There were lots of signs of MAGA fear as Fox's Martha MacCallum validated Alina Habba’s laughable insistence that Trump is backing away from debating Kamala Harris because it’s not certain she’ll be the Democratic nominee.

This interview with Habba, quite possibly the world’s worst lawyer but a Trump worshiper, was filled with moments that pointed to the “Oh, s**t” moments you know are going on behind the scenes in MAGA world.

In case you’ve missed it, Trump has backed out of his commitment to a presidential candidates debate in September, with the ridiculous excuse that Harris may not be the nominee. It's true her nomination is not a done deal. But the fact that she has already received enough delegate support to become the nominee and has raised record-breaking millions in less than a week after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race all but assures she’ll be the official presidential candidate.

Habba followed Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) on Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum show today. He nicely pegged Trump as too fearful and too old to be up to the job of debating Harris. (I wrote about Crow’s appearance for Crooks and Liars. When it’s published, probably tomorrow, you can catch it here.)

The fact that Fox hosted a Democrat to discuss this at all suggests the network, or at least MacCallum and her producers, are second-guessing Trump’s backpedal. At any rate, Habba probably did nothing to persuade anyone except the most die-hard Trump supporter that he had a legit reason for wriggling out of a one-on-one with the vice president.

Habba began by saying she was laughing as she heard Crow’s comments. “I don’t know if you haven’t been watching the news for the last three years, but there’s one thing you cannot call President Trump and that is a fearful person, especially after what has transpired for him," she said.

For one thing, FORMER President Trump has been on the public stage for a lot more than three years. And yes, he has proven himself a coward over and over. He was too cowardly to release his medical records after he claimed to have been shot. After insisting he’d testify in his New York criminal case, he chickened out. He was too afraid to deal with COVID. And he was too lily-livered to admit he lost the 2020 presidential election. Those are just a few examples.

But maybe Habba thinks bluster is the same as bravery. She certainly began blustering as she painted the already-scheduled September debate on ABC and the previous CNN debate as not “under American terms.”

HABBA: He's not only not afraid, bring it on, and bring it on under American terms, not under CNN and your stations with your terms and mics off because you're afraid, number one.

Number two, we've got a vice president who is not the candidate yet. You're right, Martha. And also, by the way, everyone's getting excited. This is the same person that never went to the border never did anything. There is nothing to be afraid about. She has a record. Her record speaks for itself. It's a big zero. So no, President Trump is not afraid.

If Harris is such a “big zero,” and Team Trump is "getting excited" for him to debate her, you’d think the campaign would be clamoring to debate her. But nowhere in this segment did Habba say anything like, “We sure hope Harris is the nominee and the moment she is the official nominee, we can’t wait to arrange a debate.” And what the heck does "bring it on under American terms" mean? A debate on The Daily Wire? "Ultimate journalist" MacCallum didn't ask.

MacCallum not only let Habba continue putting forth the myth that nobody knows who the Democratic nominee will be, MacCallum legitimized the fiction.

HABBA: Let's know who we're running against. It's not our fault that the Democratic Party has completely fallen apart, that they literally had donors pulling out and now she's rejoicing. She's rejoicing over money that was withheld because the president that she worked with for the last three years utterly failed the American people. And that's where I think the campaign says it perfectly. Give us the details. Let us know who we're running against, because we're wasting the American people's time.

MACCALLUM: We already had one debate against a particular candidate who ended up to not be the candidate so it's understandable that there's a bit of hesitation.

Then MacCallum moved on to J.D. Vance, Trump’s pick for the vice presidency. A Politico headline today reads, “Republicans are already souring on JD Vance.” It’s quite a long list of souring.

MacCallum delicately raised the subject when she played a clip of Trump's former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci blasting Vance and saying he may not make it to Election Day. “So, he says there’s gonna be another scramble coming up, Alina,” MacCallum said. “What do you say to that?”

Alina replied, “There is full support of the Vance-Trump ticket.” Perhaps it’s a sign that things are not going quite as well as she’d like us to believe that she made quite a faux pas here. She should have called it "the Trump-Vance ticket."

Then she blamed the Democratic “crisis” for Vance’s problems – while making the same Vance-Trump faux pas.

HABBA: I'm not sure what they're speaking about. We have heard and seen through polling, through numbers from donors, that there is full support of the Vance-Trump ticket. Let's be very clear: J.D. is a wonderful person. I know him personally. I'm sure you do as well, too, Martha.

He's strong. He's young. He's got energy. And while they're trying to throw stones, it's frankly because they are now in a crisis. They don't know who their candidate’s going to be. And we're seeing people backtrack like George Clooney and Obama. These are the people that their side is listening to. It's a disgrace, and I don't blame them. They gotta, they gotta grasp at straws. It's desperate.

I noticed she didn't say anything like, "Vance has already proven himself an asset to the campaign."

MacCallum’s closing indicated some Vance skepticism. “Alright, we’ll see where it goes,” she said. Then she thanked Habba and said, “Good to see you.”

I do not think this at all means that Harris has the election in the bag or that the Trump campaign will not find its footing. I expect lots of twists and turns - and Trump cheating. But in the meanwhile, you can see lots of signs of MAGA nervousness below, from the July 26, 2024, The Story with Martha MacCallum.

Oh, and if you ask me, Vance will decide he really needs to spend more time with his family in the not-too-distant future.