The 2024 Presidential Election - Trump v. Harris (2024)

Alright folks, here you go:

Transcript. I'll watch it later when I can see the whole thing somewhere besides CNN.

Takeaways that I really appreciated.

BASH: Speaking of Republicans, I want to ask you about your opponent, Donald Trump. I was a little bit surprised, people might be surprised to hear that you have never interacted with him, met him face to face. That’s gonna change soon, but what I want to ask you about is what he said last month. He suggested that you happened to turn Black recently for political purposes, questioning a core part of your identity.

HARRIS: Yeah.

BASH: Any—

HARRIS: Same old, tired playbook. Next question, please. (LAUGH)

BASH: That’s it?

HARRIS: That’s it.

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They move on from there. And that is a very, VERY good answer. Dismissal with a laugh of the

question that specifically mentions Donald Trump. That's going to drive him NUTS.

That wasn't the first time Donald Trump came up in the interview - Harris had mentioned him a couple of times to compare her track record to his, especially in regards to the pandemic. Oh, and to bring up Trump killing the border bill.

Edit: It was the SECOND question that mentioned Trump. The first one was about individuals who want to go backwards in regards to the economy, under the belief that it was better under Donald Trump. I liked Harris's answer. It wasn't anything new, but in the text format of the transcript? I think she did a decent job of responding to the question using her previously stated positions.

BASH: I just have to ask you both about two standout moments, aside of course from the addresses that you both gave, but standout moments that were perhaps unexpected during the convention. You mentioned one of them, governor, a moment that you shared, that the world shared with your son, Gus. You were speaking. The camera caught him so incredibly proud of you, so emotional, saying, “That’s my dad.”

WALZ: Yeah. I — I don’t know as a father I could’ve ever imagined that. I — I’m grateful for so many reasons to be on this ticket. But that moment — to understand what was really important, to — to have my son feel a sense of pride in me, that I was trying to do the right thing. And it was, you know, you try and protect your kids. You know it brings — it brings notoriety in things. But it was just such a visceral, emotional moment that I’m — I’m just — I’m grateful I got to experience it. And I’m — I’m so proud of him.

I’m proud of him. I’m proud of Hope. I’m proud of Gwen. She’s a wonderful mother. And these are great kids. And I think the one thing is, talking about the era we’re in, is our politics can be better. It can be different. We can — we can show some of these things. And we can have families involved in this. And I — I hope that there was — I hope people felt that out there. And I hope they hugged their kids a little tighter, because you just never know. And life can be kinda hard.

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If people were expecting anything substantial with policy? I think they'll be disappointed. There were no policies or in-depth ideas expanded upon, nothing that the two of them haven't stated before.

I think that Dana Bash asked some pretty pointed questions that have been some pretty big GOP talking piece and things that the media have been harping on.

I think that Walz particular style of speaking doesn't really come out well in the transcript - having watched a TON of his stuff over the past few weeks, I can see why CNN ended up with so, many hyphens and apparent 'stutters' in there. Reading the text doesn't really convey how Walz speaks, and even though I can understand CNN's decision to print it like that? I'm not a fan of how they did it.

I want to watch it, to get an idea of the tone of the interview. But there it is.

And there is this fun piece from Roll Call:

ANALYSIS — There’s plenty of things to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris for, and she may not win the presidential election, but shaming her to release detailed policy proposals or suggesting that she might lose without them is silly.

The only people that think Harris needs more detailed policies are Republicans who want more material to criticize and reporters or editors who have forgotten how elections work.

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It's a piece that goes into detail on previous presidential election winners... and those winners' lack of detail when it came to big rousing policy agendas in the leadup to the election.

And it also has this to say about Trump, (final emphasis mine)

By asking for more details, Harris is being held to a different standard than Trump. The 2024 all-caps platform written by Trump for the Republican Party includes, “CARRY OUT THE LARGEST DEPORTATION OPERATION IN AMERICAN HISTORY,” “MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!” and “UNITE OUR COUNTRY BY BRINGING IT TO NEW AND RECORD LEVELS OF SUCCESS.” And yet there isn’t the same drumbeat of calls for Trump to explain these policy goals in great detail.

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The frustration with Harris’ lack of details seems to be connected with the media’s frustration about her lack of access. The vice president should talk to reporters and answer questions as a part of a functioning democracy, but the media isn’t doing itself any favors by telegraphing a desire to dive into policy details, discussions and standards that won’t be required of Trump.

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Okay, for real, that's all I've got tonight.