As former President Donald Trump struggles to win over women voters in his bid for reelection, Fox News’ Harris Faulkner hosted a town hall with the GOP presidential nominee in Georgia to address women’s issues in front of an audience of women voters — who turned out to be hand-picked Trump supporters. 

Trump entered the town hall to a standing ovation from the women in the audience. The Independent’s Eric Garcia explained the crowd’s overwhelming support, noting that “many of the attendees in an intimate setting were from Republican groups around the area whom Fox News invited,” including multiple leaders from the Republican Women of Forsyth County. Despite this, Faulkner described the crowd as coming from “every walk of life.”

CNN also reported that Fox edited out a woman who said, “I proudly cast my vote for you today. I hope they count it." In another moment that was edited out, “Trump asked the crowd who they were voting for, leading to a chant of ‘Trump, Trump’ breaking out by the attendees." A woman in the crowd also wore an “RNC Delegate” hat, and another wore a Trump pin while asking her question. 

Faulkner provided Trump a platform to dismiss controversial comments and let him promote an authoritarian agenda with no pushback. Faulkner further allowed Trump to jokingly brush off his previous comments about a supposed “enemy from within” and potentially using the military to go after political rivals, even as he pointed to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her husband Paul Pelosi as examples. (Last year, Paul Pelosi was the victim of a violent political attack that Trump mocked.) 

When asked a question regarding the participation of trans women in sports — a top culture war issue among right-wing audiences — Trump argued, “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don't let it happen.” Faulkner accepted the answer and moved on to the next question. 

Faulkner also allowed Trump to spread at least 19 false claims, according to CNN, many of which he has repeatedly promoted on the campaign trail. Trump bizarrely referred to himself as the “father of IVF,” which CNN called “just nonsense.” Trump also claimed there are “21 million people” who have been released into the U.S. — a false claim he has made before. As CNN pointed out: “Through August, the country had recorded about 10.3 million nationwide ‘encounters’ with migrants during the Biden-Harris administration, including millions who were rapidly expelled from the country; even adding in so-called ‘gotaways’ who evaded detection, estimated by House Republicans as being roughly 2 million, there’s no way the total is ‘21 million.’” Trump also claimed to be responsible for “the largest tax cuts in the history of our country,” which is a false claim he has made for years.

Update (10/16/24): This piece has been updated with additional information.