Close Menu

Critics Pounce On Harris For Repeating Joe Biden’s 2020 Strategy

By ELECTION 2024

Critics have been pointing out for days that handlers for Vice President Kamala Harris appear to have adopted Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign strategy of hiding out and not speaking to reporters. Harris has not held a formal press conference for 14 days since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee as of Sunday.

Harris announced on July 22 that she had secured the Democratic nomination, with commitments from the majority of nearly 4,000 delegates for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Since then, she has been actively campaigning, speaking at various events, and engaging with reporters, but she has yet to hold a formal press conference or a comprehensive interview in the 13 days following her announcement, Fox News reported.



Harris also missed the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, where former President Trump made headlines on Wednesday with a contentious Q&A session. On Thursday, she made a brief appearance at Joint Base Andrews, where she and President Biden welcomed Americans freed from Russia in a major prisoner swap, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. But those comments were widely panned as being more of the same kind of “word salad” Americans are used to hearing from Harris.

“This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy and strengthening alliances,” Harris said at the time. “This is an incredible day.”

WATCH:

Harris, who secured the likely nomination without a single primary vote after President Biden announced his decision to step aside last month, has been so elusive that The New York Times published excerpts from an interview she conducted last year to gauge how her responses might have evolved. Following Biden’s surprising announcement, much of the Democratic Party—including governors, senators, House members, and party leaders—quickly rallied behind Harris. However, critics have begun to point out that Harris has yet to face tough questions since then.

National Review senior writer Noah Rothman asked his social media followers on Wednesday, “When is Kamala Harris going to hold a press conference?” And the RNC Research account on X noted on Wednesday that she has only done “teleprompter speeches,” while conservative pundit Ben Shapiro said Harris “has not answered ONE difficult question in the last week and a half.”

NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham anticipates that Harris will emulate President Biden’s 2020 strategy, during which he was notably criticized for staying in his basement amid the COVID pandemic. “Kamala Harris should absolutely hold a press conference. One would expect it when she names her vice-presidential pick. But we cannot expect her to break from Biden’s serial avoidance of press conferences,” Graham told Fox News Digital.

“Since the 2020 campaign, we have witnessed the bizarre spectacle of Donald Trump granting wide access to networks that suggest he’s a fascist and hammer him daily, while Biden and Harris won’t grant interviews to media outlets that gurgle all over them and their ‘historic accomplishments,’” he continued. “Either they think the press can never be servile enough or they are projecting a complete lack of confidence in their efforts to put complete sentences together.”

DePauw University media studies professor Jeffrey McCall said the Harris campaign is no doubt “well aware that Biden dodged the media throughout his 2020 campaign and still got elected.” He added: “The Harris camp is also well aware that their candidate doesn’t do well in unscripted settings, not to mention that a presser or legitimate sit-down interview would necessarily require her to defend some of her positions, previous statements and record. Thus, a rerun of the Biden basement campaign sounds pretty good, as long as you throw in a couple of rallies with Megan Thee Stallion.”

“The supporters rallying around her don’t expect her to be accountable and have little interest in her policy positions and so on. That she’s not Biden, or Trump, is sufficient for those supporters,” McCall said.  “From a rhetorical strategy standpoint, however, it would behoove Harris to actually do a presser and do real journalistic interviews,” he continued.  “At some point, it would seem, she’ll have to attract moderates or undecided voters who want to see her take questions.”





Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.