Photo Of Harris Vacationing In Hawaii Goes Viral After Massive Loss to Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris has resurfaced in public after her significant electoral loss to now-President-elect Donald Trump, with a photo of her on a Hawaiian beach quickly going viral on social media. Users on X (formerly Twitter) shared a variety of reactions to the image, which garnered widespread attention.

Amid her public reappearance, Harris faced renewed criticism from left-leaning media for how she handled her campaign.

On the latest episode of her podcast, Next Question with Katie Couric, the veteran journalist discussed the post-election fallout with MSNBC host and former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki. Psaki remarked that one of Harris's standout interviews during the campaign was her appearance on Fox News with Bret Baier.

“I always find that people do better when they’re asked really challenging, pointed questions. I always felt that way about Hillary Clinton,” Couric said during the discussion. “If you are giving them these almost weird, like, amorphous softballs, it’s really hard to kind of hone your message and be succinct and say what you really need to say.”

Couric went on to note her frustration with Harris’s tendency to sidestep critical questions.

“I also felt that, and again, I think [Harris] really did well in so many areas, but I was frustrated by her inability to really succinctly answer questions at times, Jen,” she added, as reported by Fox News.

Couric specifically cited Harris’s response during a CNN town hall about potential Supreme Court reforms. “She had an opportunity to talk about ethics and what, you know, [Supreme Court Justices Samuel] Alito and Clarence Thomas were doing, and she answered, like, in one sentence, and then went on to something that had nothing to do with the question,” Couric said. “You know, people notice that, and it’s like, ‘Answer the g-dd–n question, please!’”

Psaki highlighted another moment that hurt Harris’s campaign: her controversial comments on The View. When asked how she would differentiate herself from President Biden, Psaki called it “one of the most damaging moments” for the vice president.

Couric then questioned why Biden’s team didn’t prepare Harris to draw distinctions between her positions and his in a strategic way.

“Ok, Jen, you’re an insider. Why didn’t Joe Biden say, ‘Listen, I know you’re going to have to separate yourself from this administration. Let’s talk about areas where you can, where they’re legitimate, and Godspeed,’” Couric asked. “Because it—it almost seemed like they were more afraid of hurting Joe Biden’s feelings than winning the election.”

Psaki, now with MSNBC, responded that the summer leading up to the election had been “unique and painful” for Biden. She mentioned that there was a certain “fragility” surrounding the president’s role in the Democratic Party at the time, even as he was stepping aside. Despite this, Psaki added, Biden remained “beloved” within the party, and Harris had to navigate the delicate politics of the situation.

Reflecting on Harris’s campaign strategy, Couric questioned whether there had been a lack of preparation.

“It seems to me, if I were running for president, Jen, I would sit down with my brain trust, and I’d be like, ‘Okay, let’s play out these questions. What am I gonna say?’” Couric said.

“And I would have had a template that I would have carried around with me in every interview, and I would have reviewed them and said, you know, ‘This is what I believe, and this is how I’m going to handle a question like that.’ Now, why didn’t they—it just didn’t seem like that was done. Am I crazy?” she asked.