Kamala Harris gave her first unscripted remarks Thursday since ascending to the role of POTUS-in-waiting.

She and Joe Biden were standing on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews just before midnight waiting to greet four American hostages freed from Russia when a reporter managed to fire a question at the usually inaccessible pair.

For some reason, Harris answered — but in her trademark incomprehensible word salad.

“This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy,” she said.

The sound bite went viral, as they say, topping up the vast treasure trove of idiotic public pronouncements she has amassed over the past four years.

No wonder her handlers won’t let her out without a teleprompter.

Biden at least had the excuse of age-related cognitive impairment for his verbal imbecility, but what is hers?

She’s either sub-moronic or she’s hiding something.

Tough talk, but . . .

We know that she is a phoney, so my guess is the latter. She’s not called “Shamala Flip Flop” for nothing.
She would rather be thought a fool than allow her true thoughts to leak out, and she has wound herself so tight throughout her vice presidency that all we have on the public record are these verbose, flaky nonstatements with a lot of hand-waving.

She might sound ridiculous, but it takes a lot of discipline not to crack the facade and speak her mind.

Unless she has had a secret traumatic brain injury in the past four years, we know that she is capable of speaking properly. She was perfectly clear about her positions when she was competing in the Democratic primaries in 2019, for instance.

“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” she told CNN. No word salad there.

“I am prepared to get rid of the filibuster to pass a green new deal,” she said.

On illegal migrants, she was unequivocal: “We are not going to treat people who are undocumented and cross the border as criminals, that’s correct. . . . I’m opposed to any policy that would deny any human being public health, period.”

On defunding police: “It is wrong-headed thinking to think that the only way you are going to get communities to be safe is to put more police officers on the street.”

On restricting gun ownership: “I support a mandatory buyback program.”

But since her 2020 presidential campaign ended in ruins, she’s learned to keep her mouth shut lest she be pinned down.

In the last week, her spokespeople have issued statements disavowing the hard left positions she took in 2019.

When she absolutely has to speak, it is gobbledygook because her true beliefs are electoral poison in a general election.

For instance, her campaign is trying to portray the presidential contest against Trump as The Prosecutor vs. The Felon, as if Harris is on the side of law and order, tougher even on the border than the former president.

Yet the opposite is the case.

She praised the “Defund Police” movement at the height of the George Floyd riots. She fundraised bail for BLM-Antifa rioters. She favored decriminalizing illegal border crossings and replacing ICE.

As California’s attorney general, Harris supported the infamous 2014 law, Proposition 47, which effectively decriminalized narcotics possession and downgraded felonies, such as theft of goods worth up to $950, as misdemeanors.

Prop 47 is set to be overturned through a ballot initiative in November that is supported by liberals fed up with the rampant crime and disorder that has wracked California in its wake.

Just as Harris, the fake “Tough Cop,” was weak on crime, she is weak on national security, because the same mentality prevails in which wrongdoers are treated like victims and victims are treated as nuisances.

International relations

With Biden sidelined, and Harris acting as proxy president, she can be held at least equally responsible for last week’s inexplicable sweetheart plea deal (since rescinded after public outcry) for 9/11 terrorist mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and for the release on bail of the illegal Jordanian migrants who allegedly tried to breach Marine Corps Base Quantico in May.

Harris’ aggressive scolding of Israel as it tries to defend itself against an existential threat is a piece with her lax attitude towards crime and the appeasement mentality that has prevailed in the administration, punctuated by the odd belligerent declaration.

Who could forget Biden’s call for “regime change” in Russia, quickly cleaned up by his staff. Or Harris’ inept handling of the 2022 Munich Security Conference in which she voiced word salad admiration for Ukraine’s desire to join NATO — and the following week Russia invaded.

Now that Harris is in the front seat, it’s clearer than ever that the US no longer commands the respect of foreign leaders.

Days after Harris and Biden lectured Benjamin Netanyahu to exercise restraint, Israel went ahead and took out a top Hezbollah commander who, by the way, had murdered 241 American service members in the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut.

But there was no thank you from Biden and Harris, who reportedly berated Netanyahu in a joint “tough” phone call last week for the other strategic assassinations Israel has conducted since a Hezbollah rocket attack killed 12 children in the Golan Heights.

Would that be the same Biden who vowed bloody retribution after 13 US service members were killed by an ISIS-K bomber during his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan? “We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said.

Unlike Netanyahu, Biden botched the retaliation, ordering a strike which killed an innocent Afghan aid worker and his children, and then quietly abandoning talk of avenging the 13 dead Americans.

Biden has presided over two international crises in his presidency, in Europe and in the Middle East. If Harris were to become president, she would likely face a third crisis in Asia.

Which Shamala Flip Flop would we see then? It’s a frightening thought, either way.

Hey Janet, stop Yellen about veep

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is behaving more and more like a partisan political hack.

There she was in the battleground state of Pennsylvania last week at an IRS function, shamelessly making the case for Kamala Harris.

“Vice President Harris has indicated her support for avoiding tax increases for middle-income families,” said Yellen, standing alongside Gov. Josh Shapiro, one of Harris’ top veep picks.

A few days earlier, Yellen praised her as someone who appreciates American global leadership, saying Harris “clearly, deeply understands what’s needed to make sure that families in America can thrive and can get ahead.”

The problem is that Yellen is forbidden by a 1939 law called the Hatch Act from engaging in party politics and using federal resources for political purposes.

Yellen’s distinguished predecessor James Baker resigned in 1988 so he could campaign for then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.

That way is open to Yellen. Otherwise she should stick to her day job.