So, positive takeaways from Kamala Harris’ first sit-down interview since becoming the de facto Democratic presidential nominee: She didn’t barf on herself. Always a plus.
Also, to be fair, there were no rambling computer loops about being unburdened by the past, no moments where she falsely claimed she visited the border and then covered for herself by also noting she hadn’t been to Europe, nothing of that sort. If that counts as a success, well, mission accomplished. Low bar cleared.
Other than that, the interview was an object lesson as to why the interview took more than a month to happen. Far from the “joy” and “vibes” that have characterized the rebranded Kamala Harris 2.0 on the campaign trail, she dodged questions, rambled, ran out of steam long before her trains of thought reached their respective stations, and generally underwhelmed.
And keep in mind, this was with CNN’s Dana Bash — not exactly known as a hard-hitter when it comes to her interactions with Democrats, a reputation that did not change during the course of Thursday night’s sit-down.
Yet, Kamala still managed to come off as lackluster. Case in point: When Bash lobbed the biggest softball of the night to Harris, she seemed both reticent and unprepared to answer.
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“I want to ask you about your opponent, Donald Trump,” Bash said early on in the interview.
She would continue: “I was a little bit surprised, people might be surprised to hear that you have never interacted with him, met him face to face. That’s gonna change soon, but what I want to ask you about is what he said last month. He suggested that you happened to turn black recently for political purposes, questioning a core part of your identity.”
Bash, of course, is referring to this clip from a conference of black journalists when he said that Harris — whose parents are Jamaican and Indian — has been somewhat protean about her ethnicity in order to court support and publicity.
“I’ve known her a long time indirectly … and she was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” he said.
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“I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn black,” the former president further jabbed.
SAVAGE TRUMP ON KAMALA: “I’ve known her a long time indirectly .. and she was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black.” pic.twitter.com/hFK8LT3vGZ
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 31, 2024
This sparked a number of debates, both over whether Trump’s remarks were racist and whether or not Harris was acquainted with Trump. (Reports indicate that she at least flew on his private plane on at least one occasion, so it’s unclear whether or not the part about Harris never having interacted with him was accurate.)
As for Trump’s remarks, Harris merely responded with an affirmative, “Yeah.”
Bash tried to interject to get more out of Kamala — and believe me, this was basically just setting her up for a spike — but Harris decided against it.
“Same old, tired playbook. Next question, please,” she said.
“That’s it?” said Bash, somewhat incredulously.
“That’s it,” Harris responded.
DANA: Trump suggested you happened to turn black recently for political purposes..
KAMALA: “Next question, please.” pic.twitter.com/kb9niY58oj
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 30, 2024
Now, in case you’ve forgotten — and one would hardly blame you, considering the pace of this electoral season — the media essentially went into a week-long conniption over the Trump remarks in question.
The point about Harris emphasizing one aspect of her identity over another so that she could claim “firsts” — which, to be fair, wasn’t explicated in its totality by Trump — was lost. It was salient, considering the fact she leaned on being the first “Indian-American female senator” when she was elected — since there had already been a black female senator, Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois.
She then proceeded to lean on being black when she was the first black woman vice president. She was also the first Indian-American woman vice president, too — but, in identity politics upsmanship, that doesn’t have the same tocsin of progress that the Democrats like to sound out. It also played into the question that he was being asked — namely, if Harris was a “DEI hire.” Which, yes, she was, since Biden limited his choices in the veepstakes to black women and Harris was deemed to be the one with the least baggage and most upside.
But the most qualified candidate? Probably not.
That being said, even if Trump had included this nuance in his answer, the press still would have descended into an “Orange Man Racist!” hysteria. And Dana Bash was giving Harris another chance to stoke those embers. Please, feel free! Go for it, Kamala! Bring that faux controversy back to life!
But, no: Either she didn’t pick up on the cue or she was unfocused enough that she couldn’t make it stick.
This, in metaphorical terms, was basically like the points you get on the SAT for simply spelling your name correctly. That she decided to pass that part of the test up is a huge red flag as to why this interview was so long delayed — and why we’re not likely to see another one before or after the debate.
