Kamala Harris branded Donald Trump a ‘fascist’ and got flustered when asked whether the border wall was ‘stupid’ during a high stakes CNN town hall just 13 days from the election.
The vice president’s Wednesday performance was almost immediately panned by Democratic strategist David Axelrod who said on CNN afterward that she went ‘word salad city’ on several answers.
Harris stood before undecided voters in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a swing area outside of Philadelphia, as new polling from The Wall Street Journal showed Trump taking a lead over the Democrat nationally.
Pennsylvania is the most critical of the seven battleground states and whomever wins its 19 Electoral College votes has the easiest path to the White House.
At the top of the town hall, CNN’s Anderson Cooper had Harris address the news of the day – that Trump’s former Chief of Staff John Kelly said the GOP nominee fit the bill of a fascist, asking the Democratic nominee if she agreed with that too.
‘Yes, I do,’ she answered. ‘Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted.’
She was less direct when Cooper asked Harris if she wanted to ‘build some wall,’ as she spoke in support of a bipartisan immigration bill that included wall funding.
Vice President Kamala Harris called former President Donald Trump a ‘fascist’ and dodged questions on the effectiveness of a border wall during a high stakes CNN town hall Wednesday
‘I want to strengthen our border,’ she replied instead.
An undecided male college student had kicked off the immigration conversation asking her about government benefits going to migrants.
Harris started answering the question by giving her usual spiel, knocking Trump for derailing the bipartisan bill that would have provided, in her words, a ‘long-term’ immigration fix.
Cooper pointed out that border wall funds were included in the bill – and noted how Harris had previously called it ‘stupid’ and a ‘medieval vanity project.’
‘Well let’s talk about Donald Trump and that border wall. So remember Donald Trump said Mexico would pay for it. Come on, they didn’t,’ she said with a laugh. ‘How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I saw was about 2 percent. And then when it came time for him to do a photo-op. Do you know where he did it? In the part of the wall that President Obama built.’
Cooper again pointed out that the compromise bill included border wall funds.
‘I’m not afraid of good ideas where they occur Anderson,’ she answered.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper (center) watches Vice President Kamala Harris (left) answer a question during a town hall event in suburban Philadelphia Wednesday night aimed at undecided voters
When pressed if she thought the wall wasn’t ‘stupid anymore’ Harris again criticized Trump.
‘I think what he did and how he did it, didn’t make much sense because he didn’t do much of anything,’ she replied, refusing to say out loud that she was backing a wall project.
Harris gave a particularly wordy answer when a female college student asked her how she would ensure ‘not another Palestinian dies due to bombs being funded by U.S. tax dollars.’
Harris told the young woman that she understood that ‘far too many innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed.’
Cooper then pressed Harris on what she would tell voters who are tempted to vote third-party or not vote at all over the war in Gaza.
‘Listen, I am not going to deny that strong feelings that people have. I don’t know that anyone who has seen the images, who would not have strong feelings about what has happened, much less those who have relatives who have died – and been killed – and I know people and have talked to people,’ she started.
‘So I appreciate that, but I also do know that for many people who care about this issue, they also care about bringing down the price of groceries. They also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.
‘They also care about the fact that we need practical, common sense solutions. From a leader who is willing to work across the aisle on behalf of the American people and not themselves.
‘They want a president who cares about a fundamental freedom, to make decisions about your own body, understanding that we’re not trying to change everyone’s belief, but let’s not have the government telling women what to do with their body,’ she went on.
Democratic pundits David Axelrod and Van Jones both said that when Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t want to answer a question her tell was that she went into ‘word salad’ mode
Harris also segued to Trump attacks throughout the town hall.
When a woman asked her about the rise of anti-Semitism, she brought up Kelly’s comments that Trump had asked why his generals weren’t akin to those of Hitler.
When Harris was pressed on whether Trump – who has Jewish grandchildren – was anti-Semitic, the Democrat instead responded, ‘I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the well-being and security of America.’
She also dodged when Cooper asked her if she’d be stronger than Trump on Israel.
That answer, particularly, got under Axelrod’s skin.
‘When she doesn’t want to answer a question her habit is to kind of go to word salad city and she did that in a couple of questions,’ he said.
‘One was on Israel. Anderson asked a direct question on would you be stronger on Israel than Trump and there was a seven-minute answer, but none of it related to the question,’ the Obama adviser complained.
Later in the night, Axelrod pointed out that just because he was critical of Harris’ responses doesn’t mean Trump is any better.
‘Have you listened to his rallies?’ he asked. ‘They’re incomprehensible.’
Van Jones, a prominent talking head on CNN who worked in the Obama administration, echoed Axelrod’s key point.
‘The word salad stuff gets on my nerves,’ he said on-air after the town hall wrapped. ‘I think some of the evasions are not necessary.’
CNN’s Dana Bash said afterward that ‘if her goal was to close the deal, they’re not sure she did that.’
Afterward, five of the audience members told CNN’s John King that they would not be voting for Trump and were open to voting for Harris but only two committed to casting a ballot for the Democratic nominee after the town hall Wednesday night.
