If you want to understand Kamala Harris’ favorability numbers being in the toilet, stick around, because you are about to be shown the perfect example of why that reality exists.
Here Harris is doing an interview with Charlemagne Tha God on yesterday. Unfortunately, the conversation ended badly for everyone. What started the sequence of cringe was Charlamagne asking Harris who the “real president” is in relation to Joe Manchin blocking the “Build Back Better” bill.
That’s when who I’m assuming is Symone Sanders, Harris’ chief spokesperson, interjects and tries to pretend the audio feed was cut as an excuse to end the interview. From there, things just fell apart.
Harris briefly intervenes as an aid @cthagodQuestions @VP to name the “real president … is it Joe Manchin or Joe Biden?” pic.twitter.com/FRkIyxjRuP
— Katherine Doyle (@katiadoyl) December 18, 2021
Of note is that this is the same show Joe Biden made his infamous “you ain’t black” comment on, but I digress. The spectacle of Sanders shouting in the background, with her head sticking out of the screen’s side, ended eventually. That’s when Harris said “I can hear you” and proceeded to explode, accusing the interviewer of “talking like a Republican” while wagging her finger at the camera.
Her initial anger is directed towards insisting Joe Biden was the president. I suppose that’s fair enough, but she then launched into an awkward, unprompted defense of herself, yelling at Charlamagne that “I’m vice president, and my name is Kamala Harris.” Her expression hardened as her eyebrows danced wildly. You can almost hear the crackle in her voice from her forceful response.
That’s when the stalling started, a tactic that’s common for Harris in public settings. For a good 30 seconds, words are coming out of her mouth but she doesn’t actually say anything. Finally, she regroups and begins to list off the administration’s policy priorities in a manner that has nothing to do with what she was asked.
What’s so silly about that is that the question she was asked was meant to be friendly. She was only able to hit a softball into the outfield because it was over her plate. Harris was left to explain calmly that Joe Manchin is in negotiations and they think they will get their agenda passed soon enough. Instead, she latched onto a perceived slight that wasn’t even meant to be a slight, and her ranting and raving about it was just a terrible look. Her skin is so thin that it’s translucent.
But even putting aside how ill-advised Harris’ behavior here was from a public relations point of view, the big takeaway for me is how insecure she is. We’ve known for a while that Harris’ camp and the White House have been feuding, and this interview really served as a window into the effects of that. Anger and defensive behavior in front of an interviewer reveals a serious lack of self-confidence.
Laughably, Charlamagne ends the interview by insisting that Harris’ meltdown was a good thing and that he wants to see more of it. That’s bubble talk, though. What she did only plays well with a very narrow segment of the electorate, and if Harris hopes to become more liked by the American people, angry outbursts at basic questions aren’t going to cut it.
Lastly, I realize some will argue that she’s being held to a different standard because she’s a woman. I don’t think that’s true, but even if it is, she still has to operate within the political environment that exists. Beating one’s head against a wall may be an electoral strategy, but it’s not a winning one.
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