The Fox News correspondent covering the Harris campaign just happened to work in some pro-Trump slant into an “objective” news report.
On Thursday, Fox correspondent Mark Meredith was in Wisconsin with the Harris campaign. There was nothing objectionable about most of the report. Meredith informed us that Harris was “barnstorming Wisconsin” and “making three stops in a state which may determine Democrats’ fate in November.” He played a clip of Harris urging the crowd to organize and build community. There was also a clip of billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban who, Meredith said, “joined Harris to help sell her economic agenda, which polls show is voters’ top issue.”
But then Meredith said, “New Fox polling out tonight shows immigration is also top of mind, with 67% of people supporting efforts promoted by former President Trump to increase deportations of illegal immigrants. Those numbers up sharply from nine years ago, and it’s an issue.”
FACT CHECK: Donald Trump’s deportation plans are heinous and radical. The Guardian said they involve “legally questionable deployments of military and police units and the creation of vast detention camps along the southern border.” In Scientific American, Andrea Pitzer, author of a history of concentration camps, wrote that Trump’s scheme involves the forcible removal of “as many as 20 million people—a number larger than the country’s current estimated population of undocumented residents. Put into effect, this scheme would devolve quickly into a vast 21st-century version of concentration camps, with predictably brutal results.”
Saying Trump is promoting efforts “to increase deportations” is like saying North Carolina got increased rainfall from Hurricane Helene.
Well, the fish rots from the head, as they say. It turns out Fox’s own poll similarly whitewashed Trump’s hideous rhetoric. That was very helpful in ensuring a positive-for-Trump response, no doubt. The question asked of registered voters was, “Do you favor or oppose deporting immigrants who are living in the United States illegally back to their home countries?” Sure enough, two-thirds said they were in favor.
I’m willing to bet that if the poll had asked, “Do you favor or oppose the American military going into homes, tearing apart families and sending undocumented immigrants into detention camps,” the results would have been a lot different.
Before closing, Meredith took another swipe at Harris: “It's unclear when President Biden may campaign again for Harris, especially after she told Bret [Baier, during their interview the day before], ‘Let me be very clear, my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency.’”
Harris couldn’t have offended Biden too much. First Lady Jill Biden will campaign for Harris-Walz in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
We’ve been writing a lot this week about Baier’s sham “journalistic integrity.” This report was a reminder that it’s not just him or any particular Fox News employee or contributor. Fox infuses its Republican politics into everything it does.
You can watch it below, from the October 17, 2024 Special Report.
