Top researcher Nate Silver is concerned about Kamala Harris’ employees who complain about a ‘double standard’
Pollster Nate Silver attacked Vice President Kamala Harris’ aides for complaining she was the victim of a “double standard” when she declined to do media interviews during the opening weeks of her 2024 campaign.
Silver responded to X on this week’s Pod Save America interview with top Harris campaign advisers: Jen O’Malley Dillon, Stephanie Cutter, Quentin Fulks and David Plouffe.
During the interview, O’Malley Dillon grumbled that President-elect Donald Trump “has no s***” because he does less traditional media than Harris, but that she “has s***.”
Cutter agreed, saying, “Oh yeah. We got a lot of criticism that she wasn’t doing enough media.”
“Double standard,” O’Malley Dillon then noted.
Wednesday on X, Silver pointed to a transcript of those comments and suggested he found them astonishing.
“Harris didn’t do a solo network interview until late September,” he wrote. “What the heck, fine, the networks don’t matter that much. Then she did some towards the end of the race. But she acted legit and didn’t do much in traditional media.”
“That was the campaign’s choice, not a conspiracy,” Silver argued.
Pollster Nate Silver attacked Vice President Kamala Harris’ aides for complaining she was the victim of a “double standard” when she declined to do media interviews during the opening weeks of her 2024 campaign
Silver commented on part of the Pod Save America interview in which Harris’ top aides complained there was a “double standard” where Trump could get away with non-traditional media. Silver pointed out that Harris avoided all media during the opening of her campaign
Harris took over the top of the Democratic ticket on July 21 and ran the shortest modern presidential campaign.
During the opening weeks of her campaign, she avoided media appearances, both traditional and non-traditional.
Trump had the advantage of running the longest campaign in American history, first announcing his intention to run for the White House for a third time on November 15, 2022 – just a week after the 2022 midterm elections.
While Trump’s many podcast appearances helped him win back the White House, he also appeared regularly on Fox News.
He also participated in a CNN town hall in May 2023 — and gave NBC’s Meet the Press one of his first interviews after defeating Harris earlier this month.
“Harris’s campaign people are the most non-agentic people I have encountered in a position with comparable decision-making power,” Silver also said.
“They don’t even see themselves as victims so much as non-player characters with no will of their own,” he added.
Silver’s comments echoed others who have argued that the Harris campaign is not accepting enough blame for the Democrat’s devastating loss.
Top members of Harris’ team were interviewed this week by Pod Save America, including (from left) David Plouffe, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Quentin Fulks and Stephanie Cutter
CNN’s Democratic pundit Bakari Sellers called the podcast interview “disappointing at best” and criticized “their lack of self-awareness and their lack of self-reflection.”
Republican strategist Tricia McLaughlin said the Pod Save America interview is “reminiscent of an interview with Kamala Harris: Nothing is actually said.”
‘No one answers the question. Don’t push back on an interview,” said McLaughlin, who worked for Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign.
In a follow-up post, Silver said he found the Pod Save America hosts’ interview style effective.
Silver said, “One criticism I don’t agree with is that (Pod Save America) has been too soft on them.”
“If you are sometimes a little more hostile and give the interviewees more rope, they actually look worse,” the top survey argued.