On Monday’s NewsNight, CNN’s Abby Phillip contended that Vice President Kamala Harris’s “last-minute trip” to the border between the United States and Mexico, planned for Friday, while on a trip to Arizona, demonstrates that the Democratic nominee understands she needs to “do something” about immigration.
Republicans, including the former president Donald Trump, have blamed Harris on several occasions for the recent spike in border crossings. President Joe Biden assigned Harris the duty of looking at the underlying causes of migration early in his presidency.
According to Phillip, the choice was made in response to an NBC News survey that revealed respondents thought former President Donald Trump would be “better on the issue” with Harris behind Trump by 21 points on the policy question.
“She’s hoping to change the narrative that she’s soft on immigration,” the host said.
Panelists disagreed on whether filming at the border would “fix it,” while some defended the notion as they discussed the specifics of the decision.
To “float above” the discussions, Phillip continued, criticizing Harris’s stance on immigration and other important policy matters.
One of the things about this moment, I mean, the Harris campaign has just been trying to float above it all, to float above the immigration arguments, float above some of the nitty-gritty details on some of this policy. But this shows that they realized they have to do something.
Meanwhile, another left-leaning mainstream media out, CNBC, also turned on Harris yesterday:
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), a co-chair of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, was questioned extensively on Tuesday on Harris’s dearth of interviews and media appearances in comparison to her rivals who are Republicans.
Joe Kernen, Andrew Ross Sorkin, and Rebecca Quick all questioned Harris’s media approach when Coons spoke on Squawk Box on Tuesday. Kernen claimed Harris’s campaign was employing a “rope-a-dope” tactic, which is boxers’ way of goading their opponent into wearing them out with ineffective blows by appearing exhausted and caught up on the ropes.
“If she would come on, we could get answers to a lot of these things,” Kernen said after Sorkin tried and failed to get further specifics on Harris’s economic policies. “And I’m just wondering, as a campaign surrogate who advises the campaign, there is an effort to rope-a-dope this thing right until the election, in my view, and the other side’s done 40 or 50 interviews with JD Vance. I don’t think I have to take my shoes off to count on my fingers and toes how many interviews she’s done, along with Gov. Walz, and that looks like a deliberate effort just not to face the hard questions.”
Kernen questioned whether voters may turn against this mostly avoidance of national media tactics. In comparison to when her campaign first started, Harris has increased her engagement with the media. She recently participated in interviews with local media outlets, the National Association of Black Journalists (NAJB), and Oprah Winfrey, who is one of her supporters.
Coons stood up for Harris, arguing that many of her particular views might be discussed in a rematch with the outgoing president Trump. However, Trump has stated he is not open to rematching. On Saturday, Harris accepted an October debate offer from CNN.
Kernen wondered if voters would rebel against this largely avoidance of strategies in the national media. Harris’s interaction with the media has grown since the beginning of her campaign. She recently took part in interviews with Oprah Winfrey, a fan of hers, the National Association of Black Journalists (NAJB), and local media outlets.
Coons defended Harris, saying that a rematch with outgoing President Trump may address many of her specific viewpoints. Trump, though, has declared that he is not interested in rematching. Harris accepted CNN’s invitation to debate in October on Saturday.
Coons continued, saying that Harris is a far more reliable candidate for president than Trump, but Kernen steered the discussion back to the media.
“The answer is she’s too busy?! That should be in a stack list… that would be number one for my stack list is to be transparent and open about what my plans are if I’m elected president. That’s what I would be doing,” Kernen declared.
“If you watch any of those dozens of interviews of JC Vance and Donald Trump, I have it, I have a really hard time tracking the line because it goes all over the place.That tells you something,” he said.
Quick questioned the veracity of some of Harris’s media appearances, particularly her interview with Winfrey, who strongly backed her candidacy and spoke well of Harris at the DNC.
“To do something like Oprah, who’s a surrogate, along with all of the actors that go along with it. And look, you can say the same thing about some of the places president former President Trump has chosen to go. It’s just I don’t know, maybe I’m old and cranky. I just feel like I know less about these candidates than I do at any point in any presidential election in the past,” Quick said.
Check out the full exchange below:
JOE KERNEN: “If she would come on, we could get answers to a lot of these things. And I’m just wondering, as a surrogate who advises the campaign, there is an effort to rope-a-dope this thing to the election, in my view. And the other side’s done 40 or 50 interviews with JD Vance, which I think I don’t have to take my shoes off to count on my fingers and toes how many interviews that that she’s done alone with with with Governor Walz, and that looks like a deliberate effort just not to face the hard questions and to try to — I think Americans might finally say, you know, I don’t like the way this is working. I think Andrew was getting at that in another way, that we would like to know something. We’d like to see questions asked and answers provided for all these things. And we may never get that. We only got 40 days left.”
CHRIS COONS: “We just had Vice President Harris say, yes, let’s do another presidential debate and Donald Trump say no. And you have to agree that a nationally televised, hour long debate is one way to answer a lot of direct questions.”
KERNEN: “So is just sitting down with an interview with with anyone.”
COONS: “And one of the concerns I’ve heard, I’m here in New York for the UN General Assembly, I’ve met with heads of state from South America, from Africa, from Europe, from Asia, foreign ministers, defense ministers, heads of state. All of them have questions about the reliability of the United States and our relationships with core allies. That’s one of the key factors I also hope voters will take into account, is that Donald Trump promised he would be an unconventional president and he overperformed.”
KERNEN: “But the answer is she’s too busy?! That should be in a stack list. I got to learn how to use the term stack list. That would be number one for my stack list is to be transparent and open about what my plans are if I’m elected president. That’s what I would be doing.”
COONS: “If you watch any of those dozens of interviews of JC Vance and Donald Trump, I have it, I have a really hard time tracking the line because it goes all over the place.That tells you something. What you’re learning about Vice President Harris is that she’s cautious, thoughtful, responsible, and isn’t just throwing out ideas every day.”
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: “But there is a political calculus on her on her side in her campaign right now about how much to be out there or not. The focus appears to almost be a local kind of campaign, right? Seven states.”
COONS: “We’ve got seven states that are going to decide the next president.”
SORKIN: “The rest of the country almost doesn’t matter. No, no. I would say that her campaign seems to approach it that way. There’s seven states. We hear about those seven states. We care about nothing else.”
COONS: “You know it’s not at all true that they care about nothing else, but in terms of answering media questions, if you are in one of those seven states, yes. She just did a long interview in Wisconsin with public radio in Wisconsin. Yes. And is not doing interviews in New York City. I wouldn’t recommend that she come spend time in New York City campaigning. I do recommend that she spends more time answering questions. I thought a presidential debate was a great way to do it. We’ve got a vice presidential debate coming up early next week, and it’s going to be a doozy.”
REBECCA QUICK: “To do something like Oprah, who’s a surrogate, along with all of the actors that go along with it. And look, you can say the same thing about some of the places president former President Trump has chosen to go. It’s just I don’t know, maybe I’m old and cranky. I just feel like I know less about these candidates than I do at any point in any presidential election in the past.”
