Donald Trump just marked his first 100 days in office, which also seemed to be the marker Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz used to reemerge on the national political stage.
While the failed Dem duo have made appearances here and there (see: Harris backstage on Broadway and Walz on Gavin Newsom’s podcast), they both made headlines this week for public takes on the 2024 election and state of the country today that also served as a reminder of why they struggled to resonate with voters.
On Thursday’s show, Megyn was joined by Dave Portnoy, president and founder of Barstool Sports, to discuss their remarks and why the Democratic Party is dealing with an authenticity problem.
Walz Code Talks
Walz is still the sitting governor of Minnesota, but he has not ruled out a 2028 run for president and has embarked on a national “listening tour” that kicked off Monday night at Harvard Kennedy School.
It was there that he revealed why Harris chose him to be her running mate. “I was on the ticket, I would argue, because we did a lot of amazing progressive things in Minnesota that improved people’s lives,” Walz began. “But I was also on the ticket, quite honestly, because… I could code talk to white guys watching football, fixing their truck… [and] put them at ease.”
Walz said he was meant to serve as the “permission structure” left-leaning white men needed to support the Democrats. The male vote – particularly white men from rural and working class backgrounds – proved to be an enormous problem for Dems in the 2024 election, which he acknowledged. “You look across those swing states – with the exception of Minnesota – we didn’t get enough of the votes,” he admitted.
Perhaps that is because the self-described “knucklehead” was the wrong man for the message. When pressed by moderator ABC News national political reporter Brittany Shepherd about why he didn’t try to reach a larger audience via cable news or other platforms the GOP tapped into, he nodded to his shortcomings. “I think I’ll give you pretty good stuff, but I’ll also give you 10 percent problematic,” he added.
Portnoy said Walz is the last person who should have been tasked with reaching men. “That’s wildly delusional… I knew he had the football thing, but he doesn’t speak to a normal guy, he doesn’t act like a normal guy, his mannerisms weren’t like everyday guys,” he explained. “There was no part of him that connected to what a normal guy is talking about or interested in… He failed miserably in that realm… Nobody connected with him.”
Moreover, Portnoy said he didn’t even realize the Harris-Walz campaign was trying winning over guys like him. “I didn’t even know that they were trying to speak to people like, I guess, me or our crowd… who Trump spoke with,” he continued. “That didn’t seem like something they’re interested in… The Democratic Party is lost.”
Kamala Cackles
Not to be outdone, Harris made her first public speech since losing the election Wednesday night at an event hosted by Emerge America, a group that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office.
She raged about immigration policy and accused Trump of creating a “constitutional crisis” in his first 100 days with plenty of word salad profundities mixed in. Case in point: her aside about the elephants at the San Diego zoo.
HARRIS: …Please allow me, friends, to digress for a moment, okay? It’s kind of dark in here, but I’m going to ask for a show of hands. Who saw that video from a couple of weeks ago, the one of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo during the earthquake? Google it if you’ve not seen it.
So, that scene has been on my mind. Everybody’s asking me, ‘What you’ve been thinking about these days?’ Well [cackle]. In the video, for those who haven’t seen it, here those elephants were and as soon as they felt the earth shaking beneath their feet, they got in a circle, and stood next to each other to protect the most vulnerable. Think about it, what a powerful metaphor… The lesson is, don’t, don’t scatter. The instinct has to be to immediately find and connect with each other and to know that the circle will be strong…
In addition to the trademark laugh, Harris employed her signature hand gestures throughout the digression. “She is so annoying in her mannerisms with her little hands in tight and she starts giggling at her own thought. What she is saying is not even purportedly funny… There is no joke coming,” Megyn noted. “She is just giggling at her own little aside… The only time it gets funny is when she lands her point and you realize there is nothing there… She has built it up this huge profundity, only to let us down once again.”
Portnoy said Harris is “not a great public speaker,” but he also blasted her attempted “moral superiority” when she was among those who covered up for Joe Biden’s cognitive decline before accepting the Democrat nomination without ever winning a vote.
“She would never win a fair primary and that, to me, was their biggest mistake,” Portnoy said. “So, lecturing people like they’re angels, like they’re perfect, like they know better than anybody what’s best for you… is just such a turn off.”
The authenticity the left currently lacks is, in his view, what makes Trump so appealing. “Say whatever you want about Trump… even with these tariffs and stuff. Like, he campaigned on tariffs… He said he was going to do it at least,” Portnoy concluded. “If you did ‘authentic’ and took the Democrats and the Republicans. To me, it’s not even close. That is part of how I end up voting Republican.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Portnoy by tuning in to episode 1,062 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.