There has been a political realignment underway in American politics since Donald Trump rode down the gold escalator in Trump Tower to announce he was running for president in June 2015.
Working class voters who were once the backbone of the Democrat Party’s base have largely crossed over to Trump’s GOP, which seems to be a concern of the Harris-Walz campaign. What few policies Kamala Harris has put forth center around tax credits and an “opportunity economy,” while Walz has been trying to paint himself as a ‘regular Joe’ who fixes cars in the driveway (as he did in an odd new campaign video released over the weekend).
Despite their best efforts to come across as relatable, the reality is that Harris and her running mate appeal to progressive elites – like Oprah Winfrey and the celebrities who turned out for last week’s cringe town hall – much more than regular Americans. On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Batya Ungar-Sargon, author of Second Class, to discuss the disconnect.
Empty Answers
Harris rambled her way through just about every question sent her way at the Michigan event with Winfrey last Thursday, but Ungar-Sargon believes there was one answer in particular that highlighted the emptiness of her campaign. When Winfrey asked the vice president for her pitch to undecided voters, here is what she had to say:
HARRIS: We love our country. I love our country. I know we all do. That’s why everybody’s here right now. We love our country. We, we take pride in the privilege of being American… We are an optimistic people. Americans, by character, are people who have dreams and ambitions and aspirations. We believe in what is possible. We believe in what can be, and we believe in fighting for that. That’s how that’s how we came into being, because the people before us understood that one of the greatest expressions for the love of our country, one of the greatest expressions of patriotism is to fight for the ideals of who we are…
Based on her delivery, Ungar-Sargon said it was clear Harris thought she was “nailing” her answer. And in some ways, she did. “I actually think she was because… the audience for that was there in the room with her – the billionaire sitting across from her and then the sort of glitterati, millionaire celebrities who were on video chat,” she explained. “These are people who have no material problems… so how do you get them passionate about a cause? … You make them feel like the emptiness inside is going to go away.”
From that perspective, Ungar-Sargon said Harris “totally nailed it.” But did the event do more harm than good? “Have you noticed that every time Oprah says her name she [yells] ‘Kamala Harris,'” she asked. “Every time she does that a swing voter dies and a Trump voter is born in their place. It is just so ostentatious and ostentatiously empty of meaning.”
‘Let Them Eat Joy’
That is also clear, she noted, from the ‘vibes’-based messaging from the Harris campaign. “It’s the ‘Let Them Eat Joy’ campaign because they think that they have neutralized the threat posed by the millions and millions of Americans who want Donald Trump,” Ungar-Sargon explained. “It’s all nonsense. What they’re trying to do is to prevent the American people from having their say because they believe that they should be able to tell the American people what to think, how to think, and who to elect.”
The problem, however, is that they don’t have a pulse on everyday Americans. “They’ve lost the ability to do that because they are all rich leftists and totally out of touch,” she noted. “And that’s really what you’re seeing with this Oprah stuff.”
In Megyn’s view, Winfrey is “post her relevancy” and “massive stardom,” and her involvement in the 2024 election will not have the same impact it did for Barack Obama in 2008. “For Obama, she abandoned all the women who made her a star… and instead leaned into race,” she said. “She really did help him win Iowa, and now she considers herself a political kingmaker.”
That is what Megyn believes Winfrey gets wrong. “Now she is trying to do the same for Kamala Harris, but she is not a kingmaker,” she concluded. “She is not going to ‘make’ Kamala Harris.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Ungar-Sargon by tuning in to episode 896 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.