Montage: Kamala Harris Stammers Her Way Through Tonight Show Interview

Whatever the opposite of “a game” is what Kamala Harris brought to her interview on Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show.”

From the outset, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate hemmed, hawed, stammered, and otherwise struggled speaking fluidly. The rocky appearance followed another uneven performance at the last Democtatic debate, during which she occasionally sounded tipsy. 

Over the course of last night’s interview, Harris said “you know” 22 times, “um” 12 times, and other filler word virtually nonstop. 

Fallon treated Harris to a series of seemingly rehearsed softball questions, yet the candidate was often still at a loss for words. Asked at the outset what she was like in college, Harris had to think for a moment, before offering up an anodyne anecdote about hitchhiking to her own graduation. 

Speaking of abortion, Harris said: “You guys know, I mean, it’s a big issue. And women — the women of America right now are, you know, full on under attack by these states and others who are passing legislation that is, you know, prohibiting a woman to make a decision about her own body.”

“And, you know, I was in a hearing for, you know, the Supreme Court,” Harris continued. “I was on the Senate judiciary Committee. And I actually asked the nominee, ‘Is there a law that you know of that tells a man what he can do with his body or should do with his body?’”

Toward the end, Fallon asked college students to ask Harris questions of their own. Once Fordham student asked how Democrats’ proposals for confiscating Americans’ guns wouldn’t violate the Second Amendment. Harris never answered this seemingly straightforward question, instead reiterating her intent to ban assault weapons through “executive action.”

“Great question,” she told the student, in a moment of rare lucidity. “I do believe that we need to do buybacks, and I’ll tell you why: First of all, let’s be clear about what assault weapons are they have been designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly. They are weapons of war with no place on the streets of a civil society. I’ve seen assault weapons kill babies and police officers so, one, I’ll tell you when elected president, if the United States Congress continues to fail to have the courage to do something about this, I’m prepared to take executive action and put in place a ban on the importation of assault weapons into our country. But we still have to deal with the over 2 million assault weapons that are currently in the streets of America and so a buyback program is a good idea.”

For more of Harris’ awkward performance, check out the supercut above.