MSNBC co-host Michael Steele chastised the media for "whining" about Vice President Kamala Harris’ limited engagement with the press, wondering Saturday if she can bypass reporters entirely and make her case to the public "without them."
During a Saturday interview on MSNBC’s "The Weekend," Steele defended Harris for largely avoiding the media since ascending as the Democratic nominee and accused reporters of treating former President Trump with kid gloves during his press conference last week.
"What has struck me since Donald Trump’s press conference is the sort of highbrow nature of the press coming at Kamala Harris," Steele said. "Saying, in my view, whining, that ‘she doesn’t talk to us. She hasn’t done a sit down with us. She hasn’t done interviews with us.’ And I watch that press conference and I go, ‘Well, you start actually asking real questions of Donald Trump, and pressing him, then that sort of creates a space of balance.'"
MSNBC'S MICHAEL STEELE ACCUSED OF PUSHING ‘CONSPIRACY THEORIES’ AFTER QUESTIONING TRUMP'S EAR WOUND
Harris is facing mounting pressure to answer questions from the media after spending just two minutes last Thursday engaging with reporters. Prior to that, Harris went 18 days without speaking to the press and continues to dodge formal media engagements.
Pointing to polling that shows Harris currently leading in battleground states, Steele wondered whether it would even benefit the vice president to do any formal interviews from now until November.
"At what point do you say strategically, ‘Why do I need to talk to you right now? I’m talking to the American people and we’re having a conversation. You’re happy to follow it and to report on it,'" Steele said.
"You know she’s going to sit down at some point. But right now, is there a real need for her to sort of get the imprimatur of the press on her campaign and her efforts when she’s having a very good conversation, seemingly, with the American people without them?" he went on.
Harris answered a handful of questions on the airport tarmac while campaigning in Michigan on Thursday, an informal press engagement that lasted roughly two minutes. When one reporter asked her to respond to criticism about her lack of interviews or formal press conferences since she became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Harris replied, "I've talked to my team. I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month."
NOTUS reporter Jasmine Wright told MSNBC later Thursday that Harris' past "damaging moments" are on her team's mind as they deliberately keep her away from the press.
"We’ve seen some, kind of, damaging moments when speaking to the press, particularly that first interview she did in 2021 with Lester Holt about her work on immigration," Wright said of the infamous moment when Harris scrambled as she was pressed on visiting the southern border.
Over the weekend, a major liberal media outlet published a piece calling on journalists to press Harris on questions about her policies so that voters know where she stands with November drawing near.
The New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian King wrote that Harris’ campaign strategy involves her staying away from the press and waiting for former President Trump to make a mistake. However, he argued that it is the media’s job not to let the Democratic candidate get away with hiding prior to potentially assuming the most powerful office in the world.
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"It's the job of the press in a healthy democracy to make sure that voters know whom they’re supporting. An unexamined candidate can become anything, and can work under the influence of anyone, when they assume power," he wrote.
Trump held a lengthy news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. His campaign branded the presser as a "stark contrast" to Harris' lack of media availability.
