In October, Kamala Harris thought it fit to share a number of personal issues on a podcast. While this may seem normal for a regular, average citizen, one has to question the appropriateness of such behavior for a Vice President of the United States. Among the topics addressed were the criticisms she often faces for her faux humility and her decision to not have children of her own.
The podcast, dubbed ‘Call Her Alex’, is hosted by Alex Cooper. Her decision to interview Harris has been met with a fair amount of incredulity. Unexpected and curious, the Vice Presidency, apparently vacant in her reach, comes calling to her in the midst of her so titled Unwell Tour.
Cooper’s recollection of the moment is laced with a sort of disbelief, as she was juggling with four back-to-back stage appearances. Then came the intriguing call that declared that she would be interviewing, of all people, the Vice President.
Cooper holds a noticeable level of unease, recalling the internal struggle and concern over introducing politics to her show. Keeping politics out was her purposeful choice until this point. Slyly, she points out that the members of her ‘Daddy Gang’ are of varying political beliefs.
She elaborates on her non-political stance by contrastingly declaring her show is not CNN, it is not Fox News. ‘Call Her Daddy’ is supposedly about advocating women’s rights, or so she claims.
Founded in 2018, ‘Call Her Daddy’ initially focused on discussions revolving around dating, relationships, and sex. The thought of interviewing a political figure on such a platform seems jarringly out of sync with the nature of the podcast itself.
Cooper confesses that it was an intimate conversation with her husband, Matt Kaplan, that finally tipped the scales in favor of conducting the interview. She shares the significance of their contemplation over the future, involving the hypothetical situation of having a daughter.
The conversation proceeds along the lines of questioning how they could opt out of such an opportunity as Harris’s interview when it might make a difference. By doing her best in this sit-down, Cooper aimed to show preparedness for the future imagined scenario of parenting a daughter.
Transitioning to the reality of the imminent interview with Harris, Cooper and her team quickly found themselves in the middle of planning and strategizing the integral aspects of the conversation. Threading the discourse that caters to the tone of their brand while holding meaningful dialogue was not an easy task.
Cooper highlights her intention, breaking down her plan of action. It was about forcing out Harris’s notion of what it takes to fill a position usually occupied by men. Its charm, its work ethic, its requisite confidence; these are the aspects Cooper aimed to render bare from Harris.
Cooper’s motivation for the interview stands out as skewed. She didn’t want it to be inspiring, she states. Rather, she wished to incite Harris into saying something typically sensational, something ‘savage’.
Again, Harris found herself in the spotlight following her appearance on the podcast on October 6. A Vice President diving into personal aspects such as criticism of her humility and her choice of not having children presents a worrying spectacle at the least.
However, the ‘bravery’ of Cooper in digging into the Vice President’s personal issues cannot be neglected. An eyebrow-raising moment indeed as the unseen aspects of ‘Call Her Daddy’ and its hesitation to take on politics seemed suddenly distant.
The appropriation of a podcast, originally designed for candid discussions regarding relationships and personal life, hosting the Vice President has now emerged as a dubious strategic maneuver, shrouded in a facade of advocating women’s rights and questionable motives.