Kevin O'Leary calls Kamala Harris a 'broken' candidate with 'no compassion' in brutal on-air critique
Millionaire investor and "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary delivered an unsparing critique of Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, suggesting the failed presidential candidate's November loss resulted from long-running political inadequacies.
During a roundtable on "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip," O'Leary said the glaring mistake by Democrats came early on when they positioned Harris as the nominee without holding a primary.
"They made an excuse of $317 million in the kitty. They kept the same campaign manager and said we will anoint this faulted, broken candidate who was inconsequential in her vice presidency," he said. "Lost in 2019. As you detailed, complete loser in 2020. Never could articulate anything. Had no compassion for people and her own advocates."
O'Leary also pointed to Harris' appearance on "The View" as a turning point in the campaign. He suggested that the women on the show wanted Harris to win and threw her "softball" questions to bolster her public image; in that interview, Harris couldn't say what she would have done differently from Biden in the previous four years, linking her even more strongly to the unpopular incumbent.
"She was so weak as a candidate, she couldn't even answer that she would do something different. It ricocheted around the world. She was finished. They will never do that again," he added.
O'Leary has been an outspoken critic of Harris and the Democrats leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
He said on "CNN NewsNight" in October that after watching her town hall the night before, Democrats should have concerns about how she ended up being the nominee.
HARRIS CAMPAIGN CHAIR FUMES ABOUT NARRATIVE SHE WAS AFRAID TO DO INTERVIEWS: 'COMPLETELY BULLS---'
He said he was struck by how "only 90 days ago, [Nancy] Pelosi went to Biden and said, 'You need to step aside' and convinced him to do so. He made the decision, and he did actually ask her, and we've now learned this, 'Is she the right person to drive this home?' He questioned that. He could have said, 'We need to run a process in order for me to make this move,' but they decided not to. I don't know who 'they' is. Was it Obama? Was it Pelosi? I don't care who it was."
After using an analogy about stock picking, O'Leary asserted that Harris' ascendancy to the nomination "is the second time the Democratic Party has circumvented democracy."
Fox News' Alexander Hall contributed to this report.