A recent CNN article attempts to portray the Trump-Vance campaign as bullies for pressuring Kamala Harris to hold a major media interview, a press conference, or answer questions from the press. In doing so, the article concedes that Harris is “vulnerable” in unscripted situations where she is expected to provide candid answers.
Harris, who has not faced a single press question since replacing Joe Biden as the top candidate on the Democratic ticket, has also yet to post a detailed policy platform on her campaign website. Her campaign messaging remains vague, focusing on concepts like “joy,” “the future,” and “democracy,” with little clarity on specific policy positions.
“In another front of its emerging offensive against Harris,” CNN notes, “the Trump campaign cranked up pressure on the vice president to do a major media interview, apparently hoping to goad her into a forum in which she’s historically been more vulnerable than when delivering scripted speeches.”
This issue came into sharp focus on Wednesday when JD Vance’s campaign plane, Trump Force 2, encountered Harris’s campaign plane on the tarmac in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Reporters were seen waiting to speak with Harris, but she did not approach them or take questions. In contrast, Vance took the opportunity to speak with the press, answered questions before giving a campaign speech, and then spent another 20 minutes taking questions after the speech.
“I think it’s really disgraceful, both for Kamala Harris but also for a lot of the American media that participates in this stuff, to have a person who has been the presumptive nominee of the Democrat Party for 17 days and refuses to take a single question from the American media,” Vance stated.
CNN acknowledges that “Harris, especially early in her vice presidency, sometimes waffled in interviews and unscripted moments,” but suggests that the Trump campaign is exploiting this vulnerability, stating that “the Trump campaign clearly sees this as a potential way to slow her strong start.”
Critics have echoed concerns that it is both disrespectful and unusual for Harris to avoid press engagements, run her campaign without addressing policy specifics, and rely primarily on abstract messaging. In contrast, Trump has participated in numerous interviews with both major outlets and smaller platforms, including YouTube streamers. Vance has also been accessible to the media, giving multiple interviews. Trump even announced a press conference at Mar-a-Lago for Thursday.
A report on Thursday suggested that Harris feels she is effectively communicating her message to the press through informal, off-the-record conversations with reporters who travel with her, rather than through formal press events.