In a fiery exchange on Fox News Channel’s *The Five*, co-host Jesse Watters laid bare the growing concerns about Vice President Kamala Harris’s viability as a presidential candidate, sparking a heated debate with liberal panelist Jessica Tarlov. The discussion highlighted what many conservatives have been pointing out for months—Harris is unprepared, evasive, and lacks the policy chops to lead the country.
Watters didn’t hold back in his critique of Harris, pointing out the fading enthusiasm surrounding her campaign since the initial bump in polls following her elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket. With President Biden stepping aside in July, Harris was expected to take the reins, but her lackluster performance and avoidance of substantive policy discussions have caused her numbers to decline.
“Her numbers are fading,” Watters noted. “She peaked in August. Everybody knows that Nate Silver now gives Donald Trump a 62% chance of winning the Electoral College. I don’t care how much money she raises—Hillary raised twice as much as Trump, and he smoked her.” Watters’ sharp comparison to Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 campaign echoed a broader conservative sentiment that money alone won’t save a weak candidate.
As the conversation turned to Harris’s preparation—or lack thereof—Watters accused her of scrambling to learn her own policy positions. According to him, Harris is an opportunist who has ridden the political machine to the top without a deep understanding of the issues. “She’s reading these briefing books about policy because she doesn’t know what her policies are. That’s why she’s cramming—because she has no idea what happened the last four years and no idea what she’s supposed to say. She’s an opportunist. She just rode the machine to the top and got lucky because Joe crapped out.”
Watters’ blunt assessment struck a nerve with Tarlov, who rushed to defend the vice president. However, her defense of Harris quickly fell apart as Watters pointed out the media’s failure to properly scrutinize Harris. Conservatives have long argued that the mainstream media has given Harris a pass, focusing on fluff pieces rather than holding her accountable for her actions—or inaction.
“The media is supposed to scrutinize her,” Watters argued, referencing how the press has avoided hard-hitting questions about Harris’s performance. Tarlov pushed back, claiming that media outlets were writing “junk pieces” about Harris. Watters, however, wasn’t buying it. “They’re not writing junk pieces. They’re writing about how she’s a great cook and how she’s filled with joy.”
In typical Watters fashion, he pointed out the hypocrisy, saying, “If you had a fair media, they’d be writing about how she only committed to one debate. Where are you? You’re a flip-flopper. You don’t know what you believe. That’s how it would be in real life.”
The exchange highlighted the ongoing frustration conservatives feel toward the biased media coverage of Harris. Watters hammered home the point, emphasizing that it’s the media’s job to hold politicians accountable, something conservatives argue has been done with relentless bias against President Trump but absent when it comes to Harris. “It’s their job to interview these people. You don’t even hear them yelling anything interesting when she’s going up the steps,” Watters concluded.
As the 2024 election looms closer, conservatives continue to voice concerns about Harris’s ability to lead the country, especially given her evasion of tough questions and lack of clear policy direction. Watters’ takedown of Harris on *The Five* serves as a reminder that while the mainstream media may shield her from scrutiny, conservatives won’t let her off the hook so easily.
