Harris Walz Campaign Avoiding The Press, Attempting To ‘Ride On Vibes’

Kamala Harris has been the presumptive Democratic nominee for almost three weeks now, and has yet to make any substantive media appearances. While she has read off of teleprompters at rallies, she has taken zero adverserial questions from reporters, given no press conferences or interviews, and has only committed to one interview in August, and still hasn’t published a policy platform on her campaign website.

Her silence has been so staggering that mainstream media pundits and correspondents from outlets like CNN have repeatedly called her out.

Ron Fournier — who was once the Washington Bureau Chief for the Associated Press, and widely credited with shifting the publication’s long-established neutral tone and penchant for objectivity towards opinion — said it’s “political malpractice” and “not a good look for democracy.”

CNN Commentator S.E. Cupp said in a panel discussion, “It’s not a great look, acting as if you don‘t need the media, you don’t care about answering these questions. That you’re above it, that you can ride on vibes, and you know, they’re riding on vibes and I get that… And I believe that they will sit down with reporters, but they need to do it…they need to show that they’re tough enough to do that. And that they’re not too scared to do that. And the longer they take to sit down, the more scared they look.”

As expected, President Trump is taking full advantage of the opportunity, creating a win-win situation for himself. In her 2020 campaign and throughout her vice presidency, she made a number of major gaffes and blunders in interviews and public appearances. As Cupp mentioned, the longer she goes avoiding interviews and answering questions, the more afraid she looks. But when she finally does get in front of a camera without a teleprompter script, the Trump campaign is counting on that trend continuing, and harvesting soundbites that they’ll no doubt turn viral.

“She can’t talk to people. She can’t answer questions,” Trump said. “She hasn’t done one interview … she’s not doing any interviews because if she did one interview where a hard question’s asked, she’s incapable of answering it.”

“There’s a difference between visibility and accountability, and being visible is, is great. She’s not hiding. They’re out there, they’re doing rallies, they’re meeting with voters, they’re shaking hands they’re delivering one liners, that’s great. And I think Kamala Harris is giving Tim Walz a moment, as well, to introduce himself to the country. But they also need to be held accountable, accountable for their records, hers as vice president and senator, his as a governor and a representative in the House. And they need to be accountable for an agenda that they have yet to present. Voters do want to know, and especially those swing-state voters, guys.”

While CNN’s Van Jones defended her lack of serious engagement with the press or the American people, even he admitted that it wasn’t sustainable.