Harris vs. the Hacks

With the days ticking down until America begins counting ballots, Vice President Kamala Harris braved the hostile distortion lair of Fox News for a one-on-one interview with Bret Baier.

Harris showed up to speak to the country, defend her positions, and hopefully reach the very few undecided, gettable voters that are left.

Her interviewer, a glossy Bret Baier, was there to speak to an audience of one.

Sitting with a stack of pages of gotcha research tumbling off of his lap, he repeatedly interrupted our sitting Vice President, doing his best to ensnare her…and failing. What’s worse, he made it embarrassingly evident that HE was the one who entered the interview with a clear agenda and a set of caustic talking points.

Poor Bret came into this debate on his back foot, already under fire by Trump, who days ago posted on Truth Social:

He needed to do what all extremist Republicans have to do: prove to Daddy Trump that he, too, could be a good little footsoldier and fall in line. He arrived hyped-up to be the attack hero, to the point where Harris was barely afforded the chance to answer a question without him going out of his way to exhibit that he wasn’t a softie and doesn’t have journalistic integrity…so can he please be readmitted into the Trump Troop? Please?

Baier used the time to lean hard into immigration—but at no point conceded that the only reason there isn’t a strong immigration bill is because Trump wanted to preserve the issue to run on it, in the absence of having any plans or policies. A large chapter of Trump’s tired old playbook is preying on fear about immigrants. He and his minions have seeded and fueled that fear, vilifying innocent people while doing their best to ensure that nothing material changes at the border. After all, why fix a problem when you can entrench and exacerbate it for political benefit?

Baier knows this, hence the excess time dedicated to aggressive questions that would prove to Daddy that he was tough—so tough, in fact, that he would deny Harris the courtesy to respond and talk over her at will. He didn’t ask about healthcare, childcare (which is childcare), or taxes. He asked about issues that would help to elevate senseless terror among rightwing viewers, such as the kitchen-table concern facing all voters this election cycle: whether incarcerated individuals should get taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries.

He only posed the question in hopes for that gotcha that would cast Harris as some sort of radical. She took it in stride, calmly stating that she plans to follow the law (a novel declaration for the network), before coming right back at him, explaining that the Trump administration had been bound by the exact same laws on the issue! Little tip here: if you’re going to go out of your way to condemn and disparage the Democrats’ position, get your fact-checkers (though I can’t imagine they’re rampant in-house) to make sure the Republicans have not been guilty of operating under precisely the same laws, especially not under Big Daddy’s administration.

Given Baier’s proven lack of ethics, it’s not a shock that he and the network then used a ludicrously-edited sound bite to absolve their God King. Baier had been waiting for Harris to mention Trump’s disturbing Hitler echo that has become his latest catch-phrase: when he refers to those on the left as the “enemy from within.” When Harris brought it up, Baier interrupted her again: “We asked that question to the former president today and this is how he responded,” he said before rolling…let’s say…a finely curated clip.

Have a listen:

https://x.com/kamalahq/status/1846752545735069904?s=10

Harris called him out, firmly and respectfully, arguing that the clip did not reflect the vile language Trump has been spewing of late. Baier stuttered that the clip was a response from that day, when Fox had asked him to defend his language. Quick question: Why would Fox ask Trump to defend it unless they’re wholly aware that his proposal of siccing the military on Americans is a disqualifying position that is very much worthy of a back-pedal? To be on Team Trump, you have to be prepared to defend the indefensible. 

All in all, it was a lose-lose-lose for Baeir, Fox, and Trump. Baier sacrificed any remaining plausible deniability he wasn’t one of Trump’s aspiring stooges, yet still couldn’t top Kamala in the interview. Don’t take MY word for it:

Yeah…I’d say she got that.

While Kamala spent the day doubling down on embracing Republicans, starting by standing with Adam Kinzinger and top-level Republicans at Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, then willingly putting herself in the line of fire on Fox and handling it so deftly that Baier practically conceded defeat…where was big boy Trump—the tough guy in the race? The alpha? The purported strongman who isn’t afraid of anyone?

He was at an All-Female “town hall” in Georgia, one supposedly filled with undecided American women. But this was a Fox event. So it was almost entirely filled with rabid Trump supporters who had been targeted and invited by Fox News to attend. One was the president of the Fulton County Republican Women. One entered wearing a hat boasting ‘RNC Delegate.’ Others were proudly decked in MAGA merch.  

So we’re clear, when Trump refers to a town hall, he means a rally sponsored by his Fox cronies, created to be a safe space for the guy who beats his chest about how he can handle tough questions.

Let’s pause and remind ourselves how he handles tough questions. It’s nothing new. We’ve witnessed this weakness for nearly a decade. He insults the person asking, because Daddy doesn’t like to tax his thinker. Take your pick.

Kamala Harris, in stark opposition, knows how to handle tough questions, with competence and grace. She has been exhibiting as much on her impressive media tear, broadcasting that strength by getting in front of as many people as possible. Simultaneously, Trump has been exposing how weak and frightened he is about having a dialogue. Why else would he be cancelling every tough interview—from 60 Minutes to CNBC to a second debate with Vice President Harris?

Sure, he did a town hall on Tuesday with reliable sycophant Kristi Noem. That went well. Trump literally voiced his distaste for questions, demanded “LET’S MAKE IT INTO A MUSIC,” and proceeded to thin out his crowd at a remarkable clip during his nearly 40 minute DJ set, while moving as though he was on a boat, lost at sea. Then there was his event yesterday, catered by Fox and dominated by softball questions, moderated by fawning mouthpiece Maria Bartiromo.

In a seemingly choreographed split screen of weakness vs. strength, as Trump’s campaign was reneging on all of his challenging media interviews, Kamala appeared on Call Her Daddy, Howard Stern, Univision, The View, Stephen Colbert, All the Smoke, 60 minutes, Charlamagne tha God, and now Bret Baeir of Fox News—the network that had to pay $787 Million for lying on her opponent’s behalf.  

You know who has to be prepared to engage with such a diverse range of people, and be willing to meet them with strength, respect, and readiness to hold them accountable?

A president.

And there’s only one person on the ballot who has proven she is up to the task.

So get your vote out as soon as possible. We have 19 days.