A Fox Business host seemingly embraced recent warnings from senior Republicans about sexist and racist attacks against the likely Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, calling out GOP nominee Donald Trump for repeatedly calling Harris “dumb.” But that same Fox host had no problem with guests on his program using that insult and others against Harris in the past month.
The Harris campaign’s rapid response account @KamalaHQ posted a video of Fox Business host Stuart Varney saying on Monday that Trump calling Harris “dumb” is “a profound mistake.”
Trump labeled Harris “dumb” in a recent interview with the New York Post, and again in a social media post. This invective flies in the face of warnings from other Republican leaders “against using overtly racist and sexist attacks.” Varney apparently joined this call to tone down personal attacks against Harris amid GOP fears of voter backlash.
However, prior to Republicans issuing guidance against vitriolic attacks on the vice president, several guests on Varney’s Fox Business program also called Harris “dumb” or insulted her in other ways, with no outcry from him.
On June 25, one of Varney’s guests, Fox host Jimmy Failla, said of Harris: “Listen, I’m trying to be tactful here. She’s dumb, OK?” This followed Varney saying Harris would be a “national security issue” and a “national security problem,” in response to a clip in which the vice president answered a question about the upcoming election.
On July 22, Varney guest K.T. McFarland scoffed at “Kamala Harris with her cackle,” an overtly sexist attack. And on July 19, Fox contributor Steve Hilton echoed recent racist right-wing attacks against the vice president, saying: “You have to assume that in a party completely obsessed with identity over actual competence, experience, or results, that Kamala Harris would be the front runner.”
And that’s without mentioning another much more vile sexist attack against Harris that also aired on Fox Business.
