Kamala Harris has reportedly been holed up getting ready for Tuesday’s debate with Donald Trump, but she took a break from the prep over the weekend to visit a spice shop in Pittsburgh.
The campaign stop was notable for a few reasons. For starters, the locale, Penzeys Spices, has a page on its website called “About Republicans” that explains over the course of nearly 1,000 words why GOP voters should shop elsewhere. As for the gathering itself, the media is still fawning over Harris’ interactions with some of her supporters.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Adam Carolla, host of The Adam Carolla Show, to discuss the vice president’s visit and what it reveals about the narrative surrounding her campaign.
The Spice Shop
During her trip to Penzeys Spices, Harris spoke about the need for unity. “It’s time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It’s time to bring our country together, chart a new way forward,” she told reporters. “A lot of what I think is happening, and I was just talking with some folks here in Pittsburgh about it, is that people are exhausted about the division and the attempts to kind of divide us as Americans.”
That message, however, seems to stand in contrast with the ethos of the venue she spoke from. CEO Bill Penzey penned a 842-word missive for the brand’s “About Republicans” page to explain what he believes is wrong with the GOP. He said, in part:
“Watching the slow decline of the Republican Party over the last half century, and the steep decline/bottom falling out over the last decade, it can be easy to see the nonsense that has overtaken the party as pretty much random. Once you start seriously looking at the problems America and the world face and who and what are standing in the way of solving those problems, it quickly becomes clear there is nothing random to what the Republicans are promoting…
The truth of our time is we’ve arrived at the point where there’s no way to respect the nonsense the Republican Party is promoting and have any hope of overcoming the problems we as a nation and we as a planet face. Given the choice between saving America and planet Earth or saving the feelings of Republican voters, we are choosing to side with saving our country and our world. I’m sorry it’s come to this.”
He goes on to emphasize that “there is no HATE!!! in any of this” because he “actually like[s] and respect[s] most of you guys” – except the “growing number that are there for the racism.” Penzey ultimately concludes that he does not need the business of Republican voters:
“Going forward we would still be glad to have you as customers, but we’re done pretending the Republican Party’s embrace of cruelty, racism, Covid lies, climate change denial, and threats to democracy are anything other than the risks they legitimately are. If you need us to pretend you are not creating the hurt you are creating in order for you to continue to be our customer, I’m sad to say you might be happier elsewhere.”
If people on the right still want to spend their money in any one of his stores throughout the United States, he is “happy to have you here” but “will, on a regular basis, try to wake you up from this dream that has you believing there is anything conservative left at all to what the Republican Party has become.”
Harris Is ‘Nice’
The media’s main takeaway from Saturday’s event was not to call out the hypocrisy or question the Harris campaign for still offering little to no press access, but rather to praise the vice president for the way she interacted with supporters.
“The media… acted like Jesus himself had visited the spice store,” Megyn quipped. “She did one of those prearranged stops where the cameras just happened to catch her dealing with people inside the shop, and it was absolutely pathetic.”
Case in point: MSNBC’s Katie Phang, who recently had to delete her erroneous tweets about Beyoncé performing at the DNC, was quick to repost the exchanges with an effusive caption. “Take a moment to appreciate the kindness and humanity to comfort a total stranger, to encourage a young lawyer, to express gratitude to a teacher, and to inspire a new generation of leaders,” she wrote on X. “And, the best: to reassure them that we are all in this together.”
Meanwhile, Washington Post columnist James Hohmann reported on exactly which spices Harris bought because, as Megyn joked, “that’s exciting to know.” And CNN commentator Bakari Sellers asserted the Trump-Vance campaign could never possibly measure up to Harris’ warmth. “Trump prob wouldn’t let the lady touch him and Vance has the compassion of a potato,” he posted on X.
While Carolla said the media should have learned its lesson by now when it comes to breathlessly covering the left on any subject, Carolla took issue with what he called the “currency we’re giving to compassion.”
He said progressive cities like Los Angeles have been destroyed by “compassionate” politics, and politicians in Harris’ party are to blame. “It shouldn’t have anything to do with running for office or being in a leadership position,” he explained. “The idea that we are putting this premium on who seems to be nicer is ridiculous because all we want is some Middle East peace. We want to close the border. We want to lower interest rates. It’s all nuts and bolts. It’s not tugs and teddy bears.”
In fact, Carolla is as skeptical of ‘nice’ in politics as he is in Hollywood. “I don’t trust these people at all,” he added. “Remember how Ellen [DeGeneres] started her show with the dancing?”
He believes Harris is similar. “How could you be that compassionate, that warm, that friendly, that gregarious, and have [more than 90 percent] of your staff move on,” he asked. “Beware of the dancers. Beware of the big laughers on camera.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Carolla by tuning in to episode 882 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.