Radio host Charlamagne tha God called out Vice President Kamala Harris for her “filibuster” of a listener’s question on reparations — and pressed her on doing “a lot of things wrong at the border” in a highly anticipated town hall focused on her appeal to black voters.
The popular radio host, whose real name is Lenard McKelvey, tried repeatedly and with little success to knock the 59-year-old Democratic presidential candidate off her talking points during her hourlong interview, which was carried on iHeartRadio’s website and streamed live on CNN.
“I try to be on time. Apparently I’m 40 seconds late,” Harris opened her only announced event of the day during a trip to Detroit — just 21 days before the Nov. 5 election.
“Well, you are black,” the host joked about her tardiness — before launching into a question about why Harris “come[s] off as very scripted — they say you like to stick to your talking points.”
“That would be called discipline,” Harris coolly replied — before proceeding to nimbly dodge a series of pointed questions from the host and guests.
“There are certain things that must be repeated to ensure that I have everyone know what I stand for and the issues that I think are at stake in this election. And so it requires repetition,” she insisted.
McKelvey pressed Harris hard on issues such as foreign aid to other countries, which former President Donald Trump, 78, has campaigned on restricting, on her past prosecuting marijuana offenders and her role as retiring President Biden’s point person on reducing illegal immigration, which instead surged.
When a listener expressed concern that Trump, who is vowing to mass-deport illegal immigrants, might “put anyone that doesn’t look white in camps,” Harris brought up the border.
“Yeah, so you’ve hit on a really important point and expressed it, I think so well, which is he is achieving his intended effect to make you scared,” Harris began, adding: “He prefers to run on a problem instead of fix a problem, and we got to call it out and see it for what it is.”
