The contentious high-drama interview between Fox News anchor Bret Baier and Vice President Kamala Harris drew immediate attention and reactions online after it aired on Wednesday night.
Baier tried to press Harris on a number of key issues but the vice president protested that he needed to let her finish her answers to the questions.
‘Kamala Harris just ran into a Bret Baier buzzsaw when asked about the number of illegal aliens in the country,’ wrote conservative communicator Steve Guest as the interview aired.
Baier’s interview style drew praise from former Fox News personality Megyn Kelly.
‘Bret is crushing this and she is incapable of defending her deadly border policies,’ she wrote.
When Harris struggled to answer how her presidency would be different than Biden’s, Kelly again criticized the vice president.
‘My presidency will not be a continuation of Biden’s presidency bc I rep a new generation of leadership. THAT’S what she came up with after a WEEK?’ she asked.
Harris’ interview also drew attention from the Trump campaign, who taunted the vice president on social media.
‘Kamala Harris is clearly unburdened by the need to answer any of Bret Baier’s questions,’ wrote Trump campaign advisor Jason Miller.
Others who were not big fans of Baier indicated they were impressed by his performance.
‘I forgive Bret Baier. He’s literally ending Kamala Harris’s campaign before our very eyes!’ wrote Vince Langman, a supporter of Trump.
At another point in the interview, Harris protested that Baier played the wrong clip when he asked her about Trump’s comment about handling the ‘enemy within’ the country.
‘This Bret Baier interview is a perfect example of why Kamala Harris never received a single vote for president when she ran in the Democrat primary in 2020. She is awful at this and clearly not ready for primetime, and everyone knows it,’ wrote Federalist founder Sean Davis.
Others focused on Harris’ body language as she grew incredibly annoyed with Baier’s interruptions.
‘Kamala Harris is wagging her finger and yelling during the Bret Baier interview. Wrote Minnesota Republican Dustin Grage. ‘This is a total disaster for her.’
At one point, Harris reacted after Baier pointed out that over 70 percent of the country believed the country was headed in the wrong direction.
‘You know and I both know what I’m talking about. You know and I both know what I’m talking about!’ she said, pointing back at Trump.
‘I actually don’t. What are you talking about?’ Baier replied.
‘TRAIN WRECK,’ Trump’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on social media after the interview.
Harris team accused Fox News of conducting an ‘ambush’ interview and argued that she did well.
‘Kamala Harris (strong) handled an ambush Fox interview light years better than the hash Donald Trump (unstable) made of the Fox pep rally disguised as a town hall,’ Harris campaign advisor David Plouffe wrote on X.com.
Other political strategists disagreed.
‘Kamala Harris is the opposite of unflappable. She is self imploding & getting visibly angry because for the first time in 4 years she is facing a few tough questions,’ wrote Republican political strategist Andrew Surabian.
‘This is why they kept her in the basement. This is literally insane… I can’t believe how bad this went,’ Republican strategist Ryan James Girdusky, wrote on social media adding, ‘This is Kamala’s first interview like this and it was a disaster.’
Baier said on Fox News after the interview that Harris and her team arrived late to the interview and cut it short of what they agreed to.
‘We were supposed to start at 5:00 p.m. … originally we were going to do 25 or 30 minutes, it came in and said well maybe 20. So, already getting whittled down, then the vice president showed up about 5:15 p.m.’ Baier said.
