A memo from the Trump campaign on Sunday argues the Harris campaign hasn't had any momentum since a predicted "honeymoon period" in late July. Since then, says the memo, Harris has "largely treaded water" and "made no real gains in her image or ballot standing" against Trump.
Perhaps that's why with three weeks to go to the election, Vice President Kamala Harris is on a media blitz, trying to shred her image as a presidential candidate who avoids substantive interviews. To this point, the Democrat has stuck to liberal networks like CNN and CBS as well as friendly venues like ABC's "The View" and Howard Stern's radio show. But as reported on Monday, she now has agreed to sit down with Fox News' chief political anchor Bret Baier on Wednesday in Pennsylvania.
Radio talk-show host Jenna Ellis suspects the decision to go on Fox News might be "a last-ditch effort" by the Harris campaign to position her well.
"[She] has actually dropped in national polls after the media blitz," she points out. "So, her campaign [is] strategizing here … to put her on Fox News, which obviously is a less than friendly environment. Some of these other forums [have] not fared so well for her."
Thus, the hopeful push for a "better" media tour than she's had the last several days, says Ellis.
"She has not formally done a press conference, taking questions from reporters in a pool, for 80-plus days," Ellis points out – adding that the announcement about Wednesday's Fox News interview "got a lot of mixed reactions."
"Some on the Right [are] suggesting that Bret Baier is a little bit too much to the left on Fox News to handle that interview, [but] I've been on with Bret a lot before. I think that he will handle it well."
Robert Knight, a conservative columnist for The Washington Times, suggests Baier will do a good job. "He's one of the fairest of the Fox journalists, I believe, and the smartest – and I don't think she'll be able to sidestep any tough questions like she did with '60 Minutes.'"
Knight expects Harris will go on the offensive – and warns the Fox News anchor to be prepared for "obfuscation" from the VP.
"When [Baier] brings up the border, she will quickly claim credit for reduced numbers crossing the border in recent months," Knight tells AFN. "She will blame the Republicans for not passing a bad immigration bill that would have ensured another one or maybe two million illegal immigrants to come in without any problem …. But she'll blame the Republicans and say it's their fault the border is not secure."
'There's no substance there'
Marc Lotter, chief communications officer at America First Policy Institute, appeared on Ellis' American Family Radio program Tuesday morning to discuss Harris' media blitz. Lotter worked with the Trump campaign in both 2016 and 2020.
"[Her media blitz] reminds me of 2019, when she ran for president in that primary. She came out of the gate like on fire," he recalls. "Even Donald Trump commented and complimented her on her launch back in the summer of 2019.
"But when people actually started listening to her [and] when she started asking questions, her campaign imploded – and she didn't actually even make it to the end of the year."
Harris dropped out of the 2020 race before the first primary ballots were cast in Iowa.
"I think we're seeing the same thing here," Lotter continues." Once people actually start to listen to her, once they actually start to see her, they realize that there's no substance there. She really doesn't have anything to say about the issues that are impacting and important to the American people."
Lotter cites results from the vice president's current media blitz. "… Don't look at who she's doing [interviews with], look at what she's saying," he urges. "Right now, she's out there talking about medical records and transparency, and [asking] 'Why won't he debate me?'
"If you're going down the transparency path and you're saying Donald Trump is hiding after you've spent months hiding [from press conferences], you know you've run out of things to say – and right now, they are just desperate to find anything that might stick to the wall."
Lotter concludes:" I don't think anybody sitting in a diner in Pennsylvania or in Wisconsin or Michigan is sitting there going, Yeah, I'm not going to vote for Donald Trump because Kamala released her medical records."
Similarly, Ellis doesn't expect Harris to gain any votes from Fox News viewers.
