Fox anchor Dana Perino: Media said the RNC painted an alternate reality on coronavirus, “but isn't that what conventions do?"
Fox anchor Bret Baier: “Of course”
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From the August 25, 2020, edition of Fox News' The Daily Briefing With Dana Perino
DANA PERINO (ANCHOR): So what did you think of that? It was kind of like in the first hour and half, you had lots of policy.
BRET BAIER (FOX NEWS ANCHOR): Yeah I think that it was a direct contrast to Democrats, and even in Sen. Tim Scott's speech in which he said actions are one thing, words are another; we need more actions. And this, I think, is the overall pitch in that you don't have to like Donald Trump, you don't have to like his tweets. You don't have to like, you know, some aspects of how he deals with communication. But he's getting things done, the Republicans are saying, and I would look at it like an iceberg. There is an iceberg above the water that will be cover every day, the controversies, the story of the day, but that there's an iceberg below the water that is actually changing things and how this place works.
PERINO: You saw a lot of that, and in fact, one of the most touching things I thought was the hostages that were released that joined the president in the White House -- and we have one of them from last night that's going be on the show a little bit later -- because you might have missed that. We have those moments where you think oh that's so nice, he got to come home or he brought them home from Iran, or Venezuela, Turkey, wherever it might be. But then you move on and there's like the big fights about mail-in voting, there's lots of big fights. One of them is about coronavirus, and I woke up this morning and read a lot of the coverage and there seemed to be a consensus amongst the media that the RNC convention is presenting an alternate universe or alternate reality. But isn't that what conventions do?
BAIER: Of course. You have your story, this is how Democrats look at it. This is the Republican story, and how they look at it, and that's it.
PERINO: But they said -- one of the criticisms is that the Republican convention so far is not taking enough into account, enough empathy about the 175,000 Americans who have died and the families who are grieving for them.
BAIER: I mean, I think it was sprinkled in to some of the things that were said about the loss of the 170,000 plus. I do think that they aggressively went towards how not just Republicans in this administration, but Democrats as well, didn't know what was happening at the beginning of the virus. And I thought it was effective, those -- the video with Nancy Pelosi and Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Newsom thanking the president for the activity, but also, Pelosi saying there's nothing to worry about, come to Chinatown. I mean, that's February.