Farewell to Joy: Harris Pushes Fear, Talking Points in CNN-Sponsored Stump Speech

Vice President Kamala Harris ditched her "joyful" "vibes" for darker tones Wednesday during a weakly moderated CNN town hall. The 90-minute affair functioned as a network-sponsored stump speech, albeit with occasional interruptions for questions from "still undecided" voters such as Carol Nackenoff, a political science professor at Swarthmore College who specializes in "women's activism" and is definitely voting for Harris.

CNN's docile moderator, Anderson Cooper, opened things up by inviting Harris to talk about whether or not she thought former president Donald Trump is a fascist. (She did.) He asked Harris to discuss a controversial report in the Atlantic regarding Trump's alleged comments about Adolf Hitler. The comments were relayed by John Kelly, the former White House chief of staff and retired Marine general Harris once denounced as "cruel" and "unethical."

Harris was happy to oblige and quickly grew agitated, almost to the point of tears, as she delivered what has become the closing message of her embattled campaign. A warning for American voters: Donald Trump is "increasingly unstable and unfit to serve." He's "dangerous." CNN's Jake Tapper remarked following the town hall that Harris had "focused a lot more on Donald Trump, I think it's fair to say, than she did on many specifics in terms of what she would do as president."

When she wasn't attacking Trump, the vice president was reciting her vague, familiar talking points about her plan "to create a new approach" and her love for small businesses—the "backbone of America's economy." She vowed to "actually deal with accountability" by passing a national ban on price gouging, a proposal most economists have dismissed as unserious, and expressed support for giving working families "an extra amount of, just, money." At times Harris came across as increasingly desperate to win over GOP voters who aren't sure about Trump, including the improbably "Republican" student from Bryn Mawr College. Harris touted her support from Dick Cheney, promised to cut taxes, and discussed the need to eliminate "bureaucracy."

At other points during the town hall, Harris sought to ingratiate herself to radical liberals by attacking the Supreme Court, suggesting she would eliminate the filibuster to pass a national pro-abortion law, and criticizing the Israeli military's "unconscionable" actions in Gaza. The latter remark came in response to a question from a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser with "no party affiliation." It was often unclear if Harris even knew what message she was trying to articulate. "I think that we did the right thing," she said when Cooper asked if the Biden-Harris administration should have waited nearly three years before cracking down on illegal immigration. "I'm not afraid of good ideas," she said when asked about her implicit support for a border wall, but it was "stupid" when Trump wanted to build one. "Let's just fix the problem," she concluded.

Harris did little to articulate a coherent vision or provide any insight into her actual beliefs. She refused to identify a single issue she would prioritize as president because "there's a lot of work that needs to happen." She declined to discuss tax policy in detail because "it's a very complicated situation." She attempted to paraphrase the Bible and claimed that she prayed "every day" after citing the influence of her spiritual mentor, left-wing radical Amos Brown. Harris congratulated herself for having "instinctively understood the gravity of the moment" when Joe Biden dropped out of the race. She repeatedly mentioned that she had "raised children" and that her mother had died from cancer while answering questions unrelated to either of those topics. She asserted her commitment to "fixing problems" and "working across the aisle." Trump wouldn't do that, Harris argued, because he's only interested in "plotting his retribution." Cooper, for the most part, just stood there.

One voter asked Harris about her weaknesses and what she would do to overcome them as president. She went on to describe "a weakness that some would consider a strength." She said she understood the importance of "having a team of very smart people around me that bring to my decision making process different perspectives," which was somewhat unusual given Harris's notorious reputation as a difficult and dysfunctional boss who burns through employees at a rapid pace. Another weakness Harris cited was her insistence on studying too hard. "I'm kind of a nerd sometimes, and some might call that a weakness, especially if you're, you know, in an interview or, just, kind of, you know, being asked a certain question and, just, you're expected to have the right answer right away, but that's how I, that's how I work," she explained.

Cooper followed up to ask Harris what mistakes she had made and what she learned from them. Harris's response was inscrutable but seemed to imply that she wished she had studied harder to avoid getting tricked by nefarious reporters. "In my role as vice president, I mean, I probably worked very hard at making sure that I am well-versed on issues and, um, I think is very important, it's a mistake not to be well-versed on an issue and be compelled to answer a question," she said. One of Harris's (many) disgruntled former staffers told the Washington Post in 2021 that Harris was not "somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work" and often blamed staff for her lack of preparedness.

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, it's still a very tight race, but Harris is increasingly unpopular. Just 42 percent of registered voters said they approved of her job performance, compared with 52 percent who said the same about Trump, according to the latest Wall Street Journal poll. The lack of confidence among Democrats is palpable as many succumb to panic at the thought of a 2016 repeat. The Democrats who reached out to CNN's Dana Bash certainly weren't feeling any joy after Harris's performance on Wednesday. "If her goal was to close the deal, they're not sure she did that," Bash said, mournfully.

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