After facing her first tough interview of the cycle at the hands of Bret Baier, Vice President Kamala Harris needed a reboot. That meant heading over to NBC News to play softball with Hallie Jackson. But while the questions were left-leaning and meant to prop up Harris, she still managed to strike out.
Let's start with Jackson's framing because, at times, her performance was downright embarrassing. Every time I wonder if mainstream journalists are capable of shame, I see something like the following.
This is embarrassing. NBC's @HallieJackson plays word games on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with Kamala Harris, arguing she never actually wanted to abolish it, but just start "from stratch" pic.twitter.com/uOrfQlY2h7
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 22, 2024
JACKSON: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, of course, back in 2019, you stopped short of calling to abolish ICE as some Democrats were doing at the time, but you also said...
HARRIS: I never called for abolishing ICE
JACKSON: Correct, you stopped short of that. That's right, that's right. You said we should critically reexamine it and consider starting from scratch. If you're president, would you consider starting from scratch with ICE?
I don't know whether Jackson is unfamiliar with the phrase "starting from scratch," but doing so would mean abolishing ICE first. You can not start from scratch on something without tearing down everything that existed before. In other words, Harris did call to abolish ICE during the 2019 presidential election, and Jackson's attempt to massage that fact into something else is deeply dishonest.
Harris goes on to repeat her tired talking point about the defunct border bill that would have done nothing to secure the border while surrendering in other ways that would only make the crisis worse. The blaming of Congress stopped being convincing about a week after the Biden administration took power. No one made the president and vice president reverse a series of policies implemented by Donald Trump that were working to stem the flow of illegal immigration. They made that choice, and they then chose to start releasing millions of people into the interior. Harris owns the results, and no one outside of the far left is buying her blame-shifting.
Moving on to some comic relief, the vice president told Jackson that Liz Cheney is an "opinion leader" in the Republican Party. Yes, she actually said that.
Kamala: "I was just with one of the opinion leaders in the Republican Party, Liz Cheney."
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 22, 2024
😂😂😂pic.twitter.com/4aNUMf9y79
I wrote a more complete breakdown detailing why Harris trotting out Cheney is colossally stupid and self-destructive on Monday, and the point still stands. I have no idea who they are trying to appeal to here. Anyone who cares what Cheney has to say decided to vote for Harris long ago. Meanwhile, trotting out a woman who never met a Middle East war she didn't love is further alienating Arab-Americans, a key demo for the vice president in states like Michigan and Wisconsin. It's such a moronic move by the Harris campaign.
With that said, the worst moment of the interview occurred when the topic of abortion came up. When asked whether she'd support religious exemptions regarding healthcare providers, Harris unequivocally said no.
Wow.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 22, 2024
Kamala Harris says that she does not believe in any religious exemptions for abortion.pic.twitter.com/oOiJJOi6Ib
JACKSON: What concessions would be on the table? Religious exemptions, for example, is that something that you would consider?
HARRIS: I don't think we should be making concessions when we're talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body.
JACKSON: To Republicans like, for example, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, who would back something like this on a Democratic agenda if, in fact, Republicans control Congress, would you offer them an olive branch or is that off the table? Is that not an option for you?
HARRIS: I'm not gonna engage in hypotheticals.
And there you have it. Kamala Harris would force Christian hospitals to perform abortions. There's no other way to read her answer, which specifically said there will be no concessions made regarding the issue. That's a pretty stark line in the sand between the GOP and Democratic Party this election.
As to Harris saying she won't engage in hypotheticals, that is such a weak cop-out. The entire point of running for president is to engage in hypotheticals and explain to the American people what you would do if you were to gain the office. That Harris can't articulate any of her actual plans is one reason she has no business being the nominee, much less winning the election.
Lastly, it wouldn't be a Kamala Harris interview without her talking in circles and refusing to answer a basic question.
WATCH: Kamala Harris again refuses to answer whether she ever witnessed President Biden in cognitive decline:
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 22, 2024
Jackson: “I know that Joe Biden is not on the ballot and I understand that. But the reason that you are on the top of the ticket is because he dropped out of this race.… pic.twitter.com/rgYvnkCzZf
With two weeks left before election day, she's not getting any better at this. Her campaign is pure nothingness, and she is the most vapid, lazy presidential nominee in history. I sincerely hope Americans vote accordingly.
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