Friday Mailbag!

Here we go.

Happy Friday.

We made it!

I am headed to North Carolina for the weekend (soccer!) and am teaching my Georgetown class before I leave. (Today’s subject: Covering downballot races and ballot initiatives! Special guest: Reid Wilson!)

Before I do all of that, however, it’s time to answer your questions from the week that was. We had a TON of questions this week and — spoiler alert!! — I did not get to every single one below.

BUT, I am doing my usual Friday livestream on my YouTube channel at 1 pm today. So come hang out — and ask questions there too.

The Friday mailbag is one of a handful of posts every week that are exclusively for paid subscribers. If you are a free subscriber, you’ll be able to read some of it. But why not enjoy the whole thing! Become a paid subscriber today!

Let’s do this!

Q: The MAGAsphere is going nuts over Harris' Fox interview. The claim is that she was disrespectful and mean to Baier. I thought her taking him to task over interrupting her were appropriate as was her calling him out over the wrong Trump clip being used. I would have been a LOT more brutal to Baier over the clip issue. Thoughts?

A: Meh. I think social media — and the Internet more broadly — operates on extremes. Everything has to be the BEST ever or the WORST ever. It’s either a triumph or a disaster.

Most things are, well, not that. And this interview fits into that category. Harris was fine. She had a few good moments — her distancing from Joe Biden, her calling out Bret on not using a clip that showed Trump blasting the “enemy within.” And Baier had his moments too. I liked that he pressed her on her very vague rhetoric on immigration, for example.

But it wasn’t a slam dunk for either side. I think they both got what they wanted out of the interview. Fox got a huge ratings numbers and Harris got a chance to speak to Republicans who aren’t onboard with Trump yet.

In that way, it was a win-win.

Q: Hi Chris--It seems to me that Kamala Harris' FOX interview went fine, even though it may not have been a particularly fun experience for her. Do you think her hesitancy to do real interviews all stems from the 2021 incident with Lester Holt where she fumbled his question about not visiting the border? I understand that she's a cautious politician, but the avoidance seems extreme.

A: Absolutely yes. The narrative got built from that Lester Holt interview that she is bad at doing them. I think she believes it — and her staff does too.

To be clear: She is not amazing at media interviews. She tends to talk in vague terms. She rambles at times. And she rarely answers the question asked. But she’s far from terrible.

I always think it is a good thing for politicians to do more media interviews — especially with outlets seen as adversarial to you. I think you get a TON of credit among voters for just showing up.

Q: I agree with you that Harris needs to find a break from Biden - the Fox interview answer was a start but I'd think she needs to do more. Wouldn't it have made sense on the immigration question to say something like "when we arrive, we tried a more humane approach to immigration. In retrospect, it looks like it went to far and it drove people to the border. We tried to negotiate a solution and when that was blocked we used Executive Action to significantly reduce the flow. As President, I think we can do both."

That doesn't totally throw Biden under the bus but admits a mistake (most of electorate thinks it is already) so you acknowledge reality and come across more sincere/honest.

A: Yes yes yes. Again, breaking from Biden — as Harris did in the Fox interview — is only a first step (and she should have done it much sooner). To me, she needs to show specific policy areas where her approach would be different than Biden’s.

Immigration should be at the top of the list. Because, whether Democrats like it or not, people blame the situation at the border, which no one thinks is good, on the Biden administration. (And, yes, I know that Donald Trump helped kill a bipartisan immigration bill. But the average voter doesn’t.)

In my mind, she could absolutely say what you outlined above. Look, we tried something — with all good intentions. It has not worked the way we had hoped. It’s time for stricter measures — and here’s what I think we need to do.

I think that would be smart politics. I just don’t see the Biden loyalists walking away from Harris — especially with Trump as the other candidate — because she broke from him on immigration.

Q: Why does the media say misinformation instead of calling what is being said as a LIE?!!!