Kamala Harris shrugs off Trump’s ‘drained playbook’ on her ethnicity

Kamala Harris gave her first interview because the Democratic presidential candidate and answered all questions except one about her race and ethnicity.

The vp and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, spoke with CNN’s Dana Bash about politics their administration plans to implement in the event that they win the 2024 election. There was also one moment in the course of the nearly 30-minute interview when Harris ignored Donald Trump’s questioning of her racial identity, dismissing her rival’s suggestion that she “accidentally turned black.”

“The same old, boring book,” she said. “Next question, please.”

As for Harris’ immediate plans after taking office, she stressed the urgent have to strengthen the economy.

“First and foremost, one of my highest priorities is to do everything we can to support and strengthen the middle class,” Bash said.

Elsewhere, Harris explained why she had modified a few of her positions on fracking and immigration, noting that while her core values ​​remained the identical, her experience as vp had given her a brand new perspective on a number of the country’s most pressing issues.

“I think the most important and meaningful aspect of my political perspective and decision is that my values ​​haven’t changed,” she said. “You mentioned the Green New Deal. I’ve always believed — and I’ve worked to — that the climate crisis is real, that it’s an urgent issue that we should be using metrics to address that include meeting deadlines.”

Harris also addressed how she intends to handle the continuing border crisis and the nation’s immigration problem, highlighting her experience as California’s attorney general prosecuting gangs accused of human trafficking.

“My values ​​haven’t changed. That’s the reality. And four years of being vice president, I’ll tell you, one of the aspects, in terms of what you said, is traveling the country extensively,” she said. “I think it’s important to build consensus and it’s important to find a common ground where we can actually solve problems.”

Since becoming the official Democratic nominee, Harris has put forth an economic policy agenda focused on lowering the fee of food, housing and child care by going after big corporations which might be guilty of overpricing and improving the provision of public housing. But Bash asked Harris why her policy plans haven’t been implemented in Joe Biden’s three years in office.

“We had to rebuild as an economy, and we did,” she said, noting efforts to stem inflation, lower prescription drug costs and cut taxes for families. “There’s still a long way to go, but this is a good job.”

Harris has stayed true to her commitment to serving as president for “all Americans” by revealing her plan to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected. The approach revives a decades-long tradition — not continued by Trump or Biden — of including at the very least one member of the opposing party in a Cabinet.

“I have 68 days until the election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse,” she said. “But I think I would. I think it’s really important. I’ve spent my career inviting diversity of opinion.”

Harris continued: “I think it’s important to have people with different views, different experiences, at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made. And I think it would be beneficial to the American people to have a member of my Cabinet who is a Republican.”