Bret Baier was every bit the snake I predicted he’d be. But Kamala Harris was terrific and a more than a worthy rival.

In my previous post, I wrote about why Kamala Harris should not trust Bret Baier when sitting down for her lengthy interview that aired Wednesday evening. Fortunately, she was extremely prepared for her visit into the Fox house.

It was no surprise that Baier began the interview with the Trump campaign’s top fear mongering and attack issue: immigration. Baier "asked," “How many illegal immigrants would you estimate your administration has released into the country over the last three and a half years? … Do you think it’s one million? Three million?”

That began a back and forth that I think Harris handled quite nicely. She must have been doing better than Baier hoped because he kept trying to interrupt her. She stood her ground and politely insisted on being allowed to fully respond. It underscored his boorish efforts to stop her from doing so.

Fox loves nothing better than to exploit the deaths of young women killed by undocumented immigrants. So, Baier asked Harris about the deaths of three of Fox’s most recent cases: “They are young women who were brutally assaulted and killed by some of the men who were released at the beginning of the administration … do you owe those families an apology?” He played a clip of the emotional mother of one of the women blaming the “Harris/Biden administration open border policies” for her daughter’s death. “So do you owe them an apology?” Baier repeated.

Again, I think Harris handled it well. She expressed a deep sympathy for the mother, then said, “Let’s talk about what is happening right now with an individual who does not want to participate in solutions.” Baier once again tried to sandbag her and yet again, Harris refused to be deterred.

One thing Baier never got to? As Brian reminded me in an email, There has been a 77% decline in migrant encounters since December 2023.

When Baier finally moved on, it was to try another gotcha with another Fox/MAGA fave talking point: attacks on transgender individuals. This time, he played a Trump-campaign ad and began trying to browbeat Harris with its message. It was a pro-Trump threefer: the ad got free airtime, Baier bestowed legitimacy on Trump's attack, then used it as his own attack on Harris.

Baier pretended his underhanded attack was news. “This is a time when voters, especially here in Pennsylvania, are inundated with commercials and ads,” he said. “Many of them add noise, but a few of them seem to break through. This particular one from the Trump campaign has gotten a lot of attention.”

The ad said, “Kamala supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners, surgery for prisoners, for prisoners, every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access.”

“So, are you still in support of using taxpayer dollars to help prison inmates or detain illegal aliens to transition to another gender?” Baier “asked.”

Harris said she will follow the same law Trump followed. “You're probably familiar with it now. It's a public report that under Donald Trump's administration, these surgeries were available to - on a medical necessity basis, to people in the federal prison system. And I think, frankly, that ad from the Trump campaign is a little bit of, like, throwing stones when you're living in a glass house.”

Baier refused to give up his gotcha. “Trump aides say that he never advocated for that prison policy,” he said. Which is not the same as saying such treatment never happened under Trump. It's telling that Baier just regurgitated the aides' claims without doing any of his own fact checking or investigation into this "important" subject.

“Would you still advocate for using taxpayer dollars for gender reassignment?” he pressed.

Finally, Harris shot back, “[Trump] spent $20 million on those ads, trying to create a sense of fear in the voters, because he actually has no plan in this election that is about focusing on the needs of the American people, whereas at $20 million on that ad, on an issue that as it relates to the biggest issues that affect the American people, is really quite remote. And again, his policy was no different.”

Then Harris wisely pivoted: “Look at where we are, though. Plans for the American people - I'm offering a plan to deal with affordable housing. I'm offering a plan to deal with what we need to do to strengthen small businesses, which are the backbone of America's economy. I am offering a plan that is about taking care of young parents and giving them the support they need. My plans for the economy will strengthen the economy, as have been reviewed by 16 Nobel laureates, Goldman Sachs, Moody's, and recently, the Wall Street Journal, which have all studied our plans and have indicated my plans for our economy would strengthen our economy. His would make them weaker, would ignite inflation and invite a recession by the middle of next year. Those are the facts. (Fact check: Nobel laureates - true; Goldman Sachs claim - true; Wall Street Journal - true; Moody's - true)

Well done, Madam Vice President.

You can watch the entire interview below, from the October 16, 2024 Special Report with Bret Baier.

Oh, and let me know if you see someone on Fox airing a Harris ad and then using it as a cudgel against Trump. I’m not holding my breath.