Opinion columnist Bret Stephens of the New York Times pressed Ruhle about Harris not doing more media interviews when the Trump-Vance ticket has done many more at the same time. "I'm an undecided voter," Stephens began. I'm not sure I want to vote for Kamala. My fear is that she doesn't really have a very good command of what she wants to do as president. It would be great for her to sit down with you [Maher], or George Stephanopoulos, or you Stephanie." He later added, "It's not too much to ask Kamala 'Are you for a Palestinian state, if Hamas is going to run that state?'"
"Let's say you don't like her answer, are you going to vote for Donald Trump? Kamala Harris is not running for perfect," Ruhle responded. "She is running against Trump. We have two choices. And so there are some things that you might not know her answer to. And 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."
Stephens pointed out that the issue with Harris for a lot of voters is that they do not know what she is going to be like because she has not done a lot of press interviews or answered many tough questions for the media. Ruhle hit back, suggesting that since people know Trump's "answer to everything," that means that people should go with Harris.
The Times columnist pushed back, saying that Americans are "expected to have some idea of what the program is of the person you're supposed to vote for." He added, "I don't think it's a lot to ask for her to sit down for a real interview."
Ruhle said that Stephens' proposal was similar to wishing he lived in "Nirvana," suggesting that wanting to know Harris' policy in a transparent way was similar to a utopian pipe dream.
Democrats as well as the media have pushed the talking point that Trump is a "threat to democracy" for the better part of the election cycle, and the GOP nominee has attributed the two assassination attempts on his life as being inspired by that and similar rhetoric.
