Fox News has had a rough couple of weeks, so that could have been weighing on anchor Harris Faulkner on Thursday when she snapped at one of her guests for suggesting she’s a “far-right” advocate for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“I’m a journalist,” Faulkner lashed out after Democratic politician Desiree Tims said “you guys”—i.e., Fox News—want DeSantis to beat Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
During her morning news program The Faulkner Focus, the so-called “straight news” anchor moderated a debate between Tims and GOP strategist David Avella on President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. At one point, Faulkner brought up that fringe Democratic candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson collectively have 28 percent support among Democrats in a recent Fox News poll.
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“There are also polls that came out recently that show President Biden absolutely crushing former President Donald Trump,” Tims noted. “Look, the reality is we’re gonna have another match-up in 2024 between likely President Biden and President Donald Trump and I think the results are gonna be the same.”
Faulkner quickly interjected, snarking, “I know you want it to be [Trump].”
“I know you guys on the far right really want Ron DeSantis to be the nominee,” Tims shot back, adding that she doesn’t think DeSantis has the “personality” to take down “entertainer-in-chief” Trump.
“I don’t know who you are talking to in terms of ‘You guys,’” a miffed Faulkner groused. “I know that wasn’t meant for me. I’m a journalist!”
After Tims wrapped up her remarks, Faulkner circled back once again to verify that her guest was clear about her supposed journalistic bonafides. “I’m sure you heard what I said,” Faulkner declared.
While Faulkner often presents herself as a beacon of hard-nosed, objective journalism on the right-wing cable giant, she has long openly carried the GOP’s water while diving headlong into touting conservative culture-war grievances du jour. She’s also shown a tendency to berate and lecture guests and colleagues who question her motivations on air.
Besides recently complaining that Lego and M&M’s are “going woke,” Faulkner has literally broken fake news during an interview with Trump, credulously claimed Biden “hates at least half” of Americans, and chastised colleagues for citing Fox’s own polling that reflected poorly on Republicans. Other goofy ways she’s sounded more like a conservative radio host than a “straight news” anchor: She’s refused to accept that Hillary Clinton, Fox’s top bogeywoman, is not somehow scheming to be president; she’s pushed the unfounded right-wing theory that Biden is a puppet who doesn’t actually control his office; and she fully freaked out over an artist’s depiction of a trashed Oval Office upon Trump’s exit, exclaiming “that picture isn’t real!”
But what most undercuts Faulkner’s claim to the mantle of “straight news” journalism is her repeated willingness to parrot some of her primetime colleagues’ most extreme positions. Specifically, last fall, she echoed Tucker Carlson’s infamous “dirtier and poorer” attack on immigrants by saying migrants “make our country look like what they left.”
Carlson was fired by Fox News this week, prompting a MAGA freakout that has resulted in plunging ratings for the network.
