It’s time to Break It Down!
Since the day Joe Biden removed himself from the Presidential Sweepstakes, and endorsed Kamala Harris, 38 days ago, journalists of every stripe, and the GOP have engaged in sniping, hand-wringing, and complaining about Kamala Harris not having done a single media interview. The reality is, that’s all completely understandable.
The media, for its part, is accustomed to being the tail that wags the dog, in terms of developing and curating the narratives of our daily political lives. Of course they are chomping at the bit to get the story, and they are bitter every day that goes by, when they don’t get the chance to tell their version, first person.
Then, we have the Republicans. Lay the fact that they tried their darndest to run Joe Biden out of the race, and now like the proverbial dog that caught the car, they are trying to figure out what to do with it. They need Harris and Walz to generate media clicks and views, so they can go about the business to defining them, before they define themselves. Yes, they have the historical record, but they want, and probably need more, to fuel the campaign to denigrate and diminish the Democratic duo. In short, they are still angry, if not flummoxed, especially Donald Trump, that Biden is no longer their opponent.
Fast forward to yesterday. Harris and Walz agreed to an interview for tomorrow evening at 9:00 p.m. with CNN anchor Dana Bash. Now, of course, the media, save for CNN, will lament that their network was not chosen. Trump, for his part, has labeled the media in general, the enemy of the people, and has called CNN, specifically, fake news. You don’t need much of an imagination to envision what kind of verbal assault is in the offing.
To summarize, the parties who were disgruntled before are still going to be disgruntled, except perhaps, Ms. Bash. The GOP, even though it got what it asked for, will still grumble and grouse about CNN having been chosen, though they will surely use any missteps or unforced errors the Harris-Walz team makes, to buttress the prosecution of their case against the pair.
So, what’s the bottom line? While we don’t know, with absolute certainty, we can be sure that the race to 270 electoral votes will be close, and hard-fought. Harris, despite, or perhaps because of not having done or agreed to a sit-down interview before yesterday, has surged relative to Donald Trump. So much so, until she leads slightly in a few polls, and trails only slightly in others. There is every reason to believe this race is going down to the wire. It is conceivable Donald Trump could emerge the winner when the dust settles. This may come as a surprise to those who’ve been immersed in, and amazed by the gaudy numbers Harris has compiled, in tandem with the incredibly well-executed Democratic National Convention. But in a country thought to be nearly evenly divided between those who support Trump, and those who do not, hear (and believe) me when I say, this race is going to be close. “The Interview: The One We’ve All Been Awaiting (Not Really)!”
I’m done; holla back!
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BREAK IT DOWN! 