Is Kamala Harris hiding? No, not really. Is she avoiding doing anything that will make her look or sound dumb? Absolutely. That is why she is avoiding anything but TikTok videos, scripted rally speeches, and press releases sent out by her campaign.

She’s trying the “basement strategy” that Joe Biden used effectively during the 2020 campaign. Now, there were two big reasons why hiding in the basement worked for old Joe. First of all, Joe Biden was old then, and Covid was one of the biggest factors in the 2020 election. Biden had a plausible excuse for doing everything by Zoom call. Second, Joe was not the incumbent in 2020. It’s easy to sit and point fingers from the basement when you aren’t the one responsible for making the big decisions.

Neither reason will work for Kamala Harris. Covid mitigation is a non-issue in 2024, and Kamala – as her campaign lackeys like to remind us – is younger than Donald Trump, who is younger than Joe Biden. She is de facto president at the moment, given the tacit acknowledgement that Biden is non compos mentis and had to be shoved out of the race. That gives her the position of de facto incumbent. After all, she is reportedly in the “Situation Room” with Joe Biden looking at what may or may not happen with Iran and Israel over the next 24 to 48 hours. The stock market is currently a wreck and recession is a real possibility. It would be a no-brainer to send the current vice president, who is also a presidential candidate, out to talk to the media, right?
https://twitter.com/abigailmarone/status/1820432062861500869
Hiding Kamala Harris is making a statement, but not the one that the campaign thinks it is making.

Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 15 days without holding a formal press conference since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee as of Sunday.

Harris became essentially the de facto nominee after President Biden endorsed her on July 21 when he dropped out of the race and she officially clinched the nomination on Friday. She has been busy on the campaign trail, spoken at various events, and given informal remarks to reporters at various points, but hasn’t done a formal press conference or wide-ranging interview in the 15 days that have followed.

She also failed to appear at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, where former President Trump made headlines on Wednesday with a heated question-and-answer session, although she could make a future appearance with the group. On Thursday, she briefly addressed reporters at Joint Base Andrews as she and Biden greeted Americans freed from Russia in a massive prisoner swap, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

And that clip from the tarmac is example A of why they don’t want Harris speaking off script.

KAMALA — UNSCRIPTED FOR THE FIRST TIME:

"This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy."

WHAT? pic.twitter.com/lxlhhG1xhT

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 2, 2024

Harris has been so elusive that The New York Times published excerpts from an interview she conducted last year to see where her answers “land now.” Some critics have likened the strategy thus far to what was derided as the Biden “basement” approach in 2020.

DePauw University media studies professor Jeffrey McCall believes the Harris campaign is “well aware that Biden dodged the media throughout his 2020 campaign and still got elected.”

“The Harris camp is also well aware that their candidate doesn’t do well in unscripted settings, not to mention that a presser or legitimate sit-down interview would necessarily require her to defend some of her positions, previous statements and record. Thus, a rerun of the Biden basement campaign sounds pretty good, as long as you throw in a couple of rallies with Megan Thee Stallion,” McCall added, referring to the rapper who appeared at Harris’ Atlanta rally on Tuesday.

He suggested that Harris doesn’t feel pressure “to do a press conference just because she has fallen into the nomination” because Democrats will support her either way.

“The supporters rallying around her don’t expect her to be accountable and have little interest in her policy positions and so on. That she’s not Biden, or Trump, is sufficient for those supporters,” McCall said.

“From a rhetorical strategy standpoint, however, it would behoove Harris to actually do a presser and do real journalistic interviews,” he continued. “At some point, it would seem, she’ll have to attract moderates or undecided voters who want to see her take questions.”

But will the media actually insist that Kamala Harris take their questions? They seem to have completely chickened out.

Today, the stock market is going to crash and a major war is going to break out in the Middle East.

In response, the press will insist Republicans have nothing to attack Kamala Harris with because she’s so great.

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 5, 2024

This is a target-rich environment, and the media should be demanding answers. Are they really going to let Kamala get away with not taking questions the whole way through? She’s supposed to be announcing her vice presidential pick by tomorrow at the latest.

But now POLITICO is reporting that the campaign plans on just… releasing a video???

Vice President Kamala Harris is bringing her crash search for a running mate to a close, with a final decision expected over the next 24 hours with a video announcement likely to follow sometime Tuesday, according to people familiar with the selection process.

While the precise nature of the rollout is not final, campaign insiders are pointing to President Joe Biden’s 2020 video introduction of Harris as a likely model. A media leak of the pick could upend those plans, they said.

Harris on Sunday held interviews with Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the vice president’s residence in Washington. A person familiar with the selection process said it was possible that Harris has spoken virtually to other potential picks, or might do so Monday.

Harris is scheduled to make her first appearance with her new running mate at a Philadelphia rally Tuesday, kicking off a five-day barnstorming tour to seven battleground states.

So, was the Josh Shapiro slip-up a head-fake after all? I guess we will see. This video strategy fits in with everything else we have seen from Kamala Harris. Everything must be produced, edited, polished, clipped, and then sent out on TikTok. This campaign is terminally online.

So much rich policy coming from this campaign https://t.co/Au85Ou7Cb8

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 5, 2024

The election is in three months. Can Kamala Harris, with the aid and comfort of a complicit media, hide in the basement for that long? They’re certainly going to try. If Trump and Vance can get their message discipline together, Kamala’s fear of being unscripted is a nail that they need to be hammering in every single interview and ad campaign.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click