CNN contributor Scott Jennings expressed disapproval over Vice President Kamala Harris’s handling of her first interview as a presidential candidate, arguing she is appearing “weak” for bringing her running mate with her.
The network’s interview with Harris will air on Thursday night and will be conducted by CNN anchor Dana Bash. Noticeably, Harris will be joined by Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), her running mate, for this interview, meaning she will still have yet to do a solo interview since becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
“I think it‘s incredibly weak, weak sauce to show up with your running mate,” Jennings, a former senior adviser to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), said. “The fact that they don‘t have enough confidence in her to let her sit herself, the actual top of the ticket, and do a single interview. In fact, I think the hand wringing and the gyrations over this, over the last month, show troubling lack of confidence in her political ability, which also makes you wonder as a voter, ‘Well, what kind of president would you be if this kind of a small-time decision, can we do an interview or not, what does that look like for your decision-making process?’”
Astead Herndon, a reporter for the New York Times and a political analyst for CNN, stated that Harris has been “fairly uncomfortable” with laying out her political ambitions during interviews and speeches. He contended the question of whether she can do solo interviews will remain after this interview and that her campaign will need to put her in situations where she is answering “confrontational questions” by herself.
The topic of the next presidential debate was also addressed, during which Jennings deemed the drama over whether or not the debate will have muted microphones “tedious bologna.” He explained that the debate’s rules ultimately do not matter because both candidates need to be in attendance to challenge their opponent.
“He has to really get her floundering around on flip-flops and her record with Biden; she has to stand up to a test, right?” Jennings said. “I mean, people expect their presidential candidates to be tested. They both have reason to be there. I think the rules are secondary, and I‘m with Trump. I‘ll just say, if I were him, I would say the same thing. I don’t care — turn them on, turn them off, I’ll be ready.”
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The next debate, hosted by ABC News, will be held on Sept. 10, with former President Donald Trump confirming his attendance on Tuesday night. Trump briefly raised doubt over whether or not he would partake in the debate when he suggested he would skip it via a social media post on Sunday, with one report a day later claiming the Harris campaign wanted to keep the microphones turned on for both candidates throughout the debate.
The debate is being held a little more than a week before early voting opens in a few states, with South Dakota, Minnesota, and Virginia among the first states to start early voting.