CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter joined The Source host Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday to react to Vice President Kamala Harris’s interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier. Stelter tied himself into a rhetorical pretzel as he tried to simultaneously claim that Baier is basically “a Trump surrogate,” but also that “adversarial interviews are a good thing.”
Collins began by trying to figure out how well Harris did, “Not that Twitter's real life ever, but looking at it, it seemed like a Rorschach test, right from the beginning. Of how people were going to see. Did she crush it? Did she blow it? What was the outcome of the interview?”
Stelter didn’t have anything to say on that front. Instead, he went straight to the Fox bashing, “I think Trump refused to debate Kamala Harris again. So, Harris did the next best thing. She booked a debate on Fox News, and that's what this was tonight.”
He continued, “She essentially walked into a Trump campaign field office. Because anchor Bret Baier, who is a solid journalist, he is also incredibly sympathetic to Trump, because that's what his fans want. That's what his viewers want. His viewers want him to represent the Trump point of view. So, it was almost as if you had a Trump surrogate, interviewing Kamala Harris.”
Speaking of viewers, Stelter acknowledged Baier is “a solid journalist,” but he couldn't just say that because his CNN viewers can’t accept that a non-caricaturized version of Fox.
Stelter also couldn’t make up his mind if Baier was performing a public service or trying to appease his audience, “And look, adversarial interviews are a good thing. We should root for them. We should want more of them. You know, you're so fantastic at adversarial interviews, where we challenge newsmakers, and we get answers out of them.”
He then repeated Collins’s early observation, but made sure to throw in some extra praise for Harris, “But yes, this was a Rorschach test. Some people think Baier was mansplaining. Other people think Harris was filibustering. I think at the end of the day, this was all about one word. The word, tough. It showed that Harris was tough. She went into the so-called Fox den, and that's how Harris' campaign is promoting it tonight. They're saying she went into the Fox den, and looked what -- look what happened.”
Republicans do tough interviews with non-Fox outlets all the time, and they almost never get praise for their toughness, nor does Stelter call those anchors Democratic operatives who try to appease their viewers, but Harris and Fox get different standards.
Here is a transcript for the October 16 show:
CNN The Source with Kaitlan Collins
10/16/2024
9:21 PM ET
KAITLAN COLLINS: Brian, just -- not that Twitter's real life ever, but looking at it—
BRIAN STELTER: No, it's not.
COLLINS: --it seemed like a Rorschach test, right from the beginning.
STELTER: Yes.
COLLINS: Of how people were going to see. Did she crush it? Did she blow it? What was the outcome of the interview?
STELTER: I think Trump refused to debate Kamala Harris again. So, Harris did the next best thing. She booked a debate on Fox News, and that's what this was tonight.
She essentially walked into a Trump campaign field office. Because anchor Bret Baier, who is a solid journalist, he is also incredibly sympathetic to Trump, because that's what his fans want. That's what his viewers want. His viewers want him to represent the Trump point of view. So, it was almost as if you had a Trump surrogate, interviewing Kamala Harris.
And look, adversarial interviews are a good thing. We should root for them. We should want more of them. You know, you're so fantastic at adversarial interviews, where we challenge newsmakers, and we get answers out of them.
But yes, this was a Rorschach test. Some people think Baier was mansplaining. Other people think Harris was filibustering.
I think at the end of the day, this was all about one word. The word, tough. It showed that Harris was tough. She went into the so-called Fox den, and that's how Harris' campaign is promoting it tonight. They're saying she went into the Fox den, and looked what -- look what happened.
