Harris campaign advisers worry about publicly releasing “thorny details” of their economic plan because the specifics might backfire upon the campaign, several people familiar with the discussions told the Wall Street Journal.
The media expects Vice President Kamala Harris to deliver remarks on Friday about a newly devised economic plan that will fix the administration’s approach, though she is not expected to take any questions. Harris has not delivered an unscripted press conference in 24 days since joining the presidential race.Only one in four voters rated the economy under the Biden-Harris administration as “excellent” or “good,” a Financial Times and University of Michigan Ross School of Business poll found Monday.
🚨SINCE HARRIS TOOK OFFICE
— Jacki Kotkiewicz (@jackikotkiewicz) August 14, 2024
Gas: +50.5%
Electricity: +31.7%
Fuel oil: +49.1%
Airfare: +22.6%
Hotels: +51.2%
Groceries: +21.6%
Eating out: +23%
Baby food: +30.1%
K-12 food: +65.5%
Rent: +22%
Transportation: +32.9%
Car insurance: +54%
Real average weekly earnings: -3.9%
Harris’s plan is “unlikely” to break with Biden on substance, advisers told the Journal, underscoring a dilemma Harris faces atop the Democrat ticket.
“Instead, they expect small shifts in emphasis that highlight her résumé and priorities” to hide the details of her agenda “amid concerns from some Democrats that releasing a lengthy plan could open the vice president up to criticism from Republicans and members of her party,” the Journal reported:
The media has 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.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.The policy framework is expected to outline broad policy areas she supports, while avoiding many of the thorny details. Aides said they want her agenda to provide a contrast with Trump without reading like a think tank white paper.
Harris’s ascension to the top of the ticket has energized Democrats and some allies have cautioned against doing anything that could slow that momentum, including lengthy interviews with media outlets.
“There’s already uncertainty with just what does she believe, what she would do,” Jeff Nobers, executive director of Pittsburgh Works Together, told the Washington Post about Harris’s promise to ban fracking. “And if she doesn’t support a ban on fracking, what is her energy policy plan?”
Karine Jean-Pierre vehemently denies Kamala wants to "distance herself" from Bidenomics — the disastrous set of policies that brought historic inflation and sky-high prices to the American people pic.twitter.com/c4IZ5SeoEz
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 14, 2024
“Kamala needs to stop insulting the intelligence of voters and speak for herself to explain why she is running from every liberal policy she has ever supported,” the Trump campaign’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt ripped Harris in a statement. “The mainstream media needs to stop being complicit in her lies and demand answers.”
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.
