Longtime television personality Geraldo Rivera publicly criticized Vice President Kamala Harris after her interview with Fox News host Bret Baier. Appearing on ‘Dan Abrams Live,’ Rivera vented his frustration over Harris’s “baffling” lack of preparation for one of her most high-profile interviews during this campaign season. He went on to question how Harris and her team could be caught off-guard by predictable topics like immigration, which he said was certain to be a central issue.
“It was obvious that immigration was coming,” Rivera said, talking about the fact that the Fox News team would predictably challenge Harris on this controversial topic. In his view, Harris missed a key opportunity to connect with voters on a deeply emotional issue, instead pivoting to political talking points that seemed disconnected from the gravity of the situation.
“To me, that’s politics 101. I’m not a politician. I’m not an expert in this, but I know a thing or two about debates, and it just seems to me that she missed an opportunity. Her briefers did. From this moment on, I advise them to not be the doormat when it comes to this issue,” Rivera said.
It is their biggest Achilles’ heel, there’s no doubt about it. If Donald Trump wins, it will be largely because of the immigration issue, and the fact that Democrats not only blew the reality on the border over the last three-plus years, but they don’t know how to respond to it,” he finished.
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The vice president’s interview with Baier covered a range of topics, but her responses were widely criticized for being evasive and lacking substance. When Baier pressed Harris about why 70 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track, she dodged the question, choosing instead to attack her Republican opponents.
The tactic didn’t sit well with Rivera or many viewers. “More than 70 percent of people say the country is on the wrong track,” Baier stated. “That’s after three and a half years of you being vice president and President Biden being president. Why are they saying that?” Rather than addressing the poll directly, Harris shifted the conversation to Donald Trump, prompting Baier to remind her that she is currently in office.
The interview continued in a similarly disjointed fashion, with Harris frequently failing to offer concrete answers to Baier’s pointed questions. The approach led to widespread speculation that Harris is struggling to effectively articulate her campaign’s message, a concern that Rivera shared during his appearance on Dan Abrams Live.
Rivera, once a supporter of Donald Trump, has made his dissatisfaction with the former president clear in recent years, criticizing Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 election and accusing him of leading his supporters astray. Ironically, on Monday Rivera publicly endorsed Vice President Harris for the 2024 presidential election. Rivera described Trump as a “sore loser” on X, and claimed that Trump has coaxed his supporters into believing what he calls the “Big Lie” about the 2020 election being stolen.
Following the Fox News interview, the Harris campaign has been in damage control mode. The interview, which was intended to present Harris as a serious candidate who could defend her record, instead highlighted her weaknesses and raised doubts about her ability to connect with voters on pressing issues.
