-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email Only recently did it occur to me that Donald Trump may not have been filmed chatting with children while he was president. “Thank God,” you may be thinking – either that or, “Why would he?” It’s a fair question. The thought wouldn’t have crossed my mind either, if not for a video featuring kids interviewing Kamala Harris that circulated hours after she announced her candidacy.
The clip is five years old, dating back to her first presidential run before Joe Biden secured the nomination and asked her to be his running mate. Her grade school-aged interviewers may not have been child actors, but they were obviously selected for their ability to engage with Harris. The candidate does not talk down to them or robotically deliver the “right” answers.
Instead, she speaks in a way that is both validating and comforting. In one exchange with a small girl, Harris doesn’t simply state her plans to enact gun control legislation. She asks her, “What do you think the rules should be?” When the child proposes “running a test to see if they’re going to be responsible with the guns or not," Harris affirms her with, “That is excellent.
And that’s called background checks.” All campaigning is theater. These scenes are particularly effective at playing up Harris’ empathy.
Some of her junior interviewers looked like they needed comforting, and she provided her version of that, especially to one who expressed her fears abou.