OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
One of the overlooked portions of MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle’s softball interview last week with Kamala Harris involved the vice president’s struggle with a question about how she planned to “pay for” expanded child tax credits and housing subsidies.
Some political observers noted that Harris seemed to revert to pre-programmed talking points when Ruhle asked her to explain how she would finance the expanded credits and $25,000 up-front money for first-time homebuyers — without really answering the question.
“If you can’t raise corporate taxes, or if GOP takes control of the Senate, where do you get the money to do that? Do you still go forward with those plans and borrow?” Ruhle asked.
“Well,” Harris began before a brief pause. “…[B]ut we’re gonna have to raise corporate taxes.”
Continuing, Harris stammered, “And we’re gonna have to raise…“We’re gonna have to make sure that the biggest corporations and billionaires pay their fair share. That’s just it. It’s about paying their fair share.”
Corporate taxes were reduced during the Trump administration when the GOP-controlled Congress passed the biggest tax reform measure in decades. The corporate rate was reduced from 35 to 21 percent, while the vast majority of American earners also saw their income taxes cut. A 2021 analysis noted that the vast majority of Americans benefitted from the cuts, and most were middle- and working-class people.
NEW: Kamala Harris gets stumped during her first solo sit-down interview since becoming the Democratic nominee.
Stephanie Ruhle: “If you can’t raise corporate taxes or if GOP takes control of the Senate, where do you get the money to do that?”
Harris: “Well, but we’re gonna… pic.twitter.com/lp951n3etd
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 25, 2024
Harris was also criticized for more “word salad” responses during her one previous sit-down interview late last month, which was held with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and conducted by CNN anchor Dana Bash.
Conservative activists and media outlets took to X to comment specifically on a clip from host Dana Bash’s interview with Harris, where the VP discussed the reasons behind her evolving policy positions since assuming the Democratic presidential nomination.
In the clip of the interview, which will air Thursday night on CNN, anchor Dana Bash asked, “Generally speaking, how should voters look at some of the changes that you’ve made? … Is it because you have more experience now, and you’ve learned more about the information? Is it because you were running for president in a Democratic primary? And should they feel comfortable and confident that what you’re saying now is going to be your policy moving forward?”
“Dana, I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris admitted. “You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed, and I’ve worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act.”
“Gobbledygook,” conservative commentator Steve Guest wrote on the X platform. “The definition of a deadline is ‘the latest time or date by which something should be completed’.”
Noah Rothman, senior writer at the National Review, called her response “rambling.”
Charles C. W. Cooke, a British-American journalist, described the clip as an “instant classic.”
“Undefeated. She’s still got it—even as the nominee,” he quipped.
The X account for The Blaze referred to the comment as “word salad,” which is a term Harris critics often use to describe her often confusing responses to questions.
Harris continued, “We have set goals for the United States of America and, by extension, the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example.”
“That value has not changed. My value around what we need to do to secure our border. That value is not changed,” she said.
