The Nail in the Coffin

October 18, 2024, The Kamala Harris campaign has reached its breaking point—all thanks to an interview that could be remembered as the moment the wheels came off. Wednesday night’s extended grilling by Bret Baier on Fox News wasn’t just a tough interview; it was a brutal exposure of the gaping flaws in Harris’s candidacy, flaws so glaring they may have driven the final nail into the coffin of her campaign.

For the undecided voters, it was painfully clear: she had little to offer beyond stale talking points and weak deflections. When faced with real, probing questions, Harris crumbled. This was no gotcha journalism; this was simply Harris being asked to explain how her administration would be different from Biden’s, a question she dodged by talking about Donald Trump. Again and again, she pivoted, deflected, and tried to distract from her record by aiming cheap shots at Trump. It was a tactic that backfired spectacularly.

Baier did what every journalist worth their salt should have done months ago. He asked Harris why she stood by President Biden’s side when the administration faced scandal after scandal. He pressed her on her inconsistency—how she now champions positions that directly contradict the Biden policies she once ardently defended. Harris had no answers, only frustration, evident in her body language and exasperated tone. It was nothing short of an embarrassment for a candidate hoping to lead the world’s most powerful nation.

The interview wasn’t contentious because of unfair treatment; it was Harris’s shortcomings laid bare. She was lost in her attempts to dodge, unprepared for what should have been expected. She seemed shocked that someone would dare hold her accountable. It was reminiscent of President Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June, when the voters' eyes were opened and saw a candidate unfit for office. The difference this time is that Harris’s campaign is falling apart.

This is even more revealing because this wasn’t some hostile, partisan setup. Baier gave her every chance to answer basic questions, and each time she fumbled. She couldn’t explain why Biden, her supposed ally, is no longer running, nor could she articulate why she should be the one to lead now. Instead, she focused all her energy on Trump, making it clear that her entire platform is built on opposing him rather than offering her own vision.

The sad truth is that Harris’s strategy is failing, and her campaign knows it. They hoped this interview would be a turning point, a way to connect with skeptical voters who hadn’t yet warmed to her. Instead, it has become a point of no return. The flustered responses, the angry retorts, and the failure to answer the simplest of questions only reinforced the perception that she was out of her depth.

And where was the media until now? It took a Fox News interview to finally ask Harris

the apparent questions. The mainstream press, with its kid-glove treatment, left Harris unprepared for real scrutiny. They failed to press her on her involvement in covering up Biden’s declining mental acuity, her role in a border crisis that grows deadly by the day, and her hypocrisy on key policies. This lack of tough questioning left her blindsided when Baier did his job.

The fallout was immediate. Watching closely, President Trump wasted no time skewering Harris on Truth Social. He called her performance a train wreck and mocked her inability to discuss anything but him. And he wasn’t wrong. Harris’s fixation on Trump left viewers with no more precise sense of what she would do as president. The same questions linger: Why is Biden gone? What makes Harris qualified to take his place? She offered no answers.

Kamala Harris may have thought that taking on Bret Baier would be a calculated risk to prove she could take the heat. Instead, it exposed her weaknesses for all to see. This interview may well be the nail in the coffin of her campaign, the moment voters decided they had seen enough.

The contrast could not be starker: while Kamala Harris flounders under fundamental questioning, Donald Trump stands ready with a proven track record of leadership and

results. Trump isn’t afraid to face tough questions or stand up for his beliefs, precisely what America needs. In three weeks, the choice will be between the empty rhetoric of a failed vice president and the proven strength of a leader who has already delivered for the American people. The decision has never been more evident: it’s time to bring back Donald J. Trump. The very future of our country depends upon it.

Perry O Hooper Jr is a former State Representative who writes columns on his political perspective and has been published in a number of publications around Alabama and beyond. He was an early supporter of Donald Trump and was the 2016 Trump Victory Chair.

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are the opinions and viewpoints of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alabama Gazette staff, advertisers, and/ publishers.