Pete Wehner, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, wrote on X that Kamala Harris “dominated” Fox News host Bret Baier during an interview on Wednesday.
“My take: Bret Baier has rarely looked as bad (or tendentious) as he did in his interview with Kamala Harris,” Wehner wrote on X. “On the flip side, this was one of her best interviews. She dominated Bret. All in all it was quite a bad day for MAGA world’s most important media outlet,” Wehner posted on X
Harris and Baier shared a combative 30-minute exchange in her first formal interview on the right-leaning network, in an outreach to conservative or independent voters in the closing weeks of the election. Baier grilled her on the Biden administration’s handling of immigration, the Middle East and the economy.
Jacquelyn Martin and Paul Morigi/ASSOCIATED PRESS and Getty Images
The exchanges grew especially heated on topics such as immigration. Baier repeatedly pressed Harris on the Biden administration’s reversal of restrictive Trump-era policies, to which she responded by blaming Republicans for blocking a bipartisan immigration bill, which Trump encouraged Senators to vote down in February.
When discussing the economy and Biden’s record, Harris pushed back, asking Baier to conduct a “conversation grounded in full assessment of the facts.”
At one point, when Harris was describing Trump recently saying he would use the military against the political left, who he called “the enemy within,” Baier rolled footage of Trump describing the backlash against those comments as an exaggeration. In the clip, Trump accused Democrats of threatening him with “phony investigations” and the “weaponization of government.”
Trump’s initial controversial statement, which he was responding to in Baier’s clip, was when he was asked whether he thought election day would be peaceful. He said: “I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within…We have some very bad people, some sick people, radical left lunatics. And it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
Harris pushed back and called out Baier for selectively rolling the clip of Trump’s defense of his comments, rather than addressing the comments themselves. She said doing so diminished or sanitized Trump’s calls for violence.
“Bret, I’m sorry, that is not what he has been saying about the ‘enemy within’ that he has repeated when speaking about the American people,” Harris said. “That’s not what you just showed.”
Behavior analyst and body language expert Dr. Jack Brown wrote on X that Baier was expressing an intent to shut Harris down when she pushed back on this.
“Bret Baier’s repeatedly extending his arm in a palm-toward-and-down dynamic is a nonverbal effort to tell VP Harris to ‘shut-up’, ‘you’ve said enough about this topic’, and ‘I have the floor now’,” Brown wrote. “This body language display is commonly exhibited by misogynists and manipulative individuals who are not interested in dialog, discourse, or others’ opinions.”
Bret Baier’s repeatedly extending his arm in a palm-toward-and-down dynamic is a nonverbal effort to tell VP Harris to ‘shut-up’, ‘you’ve said enough about this topic’, and ‘I have the floor now’.
This particular moment was captured immediately after the Vice President corrected… pic.twitter.com/hFb1gOJtTM
— DrJackBrown 🌊 (@DrGJackBrown) October 17, 2024
At another point, Baier questioned Harris categorizing herself as the change candidate, signifying a shift away from Trump-style politics, when she and Joe Biden have been in office since 2021. Harris tried to flip it, saying that Trump had been running for office since then. Baier said: “But you’ve been IN office!” and she replied: “You and I both know what I’m talking about,” to which Baier replied: “Actually i don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Reactions to the interview were sharply divided. Supporters of Harris praised her composure and ability to respond under pressure.
Billionaire Harris supporter Mark Cuban took to social media to praise her performance, stating: “She didn’t lose her temper. She didn’t take the bait to diminish or talk down to Trump supporters. She stood up to him with force and never backed down.”
Cuban further said that Harris’ grasp of the issues and her ability to stand strong in the face of Baier’s questions have garnered support from Republicans and independents alike, saying it “speaks volumes” about her leadership.
Republican strategist Andrew Surabian wrote on X: “Kamala Harris is the opposite of unflappable. She is self-imploding & getting visibly angry because for the first time in 4 years she is facing a few tough questions.”
Ron Filipkowski, a frequent Trump critic, said: “Interesting how Fox allows Trump to ramble as long as he wants to every question on other topics…but Bret Baier gives Harris 30 seconds before interrupting and arguing with her.” This comes in the context of Trump recently facing criticism for a series of bizarre, off topic, rambling answers during interviews.
Trump made a rare post on X (he more often uses his own social media platform, Truth Social) to applaud Baier’s handling of the interview, while sharply criticizing Harris.
“Great job by Bret Baier in his Interview with Lyin’ Kamala Harris,” Trump posted, accusing Harris of suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and describing her as “the WORST Vice President in history.” Trump also congratulated Baier for what he called a “tough but very fair interview.”
Newsweek contacted Fox News and Kamala Harris’ campaign for comment.
