Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign can be boiled down to her failure to differentiate herself from President Joe Biden during an interview on “The View.”
Democratic strategist James Carville said on The Bulwark podcast that Harris should have been better prepared for that inevitable question about how she was different from Biden. He joins a long list of Democrats that are finger-pointing in the wake of Harris’ defeat Tuesday to President-elect Donald Trump.
Watch the interview with Carville below:
“I think if this campaign is reducible to one moment, we are in a 65% wrong-track country,” Carville said. “The country wants something different. And she’s asked, as is so often the case, in a friendly audience, on ‘The View,’ ‘How would you be different than Biden?’ That’s the one question that you exist to answer, alright? That is it. That’s the money question. That’s the one you want. That’s the one that everybody wants to know the answer to. And you freeze! You literally freeze and say, ‘Well, I can’t think of anything,’” Carville said, speaking to Tim Miller on the Bulwark podcast.
“The View” appearance should have been a Harris layup in front of a friendly panel of questioners, the strategist argued. But the curveball came when co-host Sunny Hostin asked Harris if she would have done anything differently from the president in the last four years. Harris said she couldn’t think of anything she would have done differently.
“That’s the most devastating answer you could imagine,” Carville said.
Hostin also asked Harris what the biggest “specific” difference would be between a potential Harris presidency and a Biden presidency.
“We’re obviously two different people,” Harris said. “One of the issues I’m focused on is what we do with home health care.”
Carville had predicted a Harris victory, calling Trump “stone-ass nuts.”
The New York Times also pointed to “The View” interview of Harris as a turning point.
The Times reported that Trump advisers were shocked Harris didn’t have an answer ready. They quickly inserted the moment into national ads.
