Kamala’s ‘First Big Mistake’: Chuck Todd Says VP’s Media Strategy Could Backfire, And Bigly

NBC News’ chief political analyst Chuck Todd warned that Vice President Kamala Harris was making her “first big mistake” in failing to make herself more available to the media, thereby “raising the stakes” and the level of scrutiny that will necessarily be applied to every appearance she makes.

“Let me start with the first big mistake of the Harris campaign since she took over as the Democratic nominee. They have now raised the stakes for her first sitdown interview,” Todd wrote, arguing that people would be paying much closer attention to every little comment and inflection simply because she had made such a point of not taking media questions.

“More words and phrases will get scrutinized simply because the campaign and the candidate are behaving as if doing these interviews is about as interesting to them as visiting the dentist’s office,” he added.

Todd went on to explain that Trump had done exactly the opposite — taking questions even from outlets and reporters he knew were not going to treat him fairly — because he lived by the adage “all publicity is good publicity.”

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“I know many Democrats have an allergy to all things Trump, but the one thing I thought more candidates would learn from his initial campaign in 2016 is that he viewed all media as good for him, whether he thought the interviewer was a friendly, a neutral or an opponent,” Todd explained. “When he said something outrageous or controversial during one sit-down, he’d do something entirely newsy (and just as notable) in another that would essentially dilute the impact of all of his interviews.”

Thus far in the 2024 campaign, Trump and running mate JD Vance appear to be adopting the same strategy. Vance, for example, has done a number of solo interviews since Trump selected him to be the Republican vice presidential nominee. Harris has yet to do her first — a pre-taped, joint interview alongside running mate Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) hosted by friendly CNN anchor Dana Bash.