Ahead of next week’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, right-wing media and President Donald Trump administration are attempting to smear Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris as anti-faith as a tactic to drag the confirmation hearings into a fabricated narrative that ignores the right-wing decisions they expect their nominee to deliver.
Right-wing media are pushing that Kamala Harris is anti-faith ahead of next week's Supreme Court hearing
Written by Julie Tulbert
Research contributions from Media Matters Staff
Published
During the vice presidential debate on October 7, Vice President Mike Pence deflected from answering a question from moderator Susan Page about the future of abortion access to further advance a false narrative that Harris is anti-Catholic and won’t be able to give a “fair hearing” as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Trump also amplified the claim on Twitter during the debate.
As NBC News contributor and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt telegraphed after the debate, Pence’s pivot serves as a roadmap to malign Harris before the Supreme Court confirmation hearings next week by framing any criticism from Harris as an expression of anti-faith bigotry. Right-wing media -- Fox News, in particular -- have already revealed this playbook against Democrats since the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and seem likely to continue that line of attack. The alternative is political poison. In the face of clear polling, right-wing media and the politicians they enable are afraid to admit their nominee is expected to strike down the Affordable Care Act and dismantle Roe v Wade.
During the debate, right-wing media promoted claims about Harris’ supposed anti-faith bigotry:
- Former One America News host Liz Wheeler:
- National Review’s Alexandra DeSanctis:
- The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway:
- BlazeTV’s Allie Beth Stuckey:
Right-wing media also denigrated Harris’ and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s faiths because of their support for abortion access:
- The National Pulse’s Raheem Kassam:
- Wheeler:
- Conservative talk show host Andrew Wilkow:
- The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh:
- LifeNews.com:
- The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro: