There Is a Trump Double Standard, But Kamala Harris Still Owes It to Americans To Speak to the Press
The media rightly wants the Democratic nominee to grant an in-depth interview or hold a wide-open news conference, even as the Republican candidate rants and raves at them.
I value the interviews I’ve had with all our recent presidents: George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and, last fall, Joe Biden. I hope to interview Kamala Harris myself.
So do the political journalists who have converged in Chicago to cover Harris’ nominating convention. At the same time, Democrats want the journalists to hector her Republican opponent, Trump, the way they have hectored President Biden.
Neither one, to borrow from Mick Jagger, will get no satisfaction.
Since becoming the Democratic candidate, Harris hasn’t granted an in-depth interview or held a wide-open news conference. She should. Probing conversations help voters with their choices.
Even the loudest critics of political journalism’s flaws – inordinate focus on polls, process, and trivia – acknowledge the importance of candidates taking their questions.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence that the broken White House press corps would skillfully elicit the answers to…germane questions if given the chance,” Margaret Sullivan, who has chronicled press foibles for the Washington Post and New York Times, wrote in The Guardian. “But Harris should show that she understands that in a democracy, the press – at least in theory – represents the public.”
I have no doubt Harris will do that when her campaign decides the time is right. But the amount of access will never be enough for reporters because she’s trying to win the election.
So far, she’s had a little more than four weeks to take center stage, select a running mate, and plan her convention. After the DNC concludes this week, 73 days will remain before Election Day.
She has surged into the lead over Trump. Sustaining momentum requires a relentless focus on contrasts she wants to draw: old vs. new, past vs. future, rich vs. middle-class, fear vs. hope. It does not require explaining her shifts on issues since 2020, her interactions with Biden before he quit the race, or her early attempts as vice president to stem illegal border crossings.
Her answers would make headlines for a media outlet and gratify the ego of the reporter involved. But they probably wouldn’t help her beat Trump. That’s why Republicans demand she take questions as loudly as journalists do.
In reality, after her eight years as senator and vice president, there’s little mystery about the broad outlines of her positions on taxes, spending, health care, abortion, climate change, guns, and voting rights. Details matter little until the next Congress takes shape and shows what’s possible.
What matters more to her prospects – and has driven Trump crazy – are the images of cheering throngs at her campaign rallies.
Democrats hardly feel inclined to make nice with reporters anyway.