Stephen Colbert’s cancellation was not a topic of conversation when he sat down with Kamala Harris Thursday night for her first TV interview since losing the 2024 election, but for those choosing to read between the lines, there was plenty to chew on—starting at the very top of their chat.
“First of all, you look rested,” Colbert began. “Thank you,” replied Harris, adding “how are you?”
“I’m fine. I’ll get plenty of rest in June,” Colbert deadpanned.
Harris was all smiles early on—talking cooking shows, Doug’s return to law, and even roasting him for botching her birthday—but the tone shifted as the conversation turned to the bigger picture: democracy, accountability, and the limits of institutional resilience.
“You can never let anybody take your power from you,” Harris said. “That’s what I like to remind folks of.”
In all, the two spoke for nearly a half hour, with a lightly edited version airing Thursday night on The Late Show.
CBS posted the full unedited conversation to YouTube, much as it was forced to do after the fact when Harris was interviewed by 60 Minutes last fall—after Donald Trump and his allies claimed the segment was deceptively edited to make Harris look better.
That 60 Minutes interview—which famously led to a $16 million settlement while CBS parent company Paramount was still awaiting FCC approval for its merger with Skydance—was also not discussed.
But Harris seemed to bring the most passion to a late-in-the-interview exchange with Colbert.
“You warned everyone about what Trump would do… prosecute his political enemies, cut Medicare and Medicaid, ignore court orders. I know you’re not here to say ‘I told you so.’ But would you like to?” he asked.
“You are correct that I did predict a lot of it,” Harris said. “But what I did not predict was the capitulation.”
“There should be many who consider themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy who just capitulated,” she continued. “I didn’t see that coming.”
The former VP was there to promote 107 Days, her upcoming memoir about her short-lived 2024 campaign following Biden’s withdrawal.
She confirmed she’s not running for governor of California—despite polling well ahead of the pack—and made clear she doesn’t plan to reenter elected politics anytime soon.
“For now, I don’t want to go back in the system,” she said. “I think it’s broken.”
That doesn’t mean she’s stepping back from civic engagement.“I’m absolutely going to be part of the fight,” she said. “But I want to remind people of their power. It is our government. It is our country.”
Asked if some people in Washington believe they can just “ride out the storm,” Harris didn’t hesitate. “I think there are a lot of people who think they are riding out the storm as an excuse to be feckless.”
Watch the full interview at the top of this post or catch the network version on Paramount+.
This is the “Best ”Kamala’ ever.”