The Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are scheduled to give their first in-person interview with CNN on Thursday, more than a month since Harris became a leading presidential candidate.
Here are 31 questions CNN's Dana Bash could and should ask the two during their joint interview, broken down by big themes.
economy:
1. Price controls usually lead to shortages. Won't proposed price controls on food just result in empty aisles and shelves?
2. If we gave every first-time home buyer $25,000, would home prices rise by the same amount, rendering the effort useless?
3. Would a 28 percent corporate tax rate, as your campaign claims, discourage investment in the United States and drive more American companies overseas?
4. Why have you changed your position on fracking? Does this undermine the environmental policies that the Biden-Harris Administration has strongly supported?
5. Do you see a correlation between the big spending of your administration and the Democratic-controlled 117th Congress and the 40 years of high inflation that have plagued working-class and middle-class Americans?
6. Why does former President Donald Trump insist on cutting Medicare and Social Security even though we have a Biden-Harris administration? Move Cut Medicare Advantage?
7. You have supported the President's policy of mandating automakers to significantly increase the number of electric vehicles (EVs). Do you still support the EV mandate?
8. Do you support strong tariffs to protect American workers and domestic industries, including the auto and steel industries?
Immigration:
9. Have you visited the border yet? If not, why?
10. Do you support a border wall? If not, what is the best argument against a border wall?
11. Does immigration improve the standard of living for America's middle class?
12. How many immigrants per year would be best for Americans to accept?
13. Does immigration help businesses increase the productivity of blue-collar and white-collar Americans?
14. Will immigration increase housing costs and rents?
15. Do you support decriminalizing illegal entry into the United States?
16. The Democratic-controlled state senate in your home state of California just passed a bill that would provide mortgages of up to $150,000 to undocumented immigrants buying their first home. Do you support this move?
Freedom:
17. Your party has a slogan of “protecting democracy,” yet you have been appointed as the party's candidate even though you have never received a single vote in a primary election as a presidential candidate. In what ways does your nomination process reflect democracy?
18. How do we reconcile this message of “freedom” with Mark Zuckerberg's comments that the Biden-Harris administration has actively pressured Facebook to censor Americans?
Foreign Policy:
19. Would you do anything differently with President Joe Biden to negotiate the release of the hostages in Gaza and end the war? If not, why do you think the same policies that failed under the Biden administration would work under your administration?
20. Do you think Israel is immoral?
21. You said The US will support Ukraine “for as long as necessary.” Do you plan to continue supporting Ukraine? Does this mean that you will send US taxpayer money to Ukraine for the entire 4-8 years of your presidency if you deem it necessary?
22. In your opinion, is there a cap on how much of U.S. taxpayer money should go to Ukraine, or do you think “any amount is enough”?
23. Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky have had a long and fruitful relationship, share similar careers as entertainers turned outsider politicians, and Zelensky was a key figure in overturning the Democrats' failed impeachment of Trump. Why do you think you would have a better relationship with him than with Trump as president?
24. What is your plan to help Ukraine win the war? Is it realistic without sparking a larger conflict between the U.S. and Russia?
25. Will your policies drag Russia further into China’s hands?
26. You omitted any discussion of China in your DNC speech and did not state any specific policy on relations with Beijing. Do you consider curbing the influence of the Chinese Communist Party a priority? Do you consider China an enemy of the United States?
Question for Waltz:
27. Why have you repeatedly misrepresented your military history, including your discharge rank and falsely claiming to have carried a weapon “during the war”?
28. Retired Army Command Sergeant Major Doug Julin says that in March 2005 you swore in a battalion to “move forward” into Iraq, but retired in May 2005. What made you change your mind?
29. During the COVID-19 outbreak, you launched a hotline for Minnesotans to report neighbors who violated lockdown orders. How does this reconcile with your motto, “Mind your own business”?
30. Do you think parents should have a legal say in whether their minor children are put on hormone blockers and undergo irreversible sex-reassignment surgery, or should the state step in to prevent parents from objecting?
31. Do you regret not doing more to protect state residents and small businesses from the violence that hit Minneapolis during the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests?
