Six takeaways from Harris’ CNN interview

Joseph Kishore is the Socialist Equality Party candidate for US President along with running mate Jerry White for Vice President.

On Thursday, CNN published an interview with Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. Here are my six takeaways.

1. Absolute defense of the Israeli genocide in Gaza

“I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself,” Harris said, “and that’s not gonna change.” Asked again if there would be any change in policy from the Biden administration's full support for the genocide, Harris replied: “No.”

Harris delivered this full-throated support for Israel as the Netanyahu government is expanding the genocide into the West Bank, and as campus administrations are moving to ban protests against the genocide. Both the Democratic and Republican parties are fully implicated in this historic war crime.

2. No mention of the war against Russia in Ukraine

The US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine, which threatens to develop into a nuclear war, was not even mentioned. The Biden-Harris administration is presently backing an enormous escalation of the war, including the deployment of NATO tanks on Russian soil and direct attacks on Moscow. The genocide in Gaza and the war against Russia are two parts of an developing global war, which includes preparations for war with China. 

This has been the central priority of the Biden administration since it took office, and it will be the central priority of any future Harris administration. The Biden-Harris administration recently approved a new nuclear strategy that includes preparations for simultaneous nuclear exchanges with both Russia and China. But the plans and consequences of the global war are being deliberately concealed from the American people.

3. Appeal for bipartisan unity with the Republicans

The central priority of the Democratic Party is war, and it is seeking agreement with the Republicans in the prosecution of war. Harris’ only mention of the Republican Party was in reference to Republican speakers at the DNC and her statement that she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet if elected. 

Harris praised the bipartisan anti-immigrant bill backed by the Biden administration, which she stated had the support of “some of the most conservative members of the United States Congress,” along with the fascistic Border Patrol, and criticized Trump for blocking its passage. 

4. Cover-up of the breakdown of democracy in the US

There was no reference to the January 6 coup and Trump’s attempt to overthrow the results of the last election. Indeed, the only reference to Trump was in relation to the anti-immigrant bill and the “mismanagement” of the pandemic (more below). Nothing was said of Trump and the Republican Party’s threat to deploy the military against immigrants and protests.

Harris and the rest of the Democratic Party continue to ignore the statements at the DNC by Biden himself, that Trump would not accept the results of an election, is “promising a bloodbath if he loses,” and will “be a dictator on day one.” As SEP National Chairman David North noted in recent remarks, the silence expresses “the indifference of the American ruling class to the preservation of democracy. In fact, there is a growing consensus within the ruling oligarchs… that their interests, domestically and internationally, are incompatible with democracy.”

5. Continuation of ruling class policy of mass infection and death from the Covid-19 pandemic

The only reference to the ongoing pandemic was a brief statement that Trump had “mismanaged” the pandemic. In fact, the ruling class response to the pandemic was entirely bipartisan, with the Biden administration completing the full implementation of “forever Covid.” Harris stated that under Trump, “Hundreds of people a day were dying.” But this is in fact happening now.

As reported in the World Socialist Web Site, “Wastewater data show that over 1.2 million Americans are being infected with COVID-19 every day. Hospitalizations are climbing, in particular among children and the elderly, while official deaths are approaching 1,000 per week. Excess deaths, a more accurate measure of the real death toll attributable to COVID-19, stand at over 500 per day, with the cumulative death toll in the US nearing 1.5 million.”

It is under the Biden administration that all public health measures to stop mass infection and debilitation from Covid have been eliminated, and laws are now being put in place that ban the wearing of masks. The ruling class policy of normalizing mass death and debilitation from Long Covid will continue under either Harris or Trump.

6. Exposure of all those promoting Harris and the Democrats as a “left” alternative to Trump

Overall, Harris’ comments were thoroughly right-wing, in line with the character of DNC. The Democratic Party is a party of Wall Street and imperialism. It is committed to an escalation of war abroad, which requires an escalation of the war on the working class at home. The claims from Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and others that a Harris administration will implement social reforms are lies, and they know they are lies. Everything will be sacrificed to war.

It is just over two months before the election, and the weeks ahead will see major political convulsions. There are growing expressions of working class anger, and workers are striving to break free from the stranglehold of the trade union apparatus. This is the social force that must be mobilized, and armed with a socialist and revolutionary political perspective.

The contest between Harris and Trump, the Democrats and Republicans, is a contest between two reactionary factions of the corporate and financial oligarchy that is hurtling towards world war and dictatorship. 

In these elections, the Socialist Equality Party is building a socialist leadership in the working class, in the US and internationally, which is the only way in which the social and democratic rights of the working class can be defended, and a way forward for humanity can be forged.