Vice President Kamala Harris forcefully defended President Joe Biden during a tense exchange on Charlamagne Tha God’s Comedy Central show after being asked whether he or Sen. Joe Manchin is the president of the United States, as Biden’s agenda remains stalled in part because of the West Virginia Democrat.
As noted by The Hill, Charlamagne asked Harris to name the country’s “real president.”
“So, who is the real president of this country, is it Joe Manchin or Joe Biden, Madam Vice President?” Charlamagne tha God asked Harris on Comedy Central’s “Tha God’s Honest Truth.”
Harris wasted no time to set the record straight.
“C’mon Charlamagne. C’mon, it’s Joe Biden,” Harris told the late-night talk show host, The Hill reported.
“I can’t tell sometimes,” he replied before Harris cut him off.
“No, no, no, no. It’s Joe Biden. It’s Joe Biden. And don’t start talking like a Republican about asking whether or not he’s president, it’s Joe Biden and I’m vice president. My name is Kamala Harris,” she said on the weekly late-night program.
She added: “Ok, so I hear the frustration, but let’s not deny the impact that we’ve had and agree also that there is a whole lot more work to be done and it is not easy to do. But we will not give up and I will not give u.”
“The reality is, because we are in office, we do the things like the child tax credit, which is going to reduce Black child poverty by 50 percent,” Harris continued, highlighting the administration’s efforts to lower the price of prescription drugs, lower the Black maternal mortality rate and enact police reform measures.
“So I hear the frustration, but let’s not deny the impact that we’ve had,” Harris said.
Asked why Manchin is “allowed to constantly hold up Biden’s agenda,” Harris replied that “every vote matters” in the 50-50 Senate.
“We have to listen to the voices who represent their districts,” she said.
Charlamagne said Democrats risk losing the support of Black voters in the midterm elections next year and in the 2024 White House race because “the stuff [Manchin’s] holding up progress on are hurting people” and “hurting Black people in particular.”
But Harris argued that it is not just Democrats who are holding up Democratic priorities.
“Here’s the thing, though,” Harris said. “I think it’s a mistake to try and think about this only through the lens of Democrats versus Democrats when the fact is Republicans are consistently and unanimously standing in the way of progress.”
Charlamagne praised her forceful response, saying, “That Kamala Harris, that’s the one I like. That’s the one that was putting the pressure on people in Senate hearings. That’s the one I’d like to see more often out here in these streets.”
Watch part of the interview below from Comedy Central.
