Vice President Kamala Harris invoked a wave of Democratic admiration after her first sit-down interview since being named the Democratic presidential nominee. Former President Donald Trump and his allies were not among her fans.
“Boring,” Trump proclaimed in a Thursday evening reaction on Truth Social to Harris’s long-awaited debut.
A host of Republicans joined the former president’s criticism of Harris’s prime-time interview with CNN’s Dana Bash in a flurry of social media posts to X.
Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), shared a clip of Caitlin Upton awkwardly stuttering her way through a reply during a 2007 Miss Teen USA pageant.
“BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview,” Vance mocked when the first clips from the interview were released.
Meanwhile, Sean Spicer, who served as Trump’s White House press secretary in 2017, denounced Harris for having her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), at her side for the interview.
“Now that Harris and Walz have done a parent-teacher conference they need to do a media interview,” he said.
Spicer’s words came after Harris faced criticism from Republicans, such as political commentator Meghan McCain, for not going solo during the high-stakes interview.
During the course of her presidential bid, critics have slammed Harris for running a policy-light campaign. Following her CNN interview, Trump allies continued to assert Harris failed to unveil detailed policy and blasted her for a lack of “substantive” answers.
Ben Shapiro, conservative commentator and co-founder of the Daily Wire, grumbled that Harris had set the bar for politics “so low” that “Kamala not physically crapping herself during an interview is now considered a brilliant performance.”
During the roughly 30-minute interview alongside Walz, Harris largely attached herself to President Joe Biden’s policy positions. In response to a question about her support for Israel, the only foreign policy question she was asked, Harris favored Biden’s stance on the war in Gaza. She later stood by his handling of the U.S. economy.
When asked about what she would do on day one of her administration if she won the election, Harris appeared to founder at first.
“A number of things,” she said before talking about building an “opportunity economy” and alluding to a price-fixing proposal she unveiled recently, which is to the left of Biden’s economic agenda. Overall, Harris stood by “Bidenomics,” the commonly used name for the president’s economic plan, and called it “good work.
“She’s talking in circles. She has no substantive answers for anything,” political influencer Link Lauren said.
Lauren advised Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign until April before throwing his weight behind Trump.
Harris confirmed a reversal from a position she held during her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign that illegal immigration should be decriminalized.
“You raised your hand when asked whether or not the border should be decriminalized. Do you still believe that?” Bash questioned.
“I believe there should be consequences,” Harris replied.
Critics said the vice president lied about her record on fracking during the interview.
“In 2019 Kamala Harris said she would absolutely ban fracking,” former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy noted. “At present, she says she won’t ban fracking. Tonight on CNN, she said her position on a fracking ban hasn’t changed. At least 1 of those 3 statements has to be false. That’s not a partisan point, it’s just logic.”
Ramaswamy mounted a brief primary challenge to Trump before dropping his bid for the White House to become the former president’s top surrogate.
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Harris also faced censure for doing a pretaped interview instead of speaking live during the media appearance.
“Live is too risky,” conservative Fox News host Laura Ingraham said.
