Kamala Harris is not a uniting candidate. She’s even dividing her own base.
As now a Clinton advisor has skewered Harris by using this one word to describe her behavior.
The decision from Kamala Harris and her allies to keep her away from the free press is backfiring big time. Her honeymoon is over and now even her own base is asking questions about what type of candidate she actually is. What does the Harris campaign actually stand for? They’ve been extremely quiet so far, as Kamala Harris has provided the press no unscripted interview.
That’s unprecedented at this point in a Presidential election. Sure, it was unprecedented too for an incumbent President to drop out of the election just weeks before being officially nominated by the incumbent’s political Party. But there’s been plenty of time since for Kamala Harris to find some time for interviews and unscripted press conferences.
Former Bill Clinton adviser Mark Penn criticized Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday, calling her campaign strategy undemocratic. Penn’s remarks center on Harris avoiding media engagement and committing to only one presidential debate. Since launching her campaign in July, Harris has yet to participate in any interviews or press conferences, and her campaign website lacks policy details. Her only confirmed debate is scheduled for September 10 on ABC News.
Speaking on America’s Newsroom, Penn warned that Harris’ approach could lead to an uninformed electorate, undermining the democratic process. “I don’t know what kind of interview people do in these last couple of days here that’s going to be meaningful and set up going into the Labor Day weekend,” Penn commented.
“I suppose everything gets pushed online, but look, I think it’s unacceptable for candidates to go this period. In my book, there should be three presidential debates, not one. There should be position papers, not a donate page on your website. And you should be before the press every two or three days because if voters are not informed, then it’s not a democracy with real votes.”
'Not A Democracy': Former Clinton Adviser Says Harris Ducking Media And Debates Is 'Unacceptable' pic.twitter.com/bi1YkhNXG4
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 26, 2024
Harris emerged as the Democratic nominee in July after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed her, despite her limited support during the primaries.
On Monday, radio host Charlamagne Tha God also weighed in, attributing the heightened scrutiny Harris faces to the circumstances of her nomination and the condensed timeline of her campaign. “She didn’t give an interview for three weeks. You know why everybody made that such a big deal? Because she only had 90-plus days to win,” Charlamagne said. “Now she got 70-plus days to win. Because of the nature of her campaign and how she became the nominee, that’s why she’s going to get even more scrutiny.”
NewsNation host Chris Cuomo offered a similar perspective during his Thursday podcast, suggesting that Harris is being shielded from the press because of perceived vulnerabilities. “They don’t want to put her in front of the media, but that teaches us something also,” Cuomo remarked.
“You don’t want to put her in front of the media because you think there’s risk in that. Wouldn’t have done that with Bill Clinton, they wouldn’t have done that with Hillary Clinton, they wouldn’t have done that with Barack Obama, because they felt there was no risk about putting those people in the chair. So here they do see some risk.”
As the campaign heats up, the limited media access and cautious approach adopted by Harris continue to draw criticism, raising questions about transparency and the role of public engagement in democratic elections.
Will Kamala Harris Step Forward, Please?
There are concerns that Kamala Harris will make very few, if any, unscripted apperances with members of the press before the election even wraps up on election day in November. The reason that’s a valid concern is because everyone knows Kamala Harris doesn’t do well when she doesn’t have her scripted talking points.
When Kamala Harris has to go off the cuff, which is what the job of President of the United States entails, she falls flat on her face. Here’s just one example where she claimed that 230 million Americans died during the pandemic panic.
Kamala Harris: “220 million Americans have died from COVID.”
Just to give you an idea of how mind-blowing dumb her claim was, there’s about 320 million people in America. pic.twitter.com/VoyPdo6Quz
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) August 25, 2024
When she’s asked a question to which she doesn’t have a ready-made answer, she starts talking about nonsense unlike anything you’ve ever heard in your life.
Kamala Harris is asked what would happen if Donald Trump becomes president and rolls back all the DEI programs. She waffles. Endlessly. While nervously scratching her face. It's incredible. pic.twitter.com/t72RDffoKT
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) August 26, 2024
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
