Kamala Harris Says Donald Trump Gets ‘Played’ by Dictators on ‘Colbert’
Vice president Kamala Harris appeared on The Late Show last night to discuss her presidential campaign with Stephen Colbert over a can of beer. The Democratic nominee and the late-night host cracked open some Miller High Life as Harris reflected on Donald Trump and recent allegations that he sent Covid tests to Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Colbert asked Harris about the allegations, made in Bob Woodward’s upcoming memoir, War. In the book, Woodward writes that Trump sent much-needed Covid tests to Russia early on in the pandemic.
“I heard about it today,” Harris said of the book. “I haven’t read it. But look, I said even at the debate, Donald Trump – he openly admires dictators and authoritarians. He has said he wants to be a dictator on day one if he were elected again as president. He gets played by these guys. He admires so-called strongmen and he gets played because they flatter him or offer him favor. The commander in chief of the United States of America must stand strong and defend the principles that we hold dear.”
She continued, “If everything I’ve heard about Bob Woodward’s book is right, Donald Trump secretly sent Covid test kits to Putin for his personal use. I ask everyone here and everyone who is watching, do you remember what those days were like? You remember how many people did not have tests and were trying to scramble to get them? Think about what this means on top of him sending love letters to Kim Jong Un. No, think about it. He thinks, ‘Well, that’s his friend.’ What about the American people? They should be your first friend.”
Colbert asked Harris about Trump refusing to admit he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. She noted that there is a reason the job of vice president was available during this election cycle. “A lot of people, when they’re applying for a job, will ask: Well, why is the job open?” she said. “One must ask: Why is the job of Donald Trump’s running mate, why was it open? And it was open because his vice president Mike Pence stood for country above party.”
“You know, I’m going to tell you what some of the people in my rallies — quite a few people show up, by the way — you know, when you lost millions of jobs, you lost manufacturing, you lost automotive plants, you lost the election,” she added. “What does that make you? A loser. This is what somebody at my rallies said. I thought it was funny.”
In another segment, Harris spoke about the misconceptions that FEMA money is not being used to help the recovery after Hurricane Helene. “There’s a lot of misinformation,” she told Colbert. “I beseech you, I beg you to please not pay attention to it because there are a whole lot of folks who are there to give you help and aid.” She added that there is both short-term and long-term help available, and wishes the Republicans wouldn’t tell lies for the sake of “political gain.”
Harris and Colbert also discussed the Israel-Hamas conflict, a particular sticking point for many voters during her campaign. Colbert said “we’ve heard about being close” to a ceasefire deal, but asked “what does close mean?”
“Close means that a lot of the details have been worked out but details remain,” Harris confirmed. “And so there has been some progress but it is meaningless unless a deal is actually reached, so I don’t want to suggest to you that we should be applauded for getting close at times to a deal.”
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded to Harris’ The Late Show appearance on X, writing, “Kamala drinks a beer to show Americans how relatable she is, but she ends up looking like an out-of-touch elitist trying to gaslight everyone into thinking she’s one of them. Regular people don’t allow murderers, rapists, and terrorists across the border–like Kamala has done.”