Colby Hall: Kamala Harris’s MSNBC Interview Not Enough to Dispel Narrative She’s Avoiding the Press

Vice President Kamala Harris will sit for her first major network interview since becoming a presidential candidate, but Mediaite’s Colby Hall said it might not do enough to stop her critics’ complaint that she’s avoiding the press.

News broke on Wednesday that Harris would appear on MSNBC for a one-on-one, taped interview with host Stephanie Ruhle that would air Wednesday evening. After pointing out that Ruhle has shown her bias towards Harris as a candidate — and MSNBC’s well-known left-leaning nature — Hall said that the Democratic candidate going into what appears to be friendly territory may not do much to satisfy critics of Harris who say she’s avoiding tough questioning:

There is a narrative that Kamala Harris is avoiding challenging confrontations. And I don’t quite understand why. I mean, they’ve moved up in the polls significantly since she was announced as the nominee over Biden. And so they’re playing a sort of a safety route. That said, the narrative of her avoiding tough conversations is one that they’ve entirely created. And I’ve argued that she should go on right-of-center media. She should show that she can handle tough confrontations, like she did very well in the debate with Trump. Go on Fox News. Go on Newsmax. You know, if that’s too tough, you know, come on, News Nation, which will treat her fairly, but ask her reasonable questions.

Hall also pointed out that anyone criticizing Harris for going on a “friendly” network should also aim some of their criticism at former President Donald Trump, who consistently appears on the right-leaning Fox News and other right-leaning outlets:

[I]t’s fair to say that we call out the Harris campaign for this move. Former President Trump does a ton of media avails. But they’re almost exclusively on Fox News with like-minded, friendly people. So it’s worth saying that, you know, one of these things is not like the other. And if we’re going to call her out for doing this, we should do the same for Trump.

Hall noted in a column published Wednesday morning that Ruhle announced her interview just days after appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher and openly advocating on behalf of Kamala Harris, or more to the point, against Donald Trump.

Watch the video above via NewsNation.