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Michael Steele Says Media Is Holding Harris To Higher Standard Than Trump By Criticizing Her Lack Of Interviews

MSNBC's Michael Steele

MSNBC analyst Michael Steele said Friday that the “mainstream media” is not holding Republican nominee Donald Trump to the same standard when they criticize Vice President Kamala Harris for her lack of interviews and press conferences.

Steele said on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that Democrats and the media want “to be coddled” by having Harris sit down for interviews with them, but argued the vice president does not have the time to do so with there being only a few weeks before the Nov. 5 election. The MSNBC analyst said Trump does not get the same amount of criticism for the number of interviews he does with the “mainstream media.”

“It’s being Democrats and being Democrats and the mainstream media being the mainstream media,” Steele said. “They want to be coddled, they want to show that they have the connection, they’ve got the end. The New York Times, The Washington Post, they want the sit down. The major networks want the sit-downs … I don’t see Donald Trump doing sit-downs and press conferences with the mainstream media every week. So let’s hold her to the same standard we’re holding Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump is not giving it anything except a rally in which he drivels and nods off and just goes off on tangents, and the press accepts that.”

“And yet they look at [Harris] and they say ‘how come you’re not giving us more of what we want?’ Well, as soon as you get it from Donald Trump, she will give it to you,” Steele said.

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Steele further called on Democrats to stop worrying about press conferences and instead focus on reaching out to voters.

Harris has participated in the fewest number of interviews than any other presidential candidate in modern history as her campaign has reportedly strategized to appear in as few interviews and press conferences as possible as they seek to run the clock out to the election, Axios reported in mid-September. The vice president and her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, sat down for 7 interviews as of Sept. 19, while Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance had participated in more than 70 interviews.

Trump held two press conferences in the month of August where he answered questions from several outlets including opposition media. He attended a hostile interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in July, in which they asked Harris much easier questions one month later.

The vice president’s first interview occurred on Aug. 29 with CNN’s Dana Bash, where she failed to provide a detailed answer about her policy changes on key positions since her time in the U.S. Senate and as a 2020 presidential candidate. She has also participated in interviews with Oprah Winfrey and MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle.