Harris finally did her sit-down. I thought it went well. She was confident, polished, and composed. We have to remember that women are judged for being too much of anything; they cannot act like men do. Moreover, Harris is Black. Black Americans get judged differently as well. Can you imagine if Barack Obama acted and spoke like Donald Trump did? Insulting those with disabilities, veterans, firefighters, women? Just imagine that for a moment. So Harris has to be doubly on her guard.
The liberal world seems to be more or less pleased with Harris’s performance. The New York Times looked favorably on the interview, as did the Guardian. The Washington Post was tepidly positive.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/30/kamala-harris-interview-reactions
Former president Donald Trump had this deep insight to offer:
She was sitting behind that desk, this massive desk [?], and she didn’t look like a leader today … I’ll be honest. I don’t see her negotiating with President Xi of China. I don’t see her with Kim Jong-un….
These remarks are false, sexist, and reveal complete ignorance as to how international relations work. Folks like Xi, Kim Jong-un, and Vladimir Putin do not care (at all) who is sitting across the table from them. Those men understand power and that’s it. They don’t care if there’s a potted plant sitting across the table from them.
The fact that Trump made this comment comes as no surprise: he views women with contempt, and he knows nothing (and I mean nothing) about foreign policy or foreign affairs.
Poor Fox News consulted a body-language expert to analyze Harris’s comportment. Expert Susan Constantine shined her light on the world with this insight:
When I look at her overall demeanor, she does not carry the confidence or the presidential appearance in her demeanor to command in her position.
Apparently Harris did two CNN interviews, and I missed the second one.
Alas, I am not a body-language expert, but I would say Harris looked and performed presidentially. Was there a lot of policy nitty-gritty covered in the interview? No. Were her comments about Israel’s right to defend itself tiresome boilerplate? Yes. But as a first pass, a solid performance.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/30/politics/video/kamala-harris-tim-walz-full-interview-part-1-digvid
