On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Laura Coates Live,” Harris-Walz Campaign Co-Chair Mitch Landrieu stated that 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump “hasn’t changed one lick from the minute that he came down that elevator. So, we know what we’re getting,” and defended 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ flips by stating that “it’s not really dishonorable to say, listen, I’ve changed because I’ve learned more, that’s actually a good thing.”
Host Laura Coates introduced the interview by saying, “Donald Trump reacting, actually, to the Harris interview, calling it boring on Truth Social tonight and saying that he is not impressed.”
She then played video of Trump saying, “And she didn’t look like a leader to me, I’ll be honest. I don’t see her negotiating with President Xi of China. I don’t see her with Kim Jong-un like we did with Kim Jong-un.”
She then asked Landrieu, “Trump also wrote, by the way, that he agrees that her values haven’t changed, and suggested that her policies will be more in line with the Harris of 2019 than the one of today. I wonder, what’s your response to his statements about her interview?”
Landrieu answered, “Well, when he looks into the mirror, he sees the king of the world. Unfortunately, nobody else in the world sees that. I think the most striking thing about the interview tonight for me was how normal the Vice President and the governor seemed and what a sense of relief that I think most Americans have had, that you had two people that were obviously smart, they’re talented, they’re knowledgeable, they answered every question, there wasn’t one sense of anger in anything that they did, they tried as best as they could to respond to the questions that Dana asked. And I thought she conducted an excellent interview and I think America kind of took a breath and thought, oh my God, this is what a new pathway to the future looks like, because America is not going to forget that this is a choice. It’s a choice between Donald Trump, who, when, basically, his lips are moving, he’s lying, he’s a 34-time convicted felon, he’s been determined to be a sexual abuser, he has been found liable for business fraud, he has gone bankrupt six times, and he can’t seem to keep his mouth shut any part of any day.”
He continued, “Now, that’s who we’re running against and his values, and by the way, he hasn’t changed one lick from the minute that he came down that elevator. So, we know what we’re getting, and a guy who continues to put himself first, continues to engage in grievance, that’s who she’s running against. So, if you look at that interview that the Vice President did in that context, you have to kind of just say, thank God, we’re finally going to have a leader of this country that thinks about the regular people in a way that we think about ourselves.”
Later, Coates asked, “I’m curious as to your take on what some would call and have called flip-flopping in the past. She [addressed it] as consistent messaging and her values unchanged. How do you think that she plans to go forward talking about distinguishing herself from the Biden-Harris administration and trying to create a sense of a Harris-Walz administration where there is some distance, even if there is consistency, but her evolution as a Vice President added in?”
Landrieu responded, “Well, let me try to address that in three points: First of all, it’s a good thing for an elected official, over time, when they learn more and they’re actually governing, in order to get things done, find compromises that make sense. It is true that the Biden-Harris administration has had the largest investment in creating a clean energy economy, but we have to do it in a way that is not more hurtful than it has to be, given the time that we have. And so, it’s not really dishonorable to say, listen, I’ve changed because I’ve learned more, that’s actually a good thing. I want to juxtapose that to, for example, Donald Trump jettisoning the border bill because he thought that it was good for political gain or how well President Biden brought together a very narrow House and a Senate to pass more big — to get the four [biggest] pieces of legislation that we’ve seen in the last 30 years. That’s a good thing, it’s not a bad thing.”
He continued, “Secondly, there should be no doubt that, as the Vice President, she basically has to take the position of the president and Gov. Tim Walz (D) will do that with her when they’re fighting behind closed doors. But, to be clear, in case anybody is not clear by now, Kamala Harris is her own person and she will develop her own positions going forward, that you should just expect will not always be the same as what President Biden might have done.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
