Kamala Harris town hall on CNN: Yes, I do think Trump is a fascist    We haven't been able to take paymentYou must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription.Update payment detailsAct now to keep your subscriptionWe've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account or by clicking update payment details to keep your subscription.Update payment detailsYour subscription is due to terminateWe've tried to contact you several times as we haven't been able to take payment. You must update your payment details via My Account, otherwise your subscription will terminate. Update payment detailsMore from The Times and The Sunday TimesTap 'Menu' and then 'Explore'Tap 'Menu' and then 'Explore'DismissAccessibility LinksSkip to contentSearchHomeUKWorldCommentBusiness & MoneySportLife & StyleCulturePuzzlesMagazinesLoginSubscribeLog inSubscribeHomeUKWorldCommentBusiness & MoneySportLife & StyleCulturePuzzlesMagazines Video IconDAVID CHARTER | ANALYSISKamala Harris town hall on CNN: Yes, I do think Trump is a fascistIn front of undecided voters in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, the vice-president was clear on her view of Donald Trump but less clear about her own policiesDavid Charter, WashingtonThursday October 24 2024, 7.55am, The TimesDavid Charter, WashingtonThursday October 24 2024, 7.55am, The TimesKamala Harris left open the possibility of adding judges to the US Supreme Court to end its conservative majority during a CNN town hall in which she repeatedly missed opportunities to clearly communicate her policies.Harris had the audience of undecided voters in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania to herself because Donald Trump refused to take part in another TV debate after coming off second best to her last month.But from the first question on “what specific actions would you take to bridge the political divide and create more unity?” — which was only answered in generalities — she mainly turned her answers into attacks on Trump’s character rather than give more details about her own plans.She left the audience in no doubt about the dangers of Trump’s “fascist” tendencies as expressed by John Kelly, his longest-serving chief of staff. Kelly told The New York Times that Trump remarked that “Hitler did some good things too” and that instead of the US military he “wanted generals like Adolf Hitler had”.Asked by Anderson Cooper, the CNN moderator, if she agreed Trump was a fascist, Harris replied: “Yes I do.”AdvertisementBut two questions were particularly revealing of her inability to state her own positions, in ways that could hurt her in the 12 remaining days of the campaign.She was asked if the nation’s top court should be expanded from nine to 12 justices “to assist in making judgments more balanced” after the conservative majority’s ruling to end the five-decade right of nationwide access to abortion.• What will happen if Harris wins the election?“There is no question that the American people increasingly are losing confidence in the Supreme Court,” Harris began. “I do believe that there should be some kind of reform of the court, and we can study what that actually looks like.”Harris did not mention that President Biden held a commission on the future of the court which ultimately rejected increasing its size. The number of judges can be changed by acts of Congress, so she handed Republicans the campaign cudgel that if Democrats win they will seek to pack the court because they do not like its decisions.AdvertisementShe then pivoted straight into another attack on Trump’s character, segueing away by saying “while you raise the point of the court, understand that again, in 13 days, the American people will decide who is the next president of the United States”.“In 13 days, you will decide who is sitting in the Oval Office on January 20,” she continued. “On one hand, you have Donald Trump, someone who has increasingly proved himself to be unstable, and who as we have established, and the people close to him have established, is unfit to serve.”• Electoral college map: pick your path to the White HouseThe question which summed up the evening came from Pam Thistle, an estate agent, who said she would “like to hear more nuts and bolts about your economic plans”.“Sure,” Harris began, launching into familiar discussion about billionaires paying less tax than nurses and teachers.AdvertisementHarris seemed to avoid giving specific answers about her own policy proposalsMATT ROURKE/APThistle was not happy with the usual spiel. “I’m talking about hard workers,” she said. Harris said that she wanted first to “set the scene … I need to reference that because sadly Donald Trump when he was president gave tax cuts to the richest, to billionaires, and big corporations which added trillions of dollars to our deficit”.While she communicated a reminder of Trump’s policies, she was only able to repeat Biden’s policy guarantee that she has inherited — “I will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year” — as well as her own plan for a $6,000 child tax credit.Harris got across a couple of her positions but, as happened so often during the town hall, avoided the actual question.• Who will win the election? Polls and predictionsIt was left to Cooper to try again on Thistle’s behalf. “If you’re earning $500, $600, $700,000, under your plan there’s a good chance your taxes go up?” he asked.AdvertisementHarris replied: “We can’t have this conversation without knowing what — it’s a very complicated situation, right?”Thistle was left with not a single nut or bolt. Neither were other audience members who asked Harris who was to blame for high prices, how much taxpayers would have to pay to integrate migrants or what she would do to prevent the death of another Palestinian.Thistle told CNN afterwards that she was “very big on detail”, did her own taxes, and as a recent widow, “I have to vote for my own family”. She had still not made up her mind between Harris and Trump.If other American voters really are still undecided despite all the revelations about Trump and his increasingly bizarre behaviour — he spent 39 minutes swaying to his favourite music rather than taking questions at his own Pennsylvania town hall last week — then Harris did little to change their minds on Wednesday night.WorldRelated articlesTrump would rule as dictator if re-elected, says former chief of staffOctober 23 2024, 8.10pmWill Pavia, New YorkIN MAPS AND CHARTSTrump v Harris: latest polls and predictionsNovember 05 2024, 10.00pmTom Calver, Data EditorPROMOTED CONTENTBack to topGet in touchAbout usContact usHelpThe Times Editorial ComplaintsThe Sunday Times Editorial ComplaintsPlace an announcementClassified advertisingDisplay advertisingThe Times correctionsThe Sunday Times correctionsCareersMore from The Times and The Sunday TimesThe Times e-paperThe Sunday Times e-paperThe Sunday Times Wine ClubTimes Print GalleryThe Times ArchiveTimes Crossword ClubSunday Times DrivingTimes+The Sunday Times Rich ListTravelGood University GuideSchools GuideNewslettersBest Places to LiveBest Places to StayTimes AppointmentsPodcastsTimes Money MentorTimes LuxurySportswomen of the Year AwardsBest Places to WorkPuzzlesMore from News CorpThe AustralianBarron'sDow JonesFinancial News LondonInvestor's Business DailyMansion GlobalMarketWatchRealtor.comThe SunTimes Literary SupplementThe Wall Street Journal© Times Media Limited 2025.Registered in England No. 894646. 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she is literally committing a genocide in Gaza right now