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Kamala Harris ventured into enemy territory Wednesday, trying to reach voters who get their news through the filter of Fox News. But first, she had to get a word in edgewise.
The half-hour interview with anchor Bret Baier was contentious from the start and stayed that way throughout. He recycled Republican talking points into accusations and frequently interrupted the vice president — the two talking over each other at times.
“I would like that we would have a conversation that is grounded in the full assessment of the facts,” Harris said at one point when Baier apologized for speaking over her.
The interview reflected an attempt by the vice president to reach some of the more conservative voters she may need in what polls show is a close race against Donald Trump. Whether she succeeded remains to be seen.
Baier started with immigration, echoing Trump campaign talking points that seek to blame the Biden administration, and the vice president by extension, for the large number of illegal border crossings that have subsided in recent months.
Harris pivoted to the border security bill that failed in Congress after Trump pressured members to oppose the measure — or she tried to at least.
“We’ve had a broken immigration system, transcending, by the way, Donald Trump’s administration, even before,” she said. “Let’s all be honest about that. I have no pride in saying that this is a perfect immigration system. I’ve been clear,” Harris said.
Baier asked how she would be different from Biden. She said she would bring in a fresh perspective, using that to talk about the Republicans who are supporting her candidacy because of their disapproval of Trump.
“Let me be very clear, my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency,” Harris said. “I, for example, am someone who has not spent the majority of my career in Washington, D.C. I invite ideas, whether it be from the Republicans who are supporting me, who were just on stage with me minutes ago.”
Harris also tried to steer the conversation to Trump’s threats in recent appearances to use the military to go after his critics — something they weren’t likely to hear about on Baier’s network.
“This is a democracy,” she said. “And in a democracy, the president of the United States should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he would lock people up for doing it.”
