With most battleground polls showing that Kamala Harris's campaign is losing oxygen to Trump-Vance, the Vice President has stepped up her media presence, appearing in front of friendly interviewers for the last several days.
But her interview with Bill Whitaker of CBS News on 60 Minutes, a veteran journalist, was different in many ways. Yes, it was taped (as most 60 Minutes broadcasts are), but the questions were hard-hitting. Several times, Whitaker challenged her directly, even interrupting her mid-sentence, something that no journalist has done to date, preferring to let her get into the practiced delivery of her stump speech talking points.
And it was here that Harris failed miserably, showing that she either did not have the intellectual heft to discuss policy details beyond what she had memorized or refused to answer in a way that would make news. For those tied up in silly details of her life - such as which gun she owns and whether she has fired it (Answer: Glock, and yes, she has fired it at a gun range) - she made little news, and it was not newsworthy. Either way, she proved she was not ready to lead America, far less the Free World.
On the economy, her solutions were all hyperbole and had few chances of passing Congress.
Bill Whitaker: There are lots of signs that the American economy is doing very well, better than most countries, I think. But the American people don't seem to be feeling it. Groceries are 25% higher, and people blame you and Joe Biden for that. Are they wrong?
Vice President Kamala Harris: We now have historic low unemployment in America among all groups of people. We now have an economy that is thriving by all macroeconomic measures. And, to your point, prices are still too high. And I know that, and we need to deal with it, which is why part of my plan—you mentioned groceries. Part of my plan is what we must do to bring down the price of groceries.
Just as the audience wanted to know more, it was Harris repeating her same old mantra: Get Congress to ban a federal ban on price gouging, get Congress to pass a $6,000 child tax credit (totally discriminatory against families that don't have children or have children that are too old to qualify), and get Congress to pass a $25,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers (again discriminatory given that many people - such as those that live in the big cities - don't want to buy homes).
When Whitaker asked how she would pay for her plan, which would cost the Treasury $3 trillion over a decade, Harris relied on an old trick of debunking the study that Whitaker was quoting and promoting her own: "OK, so the other economists who have reviewed my plan versus my opponent have determined that my economic plan would strengthen America's economy. His would weaken it."
It was a no-answer answer. Strengthening the economy with deficit spending is what American politicians have done for the last five decades.
Whitaker tried to interrupt her several times, but she continued with her talking points.
Bill Whitaker: But--
Vice President Kamala Harris: My plan, Bill, if you don't mind, is to say that when you invest in small businesses, you invest in the middle class, and you strengthen America's economy. Small businesses are part of the backbone of America's economy.
Bill Whitaker: But—but pardon me, Madame Vice President, I– the– the question was, how are you going to pay for it?
Vice President Kamala Harris: Well, one of the things I'm going to do is make sure that the richest among us, who can afford it, pay their fair share in taxes. It is not right that teachers, nurses, and firefighters are paying har– a higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations.
Bill Whitaker: But—but
Vice President Kamala Harris: And I plan on making that fair.
Bill Whitaker: But we're dealing with the real world here.
Vice President Kamala Harris: But the real world includes—
Bill Whitaker: How are you going to get this through Congress?
It was an extraordinary exchange in which a superb reporter outmaneuvered a candidate who thought she was above questioning.
Then Harris resorted to the biggest lie of all. She said she is a capitalist (her record for a decade or more has been one of a Marxist). And for a capitalist, she repeated the same old charge that the rich don't pay their fair share in taxes, so she would quietly move Congress to raise taxes. President Reagan would be looking down, flabbergasted at such thievery.
Bill Whitaker: And Congress has shown no inclination to move in your direction.
Vice President Kamala Harris: I–I disagree with you. There are plenty of leaders in Congress who understand and know that the Trump tax cuts blew up our federal deficit. None of us, and certainly, I cannot afford to be myopic in terms of how I think about strengthening America's economy. Let me tell you something. I am a devout public servant. You know that. I am also a capitalist. And I know the limitations of government.
So, left to Harris, she would allow all of the Trump tax cuts to expire, severely hurting the economy. On top of that, she would strangle the top 5% of income earners- who already pay more than 75% of all income taxes- even more, to the tune of $3 trillion.
The Senate is likely to come under GOP control under a new leader, most likely John Cornyn of Texas. Every tax proposal will likely be dead on arrival, more so because it would need 60 votes to break a filibuster.
On immigration, Harris frustrated Whitaker, who midway through the conversation said: But there was a historic flood of undocumented immigrants coming across the border the first three years of your administration. As a matter of fact, arrivals quadrupled from the last year of President Trump. Was it a mistake to loosen the immigration policies as much as you did?
Harris dodged the question again, four times in total.
Bill Whitaker's questions were the most probing, balanced, and fair, but Harris refused to answer them throughout the interview. The interview showcased the low level of respect Harris has for the Fourth Estate and, by extension, the American people.
