San Francisco. Risk increases outside the comfort zone of a planned performance. Kamala Harris once experienced this painfully.
So far it has Kamala Harris put on an almost perfect show. In a country where a reality TV star like Donald Trump Being able to become president is worth a lot. Her Speech at the Democratic Convention in Chicago was the preliminary climax of the one that emerged from the ground campaignwho has not yet suffered a serious setback. The Democrats are intoxicated by a new euphoria. Suddenly, anything is possible again.
But above all, it’s a flaw that has recently taken hold of Harris: from the beginning of her campaign, she not a single interview given. She never left the comfort zone of orchestrated performances and instead answered critical questions from independent journalists.
Trump found something to eat
A point on which Donald Trump and his team have been walking around for weeks. The Republican, for his part, demonstratively invited Press conferences at their Mar-a-Lago golf clubs and Bedminster. The message behind this is not hard to decipher: I dare – she does not. Trump himself prefers to talk to Fox News journalists who do what he wants.
Also interesting
As of Tuesday, the date of Harris’ first TV interview has finally been set: on Thursday (evening into Friday, German time), she will answer questions from CNN Dana Bash place. The station’s chief political correspondent was already part of the duo that presented the first televised debate between Trump and President of the United States Joe Biden led. It will be a double interview, including his running mate Tim Waltz will answer a reporter’s questions on camera for the first time since his surprise promotion to “Running Mate.”
Countdown to Harris: US media has already made a countdown
The announcement did not come a day early. The US media had already started counting down the days Harris had to help her Promise to rescue. In a rare interaction with reporters a few weeks ago, at a campaign appearance in Detroit, she herself said that she and her team had agreed to schedule an interview before the end of the month. She didn’t have much time left.
Outwardly, the Harris team has always appeared calm. First, it would be a matter of defining the political directions of your campaign finalize and prepare for the party conference. After all, it is understandable that the campaign could not have been prepared for months. But since last week that no longer applies.
The search for the right person
Behind the scenes it is clear to everyone involved what happens to someone like this. interview is at stake. There has been a great deal of speculation in the US media in recent days about who would win the bid for the coveted television event, which is likely to attract millions of viewers to their screens. Several names have been floated.
Also interesting
The Harris team was reportedly looking for something like a middle ground. It shouldn’t give the impression that a questioner was singled out to include Harris children’s gloves plays. A station like MSNBC was therefore out of the question. At the same time, of course, it should not be anyone who could get the Democrat in trouble.
The boldest choice would have been an interview with Lester Holt on NBC News. A conversation with Holt would have been like returning to the scene of perhaps the greatest trauma of his vice presidency. The journalist, now 65, interviewed Harris in June 2021, in the first year of Biden’s presidency. It wasn’t just conservative media outlets that considered the Californian to be one of the disastrous idea had delivered.
Harris’ interview debacle haunts her to this day
To this day, Trump’s team uses excerpts from the interview to paint Harris in a negative light. The key scene: Holt asked probing questions about the migration crisis and why Harris had not yet made up her mind about the situation at the southern U.S. border. vice president got into a difficult situation.
“We’ll visit the border at some point,” she began, then immediately corrected herself. “We were already at the border. This whole thing with the border… we were already at the border.” Holt then stated directly to Harris: “You weren’t at the border.” Her response, which sounded irritated and accompanied by a laugh: “And I wasn’t in Europe either.” excerptswhich still haunts her to this day.
“We have to deal with what is happening at the border.”@VP Kamala Harris spoke exclusively to @LesterHoltNBC on her first trip abroad, how the administration is handling the immigration crisis and whether she herself plans to visit the southern border. pic.twitter.com/sA4We7peeR
– TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 8, 2021
Harris nearly retreated to a bunker afterward, they wrote. “New York Times”reporter last year in a story that highlighted her struggles to define her role in Biden’s presidency. She gave almost no interviews for about a year. According to journalists, she was afraid of making mistakes and disappointing the president.
The height of Harris’ fall is immense
It will be seen on Thursday whether they will Fear and whether your team has prepared you well for this pressure situation. Whether they find the right words when there is no script or teleprompter.
Capital Inside by Jörg Quoos, Editor-in-Chief of the FUNKE Central Editorial Team
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The height of the fall is immense, especially given the long delay in Harris’s campaign. If she makes even a small mistake, the other side will exploit it mercilessly. republican We’ve been saying this for weeks “Honeymoon”your “honeymoon” with the voter will end at some point.
The dirty game with the miniclips
In the age of social media, it’s no longer about the overall impression. It’s about short clips, often taken out of context. spread millions of times. Often edited and distributed directly by campaign teams. Not just Republicans, Democrats also dominate this game.
But appearing on TV doesn’t just involve dangers. It also offers many opportunities. Kamala Harris it’s still about getting out of the shadow of Joe Biden to introduce himself and his supporters. To win over those who are currently undecided. Or to win over those who are disgusted with Donald Trump but have become disillusioned in recent months with the prospect of having an 81-year-old man presented to them as the only serious alternative.