Kamala Harris needled her Republican rival for the White House, former President Donald Trump, arguing that he simply doesn’t think through the effects of his policies, while she sought to remind voters she’s working to “earn the vote of everybody” in November’s presidential election during an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday — her first solo major network interview since becoming the Democratic nominee.

In an interview with Stephanie Ruhle, host of MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour,” the vice president largely focused on the economy, as she did during her remarks at Pittsburgh’s Carnagie Mellon University earlier in the day. Her “opportunity economy,” she said, is intended to give “all Americans” an opportunity to achieve their dreams and ambitions.

“Let’s deal with some of the everyday challenges that people face and address them with common sense solutions,” Harris said, including affordable housing.

That, she said, is a matter of creating supply. To do that, Harris plans to create tax incentives for developers and home builders, with a goal of creating three million new housing units for rent and ownership by the end of her first term.

The problem she faces is the continued perception among some voters that Trump is better on the economy than she is — a perception that the vice president pushed back on, arguing that Trump lost manufacturing plants and lost manufacturing jobs — including five GM auto plants — even before the COVID pandemic put the global economy in hibernation.

Though Harris has made some headway in polls, Ruhle noted that there are many voters who will say that they don’t like Trump, but that he cut their taxes — and that voters are expecting a tax increase under Harris, given that Trump’s cuts are planned to phase out after 2025. Harris insisted taxes will only increase for people making more than $400,000 a year, and that her plan offers tax cuts — in the form of credits — to families and parents of young children. 

When asked where the Harris administration plans to get the money for those kinds of tax cuts, as well as her planned benefits for first-time homebuyers — even if the GOP takes control of Congress — the vice president simply said that corporate tax increases have to happen.

“We’re going to have to raise corporate taxes, and we’re going to have to make sure that the biggest corporations and billionaires pay their fair share,” she said. “I’m not mad at anyone for achieving success, but everyone should pay their fair share, and it’s not right that the teachers and firefighters that I met every day across our country are paying a higher tax than the richest people in our country.”

The business leaders that she speaks with — “leaders who are actually part of the engine of America’s economy,” Harris said — agree that people should pay their fair share. And, she said, they agree that her economic plan, which includes plans to increase tax deductions for small businesses, will help the economy overall.

“This is not about bilking anybody, but it is certainly about saying, let’s make sure that we create opportunities for everyone to grow wealth,” Harris said.

To create those opportunities, Harris pledged a $50,000 startup expense deduction for small businesses, “to generate the innovation and the ambition of the ideas that are present and among us, but need the fuel to be able to actually achieve the goal.”

That contrasts with Trump’s reliance on tariffs as an economic lever, she said.

“Part of it is you don’t just throw around the idea of tariffs across the board, and that’s part of the problem with Donald Trump — frankly, and I say this in all sincerity — he’s just not very serious about how he thinks about some of these issues,” Harris said. “That’s not just about some talking point ending in an exclamation at a political rally, but actually putting the thought into what will be the return on the investment, what will be the economic impact on everyday people.”

By the end of the interview, Ruhle moved on to “gut issues,” asking Harris just what her last gut decision was. Her response? Tim Walz.

“Yeah, there were a lot of good, incredible candidates,” Harris said, including reportedly Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly. “And ultimately, that came down to a gut decision.”

Then came a question from Ruhle’s gut, asking how Harris feels about Trump’s insistence that he will be “the protector of women” if elected in November.

“Trump is also the person who said women should be punished for exercising a decision that they rightly should be able to make about their own body and their future,” Harris said."Now in state after state, you see laws being passed that do punish women... the thing about Donald Trump is, I don’t think the women of America need him to as he’s going to protect them. The women of American need him to trust them."

“Can we trust you?” Ruhle asked.

“Yes. I am not perfect, but I will tell you I’m always going to put the needs of the people first,” Harris said.

She has little more than five weeks to convince voters that she’s worth of their trust.