By AVERI HARPER, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Sen. Kamala Harris responded to attacks and slights she’s endured from President Donald Trump, including mispronouncing her name and referring to her as a “female socialist,” during an interview with ABC’s The View.
“It’s so predictable coming from him. I mean it’s childish, it’s name-calling on behalf of the president of the United States, and, again, the American people deserve so much more from their president,” said Harris. “You know, look, the name-calling is not new to me — it’s not new to anybody who played on the playground as a child. But this is not the playground.”
Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee and the first woman of color on a presidential ticket, has been on the campaign trail in battleground states urging voters to cast their ballots early. She has been the target of attacks from the right. Trump and others, including Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., have deliberately mispronounced and mocked her name. On Friday, Trump referred to Harris as a “female socialist,” and said she could never be president.
The View hosts pressed Harris on many aspects of the campaign. When asked by Sunny Hostin about Biden and Harris’ plans for Black America, Harris touted Biden-Harris policy proposals that would impact African Americans in education, health care and police reform, including requiring “more accountability and consequence for police officers who break the law.”
For education, Harris spoke about their plans to support HBCUs, inducing making tuition free for families that make $125,000 a year. When it comes to health care, she spoke about her work to address the racial disparity in maternal mortality rate and the Biden-Harris plan to shore up the Affordable Care Act and add a public health care option.
Harris also took the opportunity to attempt to clarify Biden’s stance on fossil fuels. Biden received backlash following the final presidential debate for saying he wanted to end the use of fossil fuels. Biden himself has since walked back the comments.
“Without any ambiguity, Joe is clear. We will not ban fracking. And let’s clear up further things and we will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year period,” said Harris.
Sarah Haines asked Harris how she and Biden have reconciled their policy differences. During her own presidential run, Harris supported a ban on fracking.
“Joe and I are a team, we are aligned on this, we are aligned on these priorities,” Harris said.
Harris declined to answer a question about who the campaign may be vetting for cabinet positions should Biden and Harris be elected, saying she and Biden “are both superstitious.”
“We are not measuring the drapes at all,” she said.
This week, Harris will campaign in western states. The campaign has announced that Harris will travel to Nevada and according to a source familiar with plans Harris will be in Texas on Friday. Texas currently leads the nation with the largest number of early votes. The Texas-sized total as of Sunday is 7.2 million — already 80% of the state’s entire 2016 vote.
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