Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

The August 23 edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, one of President Donald Trump's favorite shows, will reportedly include co-host Ainsley Earhardt's “exclusive interview” with the president. Trump’s decision to sit for yet another interview with Fox shouldn’t come as a surprise given his tendency to offer interviews only to friendly sources. If past experience is any guide, Trump has nothing to fear from Earhardt, whose previous interviews with the president have been entirely devoid of tough questions.  

Earhardt, who has interviewed the president several times, laughably claimed that it’s “not true” that the hosts of Fox & Friends “give soft interviews” to the president and members of the administration. Here are just a few examples of the “hard-hitting questions” Earhardt claims she asks:

• On Trump’s recanted suggestion that he had taped former FBI Director James Comey: “Why did you want him to believe that you possibly did that? …  That was a smart way to make sure he stayed honest in his hearings.”

• On Robert Mueller: “Robert Mueller, do you think he should recuse himself from this, because he is good friends with James Comey, he's hired some some attorneys that were part of Hillary Clinton's foundation, had given money to President Obama and Hillary Clinton's campaign. Should he recuse himself?”

• On Democrats: “What do the Democrats need to do? Are they in denial and what do they need to do to get on board?”

• On Trump’s nominee for secretary of Veterans Affairs who was accused of misconduct: “As Dr. [Ronny] Jackson says, these allegations are baseless, and they're just attacking him? This is not true, he served our country, but yet, he's still withdrawing his name. So does the obstructionist win when your nominees don’t fight back?”

• On Kanye West: “We want to get to Kanye West. He tweeted that he loves you, that you're his brother, and the left goes ballistic. What's your reaction?”

In addition to her soft-ball interviews with the president, Earhardt has also done amicable interviews with adviser to the president Ivanka Trump. During a June 2017 interview, Earhardt asked the following hard-hitting questions:

• “Any stories you want to share about your kids in the White House?”

• “Are you the chef or is Jared [Kusher] the chef?”

• “What does it mean to be an American? Why are you a proud American?”

Perhaps, the most shameful moment of the interview, however, came when Earhardt allowed Ivanka, who has an office in the West Wing of the White House, to distance herself from her father’s policies by describing herself as “not a very political person.”

Earhardt has repeatedly demonstrated her disinterest in conducting valuable, tough interviews with the Trumps. The August 23 interview is also destined to be yet another useless sycophantic exercise aimed only at providing the president free airtime.