Friday Mailbag!

Let's do this.

Happy Friday.

We made it!

This is the first mailbag I’ve done in a while — pesky vacation! — and you had a LOT of questions.

I. Love. It.

Before we get to them a quick reminder: This is one of only a handful of posts every week that I put behind the paywall. It’s a chance for readers to ask me any question they like — and get, I hope, a satisfying response.

I think it’s well worth becoming a paid subscriber! Which you can do today for $6 a month or $60 for the year!

And one more plug: I am doing a livestream over at my YouTube channel at 1 pm eastern today. Come and hang out! It will be fun. I promise!

To the questions!

Q: Many in the media are calling for VP Harris to have interviews and talk to the press. It’s understandable that they want to be able to press her in real time about the campaign promises she’s been making and where she stands on specific policies. My question is: Why aren’t we hearing the same pressure for trump to do legitimate interviews? Ones where he will be asked hard questions and fact checked in real time, instead of his stream of conscious chats with fox spewing the same old lies and hate and today's dumpster fire of lies that was the MAL campaign speech disguised as a media address?. Seems like the legitimate media outlets are giving him a pass on the same thing they’re pressing her on…

A: Well, I think people are pressing Trump do to interviews! And, I mean, he talks to the media a whole lot more than Harris has. Yes, it was “Fox and Friends” but he did do an interview this week! Like, Harris could call in or appear on one of MSNBC’s primetime shows, right? It would be a friendly space — like “Fox and Friends” for Trump — but at least she would be engaging with the media!

Trump held an hour-long press conference just yesterday! Harris has taken less than 5 questions since she became the de facto nominee!

To me, though, the “what about Trump?” argument has an even more fatal flaw: Democrats (including Harris) have insisted for years that Donald Trump’s approach to — and view of — the media is deeply flawed and anti-Democratic. They have pledged to be better.

Well, now is the time to show and prove. If you want to show the right way for a presidential candidate to interact with the media — transparently and regularly — then do it.

Simply leaning on “whataboutism” is a very weak argument.

Q: The Harris Bump is real, and the boost in Democrat enthusiasm is massive. But Harris hasn't had to answer any tough questions so far -- even her "confrontation" with the protesters didn't force her to take a stand on the issue. Would you favor an arms embargo with Israel? How would your policy differ from Biden's? Would you meet with Netanyahu as President? I think she'll keep it locked down until the convention, but can she really do this all the way to November?

A: Agree on all fronts.

I don’t think this honeymoon period will last all the way through the election. My guess is that she will likely continue to ride high through the Democratic convention. And that around Labor Day the race will begin to settle a bit.

The questions you raise that need to be asked of her are the exact right ones. She is the Democratic nominee to be the president! And has a 50-50 chance (or slightly better) to win!

We have NO real idea what she thinks about policy. Or what she would do differently than Biden on, say, immigration. Or how she explains the fact that she has walked away from lots and lots of the liberal positions she took in the 2020 presidential campaign.

Not good.

Q: Hi Chris, we kept hearing about how good Trump's campaign managers are and how disciplined the campaign was. But ever since Biden has dropped out of the race, it really doesn't feel that way.

Were they only perceived as being good and disciplined because they were running against an 81-year-old man no one wanted to be president anymore?