Right-wing media outlets have been helping former President Donald Trump’s campaign push the bogus attack that Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz have never had a “real job” in their lives. The claims have gone unchallenged in right-wing media, including the statement from Trump National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that “neither of them, by the way, have had a real job in the outside world, outside of politics in their entire careers.”
In reality, Harris has served as the district attorney of San Francisco, attorney general of California, a U.S. senator, and vice president. She also worked in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and at McDonald’s. Walz has served as a U.S congressman and Minnesota governor. He also worked in the Army National Guard, as a public school teacher and football coach, and on a farm.
Despite that background, right-wing media outlets have been helping the Trump campaign push the bogus attack that the two haven’t worked any “real” jobs.
Fox & Friends’ Kilmeade allowed Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt to claim that Harris “has never had a real job in her life.” Trump National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on the August 12 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends that Harris is a “longtime, self-serving, career politician” and she “has never had a real job in her life.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade did not directly refute that. (He went on to say that Harris said she’ll be “strong on the border, she prosecuted border crossers.”)
On Newsmax Radio, Leavitt claimed of Harris and Walz: “Neither of them, by the way, have had a real job in the outside world, outside of politics, and their entire careers.” Leavitt appeared on the August 12 edition of Newsmax Radio’s The Rob Carson Show and claimed without pushback: “Neither of them, by the way, have had a real job in the outside world, outside of politics in their entire careers. They are both career politicians. And if — who are you gonna trust to fix the economy and put more money in your pocketbook?”
On One America News, Trump campaign spokesperson Caroline Sunshine dismissed Harris as “a career politician. She's an actress, really.” Sunshine appeared on the August 12 edition of One America News’ Real America with Dan Ball and said of Harris saying she supports not taxing tips: “I mean, is she just gonna rip off the entire [Trump] platform? Because it's exactly what she is. She's a career politician. She's an actress, really. And she's a plagiarizer.” (Sunshine herself is a former actress.) Ball did not rebut the claims.
Sunshine said on Real America’s Voice that Harris has “never held a real job in her life.” While appearing on Real America’s Voice’s Stinchfield Tonight, Sunshine said that “Harris is a career politician. Never held a real job in her life. She morphs herself into whatever she thinks -- whatever given audience in front of her wants -- and she thinks that’s going to be enough. And she has the liberal mainstream media that is complicit in letting her do it.” Host Grant Stinchfield did not push back on the assertion.
Sunshine claimed Walz has “never held a real job in his life.” During an August 14 appearance on Real America’s Voice’s American Sunrise, as Raw Story documented, Sunshine claimed that Walz has “never held a real job in his life” and is a “career politician.” Co-hosts Terrence Bates, David Brody, and Gina Loudon did not challenge her claim.
On Fox Business, Trump adviser Art Laffer claimed Harris has “never had a real job.” Art Laffer is a right-wing commentator and Trump adviser who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the former president. He appeared on the August 14 edition of Fox Business’ The Big Money Show and claimed, “You have to remember that Vice President Harris has never had a real job. She’s been a trained lawyer and she’s been in politics all of her life. And everything that she has received in her life has come from government.”
On Fox Business, guest Adam Johnson claimed Walz is a “professional politician.” On the August 8 edition of Fox Business’ Varney & Company, as Media Matters previously noted, commentator Adam Johnson criticized Walz’s finances and said that he is a “professional politician.”