Harris fights off the Fox

👀 Who didn't want it to be Kamala Harris?

“At the beginning of our administration, within practically hours of taking the oath, the first bill that we offered Congress, before we worked on infrastructure, before the Inflation Reduction Act, before the Chips and Science Act, before the bi-partisan Safer Communities Act, the first bill, practically within hours of taking the oath, was a bill to fix our immigration system.”

Bret Baier granted her 30 seconds from the release of his immigration question, but as she is wanton to do, Kamala Harris’ wind-up was too long for Fox, television as a medium and our precarious national moment.

There’s now a cadence to Harris’ interviews: It takes the vice president some pitches to warm up, but she eventually finds her fastball.

Baier’s initial interruption, laden with a you-must’ve-seen-this coming smile, allowed Harris an assertive “May I finish?” moment that permitted partisans to cheer their side for respective shows of strength.

MAGA eyes saw Kamala lumbering under the weight of her worst issue and Baier’s pointed question. The K-Hive saw their girl fending off the Fox in the hen house, with grace and success and flares of combativeness.

By now, you probably know this is an accounting of Kamala Harris’ Fox News interview, the sit-down most would’ve bet against a month ago. (For all the griping about Harris’ interview pace, Donald Trump has not volleyed with Jake Tapper or whoever would be the MSNBC equivalent?)

But the Harris gambit to go on the conservative TV behemoth tells us two things:

1. Harris’ team’s confidence in their candidate’s ability to survive a tough interview has grown exponentially in a few weeks time.

2. Fox reaches a broader (beyond-MAGA) audience that allows Harris to speak to wavering Republicans and independents who may still be on the fence or disinclined to vote at all.

On balance, their bet paid off.

The most recent New York Times/Siena poll shows Harris capturing 7% of Republicans in Pennsylvania and 6% in Arizona. Yes, these are small sets of voters, but

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