Harris pledges marijuana reform, defends record in interview with comedian Charlamagne

DETROIT - US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris defended her record as a prosecutor, and pledged to decriminalise marijuana and push for police reform as she aimed to shore up support among black men in an interview with radio host Charlamagne tha God on Oct 15.

Mr Charlamagne, a black comedian and author who hosts radio programme The Breakfast Club, is known for his blunt interviews of celebrities.

Although he is a Harris supporter, he has been critical of her and US President Joe Biden in the past and called Democrats “cowards” for ineffectively prosecuting a case against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In one of his first questions, he asked Ms Harris to address a rumour that she disproportionately locked up black men over her more than a dozen years as San Francisco’s district attorney.

“It’s just simply not true,” she said, adding she was described as “one of the most progressive prosecutors” on marijuana cases. She said as president she would work to decriminalise marijuana because she knew how the laws have hurt certain populations, especially black men.

Some polls show that fewer black men support Ms Harris than they did Mr Biden in the 2020 election.

Her campaign and allies, including former president Barack Obama, are working to win them back in Michigan and other battleground states that will be decided by a thin margin.

Ms Harris said one of the biggest challenges she faces is

misinformation from the Trump team aimed at black voters.

“They are trying to scare people away because they know they otherwise have nothing to run on,” she said.

Asked about how she would curb police brutality and murders of black men, Ms Harris said she would work to pass the George Floyd Policing Act, which stalled in Congress in 2021.

Mr Charlamagne countered that Ms Harris probably could not get the votes, a reference to the sharply divided US Congress, and asked why she should push on that. 

“I don’t subscribe to that approach,” she said, adding that it took a lot of work to pass voting rights and other acts through Congress and that she would help elect legislators who would support it.

She declined to answer directly whether she thought Attorney-General Merrick Garland should have put Trump in prison for his role in the attack on the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.

“I think that the court should handle that,” she said. “I’m going to handle November.”

Audience callers said they feared that the US election might not be free and fair, or that Trump would try to spark another Jan 6-style event.

Ms Harris avoided calling those fears unfounded, and instead accused Trump of failing to stand up for the Constitution. “This man is weak and he is unfit,” she said.

She also listed her economic proposals aimed at black men, and other policies aimed at small-business owners and lowering drug prices. 

Fox, Rogan next

On Oct 16, Ms Harris will be interviewed on Fox News, the conservative-leaning network that paid a US$787 million (S$1.02 billion) settlement in 2023 to a voting machine company that sued it over false claims by some Fox hosts of vote-rigging in the 2020 presidential election.

She is also weighing joining podcaster Joe Rogan, whose show reaches millions of men across the political spectrum and who has joked that a “puppet master” was behind Ms Harris’ strong debate performance against Trump.

The effort reflects increasing anxiety within Democratic circles about Ms Harris’ waning momentum in the handful of decisive election states and fears that her underperformance with men, and black men in particular, could doom her bid for the White House.

More than a quarter of young black men say they would support Trump in the election race, according to a September poll by the NAACP, the nation’s largest civil rights organisation. Mr Biden received about 80 per cent of the black male vote in 2020.

Ms Harris’ lead over Trump has narrowed in recent days, several polls show. Her lead held steady at 3 points in the latest national Reuters/Ipsos poll and other battleground state polls show the two in a dead heat. 

Ms Harris has been on a media blitz, speaking with friendly hosts from comedy shows, talk shows and podcasts.

During her fifth trip to the Detroit area since launching her campaign in July, Ms Harris also promoted a set of recently unveiled policy proposals aimed at black men, including forgivable small business loans and access to a new legal recreational marijuana industry.

If elected, she would be the first woman and first person of Asian descent to hold the office, as well as the second black president. REUTERS