Snapshot: Kamala Harris Smacks Down Fox
Despite constant interruptions by Fox host Bret Baier, the vice president got her points across to an audience that rarely hears it
Kamala Harris was not taking Fox interviewer Bret Baier’s nonsense last night. She was not going to be put down by his constant interruptions and Trump-inspired arguments. She was not surprised that Fox’s goal was to “win” the interview and carry Donald Trump’s water. No, she knew full well this was her chance to puncture the Fox bubble and communicate some factual information and ideas that have largely been denied to Fox viewers.
Nowhere in the nearly half-hour interview—that often seemed more like a debate as Baier aggressively refused to let her complete her answers—was that more vividly displayed than when she cited Trump’s assertions that the Democrats are “the enemy within” and that he’s prepared to employ the military against them.
Baier knew the truth. Earlier yesterday, in a warm and fuzzy “town hall” on Fox with pro-Trump women voters and canned questions, Trump doubled down on his assertions about who’s the real danger in America: “It is the enemy from within, and they are very dangerous. They are marxists and communists and fascists and they’re sick.” (And on Fox News on Sunday, Trump had called fellow Americans “bad people, sick people. radical left, lunatics” who “should be very easily handled by” the military if necessary.)
But when the vice president addressed this, Baier served up a different clip to showcase from the Fox “town hall.” Suddenly, all the anger and hate about the “enemy within” was replaced with Trump’s soft-pedaled response to Fox host Harris Faulkner. “They're the ones doing the threatening,” he said. “They do phony investigations. I've been investigated more than Alphonse Capone was…It’s called ‘weaponization of government.’”
Harris, the former prosecutor, was not having it. “With all due respect, that clip was not what he has been saying about the enemy within,” Harris said politely. “That was not what you just showed.”
Then she laid into Baier, her indignation visible:
He has repeated it many times. You and I both know that. And you and I both know that he has talked about turning the American military on the American people. He has talked about going after people who are engaged in peaceful protest. He has talked about locking people up because they disagree with him. This is a democracy and in a democracy the President of the United States, in the United States of America, should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he would lock people up for doing it.
And this is what’s at stake, which is why you have someone like the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saying what Mark Milley has said—Donald Trump being a threat to the United States of America.
There was plenty more, of course, particularly on border security and the victims of undocumented immigrants. Baier even played a Trump ad attacking Harris for supporting transgender prisoners who’ve received hormone treatments, as if this is among the most important issues facing America.
The vice president ably pushed back on each of these, including when Baier tried to blame her for not acknowledging Joe Biden’s “diminished” mental ability. She told Baier that President Biden is more than able to lead the nation and reminded him that she’s running against Donald Trump, calling him “unstable” and “dangerous.”
In a matter of weeks, we’ll know how many Republicans—and particularly Republican women—who tuned into this Fox event were swayed by the vice president to rethink their vote. But I am sure that, beyond Harris’ tenacity, toughness and compassion, some women viewers noticed Baeir’s constant interruptions as she tried to answer the questions.
“You have to let me finish, please,” Harris said at one point. “I’m in the middle of responding to the point you’re raising, and I’d like to finish.”
As I wrote earlier this week in “Confronting the Danger Before Us,” VP Harris needs to keep pushing back and asserting what’s at stake—so that as many voters as possible “hear in no uncertain terms how and why America will not be America if Donald Trump returns to our White House.”
Chalk up this Fox interview as a win.
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First of all, she had the courage to walk into the lions den. She took on Fox. Let’s see the traitor go on MSNBC.
It is obvious Baier had no intention of letting the Vice President get her point across. For any person at Fox to refer to themselves as a journalist is an insult to actual journalists.
Meanwhile, the traitor did a town hall on Univision with Latino undecideds. He reiterated his lie that immigrants are eating dogs and cats. Why did he say that? Because “that’s what I heard.” The President of the United States, or someone running to be president, does not repeat what “he heard”. You verify the veracity of “what you heard” first. I nuked Moscow because “I heard” they were going to nuke us. He’s very presidential.
I agree with Steven. Women will notice his battering interruptions as abusive and rude and offensive. Typical MAGA tactic. But Kamala met the barrage of interruptions with strength and courage without becoming hateful or cruel. It was marvelous how she handled it all.
Excerpt from Steven’s essay:
“…But I am sure that, beyond Harris’ tenacity, toughness and compassion, some women viewers noticed Baeir’s constant interruptions as she tried to answer the questions…”