If she'd declined to appear on Fox you would be berating her for that.
Reads like mission accomplished, particularly with the Orange F'k declining to appear before a friendly NRA meeting.
JUST IN: Kamala Harris Fox News Interview Draws Big Ratings -- Trounces Trump Town Hall Source: MEDIAite
Oct 17th, 2024, 3:02 pm
Fox News anchor Bret Baier’s interview with Vice President Kamala Harris drew impressive ratings on Wednesday night, proving the event to have been a successful strategy for both the cable news network and the Democratic nominee. According to early Nielsen ratings, 7.1 million viewers tuned in to watch what was an at times contentious interview between the Fox anchor and presidential candidate. In the advertiser coveted 25-54 age demo, 882,000 viewers watched.
Harris made the case for her own candidacy and argued that former President Donald Trump is an unstable figure unfit to serve as president — including in the eyes of many of his former cabinet members. Baier confronted Harris on some of her evolving positions on border policy and through tough questions and aggressive follow ups extracted some of the most meaningful answers she’s provided on the campaign trail to date.
The viewership was considerably higher than the audience that usually tunes into Special Report, which is already the top show on cable news in its hour. For comparison, in the third quarter of 2024, Special Report averaged 2.5 million viewers a night.
That Harris would appear on Fox News was never a given. She has never before gone on the network that is considered anathema to many Democratic voters. Her campaign reasoned that the benefit of being the first Democratic presidential candidate to go on Fox News in 8 years was to appeal to undecided or persuadable voters, or Republicans who voted for Nikki Haley and are questioning their support for Trump.
dbergh, From inside blackhawks' link - ‘I’m Not Finished’: Kamala Harris and Bret Baier Immediately Butt Heads in Fox News Interview
Charlie Nash Oct 16th, 2024, 6:42 pm
Vice President Kamala Harris and Fox News anchor Bret Baier immediately butted heats just seconds into their interview on Wednesday after Baier repeatedly interrupted Harris’s answers.
“Madame Vice President, thank you for your time,” said Baier at the beginning of the interview. “You know, voters tell pollsters all over the country and here in Pennsylvania that immigration is one of the key issues that they are looking at this election, and specifically the influx of illegal immigrants from more than 150 countries. How many illegal immigrants would you estimate your administration has released into the country over the last three-and-a-half years?”
Harris replied, “Well, I’m glad you raised the issue of immigration because I agree with you. It is a topic of discussion that people want to rightly have and you know what I’m going to talk about–”
“Just a number. Do you think it’s 1 million? 3 million?” Baier interrupted.
After Harris began to answer, “Bret, let’s just get to the point, okay? The point is that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired and–” Baier again interrupted the vice president, prompting her to protest, “I’m not finished. I’m not finished.”
As Baier continued to speak over Harris, she laughed and said, “I was beginning to answer.”
Despite Harris’s protests, Baier continued to speak over the vice president throughout the interview.
“May I please finish? May I finish responding please?” she pleaded. “You have to let me finish, please.”
Baier ignored Harris’s plea, prompting her to complain, “I am in the middle of responding to the pointed you are raising. I would like to finish.”
dbergh, More to the point, Trump’s closing argument: full-throated fascism
"So what did you think of the Kamala interview and what did you hear her say My self it was bad and she said Nothing of any insight > > A F-ing Wast - She was better off with when I was born in a Middle class home - - - - - - - -Trump - Trump - Trump 0 - - 0 - - - 0 -"
“has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the third world … from prisons and jails and insane asylums and mental institutions, and she has had them resettled beautifully into your community to prey upon innocent American citizens.”
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that the biggest problem on Election Day will “not be the people who have come in, who are destroying our country,” but, rather
“the people from within — we have some very bad people, sick people, radical left lunatics. And it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
On Monday, he closed his remarks to a crowd in Pennsylvania by saying his political opponents
“are so bad and frankly, they’re evil. They’re evil. What they’ve done, they’ve weaponized, they’ve weaponized our elections. They’ve done things that nobody thought was even possible.”
These are echoes of the Nazism that flourished in Europe 90 years ago.
Trump’s closing argument of the 2024 election is full-throated fascism.
Retired General Mark A. Milley, whom Trump picked to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that former president Donald Trump is a “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country” in new comments voicing his mounting alarm at the prospect of the Republican nominee’s election to another term (according to a forthcoming book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward).
Former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney sees “no reason to disagree with [Milley’s] assessment,” adding that “The people that stopped [Trump] from his worst desires last time around won’t serve again.”
On Monday, Hillary Clinton posted that Trump’s rhetoric now is “blatantly fascist.”
Trump has always had fascist tendencies. But fascist thuggery has now become the core of his presidential campaign.
Fascism — different from and more dangerous than authoritarianism — has five elements,* all of which are now central features of what Trump is offering voters:
1. The rejection of democracy, the rule of law, and equal rights under the law, in favor of a strongman.
“I am your voice.” (Trump, 2016)
“The election was stolen.” (Trump, 2020)
“I am your warrior. I am your justice … I am your retribution.” (Trump, 2023)
Fascist “strongmen” are assumed to be above the law — above any legal or constitutional constraints — because they supposedly give voice to the people.
2. The galvanizing of popular rage against political opponents.
“The people from within [are] bad people, sick people, radical left lunatics.” (Trump, 2024)
“We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections.” (Trump, 2023)
“Your enemies” are “media elites.” (Trump, 2016)
Fascists encourage public rage at political opponents for being the “enemy within” the country and seek revenge against them. In doing so, fascists create mass parties that often encourage violence.
3. Nationalism based on a dominant “superior” race and historic bloodlines.
“Migrants will ‘cut your throat’ … They have ‘bad genes.’” (Trump, 2024)
“Tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border.” (Trump, 2015)
“Jewish people that vote for a Democrat [show] great disloyalty.” (Trump, 2019)
“Getting critical race theory out of our schools is … a matter of national survival.” (Trump, 2022)
Fascism manufactures fears of groups it considers genetically inferior — based on race, ethnicity, religion, or historic bloodlines — and whom it treats as subhuman. Fascists worry about disloyalty and sabotage coming from such groups within the nation. These “others” are scapegoated, excluded, expelled, sometimes even killed.
Fascists believe schools and universities must teach values that celebrate the dominant race, religion, and bloodline, and not truths that denigrate the dominant group (such as America’s history of genocide and racism).
4. Extolling brute strength and heroic warriors.
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong. (Trump, January 6, 2021)
Fascists assert that a nation’s well-being depends on the leadership of the strongest and elimination of the weakest. For the fascist, war and violence are means of strengthening society by culling the weak and identifying heroic warriors.
5. Disdain of women and fear of non-standard gender identities or sexual orientation.
“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.” (Trump, 2005)
“You have to treat ’em like shit.” (Trump, 1992)
“[I will] promote positive education about the nuclear family … rather than erasing the things that make men and women different.” (Trump, 2023)
Fascism is organized around the hierarchy of male dominance. The fascist heroic warrior is male. Women are relegated to subservient roles. In fascism, anything that challenges the traditional heroic male roles of protector, provider, and controller of the family is considered a threat to the social order.
Fascism seeks to eliminate homosexual, transgender, and queer people because they are thought to challenge or weaken the heroic male warrior.
These five core elements of fascism reinforce each other:
The rejection of democracy in favor of a strongman depends on galvanizing popular rage against perceived enemies, outside the nation and within.
This popular rage draws on bigotry directed against supposedly inferior, subhuman groups, who are assumed to threaten the “purity” of the dominant group.
That bigotry is supposedly justified by social Darwinist survival of the fittest, which is thought to strengthen the race or dominant group as a whole.
The dominant group maintains itself through tests of its strength, as exemplified by heroic warriors.
Strength, violence, and the heroic warrior are centered on male dominance and the subjugation of women.
All of these five core elements find expression in Trumpian fascism. All can also be found in the current Trump Republican Party.
America’s mainstream media is by now comfortable talking and writing about Trump’s authoritarianism. But in describing what Trump is seeking to impose on America, the media should be using the term “fascism.”
—-
*These five elements appear in the works of cultural theorist Umberto Eco, historians Emilio Gentile and Ian Kershaw, political scientist Roger Griffin, and former U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright.
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Discussion about this post
Kerry Truchero 20 hrs ago Liked by Robert Reich
Eight years ago when I warned my friends on Facebook about the latent fascism of the Trump cult, I was reprimanded as an alarmist, or derided as crazy by some. I kept insisting I was right. The signs were there for everyone to see. I was lambasted for speaking out against the appeasement branch of the Republican Party. I was told my remarks were unfair, that Republicans were "good people". Well, guess what? So were the 1930's Germans "good people". They just wanted to be proud of their country again and to rebuild their industrial and military power. And closing their eyes to bigotry and bullying was what they did. Until their country was turned into a giant ruined graveyard, their women violated wholesale by the Russians, and the truth came out. "Gee, we didn't know they were slaughtering our neighbors." "We were (helplessly) following orders." America is supposed to be better than that. We're supposed to be tolerant, welcoming, rational, and democratic. Trump is everything contrary to those characteristics. And those who have embraced him get no warm feelings of understanding or empathy from me. They're sick, infected by a political virus, and their view of Americanism has been horribly warped. I want no part of their vision for the future. Like (275) Reply Share 120 replies
Trudy 20 hrs ago Liked by Robert Reich
We discount the possible looming menace of JD Vance at our peril. He could very well be fascism’s ace in the hole. Like (115) Reply Share 48 replies
dbergh, Five key moments from Kamala Harris’s heated Fox News interview
"So what did you think of the Kamala interview and what did you hear her say My self it was bad and she said Nothing of any insight > > A F-ing Wast - She was better off with when I was born in a Middle class home - - - - - - - -Trump - Trump - Trump 0 - - 0 - - - 0 -"
Kamala Harris took part in an adversarial interview with Fox News discussing issues from immigration to gender-affirming surgery. Here are some of the key moments.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a rally in Washington Crossing, Pa., on Wednesday. (Michelle Gustafson for The Washington Post)
By Adela Suliman October 17, 2024 at 9:55 a.m. EDT
Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for her first formal appearance on the Fox News Network on Wednesday night, hoping to reach voters across the aisle weeks before Election Day.
The 30-minute interview with Fox chief political anchor Bret Baier often got combative, with the pair speaking over each other at times, as they tangled over topics from immigration to what Harris would do differently from President Joe Biden, to former president Donald Trump.
Here are five key moments from the interview.
Immigration clash
Baier began with the hot-button issue of immigration — a key topic for many Republican voters — asking Harris to estimate “how many illegal immigrants” the Biden administration had “released into the country” and asking Harris if she would apologize to the families of women who were killed by undocumented immigrants. He also showed a video of a woman blaming the Biden administration for her daughter’s death.
“I’m so sorry for her loss — sincerely,” Harris said. She acknowledged that the American immigration system needed “to be fixed,” while highlighting several times that Trump had blocked .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/27/trump-border-biden/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10 .. a tough bipartisan border security bill, framing Trump as someone who “preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
She also said, “I do not believe in decriminalizing border crossings, and I’ve not done that as vice president, and I will not do that as president.”
The interjections from the host were thick and fast, something Harris addressed pointedly several times. At one point, as she and Baier spoke over each other, she said, “You have to let me finish, please,” and, “I’m in the middle of responding to the point you’re raising, and I’d like to finish.”
Gender surgery for prisoners
Baier played a Trump campaign ad that featured remarks Harris made earlier in her career expressing support for using taxpayer dollars for gender-affirming surgeries for prison inmates. He asked Harris if she still supported the policy.
“I will follow the law, and it’s a law that Donald Trump actually followed,” Harris responded.
“Under Donald Trump’s administration, these surgeries were available on a medical-necessity basis to people in the federal prison system,” she said, likening his campaign ad to “throwing … stones when you’re living in a glass house.”
She accused Trump of trying to “create a sense of fear in the voters” and said this is a “remote” issue for most Americans.
Baier noted that Trump’s aides said he’d never advocated for that prison policy, and pressed Harris on whether she would still support using public funds for the policy. Harris sidestepped, retorting that Trump would rather waste money on that ad than focus on issues affecting Americans.
VIDEO - 0:59 Vice President Kamala Harris sat down with Fox News for an interview on Oct. 16. Here’s what she said. (Video: HyoJung Kim/The Washington Post)
What she’d do differently from Biden
Baier pressed Harris on how her policies would differ from Biden’s, playing a clip from her recent interview on ABC’s “The View” when she said there was “not a thing that comes to mind” she would do differently than Biden did. Later in the same interview, she reiterated a promise to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected.
He noted that one of her campaign slogans said it was time to “turn the page,” and asked: “You’ve been vice president for 3½ years. What are you turning the page from?”
Harris sought to differentiate herself from Biden more firmly than she had previously, saying, “Let me be very clear, my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.”
She added that she had not spent the majority of her career in Washington, and would bring her own personal and professional experiences as well as “fresh and new ideas” to the White House.
Trump’s rhetoric
Harris was impassioned as she sparred with Baier over Trump’s rhetoric, which she said had left much of the public feeling “exhausted.”
Baier asked: “Why, if he’s as bad as you say, half of this country is now supporting this person?” He then asked whether she believed his supporters were “misguided” or “stupid.”
Baier then played a clip he described as Trump’s response to that claim — an earlier town hall with Fox .. https://www.foxnews.com/video/6363336592112 , where Trump accused the government of “phony investigations” against him.
Harris accused Fox of cherry-picking the video. “I’m sorry and with all due respect, that clip is not what he has been saying about the ‘enemy within’ that he has repeated … That’s not what you just showed.
“You and I both know that he has talked about turning the American military on the American people. … He has talked about locking people up because they disagree with him,” she said.
Biden’s mental acuity
Baier asked Harris when she had first noticed that Biden’s “mental faculties appeared diminished” and why she had said he was capable of continuing to do the job of president before he dropped out of the race.
She did not directly answer the question, instead saying she had “watched from the Oval Office to the Situation Room, and he has the judgment and the experience to do exactly what he has done in making very important decisions on behalf of the American people.”
“Joe Biden is not on the ballot, and Donald Trump is,” she added, flipping the conversation back to Trump and calling him “unfit” for office.
The interview remained heated even as it came to a close. As they sparred over her position on Iran, Baier said, “We’re talking over each other, I apologize,” later adding: “I hope you got to say what you wanted to say about Donald Trump. There are a lot of things that people want to learn about you and your policies.”
Harris, meanwhile, said: “I would like that we would have a conversation that is grounded in full assessment of the facts. … I think this interview is supposed to be about the choices that your viewers should be presented about this election, and the contrast is important.”
By Adela Suliman Adela Suliman is a breaking-news reporter in The Washington Post's London hub. follow on X @Adela_Suliman
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