Jesse Watters and Donald Trump Jr. discussing Harris' interview on Fox

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How Fox News personalities reacted to Bret Baier's interview with Kamala Harris

Attacks on her demeanor, complaints about Harris citing the bipartisan border bill, and wondering why she is spending time attacking Donald Trump

Written by Noah Dowe, Reed McMaster & Jack Wheatley

Published

Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier on October 16, the same day Fox aired a pro-Trump town hall with the former president. Afterward, network personalities were quick to blast Harris’ performance — attacking her demeanor as “agitated” and angry, lambasting her answers on immigration, and downplaying her criticism of Donald Trump’s calls to deploy the military against “the enemy within.”

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  • Harris and Trump received radically different treatment from Fox News on the same day

    • Baier’s questioning was described by mainstream outlets as “contentious,” “testy,” and “grievance theater.” “Mr. Baier’s aggressive demeanor was consistent with the kind of tough coverage of Ms. Harris that blankets Fox News’s daily programming,” recounted The New York Times, adding that “looking frustrated, he cut off several of Ms. Harris’s answers after a few seconds. His first interruption came within the first half-minute of their exchange.” [The New York Times, 10/16/24; NPR, 10/16/24; The Guardian, 10/17/24]
    • In contrast, Trump’s Fox News women’s town hall was filled with “hand-picked Trump supporters,” with the network even deceptively editing the broadcast to obscure the pro-Trump nature of the event. The moderator, Fox anchor Harris Faulkner, allowed Trump to spread at least 19 false claims, according to CNN, many of which he has repeatedly promoted on the campaign trail. [Media Matters, 10/16/24; 10/16/24; CNN, 10/16/24]

  • Fox attacked Harris’ demeanor during the interview as “agitated” and angry

    • Fox prime-time host Sean Hannity said Harris “appeared agitated” and “obsessively tried to simply avoid answering basic fundamental questions.” Hannity commented, “I’d say the joy is gone in the Harris campaign tonight and her obvious anger, that was on full display.” Hannity also claimed she “took zero responsibility for anything that happened during the Harris-Biden administration.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/16/24] 
    • Fox anchor Dana Perino claimed Harris “came in kind of hot and she got angrier.” Perino asked, “Where is the joy? There is no joy here.” [Fox News, Special Report, 10/16/24]
    • Baier accused the Harris campaign of trying to throw him off balance or “icing the kicker” by apparently arriving late and claimed he knew right away that “he was going to have to interrupt.” Baier stated, “At 5:17, the vice president walked out. So it did feel a little bit like they were icing the kicker, or trying to.” He added, “I knew right away when we started asking questions, when I started asking questions, that this was kind of a sense she was going to keep on talking. And that if I wanted to get through and redirect, I was going to have to interrupt. I don't particularly love to do that, but if I didn't do it, there may have been four answers in the interview.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/16/24]
    • Baier repeated claims about the Harris campaign “icing the kicker” on his show Special Report, saying, “We were supposed to start at 5 p.m.” He went on, “Originally we were going to do 25 or 30 minutes, they came in and said well, maybe 20. So it was already getting whittled down, and then the vice president showed up about 5:15. We were pushing the envelope to be able to turn it around for the top of the 6 o’clock. So that’s how it started.” [Fox News, Special Report, 10/16/24]
    • Fox host Jesse Watters argued that Harris “just snapped” and was unlikeable during the interview. He stated, “She wasn’t likable, she wasn’t charming, she was never funny. She wasn’t warm, there was nothing gracious, eloquent, or reassuring about this performance.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/16/24]
    • Watters: “This was a big girl interview. And she flopped.” Watters said, “Bret gave her the same treatment as he gave Trump in the Spring — respectful, firm, and persistent. We didn’t swap her answers to make her look better like CBS. We didn’t invite little Timmy along to hold her hand like CNN.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/16/24]
    • Donald Trump Jr. claimed that Harris “became unhinged” and called the interview “a major failure” and “an act of desperation from a desperate person.” The former president’s son also commented that “you don’t go on Bret Baier if you’re winning.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/16/24]
    • Fox host Laura Ingraham complained that she “didn't hear any hope at all in this interview, really. Where was the hope? Where was the joy and where was the love?” Her guest, former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, said Harris “did not have one coherent answer the entire time.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 10/16/24]
    • Outnumbered co-host and former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed that during his presidency, Trump often “wanted to continue with the most hostile, adversarial, unfair — unlike Bret who asked fair questions — unfair journalists.” McEnany said, “As someone who was on President Trump’s press team — Bret Baier said there were like four people wrapping, she showed up late. I had the opposite experience with Trump. He’d show up on time and you’d be like ‘come on Trump, like, you want to go an hour, we don’t have an hour. You have a national security meeting.’ You’d try to wrap him and he didn’t like that.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 10/16/24]

  • Fox figures and guests also attacked Harris’ answers on immigration, questioning her comments about the bipartisan border bill and accusing her of unleashing an “invasion” of migrants

    • Hannity accused Harris of taking “zero responsibility” as “border czar,” claiming she “doesn’t seem to remember calling the border secure, something she repeated … for three long years.” Despite repeated claims by Fox and other right-wing media that she was “border czar,” Harris’ role was focused on addressing “root causes” of migration from Central American countries. [Fox News, Hannity, 10/16/24; Media Matters, 7/22/24]
    • Hannity accused Harris of “flat-out lying” that the Trump administration provided gender-affirming care to prisoners. Despite Hannity’s argument that “the very first taxpayer-funded sex change surgery on a convicted felon was carried out in 2022 thanks to the Harris-Biden administration,” The New York Times reported that Trump’s Bureau of Prisons “provided an array of gender-affirming treatments,” for inmates, and officials noted that they were required to pay for surgery if it was deemed medically necessary, though “legal wrangling delayed the first such operation until 2022, long after Mr. Trump left office.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/16/24; The New York Times, 10/16/24]
    • On Hannity, Baier absolved Trump of the failure of the bipartisan immigration deal, arguing conservatives had “problems” with the bill. Baier noted that the bill “was voted against by eight Democrats and had some major problems that conservatives didn't like.” But Trump publicly bragged about sinking the bill by pressuring Republicans, saying, “Please blame it on me.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/16/24; The Washington Post, 1/27/24]
    • Perino claimed Harris’ “answers are not going to pass the smell test” with regard to the border. As to whether Harris will acknowledge Biden’s record on immigration, Perino added, “I just wonder if at some point, if acceptance is the first step of recovery? If she has ever said something like, we could have done a better job on the border. Just acknowledge it. What would happen? Would the whole entire campaign fall apart? Because the majority of people think that Trump would be better on immigration. Simple.” [Fox News, Special Report, 10/16/24]
    • Anchor Martha MacCallum said, “I think that her answers on the border were disappointing to most voters, because she didn't answer.” MacCallum claimed Harris “looked for ways to blame the prior administration” and added that “it was on their watch that these millions of people crossed the border.” [Fox News, Special Report, 10/16/24]
    • Watters: Harris “doesn't know anything about the border, she doesn’t care about the border, she just doesn't want anybody talking about it.” Watters dismissed Harris’ comment about Trump derailing the bipartisan immigration bill, saying, “At this stage of the campaign, saying, ‘I’m sorry about the dead woman on my watch, it’s all Trump’s fault,’ it’s not gonna fly.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/16/24]
    • Former Trump adviser Stephen Miller: “Could you imagine running for president and not even knowing in the last four years how many illegals you let in? It's one disqualifying moment after another.” Miller has a long history of promoting white nationalist views, anti-immigrant policy, and misinformation. [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 10/16/24; Media Matters, 3/11/21] 
    • Eric Trump attacked Harris’ answer on immigration, suggesting she flew “320,000 people on private planes into airports all across the country in the middle of the night.” Eric Trump was seemingly referring to the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program, a well-publicized effort — rooted in executive authority that has existed since 1952 — which allows “up to 30,000 individuals per month” from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to stay in the U.S. for a two-year period with the potential for extension pending sponsorship and background checks. [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 10/16/24; Media Matters, 3/7/24]
    • Ingraham claimed Harris was “put in charge of the border” and blamed her for “the invasion” of migrants “that she unleashed on our country.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 10/16/24]
    • Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt attacked Harris for invoking the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 during the interview, arguing Americans “didn’t want to give a pathway to citizenship to 11 million people.” In reality, polling over the last few years has repeatedly found a majority of Americans support creating a legal pathway for undocumented immigrants to gain citizenship. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/17/24; NPR, 5/20/21; The Hill, 2/16/22; University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2/14/24]
    • Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), attacked Harris’ answer on instances of migrant crime on Fox & Friends. Vance claimed that Harris “opened the border and let their killers into our country to go after their daughters.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/17/24]

  • Fox also complained about Harris mentioning Trump’s comments that Democrats are part of “the enemy within”

    • Hannity attacked Harris for her answer on Trump’s comments, saying, “Apparently Donald Trump is either a Nazi or a fascist. He wants to use the American military to attack all of his political enemies. Didn’t do it in his first term.” Hannity largely glossed over Trump’s comments that “sick people, radical left lunatics,” including Democrats, are “the enemy from within” and “should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary by the military, because they can’t let that happen." Additionally, as reported by CNN, Trump “made extensive behind-the-scenes efforts to get his political opponents charged with crimes” during his first term. [Fox News, Hannity, 10/16/24; NBC News, 10/13/24; CNN, 10/15/24]
    • After airing a clip of Harris mentioning Trump’s “enemy within” comment, Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt complained that the Harris campaign is “so focused” on Trump’s comments that he wants to use the American military to attack his political enemies “when they need to be focused on the economy.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/17/24]
    • After America’s Newsroom played a clip of Harris highlighting Trump’s call for violence against his enemies, Trump campaign adviser Tim Murtaugh ignored Trump’s comments, saying, “I think what people were tuning in to see is if Kamala Harris has any ability whatsoever to explain exactly why it is that she wants to become president, and she can’t.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 10/17/24]