The Stream

The Brew: CNN Interview Proves Kamala Harris Is No Madonna (or Even Hillary Clinton)

By Al Perrotta Published on September 3, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Happy Tuesday! We hope you had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.

The Brew’s had a couple days to chew on burgers and CNN’s interview with Kamala Harris.

“The Immaterial Girl”

Watching Harris in her debut interview as a presidential candidate on CNN, I was reminded — of all people — Madonna. Not the freakish figure we know today, but the very young Madonna who was making her debut performance on American Bandstand in January 1984. Madonna was still months away from her massive breakthrough, a year or two away from becoming a global cultural icon. She gave her all with her dance hit “Holiday,” then joined host Dick Clark for a short chat. The legendary Clark asked her, “What do you hope will happen, not only in 1984, but for the rest of your professional life? What are your dreams? What’s left?”  This kid from Detroit replied, “Mmm, to rule the world.”

And something in the eyes, something in the voice, something in the body language said, “Yup. You will.”

CNN’s Dana Bash essentially asked Harris the same question: “What do you hope will happen in 2025? What are your plans?” This progressive from San Francisco replied, “I will be leader of the free world, the commander-in-chief, President of the United States.”

But this time, something in the downcast eyes, the tentative voice, the shrinking body language said, “Nope.”

Body Language Experts Agree: “Uncomfortable,” “Hollow”

“When I look at her overall demeanor, she does not carry the confidence or the presidential appearance in her demeanor to command in her position,” body language expert Susan Constantine told Fox News.

Both Constantine and fellow expert Scott Rouse on Newsmax said Harris’s head-bobbing is a tell she’s not ready to lead. 

“You know, the head bobbling is, ‘What part of the file in my subconscious am I going to pull out? Which ones are my answers?’” Constantine said. “She couldn’t come up with a crystal-clear answer, and that’s why she tends to bobble. When you bobble and waffle like that, that’s another signal that she’s not really … prepared. She doesn’t really have confidence in her own answers.”

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Former Army interrogator  and body language expert Greg Hartley told Just the News that Harris was “hollow” and “uncomfortable.” Hartley said Harris — and for that matter, running mate Tim Walz — would “chaff and redirect” when answering Bash’s questions. They’d “spout enough words about something not related to the topic to get to a line of topic to veer away.” 

Communications and body language analyst Judi James spotted another problem, telling the Daily Mail, “When asked what she would do on her first day in the White House, her body language seems to suggest she has not set foot in the place so far.”

Which slides perfectly to our next point.

Just Not Ready … and It’s Her Job to Be Ready

We should be alarmed by Harris’s lack of comfort, conviction, and cohesiveness about what she’d do as president. Since noon on January 20, 2021, Harris has been a heartbeat away from the presidency, while serving under a man who was already in obvious physical and mental decline. How does she not know — precisely, clearly, and forcefully — what she’d do in the Oval Office? Hasn’t that been her one real job so far? Even the New York Jets back-up quarterbacks are preparing as if they could be the starter at any moment.

Yet, unless she was talking about bacon, Harris was anxious and unsteady, the stress etched on her face, answering with nervous vagueness, signifying nothing, lacking even in sound and fury.

Let’s remember, this was not Harry S. Truman suddenly becoming president after FDR’s sudden death, taking on the burden of World War II while learning the U.S. had a weapon that could annihilate the world. This was a sit-down interview with CNN well over a month after being given the slot at the top of the Democratic ticket.  

It All Looked and Sounded Wrong

We can talk about what Harris said and didn’t say about policy in that interview all day long. We could try to translate her answers into plain English. But the real question is always, “Are we looking at the American Commander-in-Chief?” Think back to how Donald Trump was in 2016 — blustery playboy billionaire real estate mogul-turned-host of popular reality show. The biggest question about him was much the same: “Can Donald Trump – The Donald of tabloid and television fame — be the leader of the free world?” In answering that question, he stood on debate stages with over a dozen of the GOP’s best, brightest, and most accomplished. He owned the ring from the opening bell, and took them all down with all the ease of a stroll through Central Park.

For that matter, think about how Hillary Clinton carried herself in 2016. You can love her or hate her, but her studious intensity and cold calculation oozes a sense of “boss.” Even her laugh says “Evil Queen.” Harris’s is more like “Supporting Character in a Cheech & Chong movie.”

The staging for the CNN interview exaggerated Harris’s weakness. Sitting at that table, she was upstaged physically by both Bash and the XXL Tim Walz. It looked, as someone said, like Daddy taking his daughter to the principal’s office.

The issue here is not just about physical size, though, or being a woman. Again, think Hillary Clinton. She’s listed at 5’5”. Her running mate in 2016, Tim Kaine, was a filled-out 5’11”. When they sat together for interviews was there ever any doubt who the capo was? No. There definitely wasn’t. That woman has been wearing the pants in her family for a long, long time, and she has no problem doing the same in any setting in which she finds herself.

Turning Little Things into Big Things

The interview did Harris no favors. The @NateSilver538 forecast shows Trump’s chances of winning have increased since the interview. 

This interview shouldn’t have been a big deal. Harris, after all, has been the vice president for more than three and a half years and has been a presidential candidate for over a month. Doing an interview should have been routine, particularly with CNN — the easiest part of her day. Instead, by waiting nearly 40 days and polling reporters about who it should be with, Harris turned this little thing into a big thing.

We don’t want presidents who turn little things into big things.  That’s how you get wars and other disasters. We want presidents who turn big things into little things.

Harris Rips Trump for Attending Memorial for Those Killed as a Result of Her Decisions

Here’s a perfect example. Last Monday, Donald Trump attended a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery for the 13 American service members killed during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan overseen by the Biden administration. He was invited by the Gold Star families. Although Harris was in town that day, she did not bother to show up.

However, rather than leave the story alone, the Harris camp and their media allies decided to attack Trump for some minor tussle his team had with Arlington officials. They hit Trump for “politicizing” the event.

Then on Saturday (two days after her unsuccessful CNN interview and desperate to change the topic) Harris doubled down, rather than letting go.

Her tweet led eight of the 13 Gold Star families to post videos absolutely shredding her. Listen to Darin Hoover, whose son, Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, was among those murdered in the botched withdrawal.

Harris enraged those Gold Star families, which is never a good thing, and looked cheap doing it. She took a small one-day story that highlighted for a day her poor decision-making and turned it into a big deal that makes her look even worse.

No wonder she refused to speak to anyone for over a month.

Along the Stream 

After enjoying the holiday weekend, The Stream gets rolling again at 9:00 a.m. Eastern with the always-insightful and entertaining Stream content creator Gayle McQueary. “Kill-Chain: Step-by-Step Moves to Accomplish Your Ultimate Target of Subverting Elections.” 

Plus today’s serving of Al’s Afternoon Tea will catch us up on what else has been happening over the weekend and throughout the day.

 

Al Perrotta is The Stream’s Washington bureau chief, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration, and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

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