Donald Trump spoke passionately about bacon, windmills, Al Capone, transgender boxers, nuclear war, and of course the size of his crowds in Michigan on Thursday. Weird! Kamala Harris’ interview with Tim Waltz on CNN was… quite normal.
Just as she had done at the Democratic National Convention a week earlier, the vice president was calm, steady and unobtrusive, doing enough to pass muster and no harm to herself, turning her highly publicized first interview as the candidate into an easily forgettable pit stop on the campaign trail.
Perhaps most important was the personality test. The old presidential cliché is, “Which candidate would you rather have a beer with?” Harris and Walz came across as the kind of couple you’d have no problem sharing cake and coffee with at your kid’s birthday party. The same can’t be said for the former president and his running mate, J.D. Vance.
Democrats believe Americans are craving that kind of empathy after a decade of Trump’s malign narcissism and Joe Biden’s struggle with aging, when the current president turned every interview into a nerve-wracking tightrope act. Ms. Harris was a refreshing, poised example.
But as the 27-minute interview progressed, she seemed clearly more comfortable embracing Biden and his legacy than her own historic bid to potentially become the first black woman president. Democrats may appreciate her loyalty to her boss; Republicans may sniff an opportunity to paint her as a Biden-lite version.
Perhaps Harris’ weakest answer was her first. Sitting in a cafe in Savannah, Georgia, dressed in gray, Harris was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash, “If you’re elected, what would you do on your first day in the White House?” Harris replied, “Well, there are a number of things. First and foremost, one of my top priorities is to do what I can to support and strengthen the middle class…”
When Bash pressed her, “So what will you do on day one?” Harris spoke about the “opportunity economy.” Political consultant Frank Luntz was not impressed, tweeting, “Her answer is so vague and essentially worthless. Not a good start.”
But when asked the same question about his first day in office, Trump said he would be a dictator.
Harris was then asked about her policy shifts on fracking and the Green New Deal, and while she avoided any gaffes, her answer was more of a ramblings: “I have always believed and committed to the belief that the climate crisis is real and that it is an urgent issue that requires deadlines and other standards to be applied.”
She noted his policy shift on decriminalizing illegal border crossings, making him the only person in this campaign to prosecute international criminal organizations involved in gun, drug and human trafficking, before pivoting to blame Trump for killing the border security bill: “He killed the bill. The border security bill would have put 1,500 more agents on the border.”
Policies are often a proxy for values, and the central message of Harris’ policy shift has been “my values haven’t changed.” In other words, you and I both know that some of her policies will need to be tweaked or obfuscated if she wants to win over swing state voters.
Harris spoke to a national audience rather than a rally, careful not to alienate Republicans who have supported Republican leader Nikki Haley. She said she would appoint Republicans to her Cabinet if elected, but did not have specific names in mind. “I’ve spent my career advocating for diversity of opinion,” she said.
When Bash asked about Trump questioning Harris’ racial identity, she could have launched into a lengthy, angry diatribe about Trump’s history of racism. Instead, she wisely opted for a succinct response: “The same old platitude. Next question please.”
“That’s it?” Bash asked. “That’s it.” Harris confirmed.
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This could hint at her strategy for next month’s presidential debate: a short, sharp take down of Trump before segueing into her own more optimistic, future-focused policies. Call it the “Honey, I cut Trump small” approach.
The fact that Waltz was involved in the interview made a lot of headlines — after all, Harris was in the majority of the action, with Waltz staring at the ground during the grim scene while she seemed to look at him with a calm, proud smile.
But when Bash pointed out that Waltz had never deployed but had previously said he had carried a weapon in a war, Waltz retorted, “Well… in this case it was after a school shooting… my wife, who’s an English teacher, said my grammar isn’t always good.” It seemed like just another excuse.
The interview ended with a photo of one of Harris’ nieces watching her speak at the convention last week and a question from Bash about the historic nature of the candidate. Harris seemed measured, as if wary of the trappings of identity politics.
“I’m running because I believe I am the best person to do this job for all Americans, regardless of race or gender,” she said, “but when I saw that photo, I was deeply moved.”
Like her convention speech, it was a far cry from Hillary Clinton’s “I’m with her” slogan as she tried to shatter the glass ceiling eight years ago. Harris’s show-not-tell approach meant viewers couldn’t fully understand how a Harris administration would be different from a Biden administration. But they might not have any doubt that Harris and Waltz would represent a return to politics as usual.
