Kamala to Finally Answer Questions ... From Reporter Who Didn't Want to Ask

Townhall Media

We have good news, bad news, and worse news this morning from the Unbearable Lightness of Team Kamala. First, the good news: After spending more than two months avoiding a one-on-one interview with a national media outlet, Kamala Harris will do a TV interview at 7 pm ET tonight.

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The bad news: It's on MSNBC. Stephanie Ruhle will anchor and interview Harris, and it's not even clear how long it will last:

MSNBC‘s Stephanie Ruhle will interview Kamala Harris this evening for for a one-on-one interview, the vice president’s first such sit down with a national network since becoming the Democratic nominee.

The interview, from Pittsburgh, will air at 7 p.m. ET on a special two-hour edition of All In with Chris Hayes.

Note well that just because the show will run two hours doesn't mean the interview will. CNN dedicated an hour to its interview with Harris and her Emotional Support Running Mate Tim Walz back in August, the last (and only) interview Harris has done as nominee. Dana Bash and CNN had to stretch 26 minutes of actual interview time -- with Walz providing between six and eight minutes of that -- across the hour. CNN padded it with commentary, promos, and eventually ran out of gas with about ten minutes left. 

Neither MSNBC nor Deadline use the word "live" in their releases, either. This likely got conducted already and is in the edit process as we speak. That was true of CNN's interview too, as well as the one Harris conducted with an ABC affiliate in Philadelphia last week. Even with the edits, Harris couldn't answer questions about specific policies or proposals, offering Brian Taff word salads instead about her middle-class upbringing. 

But wait, some readers may say, didn't she do a live Q&A with Oprah Winfrey last week? Yes she did, but Deadline correctly calls it a "campaign event":

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Harris was interviewed last week by Oprah Winfrey as part of a town hall in Milwaukee, but that was a campaign event, as the talk host has endorsed her and spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

That brings us to the worse news. As Mary Chastain points out at Legal Insurrection, Harris has also been publicly endorsed by Stephanie Ruhle. In fact, Ruhle argued on the most recent Real Time with Bill Maher that Harris shouldn't have to answer questions at all. In a heated exchange with Bret Stephens that Chastain transcribed, Ruhle argued that Trump is so awful that Harris should get everyone's vote by default:

STEPHENS: Ask her , no George W. Bush 25 years ago was asked if he could name the president of Pakistan and other people. He had no idea. And people said, this guy has no command of of a foreign policy and it turned out to be oppression. Set of questions. It’s not too much to ask. Communists say, are you for a Palestinian state if Hamas is going to run that state? Okay. Yes or no.

RUHLE: And let’s say you don’t like her answer. Are you going to vote for Donald Trump?

STEPHENS: No, I’m not. I’m just said I’m not going to vote for him.

RUHLE: Kamala Harris isn’t running for perfect. She’s running against Trump. We have two choices. And so there are some things you might not know her answer to. And in 2024, unlike 2016, for a lot of the American people, we know exactly what Trump will do, who he is and the kind of threat he is to democracy.

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And finally at the end, after this clip, Ruhle makes it clear where she stands:

STEPHENS: Yes. Give it to me. Pass it over. And the little treat is a substantive answer on real questions facing the American people on inflation, immigration, foreign policy. Basic things that we used to expect presidential candidates could answer.

RUHLE: Then I would just say that did you ever play the game “Would You Rather?” Because that is what voting for the president is. Okay?

Gee, I bet tonight's questions will be super tough, eh? The first question will likely be, "Is it true that you grew up in a middle-class household?" And questions 2-10 will be variations of "How bad is the Orange Man for democracy?" 

Bear in mind that this exchange took place this weekend. Only in the NBC News organization would a reporter who publicly declared her support for a presidential candidate and argued that the candidate didn't owe voters any answers about her policy agenda get assigned to interview the candidate they endorsed.

Actually, that might not be an exclusive trait at NBC News. Most Protection Racket Media orgs would do the same, and do it in reality, especially in this cycle. They then spend their time trying to kneecap critics and competition by claiming that dissent is "misinformation," and pushing to get their political opponents censored. 

That's why it's so important to support independent platforms that try to hold politicians and the Protection Racket Media accountable. We have to operate independently from Big Tech platforms as well, and find ways to speak out even as advertisers get intimidated in the marketplace. Our VIP and VIP Gold members make all of this possible, and in supporting us, become part of the conversation here and at other Townhall Media sites, too. 

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As for tonight, I'll catch it after it airs, since we have other commitments for the evening. If Ruhle gets any substance out of Harris, I'd be shocked -- and predict that it would be entirely accidental. 

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David Strom 4:40 PM | October 07, 2024
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