Editorial

In Just 9 Minutes, Kamala Harris Scolded The Unvaxxed, Vilified The Border Patrol And Dodged Questions On Afghanistan

Screenshot/ABC

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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In just nine minutes, Vice President Kamala Harris managed to scold unvaccinated Americans, vilify the Border Patrol and dodge a question on Afghanistan.

Harris made a brief appearance Friday on ABC’s “The View,” her interview moved to a remote location and cut down to just one segment after co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro tested positive for COVID-19. Remaining co-hosts Joy Behar and Sara Haines attempted to squeeze as much content as possible into the shortened exchange. (RELATED: Two Of ‘The View’ Co-Hosts Forced To Leave Mid-Show After They Test Positive For COVID-19. Kamala Harris Interview Cut Short)

First Behar asked about the ongoing effort to get Americans vaccinated against the coronavirus, pressing Harris on whether she believed that more mandates were the way to go.

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“President Biden said that we’d be celebrating our independence from the virus by July 4th but nearly 80 million Americans have failed or refused to get vaccinate and governors in the hardest hit states are openly rejecting health guidance, is it time to get tougher with mandates for the unvaccinated?” Behar asked.

“I mean, look, here’s how I feel about it, people got to be responsible, you know,” Harris said, adding that she was sad to see videos of unvaccinated people in ICU beds begging their family members to get the vaccine.

“Don’t put your families through that, the vaccine is free, it is safe, and it will save your life,” Harris continued. “So, folks just need to get vaccinated.”

Haines turned the topic to the U.S.-Mexico border, and instead of directly asking Harris (the ‘border czar’) what her plans were to rein in the chaos as thousands of migrants flooded the border, she asked her to react to viral images of Border Patrol agents on horseback attempting to drive back Haitian migrants, who were on foot.

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Haines asked what Harris thought of the “shocking” images — which, according to the Border Patrol agents involved, showed them simply using split reins to control their horses and drive the migrants back.

In her response, Harris did not make the outright claim — as even President Joe Biden appeared to — that the agents were using the reins as whips to threaten or control the migrants, but she did draw a comparison between those images and the image of a slave and a master.

“I’ve been very clear about the images that we’ve both saw of those law enforcement officials on horses, I was outraged by it, it was horrible, and deeply troubling, there’s been now an investigation’s being conducted which I fully support and there needs to be consequences and accountability,” Harris said. “Human beings should not be treated that way and it also invoked images of some of the worst moments of our history where that kind of behavior has been used against the indigenous people of our country, has been used against African-Americans during times of slavery and so I’m glad that the Department of Homeland Security is taking it very seriously.”

Biden himself took the reaction a step further, claiming in a Friday address that migrants had been “strapped.”

Haines then pressed Harris on the widely-panned manner in which the withdrawal from Afghanistan had been carried out, asking, “How did so much go so wrong so fast? How was this not anticipated?”

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Harris appeared to dodge the question entirely, instead repeating Biden’s boilerplate answer about how the American people believed it was time to end a 20-year war. After a brief nod to the 13 American service members who were killed in a terrorist attack in Kabul during the evacuation process, Harris pivoted to talk about her responsibilities as a vice president.

“You know, listen, part of my responsibilities as vice president is I read, I read the presidential daily brief, every morning sit in the Oval Office with the president, receiving classified briefings from our intelligence community about hot spots around the world and threats to our national security,” she said. “The United States has an obligation and we as leaders have an obligation to appreciate that we’re a global leader, we have interests around the world, and we have to stay focused on those interests wherever they take place.”