Sunny Hostin admitted to asking Kamala Harris a ‘softball’ question during her high-profile announcement on The View last month.
In the Oct. 8 interview, Hostin asked Harris how she “would be different” from Joe Biden, paving the way for a brief answer.
“I can’t think of anything,” responded the then presidential candidate, after an audible pause.
The moment has lived in infamy ever since, with some – including famed political strategist James Carville – categorizing the exchange as the turning point in the vice president’s campaign.
A point of no return, the moment intended to be more or less a free advertisement for Harris, has merited a new round of scrutiny in the wake of Donald Trump’s landslide victory, enough that Hostin, who had been a supporter of the vice president, finally weighed .
Scroll down to watch the video:
Sunny Hostin admitted Tuesday to asking Kamala Harris a “softball” question during the vice president’s high-profile announcement on The View last month.
In the October 8 interview, Hostin asked Harris how she would ‘be different’ from Joe Biden, paving the way for a brief answer.
“Oh, wow, I wish I had that much power,” he jokingly told “The View” producer Brian Teta during the show’s Behind the Table podcast after being asked if his question was to blame for the show’s loss. last week.
“Because I would have turned it upside down.”
The conversation became more serious from there, and the author and attorney continued to explain why she “followed” Harris’ response, which many saw as an opportunity to distance herself from her embattled predecessor.
Instead, the Democrat doubled down, likely providing the proverbial nail in the coffin of her breakneck campaign.
“I kept going because I was surprised by the response,” Hostin explained.
“I think it wasn’t so much about the question, but more about the answer.”
“The reason I followed up was because it wasn’t a question that would grab you,” he continued.
“That was a layup, really.”
“The reason I followed up was because it wasn’t a question I understood,” he told The View producer Brian Teta during the show’s Behind the Table podcast. “That was a layup, really.”
Seemingly laughing at the whole thing, Hostin set about explaining what he thought would have happened.
“I thought then I’d say, ‘I’d build on the wins we’ve had,’ and I had a long list of wins in my head,” the 56-year-old New Yorker recalled.
And she didn’t respond that way.
“She said, ‘I can’t think of anything,'” Hostin continued, before commenting on the “loyalty” Harris had shown to the president.
Stopping short of admitting that Harris had given a bad answer, the View host ended by saying, “I’ll just say that I was surprised by the answer.”
It was a question that could have really benefited him.
“It was a question that could have sparked a change.”
The moment was decisive. Just not in the way the showrunners intended.
It was a question that could have really benefited him. It was a question that could have sparked a change,” Hostin said of his question to Harris on the Oct. 8 installment of The View.
The political pundit who bills himself as the ‘Ragin Cajun’ was among those who took notice, and Carville addressed the issue during an appearance on ‘The Bulwark Podcast’ last week.
“I think if this campaign comes down to one moment, we’re in a country that’s 65% on the wrong track,” he first told host Tim Miller.
“The country wants something different,”
“He was asked, as is often the case, in a friendly audience, on The View: ‘How would you be different from Biden?'” continued the strategist credited with Bill Clinton’s victory over then-President George H.W. Bush.
‘That’s the only question you exist to answer, okay? That’s all. That’s the money thing. That’s the one you want.
“That’s the answer everyone wants to know about,” he continued, before asking aloud in disbelief, “And you freeze?” – suggesting that the moment turned out to be fateful.
Trump’s team also apparently saw it as a slip, pointing out the clip in a slew of ads leading up to the big day.
James Carville, seen here, said Harris didn’t answer a simple question while appearing on The View.
Biden stepped aside for Harris after her troubling debate performance in June, and endorsed her shortly after. On Tuesday, he once again welcomed Trump to the White House. Harris did not attend
During Harris’ career, Hostin had been an outspoken supporter, as was the case with her fellow panelists.
News published since then continues to refer to the moment as monumental; CNN published a story about it titled “Where Harris’ campaign went wrong.”
Similar articles from publications such as USA Today and the BBC followed, both describing the exchange as one of the factors that led to Harris’ downfall.
This conjecture has become common over the past week, as many on-air personalities who had openly supported Harris now set out to explain what happened and why it happened.
Factors such as inflation and policies surrounding the border, both of which are indelibly linked to Biden’s presidency, are believed to be to blame.
Biden stepped aside for Harris after her troubling debate performance in June, and endorsed her shortly after.
On Tuesday, he once again welcomed Trump to the White House. Harris did not attend. Throughout her career, Hostin had been an outspoken supporter, as was the case with the other panelists.