TOI correspondent from Washington: Kamala Harris is walking into the proverbial lion’s den this week with interviews on Fox News and Joe Rogan‘s podcast that will have both her supporters and critics on the edge of their seats.
Pilloried by Donald Trump for avoiding one-on-one interviews with adversarial media, the Harris campaign is now taunting the MAGA supremo for the same, even as his rallies have descended into a toxic stew of rage with little policy content beyond name-calling and demonizing immigrants and political opponents.
Trump himself has said he would sit down for an interview with Rogan, whose expansive podcast has the biggest audience in US, but the Harris campaign is upstaging him with an outreach to the talk-jock in an effort to woo a male demographic where the MAGA supremo is outperforming her.
No date has been set for The Rogan Experience for either candidate, but Harris is set to be interviewed on Wednesday evening by Brett Baier on Fox News, which is largely Trump-leaning, with some of its hosts pathologically against Harris.
Harris appearing on what he regards as his home turf enraged Trump, who complained on Monday that Fox News has “totally lost its way” by giving voice to Democrats. Trump is also upset that some Fox anchors, seen as more credible than others, are starting to get tough on him.
One of them schooled him on an expression he has used to advocate a hardball approach to law and order (“when the looting starts, the shooting starts,”) telling him it came from the chief of police in Miami who cracked on Black neighborhoods in 1967.
There is growing concern among several previously pro-Trump media figures in recent days as the former President has ratcheted up his racist and sexist harangue, much to the delight of MAGA extremists among whom he now has a cult following.
Geraldo Riviera, a talk-show host who had previously backed Trump, is among those who announced this week that he will not be voting for the MAGA hero because, among other things, Trump (and his veep running mate JD Vance) “constantly demonize undocumented immigrants, falsely attributing to them a crime wave that does not exist.”
“Trump even invoked genetics to explain the root cause of the nonexistent immigrant crime wave… From Aurora, Colorado to Springfield, Ohio, the GOP platform stinks of horse shit,” Riviera said on Monday, announcing he will vote for Harris.
Amid persistent questions about his mental acuity, Trump insisted on Monday that he is “far healthier than Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, but especially, Kamala,” while digging into the medical report she released over the weekend, declaring “it is not good.”
“According to her Doctor’s Report, she suffers from “urticaria,” defined as “a rash of round, red welts on the skin that itch intensely, sometimes with dangerous swelling.” She also has “allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis,” a very messy and dangerous situation. These are deeply serious conditions that clearly impact her functioning,” Trump said on his social media platform even as his critics said he looks increasingly unstable and unhinged.
“Kamala’s Medical Report is really bad. With all of the problems that she has, there is a real question as to whether or not she should be running for President! MY REPORT IS PERFECT – NO PROBLEMS!!!” he posted a few hours later.