Why Kamala Harris Is Avoiding the Press and Keeping Quiet

The New Republic’s Alex Shephard has confirmed what all but the most myopic of political observers have by this point been forced to acknowledge: That it is the official strategy of the Kamala Harris for President campaign to “avoid the press at all costs, even when asked questions that should be layups.” “The Democratic ticket, or perhaps those who advise them,” Shephard wrote yesterday, “seem to believe that nothing good can come from talking to the media.” “If this sounds familiar,” he concludes, “it’s because President Biden employed the same media strategy in his reelection campaign. That didn’t work out so well for him — and it may not for Harris, either.”

This is all true. But Shephard’s conclusion — a conclusion that I have seen echoed fairly broadly across the left in recent weeks — is not. Harris’s silence is “troubling,” Shephard deduces, “because it suggests that the people running the Biden campaign still have influence in the Harris campaign.”

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Charles C. W. Cooke

Charles C. W. Cooke is a senior editor at National Review and the host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

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The New Republic’s Alex Shephard has confirmed what all but the most myopic of political observers have by this point been forced to acknowledge: That it is the official strategy of the Kamala Harris for President campaign to “avoid the press at all costs, even when asked questions that should be layups.” “The Democratic ticket, or perhaps those who advise them,” Shephard wrote yesterday, “seem to believe that nothing good can come from talking to the media.” “If this sounds familiar,” he concludes, “it’s because President Biden employed the same media strategy in his reelection campaign. That didn’t work out so well for him — and it may not for Harris, either.”

This is all true. But Shephard’s conclusion — a conclusion that I have seen echoed fairly broadly across the left in recent weeks — is not. Harris’s silence is “troubling,” Shephard deduces, “because it suggests that the people running the Biden campaign still have influence in the Harris campaign.”