On Wednesday, Kamala Harris gave her first solo cable news interview since replacing Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket to MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle.
As you may recall, Ruhle is the same person who argued on Bill Maher’s show last week that Harris doesn’t owe the American people any explanation of where she stands on any issue because “she is not running for ‘perfect’” but rather “running against” Donald Trump.
“We have two choices,” she said before chiding New York Times columnist Bret Stephens for suggesting the vice president needs to submit to more than just a puff piece. “When you move to Nirvana, give me your real estate broker’s number and I’ll be your next-door neighbor,” she scolded. “We don’t live there.”
There is speculation those comments are what landed Ruhle, who also serves as NBC News’ senior business analyst, the rare sit-down with Harris. And while Megyn gave her a D-plus for her handling of the interview, she said the “real story” is Harris’ “absolutely awful” performance.
Poor Prep
Given her background, many of the questions Ruhle asked Harris had to do with the economy and the smattering of proposals she has put forth so far. Rather than recite pre-scripted answers like she successfully did at the ABC News debate earlier this month, the vice president fell back into her habit of delivering empty, rambling responses.
“I actually don’t really understand why she can’t do the memorization trick that she did for the debate for these interviews,” Megyn said. “She knows she is going to sit for this interview with a woman who has a business news background. She has just done an economic speech. 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?”
Empty Answers
Instead, Megyn said it seemed clear from the onset that Harris was winging it. “It started off with what I think may have been her worst answer,” she noted. To kick things off, Ruhle asked Harris for her message to voters who do not “see themselves” in the “economic vision” she has put forth.
Here is how the Q&A went:
RUHLE: Madam Vice President, you just laid out your economic vision for the future. But still there are lots of Americans who don’t see themselves in your plans. For those who say, ‘These policies aren’t for me,’ what do you say to them?
HARRIS: Well, if you are hardworking, if you have the dreams and the ambitions and the aspirations of what I believe you do, you’re in my plan.
I have to tell you, I really love and am so energized by what I know to be the spirit and character of the American people. We have ambition. We have aspirations. We have dreams. We can see what’s possible. We have an incredible work ethic.
But not everyone has the access to the opportunities that allow them to achieve those things. But we don’t lack for those things. But not everyone gets handed stuff on a silver platter. And so my vision for the economy — I call it an opportunity economy — is about making sure that all Americans, wherever they start, wherever they are, have the ability to actually achieve those dreams and those ambitions, which include, for middle-class families, just being able to know that their hard work allows them to get ahead, right…
The Democratic nominee then pivoted to her go-to lines about being raised by her mother in a “middle class” neighborhood.
HARRIS: …I think we can’t and we shouldn’t aspire to have an economy that just allows people to get by. People want to do more than just get by. They want to get ahead. And I come from the middle class.
Look, my mother raised my sister and me. She worked hard. She saved up. By the time I was a teenager, she was able to buy our first home. And homeownership for too many people in our country now is elusive. You know, gone is the day of everyone thinking they could actually live the American dream.
So part of my vision for the economy is, let’s deal with some of the everyday challenges that people face and address them with common sense solutions, such as affordable housing.
By our count, it took Harris some 300 words to offer but one actual “solution” – “affordable housing” – that she didn’t even bother to expand upon. As Megyn noted, Harris “said nothing” and was “wasting time with filler.”
And that is where she believes Ruhle fell down on the job. “[She should have said], ‘You did not answer any of my questions. You said a bunch of nonsense and did not get substantive. What, specifically, are you going to do outside of the three myopic, tiny proposals you keep mentioning?’ No, that wasn’t the follow up,” Megyn explained.
Rather than follow up, Ruhle moved on to, “Over the last four years, there have been tremendous economic wins. And you have just laid out a big plan. But, still, polling shows that more — most likely voters still think Donald Trump is better to handle the economy. Why do you think that is?”
‘She Is an Idiot’
That initial exchange proved, in Megyn’s view, to be the beginning of the end. “She’s an idiot… She has no idea what she is talking about,” she said. “It is a calamity how dumb this person is and that she has been placed in this position by the party, by fiat.”
Ultimately, Megyn had a message for the vice president. “There are smart people in the Democrat Party. She is just not one of them… and that is on display every time she sits down for an interview,” she noted. “So I say: Keep it rolling… Kamala, you can do this. Keep talking. That’s all Trump needs.”
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.