Kamala Harris' Fox News interview disaster shows how the media set her up to fail

Vice President Kamala Harris had a bad night on Wednesday.

But more interesting than anything she said to Fox News host Bret Baier was what wasn't said — namely, that until this interview, reporters hadn't bothered to ask her the most obvious question of 2024.

That's why she seemed so completely blindsided when Baier asked about the role she played in the sweeping, years-long conspiracy to hide President Biden's declining mental fitness from the public.

The fact that the media has not yet pressured her on this issue goes beyond mere lack of interest or sloppiness. This is a clear malpractice.

Harris fumbled through her roughly 26-minute conversation with Baier before retreating, complaining that her host had been too aggressive in his questioning.

By any reasonable measure, the interview was a disaster. Don't take my word for it. The Democratic candidate and her team hoped earlier in the week that their appearance would help them gain traction with Fox's male and undecided viewers. But when the cameras ended, their team had taken a new line: The interview, they stressed, would go a long way toward mobilizing leftists and Democratic loyalists. Nothing says “that didn’t go as planned” like a complete narrative shift.

To reasonable minds, Harris' gamble backfired. She seemed unprepared, boring and ill-informed. She offered little contrast between herself and her Republican opponent – ​​who, to be fair, also tends to be unprepared, dull and ill-informed.

Although there was plenty of head-scratching and awkward fumbling in the Baier interview, the critical moment came when Harris peppered himself with claims that former President Donald Trump was “unfit” and too “unstable” to be president. That led to obvious follow-up questions about the White House's previous efforts and their own to address concerns about Biden's mental and physical fitness.

“You've told many interviewers that Joe Biden did his best,” Baier said, “that he ran around in circles on his staff.” When did you first notice that President Biden's mental faculties seemed to be weakened? “

Harris was expressionless. Then, after a moment to compose herself, she simply avoided the question.

“Joe Biden – I've watched from the Oval Office to the Situation Room, and he has the judgment and the experience to do exactly what he did, to make very important decisions on behalf of the American people,” Harris said in their trademark salad format.

Baier pressed: “No concerns were expressed?”

“Bret, Joe Biden is not on the ballot,” Harris said, “and Donald Trump is.”

Yes, but why isn't Biden on the ballot? That's the question, isn't it? Turns out Harris knows something about it, even if she went along and played the fool until Biden was forced off his own ticket.

Recall that after Biden's career-ending debate on June 27, Harris was one of the first administration officials to go on television and reassure voters that everything was fine with the president.

“The Joe Biden that I worked with every day is someone who, as I said, performed in a way that was about getting people into the Oval Office, Republicans and Democrats, on a way of compromising that is extraordinary these days,” she promised CNN viewers.

In February she said of her boss: “We have a very courageous and vibrant president in Joe Biden.” In the same month she also said: “Our president is in good shape, in good health and ready to lead in our second term to take over.”

She previously claimed: “Age is more than a chronological fact… (Biden) is absolutely authoritative not only in rooms around the world, but also in the Oval Office.”

When special counsel Robert Hur described Biden as a “compassionate, well-meaning, older man with a poor memory,” Harris rushed to defend Biden's honor and all but accused Hur of lying.

“The way the President’s conduct has been described in this report could not be more inaccurate to the facts and clearly politically motivated and unfounded,” she said.

But now the mere fact of Harris' presidential candidacy explicitly refutes all the previous assurances and promises she has made.

A wiser or better prepared politician would have expected such an obvious question in response to playing the “fitness” and “instability” cards against Trump. But Harris is no smarter or better prepared. It was the natural response to her own attempt to impose an unsuitable presidential candidate on the nation – and she was completely unprepared at the moment.

She can blame this on her own overly friendly relationship with the media, which should be much more aggressive and hostile.

“You have met with (Biden) at least once a week for three and a half years,” Baier urged Wednesday evening. “Didn’t you have any concerns?”

“I think the American people are worried about Donald Trump,” the vice president deflected, “which is why everyone who knows him best has spoken out, including the leaders of our national security community, even the people who support him Oval Office, worked with him in the Situation Room and said he was unsuitable and dangerous and should never be President of the United States again, including his former Vice President, which is why the position was open to him to choose another Vice President. So that's a fact. That’s a fact.”

That was The moment that stood above all others on Wednesday because of its implications. It's news that Harris froze. It is news that she refused to address his point of view directly. But the most current fact is that she didn't have good answers to the Biden question because until Wednesday No one had ever forced her to answer it.

It was the only question that needed to be asked, but it was new territory for her.

How is it possible that Baier is one of the few people in this business who bothered to question the Democratic nominee about her role in a conspiracy that ended with the current commander in chief being expelled from his own re-election campaign and made room for him? her own unlikely accession?

For an industry addicted to the word “unprecedented,” and we currently live in times when the word actually applies, it is baffling that journalists aren’t more curious about what Harris knew about Biden’s declining mental capacity than she repeats promised that he was fit as a fiddle.

Did the US president resign mid-race and is the nomination of his running mate – who didn't even make it to the Iowa caucuses when she ran for president in 2020 – not “unprecedented” enough for our media?

If the vice president's involvement in a White House-wide conspiracy doesn't raise the “public interest” hurdle, nothing does.

It was certainly a lousy night for Harris. It was also a bad night for the overly friendly political press, whose loose approach to the Democratic vice president has left her unprepared to answer even the most basic question about the policies or events that secured her the nomination.

Becket Adams is program director at the National Journalism Center.

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