ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel helped former Vice President Kamala Harris revive her late night book tour on Wednesday as the pair lamented President Trump’s “swift implementation” of a plan that is allegedly about “deconstructing government’s ability to have checks and balances on abuse of power.”
Kimmel began to wonder, “Do you think that—it’s so crazy. And a lot of times, you can’t help but laugh at it, but is this coordinated? Or is this just random chaos? Is this something—”
After Harris interrupted to claim “it is not random chaos,” Kimmel continued, “You don’t think so? You think it’s intentional to distract us from the various things—”
Harris replied by launching into one of her famous word salads and bashing two of the left’s favorite boogeymen, “So, let’s go through it. Again, I even map out—first of all, I know that it has felt chaotic, but what we are, in fact, witnessing is something that is a high-velocity event. It is moving quickly, which is the swift implementation of a plan that has been, in a large part, decades in the making. The Federalist Society—all of the work that has happened—Heritage Foundation—all this work that has happened over years that is about deconstructing government’s ability to have checks and balances on abuse of power.”
However, Harris’s examples of such abuse were underwhelming, “What we are witnessing in terms of the gerrymandering that has been happening for years and years and years. The desire to deregulate industries so that they will not be accountable to the consumers and the people of America. We are seeing a swift implementation of a plan that has been a long time in the making.”
Of course, Harris only means Republican gerrymandering and ignores how deregulation actually lowers the ability of government to abuse its power. Nevertheless, she claimed that all of the “crazy” is meant to distract people from the economy, “And so what does he do? He keeps dropping bombs, almost literally, seems like he wants to.”
Later in their interview, Kimmel began to ask what could have been an actually decent question, “Do you think about, and I’m sure you get asked about, why didn’t the Biden administration release those [Epstein] files? Was that something that they felt would look bad while running against this guy? Or why didn’t they come out during your administration?
Harris portrayed the Biden White House as a simple bystander, “To give you an answer to that will not satisfy your curiosity. I will tell you. We, perhaps to our damage, but we strongly and rightly believed that there should be an absolute separation between what we wanted as an administration and what the Department of Justice did. We absolutely adhered to that. And it was right to do that. The Justice Department would make its decisions independent of any political or personal vendetta or concern that we may have. And that’s the way it worked.”
Instead of pushing back on Harris’s selective memory about how the White House and DOJ interacted, Kimmel let the issue die and went to commercial.
Here is a transcript for the December 17-taped show:
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
12/18/2025
12:23 AM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: Do you think that—it’s so crazy. And a lot of times, you can’t help but laugh at it, but is this coordinated? Or is this just random chaos? Is this something—
KAMALA HARRIS: It is not random chaos.
KIMMEL: You don’t think so?
HARRIS: I do not.
KIMMEL: You think it’s intentional to distract us from the various things—
HARRIS: So, let’s go through it. Again, I even map out—first of all, I know that it has felt chaotic, but what we are, in fact, witnessing is something that is a high-velocity event. It is moving quickly, which is the swift implementation of a plan that has been, in a large part, decades in the making. The Federalist Society—all of the work that has happened—Heritage Foundation—all this work that has happened over years that is about deconstructing government’s ability to have checks and balances on abuse of power.
What we are witnessing in terms of the gerrymandering that has been happening for years and years and years. The desire to deregulate industries so that they will not be accountable to the consumers and the people of America. We are seeing a swift implementation of a plan that has been a long time in the making.
And yes, part of the crazy is meant to distract from the fact the guy said, and I believe there were a fair number of people who voted for him who believed him when he said, on day one he was going to bring down prices. And look where we are. As of today, the price of food is up. Unemployment is up. Inflation is up. And so what does he do? He keeps dropping bombs, almost literally, seems like he wants to.
KIMMEL: Yeah. Well, yeah.
HARRIS: Right?
KIMMEL: And has. Yeah.
…
KIMMEL: Do you think about, and I’m sure you get asked about, why didn’t the Biden administration release those files? Was that something that they felt would look bad while running against this guy? Or why didn’t they come out during your administration?
HARRIS: To give you an answer to that will not satisfy your curiosity. I will tell you. We, perhaps to our damage, but we strongly and rightly believed that there should be an absolute separation between what we wanted as an administration and what the Department of Justice did. We absolutely adhered to that. And it was right to do that. The Justice Department would make its decisions independent of any political or personal vendetta or concern that we may have. And that’s the way it worked.
