Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese pointed out the stark contrast on Tuesday between the National Association of Black Journalists’ (NABJ) treatment toward Vice President Kamala Harris versus Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The NABJ held an event with Trump on July 31 which quickly turned hostile, while the same journalists hosting the event asked Harris about the meaning of joy during their event with the vice president on Tuesday. Reese said the event moderators were notably friendlier with Harris than with Trump during a segment on NewsNation’s “On Balance with LeLand Vittert.”
“If you look at the panel of journalists that Harris faced today, Eugene Daniels is the author of Politico, we’ve seen Politico’s coverage kind of shift over the past couple of months to be very favorable of Harris,” Reese said. “It was once scrutinizing [President Joe] Biden and his old age in office … A clip that you didn’t show which is in stark contrast to what President Trump faced, was ‘can you explain the importance of joy in your campaign?’ That was a question posed to Kamala Harris.”
Daily Caller White House Correspondent @reaganreese_ joined @LelandVittert on @NewsNation to discuss the double standard in interviews conducted by the National Association of Black Journalists of Donald Trump versus that of Kamala Harris.
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 18, 2024
Harris sat down for questioning with Politico’s Eugene Daniels, WHYY’s Tonya Mosley and TheGrio’s Gerren Keith Gaynor in Philadelphia, where they asked her about the importance of joy in her campaign and about her plan to ban assault weapons.
Reese commended Daniels’ question to Harris on whether Americans are better off now than they were before the Biden-Harris administration came in, but noted the Democratic nominee’s non-response.
“Kamala Harris skirted around that question. This is now the second time that she’s been asked ‘are voters better off today than they were 4 years ago’ and she hasn’t really given an answer,” Reese said.
“Joyful warrior has been used to describe your campaign and your opponent and Republicans have at times weaponized you laughing in campaign ads for example. Why is joy important to you to insert into this election and what do you make of Republicans using that as a way to suggest that you’re not a serious candidate?” Gaynor asked the vice president.
“Oh, sometimes I think, and I’ll say to whoever the young people are who are watching this. There’s some times when your adversaries will try to turn your strength into a weakness. Don’t you let them. Don’t you let them,” Harris responded. “I find joy in the American people. I find joy in optimism, in what I see to be our future and our ability to invest in it. I find joy in the ambition of people. I find joy in the dreams of the people. I find joy in building community. I find joy in building coalitions. I find joy in believing that the true measure of the strength of the leader is not based on who you beat down but who you lift up.”
The only testy question came when Mosley asked Harris whether she intends to ban handguns. The vice president responded she does not want to take away any other firearms except assault weapons from the American people, but assured universal background checks will apply to handguns.
The softball questioning of Harris stood in stark contrast with Trump, where ABC News reporter Rachel Scott opened the event by calling out the former president’s alleged racism.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked a question in such a horrible manner,” Trump responded. “You don’t even say ‘hello, how are you.’ Are you with ABC? Because I think they’re a fake news network, a terrible network.”
Trump’s appearance at the event caused backlash among liberal journalists, even prompting Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah to step down as the co-chair.
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