Trump appears bored: Harris makes a clever move in a highly regarded TV interview

Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger Trump appears bored: Harris makes a clever move in a highly regarded TV interview Article by Karl Doemens • 1 hour • 3 minutes reading time The Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris made it through her first TV interview as a presidential candidate without any mistakes. The show was not even over when America's best-known TV critic gave him the thumbs down. "BORING!!!" was the verdict of Donald Trump on his propaganda platform "Truth Social". In view of the wild flood of partly offensive posts that the Republican presidential candidate had released before his opponent Kamala Harris's TV appearance, this was a remarkably monosyllabic and downright moderate verdict. Harris presents her positions in first interview since nomination Those who expected groundbreaking new insights or even the presentation of a government program from the absurdly hyped first TV interview of the new superstar of the US Democrats might be inclined to agree with the ex-president. The interview with Harris and her running mate Tim Walz on Friday night on the US broadcaster CNN, which was bloated by atmospheric campaign videos and advertising, lasted just half an hour. Moderator Dana Bash asked pseudo-critical questions without any hard follow-up. And there was no real "breaking news". Nevertheless, from the perspective of the Harris campaign, the appearance went almost perfectly: the candidate seemed friendly and calm, absolutely confident, maintained iron discipline in her core messages, avoided various pitfalls and resisted every attempt to push her onto the track of identity politics. In the last question, Bash emotionally confronted her with the photo of her great-niece Amara Ajagu, who as a black girl was watching the party convention speech of the first black presidential candidate. "I am running because I am convinced that I am the best person for this office - regardless of skin color and gender," Harris commented soberly on the scene. Harris promotes a new political beginning in TV interview The 59-year-old's well-mannered appearance contrasted sharply with the undisciplined bluster that Trump regularly delivers, and not just in form. Her messages were also deliberately set as antitheses to those of the ex-president. In her very first answer, Harris used her catchphrases of "the way forward," "hope" and "optimism," and set them against Trump's "degradations" and "divisiveness." She reacted demonstratively unmoved to Trump's attempt to question her affiliation with the black community, rolling her eyes: "Always the same old tired routine. Next question!” She later explained that the power of a political leader is not measured by who he puts down, but by how he can lift people up. There had been great anticipation of how Harris would behave towards Joe Biden, whose deputy she has been for three and a half years. The 81-year-old has abysmal popularity ratings. Distancing himself from him would therefore have been obvious - although it was a delicate matter. But Harris opted for loyalty. She had only the highest praise for her current boss and his character. She also repeatedly highlighted their joint successes and described their program as a kind of further development: “We have done a good job. But there is more to do.” Harris with a clever move She did not get much more specific about her plans. Harris spoke of the middle class, which she wants to strengthen, and repeated in bullet points the plans that she has been repeating like a mantra in recent weeks - without details: an extension of the child tax allowance, subsidies for purchasing real estate and measures against alleged price gouging in the food trade. The candidate played down abrupt changes of her own position on issues such as fracking, which Harris wanted to ban in 2019, and on migration policy, where she now demonstratively takes a much tougher line than in the past, with the comment: "My values ​​have not changed." Harris had already stated on previous occasions that she wanted to be the president of all Americans. In the interview, she avoided any appearance of a left-wing agenda. She emphasized the value of consensus and announced that if she won the election, she would fill a cabinet post with a Republican - a tactically clever move that could impress swing voters. This is not unusual in history, but neither Trump nor Biden have dared to send such a bipartisan signal. The last "bridge builder" was Barack Obama, who appointed Republican Chuck Hagel as his Secretary of Defense in 2013.