Kamala Harris Defends Biden Administration In Testy Charlamagne Tha God Exchange
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Vice President Kamala Harris defended President Joe Biden and his administration’s work so far during a testy exchange with media host Charlamagne Tha God.
During the interview on Comedy Central’s “Tha God’s Honest Truth,” which aired on Friday, Charlamagne Tha God pressed the vice president about the roadblocks the administration has faced in passing the Build Back Better Act, the $1.75 trillion social spending and climate package.
At one point in the segment, the host asked Harris where the “pushback” was on Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who he said was allowed to “constantly hold up President Joe Biden’s agenda.”
Harris responded by saying “every vote matters” in the Senate, which is split 50-50 on party lines with the vice president’s ability to break tie votes, and that “we have to listen to the voices that represent their districts.”
The vice president then pivoted to discussing some of the administration’s accomplishments, including the passage of the infrastructure bill.
But Charlamagne Tha God pressed Harris further, asking her and other politicians to “be real with the American people” and acknowledge that Manchin’s resistance to the administration’s bills is “hurting Black people in particular.”
Harris diverted the criticism toward Republicans, who she said are “consistently and unanimously standing in the way of progress.”
The exchange grew particularly tense toward the end of the interview when Charlamagne Tha God asked Harris, “Who’s the real president of this country, is it Joe Manchin or Joe Biden?”
“C’mon Charlamagne, c’mon it’s Joe Biden,” Harris responded. “No no no no no ... no no no, it’s Joe Biden, and don’t start talking like a Republican about asking whether or not he’s president.”
“And it’s Joe Biden, and I’m vice president and my name is Kamala Harris,” she continued. “And the reality is because we are in office, we do the things like the child tax credit, which is going to reduce Black child poverty by 50% — on track to do that.”
(Earlier this week, Manchin signaled that he may not support extending the expanded child tax credit in 2022.)
Harris then listed off other efforts led by the administration, including tackling lead pipe replacements, before she and Charlamagne Tha God exchanged pleasantries.
The Comedy Central host on Friday tweeted a clip of the interview, which was trending on Twitter on Saturday.
“Our @VP can absolutely be the superhero that America needs to protect democracy if she applies *this* type of passionate pressure to progressive roadblocks like (Manchin),” he wrote.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
