Fox News and Bret Baier are still taking heat for the Kamala Harris
interview
Everyone knew she was stepping into unfriendly territory. But, especially
compared to Fox News� treatment of Donald Trump, it was downright hostile.
Fox News� Bret Baier, shown here in 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
By: Tom Jones
October 18, 2024

Everyone knew that Vice President Kamala Harris was stepping into
unfriendly territory when she agreed to an interview on Fox News earlier
this week. But many, including me, thought it was the right thing to do,
especially because I assumed the interviewer, Bret Baier, would handle the
interview with professionalism and journalistic integrity.

Turns out, Harris not only was walking into unfriendly territory, it was
downright hostile. Baier badgered Harris with Republican talking points,
asked her tough questions (which was fair), and asked her some unreasonable
questions (which was unfair).

But worst of all, Baier constantly interrupted Harris, cutting her off and
often talking over her. Several times, he put out his hand, almost as a
stop sign to signal that she needed to stop, even though Harris was
answering.

That was the immediate reaction following Wednesday night�s interview that
various media outlets described as �tense,� �confrontational,�
�contentious� and �combative.�

The New York Times� Michael M. Grynbaum wrote after the interview, �Vice
President Kamala Harris may not get another debate with former President
Donald J. Trump, but on Wednesday, she got one with Bret Baier.�

Grynbaum added, �Mr. Baier�s aggressive demeanor was consistent with the
kind of tough coverage of Ms. Harris that blankets Fox News�s daily
programming.�

So, a day later and upon further review, what was the reaction? Pretty much
the same.

On Thursday�s �Morning Joe,� co-host Willie Geist said, �It goes without
saying that Donald Trump would not be given the same treatment, talked
over, not allowed to finish those questions. It doesn�t mean the topics
weren�t fair. There was a lot in there that viewers wanted to hear from
Kamala Harris. Why do you have different positions now than you did in
2019? How are you going to fix the immigration crisis? All fair, fair
questions. But Donald Trump obviously would never be treated that way on
Fox News.�

Actually, that�s true.

CNN�s Brian Stelter went back and compared Baier�s style while interviewing
Harris and, last year, Trump. Stelter noted that Trump was asked some tough
questions (and I remember praising Baier at the time), but Stelter also
wrote, �Baier was more animated when questioning Harris, as if he knew that
Fox�s conservative base wanted to see her squirm in her seat. Overall,
Baier interrupted Harris at least 38 times in 27 minutes, about twice as
often as Baier interjected with Trump (at least 28 times in 36 minutes).�

Stelter also looked at Baier�s opening questions for Trump and Harris. The
first Trump question was a softball: �What do you think is the most
important issue facing the country right now?� His first question of Harris
was way more aggressive: �How many illegal immigrants would you estimate
your administration has released into the country over the last three-and-
a-half years?�

Stelter commented, �What a striking difference. With Trump, he warmed up
his subject, tried to make Trump comfortable. With Harris, he went for the
jugular right away.�

�Morning Joe� co-host Mika Brzezinski really blasted Baier, saying, �It was
supposed to give viewers an opportunity to actually hear her plans as
president. Instead, as you saw, it almost immediately devolved into an
embarrassing, bad-faith effort by a once-respected host to play to an
audience of one. The host�s constant rude interruptions were designed to
distract from the issues and facts that Trump and his acolytes try to twist
and distort every day, and on Fox News they try to avoid. And they
couldn�t.�

Brzezinski added, �When Kamala Harris realized the host was not going to
let her speak, the only way the Vice President could give Fox viewers an
opportunity to hear what she had to say was to talk back over him. Was he
making sure that happened? I personally think absolutely. Did she do well
in this environment? Of course, she was great. She�s a former prosecutor,
attorney general, senator, current vice president. She�s fine with a
situation like that and even flourishes. Yet there were times she was shaky
on answers about immigration. He kept coming after her. But the questions
sounded like they came from a Trump campaign ad. In fact, they played a
Trump campaign ad in the interview.�

Speaking on CNN, Stelter said, �She essentially walked into a Trump
campaign field office because anchor Bret Baier, who is, you know, a solid
journalist, he is also incredibly sympathetic to Trump because that�s what
his fans want. That�s what his viewers want. His viewers want him to
represent the Trump point of view. So, it was almost as if you had a Trump
surrogate interviewing Kamala Harris.�

Again, let�s be clear here. There is nothing wrong with tough questions.
But they need to be fair and, most importantly, they need to be answered.
And far too often, Harris was not afforded the opportunity to answer them.

Stelter told CNN host Kaitlan Collins, �Adversarial interviews are a good
thing. We should root for them. We should want more of them. You know,
you�re so fantastic at adversarial interviews where we challenge newsmakers
and we get the answers out of them. But yes, this was a Rorschach test.
Some people think Baier was mansplaining. Other people think Harris was
filibustering. I think at the end of the day, this is all about one word.
The word �tough.� It showed that Harris was tough. She went into the so-
called Fox den, and that�s how Harris�s campaign�s promoting it.�

It�s true that Harris did seem to hold her own throughout the interview.
And, as soon as it was over, Baier defended his interview while his Fox
News colleagues patted him on the back. Check out this insightful
conversation from The Washington Post�s Erik Wemple, Chris Suellentrop,
politics editor for Post Opinions, and Slate�s Josh Levin, host of the
podcast �Slow Burn: The Rise of Fox News.�

Levin noted, �It is funny that he immediately went into the spin room and
Harris left.�

Suellentrop said, �Baier closed his show by complaining that he didn�t get
to ask all his questions. This feels like the reverse of when a politician
complains about the debate moderators. I don�t think a journalist can lose
an interview. If his goal was to butter up a few of those Fox News
superfans by a ritual display of toughness, I can see why he was
disappointed.�