One of the major risks with a politician avoiding media appearances is that they can get so out of practice that even a simple question can trip them up. Couple that with a friendly media personality looking to help out their candidate with softball questions, and you have a recipe for what happened on Tuesday’s edition of The View; where ABC News co-host Sunny Hostin may have accidently damaged Vice President Kamala Harris by creating a soundbite moment ripe for a Trump campaign ad.
The interview was a gushfest from the beginning. ABC News moderator Whoopi Goldberg actually introduced Harris as “the next president of the United States!”
Hostin began her questions by recalling the gushfest they recently had with President Biden and simply wanted to know how their presidencies would be different:
As vice president, you worked very closely with President Biden for almost four years. He was here on our show. And he said there wasn't a single thing that he did that you could not do. What do you think would be the biggest specific difference between your presidency and a bidency -- a Biden presidency?
“Well obviously, we're two different people,” Harris geniusly pointed out.
A simple follow up question from Hostin triggered a train wreck of a response that had the potential to really damage Harris’s campaign once it made it into campaign ads:
HOSTIN: If anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?
HARRIS: There is not a thing that comes to mind… and I've been part of most of the decisions that have had impact.
What made this particularly damning was that polls showed a majority of American said the country was on the wrong track and that the economy was their biggest issue. That’s not to mention that Trump was winning on the issue so the economy and illegal immigration.
Those weren’t the only softball questions.
Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin insisted they were going to press Harris on the issues like border security. But when it was her turn, she only asked about the persistent “perception among voters that the Biden administration dragged its feet and waited too long to act to address the border crisis. Can you speak to why voters may feel that way?”
Following Harris’s departure and a commercial break, they went around the table and fangirled out about meeting their hero. “Well, I'm just basking in the light,” proclaimed Goldberg pretending to faint in her chair. “Yeah, I vote that we put this woman into that black job!”
Speaking “as an independent,” pretend moderate Sara Haines praised “the common sense of it all.” She then admitted that she’s loved most of the what the Biden administration had done. “She's someone that has not only served in an administration that I find falls in line with a lot of what I believe, but she’s even taking different stances,” she cheered (which contracted Harris’s claim to them that she wouldn’t change anything).
Farah Griffin engaged in stochastic terrorism as she touted how she and Harris may not agree on policy but they both “understand just the danger Donald Trump poses and the things that he's talking about.”
Fake Republican Ana Navarro insisted it was “the empathy, the humanity, the relatability” that lead her to support Harris. After cuing up a video of Harris playing with a child, Navarro screeched: “can you imagine for one second Donald Trump doing that with a child? Can you imagine Donald Trump hugging a victim of a hurricane?”
For her part, co-host Joy Behar repeatedly claimed Trump was too “scared of us” to come on The View, but executive producer Brian Teta announced back in April that they stopped asking former President Trump to be on the show (they also banned anyone they determined to be a spreader of “disinformation” and “misinformation”).
Goldberg added onto Behar by admitted that she actively vetos any Trump surrogate they book for them to speak to.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
October 8, 2024
11:04:06 a.m. EasternWHOOPI GOLDBERG: 28 days to go until election. So, we are thrilled that joining us right now for her very first talk show appearance and live TV interview appearance since accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, please welcome back [dramatic pause] the next president of the United States!
[Applause and cheers]
(…)
11:08:22 a.m. Eastern
SUNNY HOSTIN: Madam Vice President, we are very happy to see you.
VP KAMALA HARRIS: Thank you.
HOSTIN: Thank you for coming.
HARRIS: I'm glad to be with you.
HOSTIN: As vice president, you worked very closely with President Biden for almost four years. He was here on our show.
HARRIS: Yeah.
HOSTIN: And he said there wasn't a single thing that he did that you could not do. What do you think would be the biggest specific difference between your presidency and a bidency -- a Biden presidency?
HARRIS: Well obviously, we're two different people.
(…)
11:09:44 a.m. Eastern
HOSTIN: If anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?
HARRIS: There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of – and I've been part of most of the decisions that have had impact.
(…)
11:23:11 a.m. Eastern
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: Madam Vice President, when you were here last I asked about the border, which remains a top issue to voters. And as you rightly pointed out, the former President blocked the strongest border security bill in decades. But there remains this perception among voters that the Biden administration dragged its feet and waited too long to act to address the border crisis. Can you speak to why voters may feel that way?
(…)
11:43:11 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: Well, I'm just basking in the light.
[Laughter]
You know, it's pretty remarkable. I mean, I remember when Obama was running and my mother said to me, I never in my lifetime thought I would ever see a black man run and win.
JOY BEHAR: Twice.
GOLDBERG: Twice. She was gone by the time -- the second time, but she said she always thought it was going to be a woman before it was going to be a black man. And if she had only known that it's not only -- people keep saying, “what are black jobs?”
[Applause]
Yeah, I vote that we put this woman into that black job!
[Cheers and applause]
I just – But – what – what s – so just – how are you feeling?
SARA HAINES: I loved the common sense of it all. As an independent, I’ve always struggled with the partisan politics. She's someone that has not only served in an administration that I find falls in line with a lot of what I believe, but she’s even taking different stances. And as she said in one of her last answers, ‘I'm a commonsense person.’ That's all we've been wanting to hear. She's going to put a Republican in her cabinet as to say, ‘we're all different. I just want to have a great idea.’ And that's so refreshing to hear.
FARAH GRIFFIN: I think when she talks about the stakes of the election – because, there's not a lot she and I agree with on policy, just candidly. But this is an election unlike any one we've been in before. And I think we understand just the danger Donald Trump poses and the things that he's talking about. And this is the final stretch. I keep saying it, but we're one month out. Voting deadlines are coming up. You need to file and register to vote.
GOLDBERG: Check our website.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Check our website.
GOLDBERG: Cause we've got lots of information.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Where we got all that information up there.
ANA NAVARRO: For me it's the empathy, the humanity, the relatability.
(…)
NAVARRO: What I would say to people is, can you imagine for one second Donald Trump doing that with a child? Can you imagine Donald Trump hugging a victim of a hurricane?
(…)
