example? Thursday’s “Unite for America Rally” hosted by Oprah Winfrey, which essentially amounted to a bunch of celebrities asking Harris out-of-touch questions over Zoom.
On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by The Daily Mail’sMaureen Callahan to discuss the elitist vibes at the Hollywood-heavy event and how Harris struggled to give substantive answers even in the friendliest setting.
Hollywood for Harris
Winfrey and Harris were in the critical battleground state of Michigan on Thursday night for the town hall-style event that featured a studio audience of about 400 people and was live streamed to thousands more on YouTube, Facebook, and the like.
The former queen of daytime essentially played the role of television host for the 90-minute event that even the corporate media is admitting amounted to a campaign infomercial. After all, the talking points were front and center straight from the start. “Can you feel it? Can you feel the joy rising in here,” Winfrey asked Harris after welcoming her to the stage with her typical Oprah bellow.
Winfrey made it a point to shout out all of the identity politics-based groups who were joining the rally remotely. Among them, “Black Women for Harris, “White Dudes for Harris,” and “White Women for Harris.” And then there were the Hollywood A-listers who also didn’t make the trip to Detroit but did participate via Zoom. Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Tracee Ellis Ross, Bryan Cranston, Ben Stiller, and Chris Rock were among the famous names Winfrey ticked off.
Their presence led to plenty of cringey and seemingly scripted moments like when Streep ‘accidentally’ referred to Harris as “president” and then droned on in hushed tones about what may happen on “January 7, 8, or 9” if Donald Trump loses the election.
Roberts, who co-hosted the now-infamous fundraiser for Biden with George Clooney earlier this year, used her time to suggest she is embarrassed to be an American and is looking forward to the day when Harris is president and she can be proud of her country again.
Others in attendance were similarly on message. “I’m just smiling from ear to ear, Oprah,” Cranston said. “I have never felt this much joy and optimism in a campaign in a long time.” And In case you forgot Harris would be the first female president, Rock was ready with a reminder. “I want to bring my daughters to the White House to meet this black woman president,” he told Winfrey. “I’m ready to turn the page, man. All of the hate and negativity, it has to stop.”
‘Such a Disservice’
Despite the friendly setting, Harris struggled to deliver even her rehearsed answers about topics like the economy, immigration, gun violence, and abortion. “Oprah padded this 90-minute special with all of these people who were speaking as Kamala surrogates before she entered,” Callahan noted. “And then Kamala begins with her bullsh-t. There was nothing of substance.”
In Callahan’s view, the event accomplished little other than to reinforce how aloof Hollywood is. “It’s this whole idea that there is this clubby, elite group of celebrities who are deigning to speak with the great unwashed about the future of this country,” she explained. “Even Tracee Ellis Ross said something like that when she was sort of dismissive of Oprah. She said, ‘Well, you and I just saw each other.’”
She said those types of exchanges sum up the disconnect. “That’s the rub,” Callahan said. “They all know each other. They all party together. It’s like they’re in this bubble, and they’re the power brokers, and we just deal with the fallout… It was such a disservice to the American people.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Callahan by tuning in to episode 895 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.