We’re still waiting for Kamala Harris to do a formal news conference, even though it’s been almost three weeks since she was anointed as the Democrats’ standard-bearer after Joe Biden was pushed out. Donald Trump, on the other hand, continues to regularly engage with the press on the record; again, in sharp contrast to the current vice-president.
So while we have yet to learn what led Kamala Harris to supposedly reverse course on her plan to force gun owners to sell their so-called assault weapons to the federal government or face criminal charges for possessing them, we do know that Donald Trump hasn’t changed his mind when it comes to a semi-auto ban.
Trump went on to accuse Harris of wanting to take people’s guns, adding that “people need them for protection,” as well as for other lawful activities like hunting and, “entertainment”. While his use of that last word will probably be used to go after Trump (I can already hear the attack ad claiming Trump thinks shootings are entertaining), I assume that he was talking about recreational shooting, which is entertainment enjoyed by tens of millions of Americans.
Now that Trump has provided a clear answer about his unchanging stance on a semi-auto ban, the press really has no excuse not to drill down on Harris’s professed change of heart about her own gun ban plans. When she ran for the Democratic nomination five years ago, she made a mandatory “buyback” of so-called assault weapons a centerpiece of her campaign. Now, even though she calls for an “assault weapons” ban in almost every one of her campaign speeches, her staff says merely that she wants to ban “assault weapons” but is no longer in favor of requiring lawful owners sell them to the federal government.
Trump has explained why he hasn’t shifted his position, so why won’t Kamala Harris tell voters why she has supposedly changed her mind? As my friend and colleague Ed Morrissey pointed out at HotAir, one reason is that she’s been receiving deferential treatment from the reporters covering her campaign.
One would think that the media, even the Protection Racket Media version in place these days, would get a little suspicious about this lack of information and engagement. Harris has stiffed them for almost three weeks since winning the nomination, refusing to publicly engage with them for their readers and viewers. Don’t they even have a financial interest in getting that kind of content, let alone a moral and ethical interest in speaking truth to power and holding officials accountable, etc etc?
As it turns out, there’s a reason why the media hasn’t made a stink about the Silence of the Kams. At least for now, they’re in on it. Politico Playbook spilled the beans on the nasty little secret among reporters assigned to Harris — they’re letting her talk off the record:
So far, Harris’ rally speeches, delivered via teleprompter, have been well received. And she has routinely interacted with the reporters that travel with her — but on her terms. She often visits with the press pool seated at the back of her plane (something Biden did just twice in more than three years), but speaking only off the record. And when she has chosen to comment on the record on something in the news, Harris has spoken to the pool on the tarmac, making statements but not taking questions.
“What is the incentive for her [to take more questions]?” said another person close to the campaign who was granted anonymity to share how Harris’ team views the matter. “She’s getting out exactly the message she wants to get out.”
And the media has been mostly happy to play along, at least so far.
Harris said on Thursday that she’s “hoping” to schedule a sit-down interview with some media outlet “before the end of the month”, and she took a couple of questions from reporters on an airport tarmac in the hopes of tamping down the criticism over her reticence to engage with the press off-the-cuff. Her “evolution” on a gun ban didn’t come up in the few minutes she allowed for questions, however.
If the media won’t do its job, maybe Donald Trump himself can grill Harris on why she supposedly no longer believes it’s a “good idea” to enforce a compensated confiscation scheme when the pair face off for their first debate.
