Kamala Harris is known for finding a word or phrase and sticking with it (see: “the significance of the passage of time,” “what can be, unburdened by what has been,” etc.). This verbal tick almost always shows up when the vice president is speaking extemporaneously, and it arrived right on cue during Harris’ interview with Stephanie Ruhle on MSNBC Wednesday night.
Substance Free
The sit-down marked Harris’ first solo cable news interview since her presidential campaign began, and Megyn called her performance “absolutely awful” because of the lack of substance.
Given Ruhle’s background as a business reporter, the friendly interview largely focused on Harris’ economic agenda. But the vice president did not seem ready to offer details. “I actually don’t really understand why she can’t do the memorization trick that she did for the debate for these interviews,” Megyn noted. “Why wouldn’t you get your little note card team together and come up with a few actual answers on your economic plan and on its weaknesses that you might get asked about?”
Hopelessly ‘Holistic‘
This lack of preparedness was on display in what Megyn called one of Harris’ worst answers of the night. It came in the wake of a question from Ruhle about how she plans to navigate government bureaucracy.
RUHLE: And one of the main problems are regulations and rules, strict, strict rules at a local level. How does the federal government cut through all that red tape and get down to, I don’t know, the suburbs of Pittsburgh and say, we’re going to have to build some affordable housing here? How do you connect the two?
Megyn said it was a decent question. Harris’ answer? Not so much – though she did seemingly discover her new favorite word in the process.
HARRIS: …Part of my goal and the plan would be to create three million new housing units for rent and for ownership by the end of my first term. It includes also what we must do to cut red tape. You’re absolutely right… I know that we have to reduce the red tape and speed up what we need to do around building. And that is going to require working from the federal level with state and local governments…
For example, some of the work is going to be through what we do in terms of giving benefits and assistance to state and local governments around transit dollars, and looking holistically at the connection between that and housing, and looking holistically at the incentives we in the federal government can create for local and state governments to actually engage in planning in a holistic manner that includes prioritizing affordable housing for working people.
For those keeping score, she used some variation of the word “holistic” three times in less than 30 seconds and never actually answered Ruhle’s question of “how” she was going to cut through the red tape. “That’s where [Ruhle] should have jumped in… and said, ‘Stop redefining the problem. I just laid out the problem. You’re the one who is supposed to be running with solutions. What are they?’” Megyn said.
Instead, it was yet another word salad. “It is a calamity how dumb this person is and that she has been placed in this position by the Democratic Party by fiat,” Megyn concluded. “There are smart people in the Democrat Party. She is just not one of them.”
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 899 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.