The Art Of The Choke: How Kamala Harris’ Dumpster Fire Of A CNN Interview Indicates That She’s Not Presidential Material

The takeaway of any honest viewer of Kamala Harris’ much-lambasted interview with CNN’s Dana Bash this past week is that of someone overwhelmed – burdened, one might say – by the stresses of campaigning, and for that reason, wholly unsuited to the office that she seeks.  Even though the Left would beg to differ, one can still level a criticism against a so-called “person of color” that is not based on race or gender, but rather, stands alone as an objective assessment of the candidate’s performance. 

In terms of conviction, Harris cut the opposite of the image of a confident leader.  The fact that she needed Tim Walz with her in tow, who has been needled by the press as “Kamala’s comfort dog” – someone who is supposed to provide assurance for a candidate palpably in over her head, is hardly the look of a strong, independent woman.  Rather than be the change candidate, the impression was a candidate ill-equipped in every possible way to take on the solemn and sober duties of the highest political office in the land.  Not a good look for a president.

Kamala’s uncertainty began with her non-responses, which invariably devolved into “word salads” of jumbled and confused thoughts, decoupled from specifics on policy or anything resembling a novel or coherent line of reasoning.  This was immediately on display when Bash pressed Harris on her pivot on several policies, especially fracking.  In 2020, as a Democratic candidate for president, Harris ran on a platform of banning the practice unilaterally.  Her change now is obviously born of political expediency, plain and simple.  Everyone knows this gambit: she is desperately trying to pander to crucial voters in Pennsylvania and other rustbelt states, whose economies so heavily depend on the oil and gas industries.  Only a fool would deny that incontestable fact.  So too would a fool believe Kamala at her word, and think she has come to a genuine change of heart on that issue. 

Luckily, most people aren’t fools. This was evident by the downward trends in prediction markets and major pollsters, which had Kamala Harris riding the wave of a manufactured “honeymoon period” narrative in the weeks after Joe Biden was forced out of the race. The fallout of the CNN debacle was swift and unforgiving: Polymarket, a betting platform, which had Kamala leading Donald Trump before the CNN interview, immediately reverted to having the 45th President ahead once again.

Nate Silver, a left-leaning pollster who created FiveThirtyEight, also yielded a forecast model that gave Donald Trump a five point advantage over his opponent in taking the electoral college. These polls and prediction markets indicate that Americans can detect a choke and bullsh*t artist when they see one, and Kamala Harris, whose acted out the Art of the Choke in realtime on CNN, came across in the worst possible way: an unapologetic liar, willing to say anything — including adopting President Trump’s own policies, and rhetoric — to get herself elected.

This is especially true given her previous, well-documented devotion to the Cult of Climate Science, which was zealous and extreme. In 2020, if it were up to her, she would have wiped the oil and gas producers off the face of the planet.  Now, of course, her handlers tell her to speak out of both sides of her mouth to pander to what they hope are gullible voters.  This explains Kamala’s garbled answer to Bash, professing that her “values have not changed,” even though she now, apparently, supports fracking – at least until November 5^th.

Will Pennsylvania voters buy this?  They certainly should not.  Her explanations – paired with her off-putting, holier-than-thou attitude – simply do not make sense to anyone with an IQ above room temperature (and probably even to those below the mendoza line).  That apparently wasn’t enough. Incredulously from there, Kamala doubled down. She went on to actually describe Joe Biden as an “intelligent man,” multiple times.  This is where, of course, Kamala’s dishonesty was most illuminating: here she revealed her cards as a classic case of the lady doth protest too much.  Kamala’s lies are so brazen as to be unbelievable.

Unlike Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama before her, and to a lesser extent, Joe Biden (at least when he was still semi-sentient), Kamala is a very poor student in the art of duplicity.  She wouldn’t even likely register as an amateur by most counts.  For these reasons, her falsehoods became immediately apparent, so much so that you could almost – almost – forgive the scandalously biased Bash, representing her scandalously biased network, for not interrogating the Democratic candidate further on the nonsense.  Anyone with a pulse could detect it. 

And if her lies somehow weren’t already obvious by the shiftiness of her responses, they should have been discerned by her repeated self-contradictions that riddled virtually every answer she mouthed, eroding the last of her credibility. The clearest case of this being her insistence that Joe Biden was – and remains – an intelligent(!) man, implying that he is still capable of remaining in office as president while she campaigns, even though he was ousted in a coup – of which dear Kamala dutifully played a significant part as co-conspirator – because of his lack of mental marbles.  But heaven forbid Kamala be asked to campaign and govern as president at the same time. Don’t black (Indian? Who knows!) women already bear enough of the world’s burdens! Heck, in her “warped” worldview, such an ask would be tantamount to a hate crime!

If not that, what other explanation does Kamala Harris have for why she, and not ol’ Joe, was sitting before Dana Bash for an interview about hers – not his —presidential campaign? Alas, Dana Bash conveniently forgot to ask! Maybe Joe’s amnesia is contagious and infected every mainstream network!

Democrats naturally love to dress up the July coup resulting in Biden’s ouster in language to the effect of “Joe stepped down for the good of the country,” characterizing it as a noble act of sacrifice and heroism, which the press, in turn, seems to always accept as an incontrovertible article of faith.  They never fail to overlook the most natural follow-up, namely: what on earth caused Joe to step down, a little over three and a half months out from the most consequential election in modern American history, after being adamant about not doing so for months on end, in the first place? 

Intelligence and terminal dementia normally do not go hand-in-hand.  But Kamala’s repeated insistence that Joe Biden is “intelligent,” “so smart” and “very strong” transmits the obvious truth that he’s in fact not any of those things. He is utterly incapable of handling the duties of his post because he does not have the mental capabilities to do so. 

It’s a dead giveaway that a politician is lying when they must repeatedly describe an elderly man riven by dementia — now recognized universally — as “smart” and “intelligent,” both descriptions standing as attacks on reason and observable reality itself.  The truth is that Kamala aided and abetted the fraud of the century: Joe Biden’s senility. This fraud gravely endangers the entire national security of the country, all done to avoid a connection to that fraud – which, of course, is still ongoing. 

That Kamala then had the audacity to say Biden, who unleashed hordes of illegal aliens into our country, helped restore our “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity” – and, on top of that, claim that the number of immigrants “has actually reduced” – takes the art of lying to a whole new, absurd level.  Adding insult to injury, she meshed her lies in an exceedingly dismissive and shamelessly condescending tone throughout. 

Acting like CNN was an adversarial outlet – and the mere act of asking questions to her, as coddled up as they were, somehow crossed the line of professionalism, indicates a deeply insecure person who is easily rattled, even in a forum as cloyingly friendly as CNN’s no doubt is. In the past, this would disqualify a person’s candidacy, no questions asked, because an inability to handle a painstakingly easy, softball interview demarcates the bare minimum of what a president is expected to do.

Could you imagine a person with Kamala’s exceptionally weak character and disposition dealing with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Bashar al-Assad or Kim Jong-un?  Of course not!  Her dismissive tone betrays a fundamental ignorance about the high responsibilities of the presidency, or – maybe even worse – showcases a callous indifference to its importance, an importance which includes its venerable history and the lofty standards, imposed by tradition, upon each and every one of its officeholders. 

While it’s true that it’s been a long time coming, with the exception of Donald Trump’s four year stint, in which the presidential incumbent truly lived up to the majesty of the office, it is indisputable that if, God forbid, someone like Kamala Harris were to ever occupy that position, for all intents and purposes the United States of America would be over.  She harbors nothing but scorn, disdain, and resentment for the office, and callous disregard — in the form of her odious sense of entitlement — for the institutions enshrined by our Constitutional form of government. 

It’s one thing to be ignorant of history, but it’s another thing entirely to be apathetic of our cultural traditions and customs – not even pretending to care to learn more or so much as try to relate to your constituents in a meaningful, indeed human, way.  Wisdom is found in admitting one’s ignorance; Kamala Harris strikes the portrait of a cutthroat politician, full of pride and hubris and complete disregard for the well-being of those over whom she seeks — intends — to rule. 

Her election would be a national disgrace and unmitigated disaster on so many fronts. Kamala’s interview with CNN reaffirms this fact – and again, not that it was needed, but underscores the extremely high stakes of this presidential election, the most important in generations. One that will determine whether the United States of America will go on, or succumb to pride and ignorance, the perennial sins that have brought mightier civilizations than ours to ruin. With candidates like Kamala Harris, who are we to believe we will not escape a similar fate?

A slightly modified version of this piece was originally published in The Gateway Pundit, and can be found here.

Paul Ingrassia is an Attorney; Communications Director of the NCLU; a two-time Claremont Fellow, and is on the Board of Advisors of the New York Young Republican Club and the Italian American Civil Rights League. He writes a widely read Substack that is regularly posted on Truth Social by President Trump. Follow him on X @PaulIngrassia, Substack, Truth Social, Instagram, and Rumble.

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.