NBC News’ chief political analyst Chuck Todd cautioned that Vice President Kamala Harris was making her “first big mistake” by not being more accessible to the media.
This decision, he said, is “raising the stakes” and increasing the level of scrutiny that will inevitably be applied to each of her appearances.
“Let me start with the first big mistake of the Harris campaign since she took over as the Democratic nominee. They have now raised the stakes for her first sitdown interview,” Todd wrote
Chuck Todd: Kamala Harris should set aside one day a week for interviews https://t.co/Nxfqj5GMF5
— The Hill (@thehill) August 29, 2024
Todd argued that because Harris had made a point of avoiding media questions, people would be scrutinizing every little comment and inflection even more closely.
“More words and phrases will get scrutinized simply because the campaign and the candidate are behaving as if doing these interviews is about as interesting to them as visiting the dentist’s office,” he added.
Todd further explained that Trump had taken a completely different approach—answering questions even from media outlets and reporters he knew would likely be hostile toward him—operating on the belief that “all publicity is good publicity.”
WATCH: Chuck Todd warns the Kamala Harris campaign that by avoiding interviews until tonight’s CNN sit-down, she is raising the stakes:
"More words and phrases will get scrutinized simply because the campaign and the candidate are behaving as if doing these interviews is about… pic.twitter.com/ABI7saIj00
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) August 29, 2024
“I know many Democrats have an allergy to all things Trump, but the one thing I thought more candidates would learn from his initial campaign in 2016 is that he viewed all media as good for him, whether he thought the interviewer was a friendly, a neutral or an opponent,” Todd explained. “When he said something outrageous or controversial during one sit-down, he’d do something entirely newsy (and just as notable) in another that would essentially dilute the impact of all of his interviews.”
America, Kamala is lying to you.
Kamala claims her "values have not changed" but she's flip-flopped on every major policy item she supported in 2019 & as Vice President.
Kamala has been a far-left politician for 20+years & her voting record was farther-left than Bernie Sanders. pic.twitter.com/zzNzVRzJkS
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) August 30, 2024
So far in the 2024 campaign, Trump and his running mate JD Vance seem to be employing a similar strategy. Vance, for instance, has participated in several solo interviews since being chosen as the Republican vice presidential nominee by Trump. In contrast, Harris has not yet conducted her first solo interview; instead, she plans to participate in a pre-taped, joint interview with her running mate, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN), hosted by the supportive CNN anchor Dana Bash.
