Hurricane Helene slammed into the southeast United States over the weekend and is already being called one of the deadliest weather events of the last 50 years with 121 lives lost across six states. Millions remain without power, as washed out roads, interstates, and bridges hamper emergency response efforts.
As the catastrophic hurricane unfolded, neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris were in Washington, DC. Biden was at his beach house in Delaware, while Harris was on a west coast campaign swing that included hobnobbing with celebrities in Los Angeles.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Victor Davis Hanson, author of The Case for Trump, to discuss the optics of Harris’ glitzy fundraiser amid the muted response from the Biden-Harris administration.
Harris’ Weekend
Hurricane Helene has been wreaking havoc on Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas since it first made landfall Thursday night in northwestern Florida as a Category 4 storm. Despite the dangerous forecast that led to six governors declaring emergencies in their states, Biden still left the White House for a weekend at the beach as Harris headed west.
She attended two high-dollar fundraisers in California – one in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles – that raked in a combined $55 million for the Harris-Walz campaign. Sunday evening’s event in L.A. had a star-studded guest list that included Stevie Wonder, Keegan-Michael Key, Sterling K. Brown, Demi Lovato, Jessica Alba, and Lily Tomlin. According to The Hollywood Reporter, tickets ranged from $500 to $250,000, with a number of Hollywood agents and publicists spotted in the crowd among the celebs.
Washington Post reporter Matt Viser posted on X that donors dined on “duck egg roll, goat cheese honey blueberry ball, Beef Wellington, lobster roll, crab cakes,” as Alanis Morissette and Halle Bailey performed. Harris reportedly spoke for 30 minutes before taking photos and shaking hands.
She then flew to Las Vegas for a campaign rally where she finally acknowledged the storm. On Monday, her team announced she would be skipping her final two events in Nevada to return to D.C. for FEMA briefings.
Hollywood Haunts?
All of this was too little too late as far as Megyn was concerned. “The initial response was so slow [from the administration], and they never recovered,” she said. “This thing hit North Carolina on Friday and the pictures started coming out on Saturday, which were absolutely devastating… And then last night, well into the devastation, the loss of life… and destruction of communities, Kamala Harris attended an L.A. fundraiser.”
Hanson said Harris’ behavior over the weekend is not surprising given her history. “I don’t think she is in touch… People have got this impression – I think accurately – that she is artificial and canned,” he said. “So, if she were to go down there and put on waders and walk around as she did at the border [on Friday], I think it would be… counterproductive [for her campaign].”
Ultimately, Megyn believes Harris will come to regret her decision. “This is one of those situations in which you do need the feds; you need FEMA,” she said. “It is an all-hands-on-deck situation, where you still have Americans at risk and the nerve to be out there eating her duck egg roll, goat cheese honey blueberry ball, Beef Wellington, lobster roll, and crab cakes as the people died will come back to haunt her.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Hanson by tuning in to episode 901 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.