Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz walk onstage for a campaign rally at the Fiserv Forum on August 20, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. | Source: Anna Moneymaker / Getty
The Trump campaign is apparently projecting its own fears onto Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign after it was announced that the Democratic presidential nominee would be sitting down for an interview with CNN on Thursday.
Harris has recently faced Republican-led false accusations of ducking the media and refusing to answer so-called “tough” questions. So when it was announced that not only did she grant CNN an interview but it would also be conducted alongside her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Trump Campaign moved its proverbial goalpost of outrage to disingenuously claim that the vice presidential candidate’s inclusion was evidence Harris was “scared” of going at it alone.
The kicker is, though, that it doesn’t take much research to show that presidential candidates being interviewed with their running mates is all but a tradition. In fact, that tradition includes Republican candidates like Donald Trump, who did the very same thing with his then-running mate, former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, before they were elected in 2016.
It was in that context that the Trump campaign said in an email that Harris “is clearly scared to do an interview on her own.”
The Trump campaign even went so far as to compile a list of questions it said CNN “must ask” Harris. One of the questions is whether Harris is “capable of lowering prices for Americans” and accused her of failing to do so despite the Biden administration’s historic Inflation Reduction Act that capped the rising cost of insulin.
So there’s that.
Other Trump supporters like conservative pundit Meghan McCain jumped on that disabled bandwagon to push the false narrative of “how damaging the image of the possible first woman president being incapable of giving an interview alone without the presence of a man to help her.”
McCain was quickly shut down after a photo of her father, former Republican presidential nominee and Arizona Sen. John McCain, and his running mate Sarah Palin showed them participating in the same kind of joint interview that Harris and Walz are doing with CNN.
In truth, though, the only role gender plays in this matter is seemingly one of misogyny/misogynoir that has nothing to do with the tradition of presidential candidates and their running mates participating in joint interviews.
Another truth is that Harris’ interview with CNN fulfills her promise to do so before the month of August ends. Harris has only been a presidential candidate for a little more than a month since Biden dropped out of the race.
Aside from Trump and Pence and McCain and Palin being guilty of the same alleged offense, so, too, was former Republican nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, ahead of the 2012 election.
Oh, and did we mention that Trump has also conducted an interview with his own 2024 running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance?
Democrats have done the same, too, including candidate Barack Obama with running mate Joe Biden in 2008 and Biden with Harris in 2020.
In that context, the suggestion that Harris was “scared” to be interviewed alone is laughable.
On the notion that Harris was dodging “tough” questions from the media, that same energy has never been extended to Trump, who all but refuses to answer any questions in favor of rambling in non-sequiturs that have been accused of being evidence of the 78-year-old’s alleged cognitive decline.
Walter M. Kimbrough, the former president of Dillard University, an HBCU, made the same point in a social media post that specifically drew attention to the debacle of an interview last month at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) annual convention. In case you missed it, Trump ignored all questions except those posed by a host from Fox News, a cable network that has a history of being sympathetic to Republicans and Trump, in particular.
Kimbrough encouraged Harris to answer questions “like Trump to prove double standard.”
The likely source of inspiration behind the Trump campaign’s petulant email playing up the politics of fear is Harris’ undeniable rise in polling following a successful Democratic National Convention last week.
New reports have also shown that Black voter registration rates have soared exponentially since Biden dropped out and Harris replaced him late last month. The trend suggests that Harris’ candidacy has inspired young Black women, in particular, to register to vote at a rate that is more than 175% higher than in 2020, an election in which Black women were largely credited for helping to secure Biden and Harris’ victory.
Harris’ political momentum is palpable, and that likely makes Trump’s campaign “scared,” not the Democratic nominee.
Harris and Walz’s interview with CNN’s chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday.
SEE ALSO:
Trump Begs For Jesus: Says He Would Win Even California If Jesus Was Counting Votes In Nov.
Mobilizing Communities Of Color That Are Already Inclined To Vote For Kamala Harris In Large Numbers
