Donald Trump praised Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier for a “great job” in his interview with Democratic 2024 presidential hopeful Kamala Harris on Wednesday night, claiming Baier had “showed how totally incompetent Kamala is” while himself demanding she undergo a cognitive ability test.
Trump joined his campaign in calling the interview a total disaster for Harris. During the interview, Harris and Baier engaged in multiple back-and-forths; at one point, on the topic of immigration, Harris clapped back at Baier as he interrupted her: “May I finish responding to you?”
Immediately after the interview aired, the campaign—notably advisers Stephen Miller and Steven Cheung—took to X to decry Harris’ responses.
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“Episode IV: Team Biden Strikes Back. Team Obama sh–t the bed and now Team Biden feels emboldened after this trainwreck of an interview by Kamala,” Cheung wrote.
Miller, meanwhile, likened Harris’ interview to the sinking of the Titanic.
Trump followed up Wednesday night, taking to Truth Social after an appearance with a group of undecided Latino voters at a town hall organized by Univision Noticias.
“Great job by Bret Baier in his Interview with Lyin’ Kamala Harris,” the former president wrote.
Trump then claimed Harris suffers from “a massive and irredeemable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” boasting that she spent most of her time talking about him.
“So bad, in fact, that she is barely able to talk about any subject other than the man who had the best economy ever, the strongest border in history, and who just got the UNANIMOUS ENDORSEMENT OF THE U.S. Border Patrol, ME!”
After a few more words on Harris and how she is the “WORST Vice President in history” and that “hopefully will soon be GONE,” Trump then pivoted to congratulate Baier again.
“Congratulations to Bret Baier on a tough but very fair interview, one that clearly showed how totally incompetent Kamala is. For the good of our Nation, her inferior Cognitive ability must be tested at once!”
The Harris campaign clearly disagreed. Speaking to Reuters, Harris campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said they were confident “we definitely achieved what we set out to achieve, in the sense that she was able to reach an audience that is probably been not exposed to the arguments she’s been making on the trail, and she also got to show her toughness in standing tall against a hostile interviewer.”
Fallon added: “I think there is a good number of Independents, and Haley-style Republicans, who are very open to voting for VP Harris and that is why we are open to doing events with Republicans on Fox News.”
Baier, for his part, defended his aggressive style of questioning on Fox Wednesday night, claiming he could tell immediately that Harris “was going to be tough to redirect without me trying to interrupt.” He added Harris showed up to the interview late.
In an interview with conservative personality Mark Levin, Baier expanded, saying, “There was a slight bit of frustration” and that, “I had so much stuff to get to.
“I was hoping it was going to be this civil back-and-forth, but it was good for her to come on and I think she should do more of them, but I was just trying to get through the talking points and it took a while, and it was a little bit of, you know, interrupting, and kind of, getting in on the breath.”
“They wanted a viral moment,” Baier suggested, repeating how his initial time was allegedly trimmed by the Harris campaign and that Harris was late.
“I was really hoping it was going to go the way I envisioned which was more like a conversation about topics. We could say, ‘You have differences, this is where I am,’ I would press but in a respectful way. And I’ve done many of those interviews where it’s really fruitful to have a back and forth and you get some place, and you actually learn something about policy and where they are. Then, I thought, it could be the other way. It could be that this is meant for a viral moment and essentially, this is practice for a debate and so I need to be able to get my questions as much as I can in a respectful but tough way and hope that she comes back when she’s in a different, talkative mood and we learn more.”
