Damage Control: MSNBC’s Ruhle Says It’s “Okay” Kamala Harris Didn’t Give “Clear And Direct” Answers To Policy Questions

Well, the verdict appears to be in from both sides of the aisle: Kamala Harris’ solo interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle was an unmitigated disaster. 

When The New York Times comes out and leads with “In her first one-on-one cable TV interview since becoming the nominee, the vice president repeatedly dodged direct questions and stuck firmly on message,” you likely know it didn’t well.

“Since Ms. Harris began granting more interviews in recent days, her media strategy has been to sit with friendly inquisitors who are not inclined to ask terribly thorny questions or press her when her responses are evasive,” the Times even wrote. “Harris had roundabout answers to open-ended questions.”

Hours after it came out, the Wall Street Journal editorial board published an article claiming that Harris’ economic plan, which they described as “82 pages of more spending, more taxes, more regulation, more government”, is just Bidenomics II.

The interview was nothing short of a nightmare. “Gone is the day of everyone thinking they could actually live the American Dream,” Harris opened with.  

To simple questions, her answers were nothing short of word-salad non-sequiturs. “If you can’t raise corporate taxes, or if the GOP takes control of the Senate, where do you get the money to do that? Do you still go for those plans and borrow,” Ruhle asked at one point.

Harris’ response? “Well, but we’re going to have to raise corporate taxes.”

Instead of pressing her on the non-answer, Ruhle responded: “You have laid out policy in great detail.”

Talking about housing, Harris offered up the following diarrhea of the mouth: “Some of the work is going to be through what we do in terms of giving benefits and assistance to state and local governments around transit dollars, and looking holistically at the connection between that and housing.”

Continuing “…and looking holistically at the incentives we in the federal government can create for local and state governments to actually engage in planning in [a] holistic manner that includes prioritizing affordable housing for working people.”

“Kamala appears to have just learned the word ‘holistically,’” one Trump account on X wrote. 

Everybody seems to have understood that Harris’ first solo sit down interview was nothing short of a disaster. We don’t expect there will be another one before November, if the Harris campaign can swing it. 

The one person who didn’t criticize Harris? Host Steph Ruhle, who we know from her time on Bloomberg is generally smarter than that. But, maybe in hopes for another interview or perhaps in hopes for a press secretary role, Ruhle took to the air after the interview to excuse Harris’ lack of detailed answers. 

Appearing on MSNBC after the interview, Ruhle said: “One could watch and say she didn’t give a clear and direct answer. And that’s okay, because we’re not talking about clear and direct issues.”

“What I didn’t hear from her was divisive language,” Ruhle said at one point. “Imagine if I was sitting against Donald Trump, imagine the language he would be using, please! And just the fact that we were talking about collaborative inclusivity — I don’t know. Vote for her or don’t vote for her, but isn’t it great to just have a positive conversation right now?”