The 22 key lines from Kamala Harris' MSNBC interview

Here we go!

On Wednesday in Pittsburgh, Vice President Kamala Harris did something she rarely does: She talked to the national media.

Harris gave an interview to MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle on the same day that she delivered what her campaign hoped would be a major economic speech in the most critical swing state in the country.

I went through the transcript of the interview line by line this morning — while on the Acela to New York City to give a speech!

The lines you need to see from Harris are below. (Note: The interview was short. It’s total run time was less than 12 minutes.)

This is one of a handful of posts I put behind my paywall. These posts take significant time and effort. But going through the words of our presidential candidates (and politicians more generally) is critically important. And I am the only political journalist doing this work!

I hope you consider becoming an investor in what I am building. It’s $6 a month or $60 a year. Not only do you get access to ALL of my content but you get a bunch of other perks including a weekly Sunday email highlighting the best things I saw on the Internet each week!

To the lines!

1. “Well, if you are hardworking, if you have the dreams and the ambitions and the aspirations of what I believe you do, you’re in my plan.”

I’m in her plan! And away we go!

2. “But not everyone has the access to the opportunities that allow them to achieve those things. But we don’t lack for those things. But not everyone gets handed stuff on a silver platter.”

I have to assume the “silver platter” line is a not-so-subtle reference to Donald Trump. In case you forgot, Trump is the son of a very wealthy family; the New York Times estimated that Trump had received $413 million over the course of his life from his parents’ real-estate empire.

3. “You know, gone is the day of everyone thinking they could actually live the American dream.”

This is something both candidates say. Trump, as part of his campaign stump speech, regularly declares that the American dream is either dead or dying. And that the only way to save it is to elect him in November. Fun fact: In 2023, Investopedia said it cost $3.4 million to achieve the American dream.

4. “Donald Trump left us with the worst economy since the Great Depression, when you look at, for example, the employment numbers.”

This is true. Job growth was worse under Donald Trump than under any other modern president. Of course, the country did face a global pandemic during Trump’s four years.

5. “Even before the pandemic, he lost manufacturing jobs, by most people’s estimates, at least 200,000. He lost manufacturing plants. Ask the autoworkers how he lost auto plants.”

Ruhle pushed back on the claim Harris made above by noting — as I did — that we were in the grips of a global pandemic. Harris’ pushback here is factually inaccurate. As CNN noted:

Harris’ claim is false. Trump presided over a gain of 414,000 US manufacturing jobs, not a loss of “at least 200,000,” before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. And the loss for his entire presidency, start to finish, was 178,000 manufacturing jobs, not 200,000 or more as Harris said.