James Carville says Kamala Harris' failed campaign could be reduced to Sunny Hostin's question on 'The View'

Democratic strategist James Carville said Saturday that Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign could be reduced to her failure to differentiate herself from President Biden during an interview on "The View." 

"I think if this campaign is reducible to one moment, we are in a 65% wrong-track country. The country wants something different. And she’s asked, as is so often the case, in a friendly audience, on 'The View,' 'How would you be different than Biden?' That’s the one question that you exist to answer, alright? That is it. That’s the money question. That's the one you want. That’s the one that everybody wants to know the answer to. And you freeze! You literally freeze and say, ‘Well, I can’t think of anything,’" Carville said, speaking to Tim Miller on "The Bulwark Podcast."

Harris joined the co-hosts of "The View," who all expressed repeated support for Harris over the course of her campaign, during an interview in early October, and was asked by Hostin if she would have done anything differently from the president in the last four years. Harris said she couldn't think of anything she would have done differently.

"So we said 65% want something different, we are just not going to give in to them, but maybe the odiousness of Trump combined with the Dobbs decision, we can overcome it. Well, we didn’t overcome it. But when we go back and history unearths this, it’s going to be right there on 'The View.' And I think her name was Sunny Hostin, asked a question, and that’s the most devastating answer you could imagine," Carville continued. 

Democratic strategist James Carville pointed to VP Kamala Harris' interview on "The View," specifically a question from Sunny Hostin, during a podcast conversation about where the VP went wrong. (Left: (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP), Center: (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Amazon Studios), Right: (Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images))

KAMALA HARRIS' BUNGLED ANSWER ON ‘THE VIEW’ ABOUT BIDEN SEEN AS TURNING POINT FOR CAMPAIGN

During the interview on "The View," Hostin also asked Harris what the biggest "specific" difference would be between a potential Harris presidency and a Biden presidency.

"We're obviously two different people," Harris said. "One of the issues I'm focused on is what we do with home healthcare." 

Much later in the interview, Harris also said that she would appoint a Republican to her cabinet. 

Kamala Harris couldn't think of something she'd do differently from Joe Biden's first term when first asked on "The View" on Oct. 8, 2024. (The View / ABC)

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Ahead of the election, Carville predicted that Harris would win because Trump is "stone a-- nuts."

"She’s got more money, got more energy, has a more united party, has better surrogates and he’s stone a-- nuts," Carville told MSNBC's "Morning Joe," when asked about why he thinks the vice president would be the winner. 

Carville was not the only one to point to this interview as a pivotal moment for Harris' campaign. 

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In a New York Times report about how Trump won the race, this moment was seen as significant because the Trump campaign's internal polling showed Harris had, until that point, effectively pitched herself as a change agent to voters.

The Times reported that Trump advisers "rejoiced" and were shocked Harris didn't have an answer ready for such an obvious question. The clip soon found its way into national advertisements. 

Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.