Politics Without Journalism

THE 2024 CAMPAIGN WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT FOR THE WAY WE PROCESS PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

- MATT WELCH

0N SEPTEMBER 25, more than two months after entering the presidential race, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris finally sat down for her first one-onone interview with a national television reporter.

It wasn't just any reporter. Stephanie Ruhle, host of a nightly show on the Democrat-cheerleading cable network MSNBC, had, just five days prior, ridiculed the very notion that journalists, let alone voters, needed to hear anything more from the vice president before Election Day. "Let's say you don't like her answer. Are you going to vote for Donald Trump?" an exasperated Ruhle demanded to know from co-panelist Bret Stephens on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, after the New York Times columnist suggested undecided voters-presciently, it would turn out after Trump's victory-could use more information from Harris. "We have two choices....There are some things you might not know her answer to, [but] in 2024, unlike 2016, for a lot of the American people, we know exactly what Trump will do, who he is, and the kind of threat he is to democracy." When Stephens protested that "I don't think it's too much to ask for her to sit down for a real interview," Ruhle shot back: "I would just say to that, when you move to nirvana, give me your real estate broker's number, and I'll be your next-door neighbor.