MSNBC’s ethically challenged 11th Hour host Stephanie Ruhle scored a softball-filled interview Wednesday with Vice President Kamala Harris and, despite even Ruhle admitting Harris didn’t really answer her questions, the “Big Three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC rushed to celebrate Harris “drilling down on her vision” and “detailing plans” they hope will lead to voters trusting her more on the economy.
While the interview aired on NBC’s sister network MSNBC, ABC had to use Good Morning America to fawn over their Dear Leader. Co-host Michael Strahan sounded like a Harris surrogate in his tease: “Vice President Harris laying out her vision for the economy, detailing plans to boost the middle class as she gains ground on former President Trump on the top issue for voters.”
He doubled down in tossing to chief White House correspondent and the Biden/Harris regime’s own North Korean news lady, Mary Bruce: “We’re going to turn now to the race for the White House and Kamala Harris laid out what she calls her pragmatic approach for the economy, the top issue for voters while Donald Trump attacked Harris on the trail and Ukraine’s president.”
Bruce laid on thick, celebrating Harris “closing the gap” and “detailing her plan” for the economy with “what she calls a pragmatic approach”. Of course, she hawked the “82-page plan” as proof of substance (click “expand”):
BRUCE: Well, both campaigns know the economy is the top priority for voters, the candidates have been hammering each other on the issue. Now, Donald Trump has had the advantage. but polls do show that Kamala Harris is closing the gap and now she is detailing her plan hoping to further erode Trump’s lead. In must-win Pennsylvania, the Vice President outlining her plan to create what she calls an opportunity economy, taking what she calls a pragmatic approach.
HARRIS: I’m a capitalist. I believe in free and fair markets. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] I believe in consistent and transparent rules of the road to create a stable business environment.
BRUCE: Harris, well aware that voters favor Donald Trump on the economy. The polls show she’s gaining ground. Pitting her vision directly against his, Harris says the former President is looking out for his wealthy friends not working Americans.
HARRIS: Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big sky scrapers, not those who actually build them. Not those who wire them. Not those who mop the floors.
BRUCE: Harris laying out her vision in an 82-page plan, pledging to cut taxes for 100 million Americans, boost small businesses by increasing tax deductions for startups, help first time home buyers with down payments, provide a $6,000 tax credit for parents of newborns, and invest in manufacturing at home. To pay for the plan, Harris proposing to raise corporate tax rates, saying in an interview overnight that she will make billionaires pay their fair share.
HARRIS: I’m not mad at anyone for achieving success, but everyone should pay their fair share. It’s not right that the teachers and the firefighters that I meet every day across the country are paying a higher tax than the richest people in our country.
Bruce only allowed a single Trump soundbite on the economy, calling out Harris for having had the last nearly four years to implement her plans.
Naturally, the ABC tool didn’t let Trump’s criticisms stand like she did Harris’s babbling:
Trump is promising to bring business back to the U.S. by slashing tax and regulations and by imposing sweeping tariffs on foreign imports. But many economists and Harris argue those tariffs will raise prices on Americans.
Not to be outdone, NBC’s Today obviously was warm and fuzzy over the interview that aired on MSNBC.
“Money matters. The battle over the economy taking center stage in the race for the White House. Vice President Harris laying out her vision,” trumpeted co-host Hoda Kotb in a tease.
Later, co-host Craig Melvin boasted of Harris’s “first high-profile one-on-one interview since becoming the Democratic nominee”, which was followed by more laudatory words from chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander.
Noting the economy has been “a vulnerability for her”, Alexander proclaimed to viewers that “polls do show that Harris is cutting into Trump’s advantage on that issue” as she spent Wednesday “looking to put more meat on the bones of her proposals[.]”
“Vice President Harris in battleground Pennsylvania drilling down on her vision for the economy in her first one-on-one national TV interview since becoming the Democratic nominee. Speaking with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle,” he added.
Before ending with bashing Trump for criticizing Zelenskyy (as the latter had thrown a rhetorical broadside days earlier against the Trump/Vance ticket), Alexander painted Harris as thorough and had zero pushback outside of a lone Trump soundbite (click “expand”):
HARRIS [on MSNBC’s All In special, 09/25/24]: And I’m not mad at anybody for being rich, but they should pay their fair share.
ALEXANDER: On campaign trail, pushing her economic policy, Vice President Harris slammed former President Trump as a friend of billionaires, not hard-working Americans.
HARRIS: He’s only interested in making life better for himself and people like himself. The wealthiest of Americans.
ALEXANDER: Polls show most likely voters still believe Trump is better equipped to handle the economy. Trump in North Carolina blasting Harris, saying prices remain way too high.
TRUMP: Kamala goes to work every day in the White House, families are suffering now, so if she has a plan, she should stop grandstanding and do it. Just do it.
ALEXANDER: Responding to calls for more policy specifics, the Harris campaign released an 80-page economic blueprint Wednesday, including child tax credits and housing payments. Harris was asked how she would pay for those elements.
RUHLE [on MSNBC’s All In special, 09/25/24]: If you can’t raise corporate taxes, or if the GOP takes control of the Senate, where do you get the money to do that? Do you still go forward with those principals and borrow?
HARRIS: Well — but we’re going to have to raise corporate taxes and we’re going to have to raise — we’re going to have to make sure that the biggest corporations and billionaires pay their fair share.
CBS Mornings had more of the same, but at least ended with the Iranian threats on Trump’s life. Co-host Nate Burleson was the most syrupy:
In the race for the White House, the two major candidates visit [sic] battleground states yesterday making dueling speeches on the economy and how they say their programs would help the average American....Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is trying to capitalize on polls showing voters are opening up to her ideas.
White House and campaign correspondent Ed O’Keefe implicitly acknowledged the latest time Harris was in Pittsburgh for debate prep when he said she was “back...this time focused on matters of dollars and cents.”
“Her speech came with an 80-page economic agenda, including plans to restore an expanded child tax credit and new one for families with newborns. Increased access to paid leave, a new federal ban on price gouging, and federal assistance for first-time home buyers, new rental units, and new small businesses,” he added before wondering how she’ll pay for it.
After a soundbite of her insistence she’d raise taxes on businesses and the rich, that was good enough for O’Keefe, who moved onto saying Harris thinks “voters should reconsider” their support of Trump when it comes to the economy.
To see the relevant transcripts from September 26, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
