After 18 days of dodging reporters, we finally got to see Vice President Kamala Harris answer questions from reporters. Notably, it took a name-and shame-campaign from the Trump camp, which is talking to essentially anyone who breathes these days. But in this short time, we've seen the Harris campaign's strategy form: answer as few questions as possible and depend on the press to carry her across the finish line.

In truth, this is nothing new; it's a continuation of what we learned during Biden's presidency. For years, the press castigated anyone who dared cast a sideways glance at a befuddling video of Biden falling, claiming to talk to dead people, or worse. The press only pivoted when Democrats wanted Biden out of the race.

Suddenly, all the talking points Republicans, Independents, and anyone else made about Biden's deficiencies became fresh evidence in the campaign to push Biden out of the race. Once Biden acquiesced - and Nancy Pelosi has taken a bizarre victory lap of sorts this week on that point - the press fell in line.

Harris went from one of the most uniformly disliked politicians in Washington D.C., to the golden child overnight. This isn't a conservative noting the shift - the Harris campaign is aware, too. Politico said, "The free publicity — or "earned media," as operatives call it — is worth millions," and added, "The Harris camp is hoping to ride the wave as long as it can."

In short, as long as the gravy train keeps running, neither Harris nor anyone else in the campaign sees a need to take questions from anyone. After J.D. Vance embarrassed Harris on the tarmac, doing something reporters couldn't, and Donald Trump held a lengthy press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Harris was forced to give an impromptu presser to save face.

To borrow a word that's grown popular with Harris fans, she's running a weird campaign. She's entered a general election having never won a primary or faced difficult questions about what exactly she believes or would do once in office. Republicans and Democrats are running with equal efficiency in defending Harris because no one has a clue what her core beliefs are.

Harris folded quickly in the 2020 primaries, undone by a short interaction with Tulsi Gabbard, a bottom-tier candidate in that primary. Going back even further, her relationship with Willie Brown led her into her role as a San Francisco district attorney, where she proceeded to drop charges or get friendly plea deals for friends of Brown. She took that gravy train to the U.S. Senate, where she somehow racked up the most liberal voting record in the Senate while missing 45% of the votes occurring in the chamber.

At no point in her career has Kamala Harris ever had to define herself, make a stand for a set of beliefs, or anything of depth. The one time she had to do that, the 2020 primaries, she couldn't do it. If you can't respond to a predictable attack from someone like Tulsi Gabbard, what are you doing to do when the stakes are higher?

Outside the brief tarmac interview, Harris has hidden behind teleprompters and the media cheering section. Hilariously, she's technically only agreed to one debate. She only wants to fulfill the debate Biden backed out of when he stepped aside. The norm is three Presidential debates and one for the Vice Presidential candidates. Harris and Democrats are somehow counting the Biden debate as one of the debates.

Speaking of Biden, we still don't know why he's officially stepping aside. Harris hasn't answered any questions about her role in pushing Biden out. We know the rest of the Democratic establishment wanted Biden out. Did Harris help them? What did she know, and when did she know about Biden's condition? The events of the last two months have never happened in United States history, and we can't get mainstream reporters even to pretend to be interested.

These are simple questions that anyone can ask, and Democrats are doing everything to avoid anyone looking too hard at their new star candidate. If this seems familiar, it's identical to the 2020 Biden campaign plan. But the difference is that Joe Biden had been in office since the Paleolithic era, and everyone knew he was a blowhard who had held every position on earth.

Even Hillary Clinton has experience taking hard questions, defending herself against attacks, and having a set of beliefs. Kamala Harris has none of these things. Early voting begins in less than a month, and no one can answer any of these questions about Kamala Harris. In fact, given her past performances, it's not even clear whether Harris can define what she believes in herself.

Democrats have convinced themselves that Harris will defeat Trump in the debates. Maybe she will - I know the media will report that, barring some calamity on the stage (see Biden, Joe). In 2020, Harris couldn't defeat Tulsi Gabbard or Joe Biden, who was already showing signs of losing more than a few steps. Her Democratic handlers are doing the same thing with Harris as they did with Biden, keeping her close to teleprompters and chasing away questions.

It was already a weird election. Adding to the mix: we finally learn who Kamala Harris is, what she believes, and whether she can convince Americans that this relaunch of the Kamala Harris brand is the real thing.

Will the real Kamala Harris please stand up?