Kamala Harris’s townhall performance was a disaster.
Even the post-townhall panel of Harris sycophants on CNN had to admit the VP did not deliver the goods.
She couldn’t articulate her policies or her vision. When in doubt, she blamed Trump.
One thing that was clear from the trainwreck? The laugh is back!
Take a listen:
That wasn’t all.
Read the part of the CNN transcript here:
KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I’ve traveled the country. I know that we can invest in a clean energy economy and still not ban fracking, and still work toward what we need to do to create more jobs and create U.S.-based jobs in a way that will be globally competitive.
On the issue of law and order, as you mentioned, I think there’s just a whole lot of misinformation, to be honest with you. I have personally prosecuted very serious crime. It’s how I started my career. I spent most of my career as a prosecutor, not in Washington, D.C., and as my first priority, had — and remains as a first priority to me, the safety of the American people.
So that has not changed. And sadly, I think that there is a bit of misinformation, if not more than a bit. But I’m glad that you raised the subject so that I can address it.
COOPER: You…
HARRIS: But — but — but just, if you don’t mind, just let me just finish.
COOPER: Sure.
HARRIS: Because I think the — the — the spirit of your question is really important, and I’m glad you raised it. Our country deserves to have a president of the United States who is not afraid of good ideas and does not stand on pride. If a perspective needs to be informed by different points of view to build consensus and to have a common-sense approach, I’m never going to shy away from good ideas. And I’m not going to feel the need to have pride associate with a position that I’ve taken, when the important thing is to build consensus to fix problems.
I believe in fixing problems. I love fixing problems. And so I pledge to you to be a president who not only works for all Americans but works on getting stuff done. And that means compromise. And it doesn’t mean compromising your values or your principles, but it does mean working to get stuff done. And I pledge to you, I will do that. COOPER: Just to be clear, though, what he’s referring to, and you point out, too, when you were running for vice president in 2020, you were not talking about banning fracking, but…
HARRIS: No, no, I — no, Anderson, I pledged that I would not ban fracking.
COOPER: Right, I know. You said you would not ban fracking.
HARRIS: Correct.
COOPER: You know, you had said in a 2019 town hall, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.” In 2017, you were talking about Medicare for all. You talked about, in 2019, you raised a hand in a debate about if border crossings should be decriminalized.
Are all of those issues which — those are not your positions now — are all those issues that you’re saying, through consensus and getting stuff done, you have evolved on?
HARRIS: Well, no, let’s take, for example, the issue of Medicare. My point has always been that access to healthcare should not just be a privilege of those who can afford it; it should be a right for all people.
So that is why I have worked on doing what we have done to, one, allow Medicare to negotiate against the big pharmaceutical companies to bring down the costs of prescription medication. We’ve — we’ve achieved that in terms of capping the cost of insulin for seniors at $35 a month, capping the cost of annual prescriptions at $2,000 a year for seniors.
But my plan, moving forward, based on that very principle that I’ve always had, is, as president, to have that cap be for everyone and not just for our seniors.
The work that I have done that has been about recognizing the importance of dealing with border security, that has never changed. As I said, I have prosecuted transnational criminal organizations. That I did for years, before I ever ran in 2019.
COOPER: I mean, you did raise your hand saying in a debate, when asked if border crossings should be decriminalized. But obviously that is not your — your position?
HARRIS: I never intended, nor do I — will I ever allow America to have a border that is not secure. I believe we need to deal with illegal immigration, There needs to be consequences, which is why part of my plan that I have outlined — and, again, please go to KamalaHarris.com. Sorry to throw a website on you, but why not?
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: And you will see that part of my plan includes what we need to do to actually do more as it relates to putting resources in, including increasing penalties for illegal crossing. COOPER: And just finally, on fracking, you said — you’re clear you would not ban it as president…
HARRIS: No, I would not ban it as president.
COOPER: Right, I know you’re — you’re clear on that. Do you think it is bad for the environment, though?
HARRIS: I think that we have proven that we can invest in a clean energy economy; we can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions; we can work on — and sustaining what we need to do to protect this beautiful Earth of ours and not ban fracking.
COOPER: Time is short, so I want to get some more voters in. Taneisha Spall from Lansdowne Pennsylvania. She works as an education administration manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, registered Democrat who says she’s leaning toward supporting you, has yet to make her final decision.
Tanisha, welcome.
TANISHA SPALL, EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION MANAGER, PA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: Thank you Anderson.
Thank you, Madam Vice President…
HARRIS: Thank you.
SPALL: … for joining us this evening.
HARRIS: Of course.
SPALL: I appreciate that you did acknowledge that we are a country that is faced with problems and issues, with the Supreme Court being plagued with issues. Would you be in favor of expanding the court to, say, 12, so each justice has only one circuit court other than chief justice to assist in making judgments more balanced?
[22:05:12]
HARRIS: Well, to your point, I — there is no question that the American people increasingly are losing confidence in the Supreme Court, and in large part because of the behavior of certain members of that court and because of certain rulings, including the Dobbs decision and taking away a precedent that had been in place for 50 years, protecting a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body.
So I do believe that there should be some kind of reform of the court and we can study what that actually looks like, but I do believe — but again, let’s just — while you raise the point of the court, understand that, again, in 13 days, the American people will decide who is the next president of the United States. In 13 days, you will decide who is sitting in the Oval Office on January 20th.
And on one hand, you have in Donald Trump someone who has increasingly proved himself to be unstable, and who as we have established and the people close to him have established, he’s unfit to serve, somebody who on January 20th, you can be sure will spend full time like we know and we’ve seen the image mentally of him sitting in the dining room off of the Oval Office watching for hours as people violently attack the Capitol. You can be sure because he has said he would weaponize the Department of Justice to go after his political enemies that you can look at a Donald Trump in the White House after January 20th, sitting in that Oval Office, plotting his revenge.
He has talked about the enemies within.
We haven’t even raised that subject, Anderson.
The enemies within — he’s talking about the American people. He’s talking about journalists, judges, nonpartisan election officials. He has talked about, as John Kelly has talked about, can he send the military after peaceful protesters?
And he’s going to sit there unstable, unhinged, plotting his revenge, plotting his retribution, creating an enemies list.
I’m going to tell you, my list will be a list of how I address and continue to address the issues that you all are raising this afternoon in the evening. It will be a to-do list about how we can impact the American people and lift up the American people and address some of the challenges that we continue to face.
COOPER: I want to get one last questioner in. This is Elkan Pleat. He’s a student at Temple University, registered Democrat, leaning towards voting for you, has yet to make up his final decision.
Elkan?
ELKAN PLEAT, STUDENT AT TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: Hi. First of all, go Birds, and hi from — I’m from Danville, California.
HARRIS: Oh, hi, Elkan.
PLEAT: But my question is, what is the proudest moment of your political career thus far, including when you were the A.G.?
HARRIS: Oh, that’s a great one.
I’ve actually had a few. One of them is I as attorney general of California created what I named the — Bureau of Children’s Justice for — and you may be familiar with that as a Californian.
And it was — it was because I believe that frankly we still have a lot to do in terms of policy that impacts children, and an investment in the children of our country is an investment in all of us and our future, and that work has actually produced significant results. That has been a proud moment for me, was a proud moment for me to — to do the work that we’ve been doing that has addressed issues like maternal mortality.
I mean, it’s — it’s in response to an incredible tragedy but lifting up that issue in a way that we agree that America should not have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.
So I have had the good fortune of — in my life as a public servant knowing the impact that we can have, and I guess that is probably what motivates me most because I know we can make a difference. I really do.
And I do believe that the American people deserve a president who’s going to be hardworking and, you know, will make mistakes from time to time, but is focused on you. And I think that is so fundamental in this election, so fundamental.
You deserve a president — I believe the American people deserve a president who’s saying, look, let’s just be practical let’s get things done and let’s not be afraid of having a little joy to the point of, you know, what gives you — what makes you feel good about your work.
Let’s — let’s do it in a way that is grounded in optimism. You know, the thing that I think we all know about who we are as the American people, we are people who are ambitious. We have aspirations. We have dreams.
We are inherently optimistic, inherently optimistic.
[22:10:02]
And I — I think people are exhausted with the idea that we’re just going to be divided and angry instead of working on the problems and working together. And that’s what motivates me, and that’s what makes me proud when we’re able to do that, so.
COOPER: Vice President Kamala Harris, thank you very much.
HARRIS: Thank you.
COOPER: Appreciate it, thank you.
HARRIS: Thank you, Anderson. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: And thanks for watching. Thanks to all the voters here. Be sure to join CNN on November 5th for “Election Night in America” right here on CNN. Jake Tapper and Erin Burnett pick it up right now.