The most powerful media organizations in the world have failed to interview Vice President Kamala Harris for 23 straight days after she joined the presidential race on July 21.
The lack of interviews runs counter to the multitude of interviews the media typically conduct when candidates enter presidential races. It also runs counter to how the media handle former President Donald Trump, who often sits for unscripted events with unfriendly journalists.The media have not interviewed Harris on television since June 24, 2024. The last time the press reportedly questioned her at a solo news conference was eight months ago — on December 2, 2023.
Only a few reports from Monday recount Harris’s lack of unscripted interviews, much less any headlines that openly ripped her for failing to sit for a primetime interview after receiving the nomination.
Democrats believe the media’s apparent lack of interest in questioning Harris about her record benefits her.
“Why would we start talking about policy?” one Democrat lawmaker told Politico Playbook on Monday about Harris’s ability to avoid the spotlight.
“We’re actually better off just running on this real wave of enthusiasm and energy. … It’s the best thing [Harris] can do,” the lawmaker said.
“Values unite, and specific policies divide,” a senior Democrat aide admitted. “So, I don’t think there is a desire to spend the next 80 days litigating Medicare for All, for example.”
One reason Harris could be running a “basement” media strategy is to navigate policy debates within her own party. Anonymous campaign aides reportedly flipped-flopped on five of her radical-left policies, such as socialized medicine and fracking.
More is here on Harris’s radical record.
Trump, meanwhile, often conducts unscripted interviews. In August, he sat down with Breitbart News for a wide-ranging interview. On Monday, Trump also participated in an unscripted discussion with X owner Elon Musk.
“Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself — self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024,” Harris campaign spokesperson Joseph Costello said in a statement about the Musk interview.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
