It had been 37 days since Kamala Harris started running for president. That means it has also been 37 days since she has spoken to the media in any meaningful way.
While the vice president claimed she wanted her team to get an interview on the books by the end of August, the month is quickly coming to a close and nothing has been announced. Instead, Politico is now reporting that there is a lot of consternation behind the scenes in the Harris camp surrounding the media strategy – or lack thereof.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Stu Burguiere, host of BlazeTV’s Stu Does America, and Stephen L. Miller, host of Versus Media, to discuss the reporting and why the Harris campaign is likely keeping the press at bay.
The Reporting
It was just about three weeks ago on a tarmac in Detroit that Harris tried to quiet her critics by telling reporters she was ready to talk. “I’ve talked to my team,” she said. “I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month.”
The end of August is now days away and there is not yet an interview or press conference on the calendar. Instead, she has yet to add a ‘platform’ section to her official website and has continued delivering scripted remarks at campaign events. The one policy she has put forth was a much-maligned economic plan that involved price controls.
All of this led Politico Playbook to admit Harris “scripted, light-on-policy candidacy has become an issue” – especially when compared to Donald Trump who “has stepped up the pace of his interviews, partially to highlight the gap.”
According to Politico, members of the Harris campaign have been taking the unprecedented step of “asking reporters who they think she should talk to,” as producers for top anchors “have been calling the campaign to pitch their talent as the person she has to do it with.”
There are apparently internal politics that are leading to questions about who is calling the shots in Harris’ world. Politico reported “there are some tensions” between the campaign’s senior adviser for communications, Brain Fallon, and the communications director from Harris’ official office, Kirsten Allen.
Additionally, former members of the Biden and Obama teams who are now advising or working with Harris reportedly want a say. Also in the mix? Harris’ sister and brother in law, who Politico said “will weigh in with their own views.” There is also the all-important question, according to the piece, of what the actual goal of the sit-down should be.
In the meantime, Politico reported that Harris is keeping “a light schedule” in the wake of officially accepting her party’s nomination and has been “using the time not just to prepare for her September 10 debate with Trump, but to map out a media strategy for the next few weeks.”
Harris vs. Trump
Megyn said the reporting is remarkable. “She is having full strategy meetings with outside media about what she should do; she can’t function as vice president; all she can do is plan her media strategy,” she noted. “But Trump is supposedly the one who is chicken about this debate?!”
As she explained, all the hand-wringing stands in sharp contrast to Trump. “I will say this just as a point of comparison… I saw Trump a year ago… at a Charlie Kirk Turning Point event… we had a private hello… I said, ‘I’d love to sit with you for an interview,’ he said, ‘Okay, we’ll do it,’ and then he did it,” Megyn recalled. “That was it. There wasn’t a team of managers… He made the call.”
Unlike Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, who have only interviewed each other, Burguiere pointed out that Trump and his VP pick, Sen. J.D. Vance, have shown they are willing to talk to anyone. “That type of attitude… should be required… You should be able to and be willing to go out there and do that,” he said. “You can’t ask reporters which world leader you’re going to meet with when they’re threatening to nuke you. You have to be able to be quick on your feet, and Kamala Harris has shown the exact opposite trait for her entire career.”
But she may be able to get away with it because, Burguiere concluded, “the media is going to do everything they can to hide her until November.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Burguiere and Miller by tuning in to episode 871 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.