Millionaire investor and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary clashed with CNN panelists after he blasted the Democratic Party Thursday for how it selected Vice President Kamala Harris as their nominee.
O’Leary said on “CNN NewsNight” that after watching her at their town hall the night before, Democrats should have some concerns about how she ended up being the nominee.
He said he was struck by how “only 90 days ago, Pelosi went to Biden and said, ‘You need to step aside’ and convinced him to do so. He made the decision, and he did actually ask her, and we’ve now learned this, ‘Is she the right person to drive this home?’ He questioned that. He could have said, ‘We need to run a process in order for me to make this move,’ but they decided not to. I don’t know who ‘they’ is. Was it Obama? Was it Pelosi? I don’t care who it was.”
After using an analogy about stock picking, O’Leary, who has criticized Harris before, asserted that Harris’ ascendancy to the nomination “is the second time the Democratic Party has circumvented democracy and chose-“
The panel erupted with several, saying, “That’s not true. That’s not true.”
As the others continued to interject, O’Leary argued that nobody was allowed to compete with Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary, when some voters felt Sen. Bernie Sanders had been cheated out of the nomination because of bias by the Democratic National Committee.
“Kevin, Hillary Clinton won a primary,” Phillips argued.
“Nobody could compete with her!” O’Leary said, raising his voice amid more crosstalk. “Even Bernie Sanders!”
“She won a primary,” Phillips said again.
“So did Kamala Harris win a primary?” O’Leary asked.
“Listen, we’ve talked about this before-” Phillips said.
“What’s wrong with talking about it tonight after what you just saw?” O’Leary asked, as panelists continued talking. “How many Democrats wish-“
“Do you think that’s really what matters to voters?” CNN economics commentator Catherine Rampell asked. “Your whole shtick has been, ‘Let’s talk about what happens to voters,’ do you really think voters care about the internecine primary process?”
“If you’re a Democrat, you sure as hell care today,” he replied.
“I know that you are from Canada,” CNN host Abby Phillip said, challenging his credibility. “But the primary process in this country is not in the Constitution. It’s not in the Constitution. The political parties can choose however they want to choose their nominee, and as long as they meet the legal deadlines in the states where they are on the ballot, they can do it however they want.”
“Yes, just to be transparent, I was born in Canada,” O’Leary said, standing his ground. “But my kids were born and raised in Boston. All my investments in the United States, I want the president, whoever it is, to be a winner.”
“You’re describing something as undemocratic that has absolutely nothing to do with the democratic process,” Phillips said of the Democratic Party primary.