Oct 17, 2024 - Politics & Policy
Harris' Independence Day: Takeaways from her interview with Fox News
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Vice President Harris ventured into the lion's den Wednesday to deliver a message that many Americans — including anxious Democrats — have been waiting to hear:
- "My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency," Harris told Fox News' Bret Baier.
Why it matters: In the highest-risk interview of her campaign, Harris took the rare step of distancing herself from the unpopular, aging president she serves — touting a "new generation of leadership" to millions of skeptical Fox News viewers.
Key takeaways
1. Turning the page.
- After Republicans seized last week on her reluctance to disavow any of Biden's actions over the last four years, Harris came to the Fox interview determined to burnish a more independent image.
- "Like every new president that comes in to office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas," Harris said, before detailing the highlights of her economic agenda.
- Grilled on how she could represent a "new way forward" while serving as Biden's VP, Harris argued that the election is about "turning the page from the last decade" of Donald Trump's divisive and "exhausting" rhetoric.
2. The border albatross.
- The start of the interview was dominated by Baier's questions about the millions of undocumented immigrants who have entered the U.S. since Biden took office, and whether Harris regrets reversing Trump's harsh border policies.
- Harris expressed her heartbreak for the victims of violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, and repeatedly sought to pivot to Trump's sabotage of the Senate's bipartisan border security deal earlier this year.
- But Baier — cognizant that immigration is a top issue for Fox viewers and millions of voters — was persistent that Harris answer for the mistakes of the administration's first three years, which she was unable to do.
3. No "basket of deplorables."
- In a back-and-forth over why Trump is polling so well despite Harris branding him "unstable" and "dangerous," Baier asked the vice president whether she thought his supporters were "stupid" or "misguided."
- "Oh, god, I would never say that about the American people," Harris shot back, before pivoting deftly: "And, in fact, when you listen to Donald Trump, if you watch any of his rallies, he is the one who tends to demean and belittle and diminish."
- Harris went on to excoriate Trump for his recent claims that "the enemies from within" — including "evil" Democrats like the Pelosis — pose a more dangerous threat than foreign adversaries, and his suggestion that he'd somehow use the military to deal with them.
Between the lines: Both campaigns saw the interview through their own predictable, partisan lenses: Trump's side called it a "train wreck"; Harris' saw it as a "masterclass."
- The reality was probably somewhere in between, but Harris at least proved she could confidently execute her message in hostile territory — dispelling some of Fox News' conservative caricatures.
- Trump, meanwhile, spent his media appearances Wednesday defending Jan. 6, doubling down on false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets and saying he learned about IVF from the "fantastically attractive" Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.).
- In this margin-of-error election, that kind of split-screen has given Harris' campaign confidence that their risky media strategy is the right one for reaching swing voters.
- "We definitely achieved what we set out to achieve, in the sense that she was able to reach an audience that has probably not been exposed to the arguments she's been making on the trail ... (and) got to show her toughness in standing tall against a hostile interviewer," Harris campaign spokesperson Brian Fallon said.
