Much has been made about Kamala Harris’ platform, and much of the reason for that is the fact that the vice president’s official campaign website didn’t include an “Issues” page until about 48 hours before the presidential debate on September 10. And even that information has been called into question after a closer look at the metadata revealed it was largely pulled from the old Biden campaign website.
The Democratic nominee has been asked to clarify where she stands today on some of her most controversial past positions on issues like fracking, guns, trans ideology, and the like and all she has said is that her “values haven’t changed.”
In the last eight weeks, she has adopted a few of Donald Trump’s more popular proposals (see: ‘no tax on tips’) and introduced her own highly controversial price control plan that was subsequently walked back.
If all of that has left you wanting more substance from Harris, you are not alone – but, according to Hillary Clinton, you are sexist. On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by the hosts of Ruthless – Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook – to discuss Clinton’s claims and why Harris has been so dodgy.
The ‘Double Standard’
Clinton is currently on a media tour to promote her latest memoir. During an interview with Kara Swisher on Monday, the former first lady weighed in on the state of the 2024 presidential race and the absence of any real platform from Harris.
SWISHER: Undecided voters want more policy details from her. Trump was hardly bursting with policy ideas. He said he had a concept of a plan for healthcare. And of course, they don’t want any from him, which is interesting. Does she have to do it? Because it seems like sometimes it’s like she lands the plane, and they are like, ‘Well, we’d like you to try it again’–
CLINTON: She does not have to do it, Kara. I’m going to just cut to the chase. In fact, she’s put out policies on her campaign website. Anybody who’s truly interested can go and read about them. She referenced policies. She actually doesn’t just have policies and concepts, she has, you know, plans about what to do. I think it’s a, you know, it’s a double standard. And it’s a double standard that is partly because they are still getting to know her. But also because they’re still grappling with the idea, like, ‘Oh, am I really going to vote for a woman to be president and commander in chief? I mean, I really, really have to think about this. Well, maybe I need to know more. I don’t want to make a mistake.’
Clinton went on to say the voters who are most guilty of this are “white women,” who she claims were her “biggest problem” in the 2016 election because they are worried about what “the men in their lives” would think. In Harris’ case, Clinton said more “policy details” are not going to sway undecided voters as much as broadstroke positions on issues like abortion.
Megyn tried to decipher what Clinton was saying. “Is it that you’re a misogynist now, if you want policy, if you want her to explain what she is going to do for the economy,” she asked. “I don’t even understand what she is saying, but, of course, she’s got to inject the woman thing in there.”
As Ashbrook joked, it is apparently “a real double standard” these days for “people to want to know what their president is going to do” before voting for them.
Who Is Kamala Harris?
While Clinton was happy to defend Harris’ vagueness, Megyn said the whole situation feels like the Democrats are biding time. “What we have [in Harris] is a vacuous person whose true identity we really don’t understand,” she said. “In 2019, she sounded very radical, but since then – and certainly since she became the nominee – it’s just a game of cover up. It’s just cover, and deny, and obfuscate, and not sign onto any earlier policy prescriptions.”
Holmes believes that is the strategy. “One, she is rhetorically challenged. But two – and more importantly – is she doesn’t want to piss off the left. That’s the issue,” he said. “Let me tell you who she is: Who she is is trying to win a general election… She will do absolutely anything to win it.”
And if she does win? “What you’ve seen with the last, I don’t know, dozen Democratic presidents, is the first year that they are president, their constituency goes from the entire country to the left to try to work on behalf of the people that they see were the most helpful to their campaign,” he explained. “Joe Biden ran as a moderate, New Deal Democrat… [and] during the first 90 days of his administration spent like $5 trillion. What do you think Kamala Harris would do?”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Ruthless by tuning in to episode 893 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.