Kamala Harris met with radio host Charlamagne tha God in favor of a wide-ranging town hall aimed specifically at reaching Black male voters, although some polls suggest Donald Trump has made progress among what has traditionally been a solid part of the Democratic coalition.
The final three weeks of the campaign seem to be looking for votes through non-traditional channels, which made Harris' performance somewhat unique. Charlamagne criticized President Joe Biden on his show Breakfast Club but he has been praiseworthy for Harris since she started campaigning, even as he urged her to do more interviews.
“People say you seem very scripted,” he told Harris at first. “They say you like to stick to your assumptions. Some media say you have…
“That would be called discipline,” Harris interrupted.
He noticed it Saturday Night Live He parodied her for it.
“What do you tell people who say you stick to conversation topics?”
“I would say, you're welcome,” she said, adding that “there are some things that need to be reiterated to let everyone know what I stand for and what issues I think are at stake in this election.” she said.
CNN carried almost the entire hour of iHeartRadio, while MSNBC carried part of it. Fox News addressed this during Five.
Noting that the election was a race on the “margin of error,” Harris used the hour to talk a little about her background in religious faith, again emphasizing her economic agenda and how it could help the Black community in particular. This includes proposals to increase help for home down payments, expand the child tax credit and small business loans. A newer proposal would forgive $20,000 of small business loans.
One caller asked her what her stance was on reparations, adding: “Black Americans have been strongly asked to vote Democrat in every election for half a century, with very little in return. What are your plans to address these very important issues and change this narrative?”
Harris replied: “Yes, I am running for president of all Americans. With this in mind, I have a clear understanding of the discrepancies that exist and the context in which they exist, i.e. history.” She said the issue of reparations needs to be “studied, there's no doubt about it” before launching into a lengthy five-minute answer about her background and the show.
There was a lot of criticism of Trump this hour, and Harris at one point agreed with Charlemagne's characterization of her rival and his movement.
“I think it's about fascism,” he said. “Why can't we just say it?”
“Yes, we can say that,” she said.
After being asked about her support for black churches, Harris noted that “he sells Bibles or tennis shoes for $60 and tries to rip people off as if it would give him a better understanding of the black community. Hurry up.”
Harris also rejected claims that she singled out black men for prison when she served as San Francisco district attorney.
“Some say you did it to advance your career, others say you did it out of pure hatred for black men,” Charlamagne noted.
“That's just not true,” Harris said. “Public defenders who were there in those days will tell you that I was the most progressive prosecutor in California on marijuana cases and I wouldn't send people to jail for simply possessing pot.” She announced that as president she would work to decriminalize this phenomenon.
Charlamagne also asked Harris about the rumor “that Janet Jackson is mad at you because you accused her brother, the late great Michael Jackson.”
“That's not true by any means,” Harris said with a light laugh.
She added: “I don't know. I haven't talked to her. This is certainly not true of her brother.
