Sorry, Shannon, there is no way to bothsides Donald Trump’s threats to democracy.
On her Fox News Sunday show, anchor Shannon Bream seemed determined to work in as many pro-Trump talking points as possible in her interview with Arizona’s Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. She began by credulously touting Speaker Mike Johnson’s claim that he didn’t really mean it when he said he “probably will” try to repeal the CHIPS Act (he later claimed he meant he only wants to “streamline” it). The CHIPS Act “poured $54 billion into the semiconductor manufacturing industry,” as per AP.
She continued by talking up Donald Trump’s economic chops, saying people "felt better about how they were doing under President Trump, unemployment hit new lows, we had through a pandemic clearly, but poverty was down, home ownership was up." "People felt good about where they were."
As Kelly made his case against Trump and his tariffs, a large graphic appeared next to him showing Kamala Harris looking decidedly goofy and Donald Trump looking presidential.
Then, when Kelly brought up Trump’s anti-American plan to go after the “enemies from within,” Bream interrupted to run defense for Trump by suggesting it’s just hot political rhetoric coming from both sides.
KELLY: Donald Trump's entire presidency, and now his campaign, has been one about grievance. He talks about the enemies from within. Those enemies are people in the United States Senate, in Congress that he wants to specifically go after. He's not a guy that's going to bring us together and solve these problems for the American people in a bipartisan way. Harris is committed to being a president for all of America.
BREAM: OK, so let’s talk about that a little bit, because there's been a lot of language in the closing argument by the vice president that has referred to him as fascist. Has talked about threat to democracy, existential threat, bad for the country, divisive, all of those things.
FACT CHECK: Two of Donald Trump’s top advisors, General John Kelly, his former chief of staff, and General Mark Milley, Trump’s chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have called him a fascist and a threat to democracy. Vice President Kamala Harris said she agreed with them. Funny how Bream didn’t mention that nor the fact that a boatload of other top Trump advisors, including his vice president, Mike Pence, think he is unfit for office, too.
Bream continued by suggesting that because Harris has called Trump a threat to democracy that she would be likely to try to overturn the election results if she loses, just like Trump did. “So with that in mind, should he win the presidency - you're a member of Congress that will have something to say about that as the electoral votes come in. Would you, as a member of Congress, certify the votes for him, should he win on Tuesday or whenever this election is decided?" Bream "asked."
“Yeah, absolutely,” Kelly said.
“Do you think the vice president would certify as well?” Bream pressed.
“Yes, of course she would,” Kelly said. He said it’s Trump who doesn’t understand the importance of the peaceful transfer of power. “He seems to already be trying to set up the conditions where he could do what he did in 2020, do it all over again,” Kelly added.
Bream interrupted to suggest that it really wasn’t that big a deal. “But he did leave in 2020,” she said.
Kelly wasn’t having it. “I was in the Senate chamber that day. There were people that died that day because Donald Trump refused to accept the election.” He repeated that Harris and the Democrats understand the importance of peacefully transferring power.
Then he explained, without interruption, why he thinks Harris will win.
You can watch it below, from the November 3, 2024 Fox News Sunday.
