Fox News, Joe Rogan’s podcast—those are the kinds of outlets you’d expect Republicans to frequent. But Vice President Kamala Harris is confirmed for the former and is reportedly close to confirming the latter. So what the heck is going on?
Winning, that’s what.
On Tuesday, Daily Kos offered an overview of Harris’ recent and upcoming media schedule.
[W]hile [Donald] Trump has confined himself to interviews with friendly outlets like Fox News, Harris has been on a media blitz speaking to a wide array of outlets and hosts. She has appeared on “The View,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “The Howard Stern Show,” and the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” among other venues.
She is also scheduled to do an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday. Trump, who has accused Harris of “hiding,” complained about it on his Truth Social account.
She also appeared on “60 Minutes,” which was too scary for Trump.
Now “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the country’s most popular podcast, could be on tap. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Harris’ team had recently met with Rogan’s about an appearance. The move seems to be part of her appeal to young men, who make up a large deal of Rogan’s audience.
Conspicuously missing from Harris’ recent media hits is The New York Times, which whined in August about her refusal to sit with them and other national political outlets.
And it’s been the smart call. Harris has one job: win the election. Nothing else matters at this point.
You don’t like that former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed Harris? Doesn’t matter. If big-name Republicans reluctantly endorse her to avoid a second Trump administration, then great.
You don’t like that she endorsed cryptocurrency? Doesn’t matter. If that helps attract or at least neutralize tech bros who’d otherwise follow billionaire Elon Musk toward MAGA, then great.
You don’t like how President Joe Biden was pushed out of the race? Doesn’t matter. If you want to vent anger, do it after the election.
You don’t like this thing or that thing that no one else cares about? Doesn’t matter. Her job isn’t to make you happy. She’s got your vote because you know what’s up. Her job is to corral enough of the small group of gettable votes to win the election.
We can argue policy and vibes after the election. Right now, the only thing that matters is winning. Can we all agree on that? And that’s what Harris and her campaign are focused on.
By doing Rogan’s show and “Call Her Daddy,” Harris will have hit the two top podcasts in the nation, reaching tens of millions.
“Call Her Daddy” is heavily focused on women, helping Harris shore up support among a key constituency. Never-married women have one of the lowest turnout ratesat roughly 39% between 1998 and 2022, compared with about 62% of married women (with present spouses) during the same time period. And 72% of never-married female voters lean Democratic. Married women? Fifty percent lean Republican, and 45% lean Democratic. Harris absolutely needs to goose that never-married turnout.
Meanwhile, Rogan’s podcast is “71% male and evenly split between high school and post-secondary graduates. Fifty seven percent of his audience reports earning over $50k per year, with 19% making over $100k. The average age of his listeners was 24,” according to the media analytics company Media Monitors.
We all know the troubles Democrats are having with men these days, experiencing a gender gap that persists across all racial and ethnic groups. The 2020 exit polls show that Trump won 61% of white men, 19% of Black men (compared with just 9% of Black women), and 36% of Latino men (compared with 30% of Latinas).
Harris needs to cut into Trump’s appeal to these groups as much as she can. A point here or there could make all the difference, not just in her race, but also in critical Senate races that will decide control of the chamber, particularly in Florida, Montana, Nebraska, and Texas. You better believe that if we win any of those races, it’ll be by three- or four-digit vote margins.
And who knows if it’s in the cards, but a Rogan endorsement would reverberate far beyond the show’s listenership itself. You don’t like Rogan? Me neither. Who cares. See above. Winning is the only thing that matters.
And then there’s Fox News.
Yeah, Fox News … I am on record as fiercely opposing Democratic participation in anything related to Fox News. It legitimizes the right-wing’s premier propaganda machine.
But who cares? All that matters right now is winning.
Recently, a poll by Blueprint found that 36% of those who either voted for Nikki Haley in this year’s Republican presidential primaries or would prefer her as the nominee say they’ll back Harris in November, compared with 45% who plan to back Trump. But 13% remain undecided.
In Pennsylvania’s Republican primarynearly 159,000 people voted for Haley, who had dropped out over a month earlier. Thirteen percent of that is close to 21,000. In Wisconsin’s primaryalmost 77,000 backed Haley—and 13% of that is around 10,000. If the election is as close as some fear, these numbers would certainly be part of a winning Harris coalition, and going on Fox to reach these voters is well worth the investment.
And it’s not just the Haley voters up for grabs. The steady stream of current and former Republicans lining up for Harris shows there are Republicans who care about our democracy and common decency, and are willing to hold their noses for the Democratic ticket, even if just this once. And heck, after breaking that seal, they may even realize that voting blue wasn’t so bad after all! It’s well worth trying to chip into that Republican core.
As a bonus, it unhinges Trump even further. People are noticing how bizarre his behavior is becoming. And on Monday, he all but declared war on Fox News.
“Neil Cavuto has one of the worst shows on Television—and the worst rated on FoxNews,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “The people on Fake News CNN are better!”
In another, also on Monday, he lost his mind over the announcement of Harris’ interview on Fox News, posting“Lyin’ Kamala Harris has wisely chosen Bret Baier, of FoxNews, to do a much needed interview, because he is considered to be ‘Fair & Balanced,’ though often very soft to those on the ‘cocktail circuit’ Left. I would have preferred seeing a more hard hitting journalist, but Fox has grown so weak and soft on the Democrats, constantly polluting the airwaves with unopposed Kamala Representatives, that it all doesn’t matter anymore. Hopefully, the people will understand on November 5th, and Early Voting. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
And then there was this screed against the entire network:
How much time does Ian Sams, Senior Advisor to Lyin’ Kamala Harris, spend on FoxNews? He’s now on Cavuto, Fox’s Lowest Rated Show, by far, and spent much of the weekend hitting “TRUMP,” totally unopposed, before two real “beauties,” Eric Shawn and Arthel Neville – Not exactly the next Walter Cronkite of the Broadcasting World! Sams is just a below average guy, with memorized FAKE NEWS soundbites, almost all of which are WRONG, but coupled with all of the other Harris Radical Left Democrat mouthpieces that Fox puts on (Richard Fowler, Patrick Murphy, “something” Wolf, Jessica Tarloff?), it has a very negative effect on the Election. Think of it, I spend an hour with the wonderful Maria Bartiromo, do a beautiful job, and then am followed up all day long by one-sided, negative Democrats, including Ian Sams, who virtually owns the Network. It’s not worthwhile doing Interviews on Fox, because it all just averages out into NOTHING. FoxNews has totally lost its way!
Aside from its potential electoral benefit, Harris’ appearance on Fox News would be justified just for its destabilizing effect on Trump’s mental state. He is so worn down that on Monday night, he cut a town hall short and stood on stage like an idiot for 39 minutes as music played over the sound system. That’s not effective campaigning, especially in the last month of campaigning.
As Harris works to broaden her appeal, Trump is further retreating into his media bubble, which may no longer include even Fox News. On Tuesday, it was announced that he backed out of a CNBC interview, probably too afraid to answer questions about the excellent stock market after promising in 2020 that it would crash if Biden was elected—the same thing he’s promising now but about Harris. Also, Fox News might even rake him over the coals regarding his cuckoo tariff plansomething even Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo called him out on.
Trump is regressing, retrenching, and hiding. And while we don’t have to like it, Harris has a plan to win—and she’s executing on it.
