By Leaders of the Harris campaign, which blew through a billion dollars, are now coming out of the woodwork to defend themselves. Jen O’Malley Dillon, campaign chair for Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 election bid, voiced frustration over claims that the campaign was hesitant to conduct interviews. Speaking on the “Pod Save America” podcast, O’Malley Dillon disputed criticism that Harris avoided the media, calling the narrative both inaccurate and unfair.
Harris faced scrutiny for delaying her first sit-down campaign interview until August 29, a month after announcing her candidacy. Critics pointed to the gap as a sign of reluctance to engage with the press, despite her more robust media appearances in October. O’Malley Dillon defended the campaign’s approach, emphasizing the challenges of navigating a packed schedule and the impact of external events like major hurricanes.
“We had to manage being the nominee, rolling out a running mate, and all the other logistical challenges,” O’Malley Dillon explained. “On top of that, hurricanes disrupted the news cycle, and this idea that we weren’t doing interviews just isn’t true.”
O’Malley Dillon argued that the media’s focus on Harris’ interview schedule created a false perception. “The narrative that we were afraid of interviews wasn’t just untrue; it was a distraction,” she said. “We conducted interviews in ways that aligned with our strategy, but this standard wasn’t applied to [former President Donald] Trump.”
The vice president’s media engagement did not escape criticism, noted The Daily Caller. Some voters and commentators questioned her perceived lack of authenticity and depth in responses during campaign appearances. An October interview on “The View,” in which Harris struggled to articulate how her administration would differ from President Joe Biden’s, drew particular backlash.
The View: “If anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past 4 years?”
Kamala: “There is not a thing that comes to mind in terms of and I’ve been a part of of of most of the decisions that have had impact.” pic.twitter.com/h8pJh0DMsw
— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) October 8, 2024
Harris campaign adviser Stephanie Cutter added that the tone of many interview questions hindered meaningful voter engagement. “The questions were dumb,” Cutter said, echoing O’Malley Dillon’s sentiment. “They didn’t inform voters or help them understand her policies.”
O’Malley Dillon acknowledged the campaign could have better communicated its strategy. “We should have been clearer about how we were reaching voters through podcasts and other nontraditional platforms,” she admitted. However, she remained critical of the double standards in media coverage, noting, “The narrative was completely false, and it created unnecessary obstacles that Trump never had to deal with.”
The two Harris advisers seemed to miss the “60 Minutes” interview, where she floundered so poorly that the typically staid news show had to edit her interviews in order to make them make sense.
This might be the worst television interview by a candidate in U.S. presidential history.
Bill Whitaker: “You’ve changed your positions so much that no one believes anything.”
Harris: “Well, I’m the vice president and I travel a lot.”pic.twitter.com/5T33OawnD5
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) October 8, 2024
She also struggled greatly when she’d sit down with local media for interviews, performing so poorly in a Philadelphia interview that the station had to edit her answers.
During the campaign, Mark Halperin pointed out that Harris clearly didn’t do interviews because, despite being vice president, she was incapable of defending her flip-flops or discussing policy positions.
Donald Trump won a second term to the White House by improving with almost every demographic in the country, according to Forbes.
“A majority of counties that swung Democratic for Joe Biden in 2020 flipped back to the Republicans on Tuesday night, with Trump increasing his margin of support in rural sectors and Harris underperforming in Democratic-supporting areas.
Even in demographics she won—like among women, Black men and young voters—Harris conceded votes to Trump and won by a narrower margin than Hillary Clinton did in 2016 or President Joe Biden did in 2020.”
[Read More: Trump Lays Down The Hammer]
