Trump criticized the pre-debate comments of Fox News’ Brit Hume and Bret Baier on Wednesday night.
During a discussion about the viability of President Joe Biden, Hume argued that Biden’s renomination “depends on one thing: the expectation that Trump will be the Republican nominee.”
Baier made a remark about the absence of the former president and the manifest desire of numerous individuals to make an impact at the current event. “So, obviously the former president’s not here tonight, a lot of people trying to have a breakout moment on this stage. If one does, what do the Democrats and the Biden campaign do?”
Hume provided a response in return:
I don’t think there is any doubt that if we get a candidate get a clear breakout moment either here or some time in the near future, and it appears on its way to overtaking Donald Trump for the nomination or even coming close enough, the Democrats will be frantically looking for somebody else to nominate because I think that they think that Joe Biden can beat Donald Trump because he did before. I’m not sure they believe that he could beat almost anybody else.
Trump expressed his vehement opposition to the aforementioned proposal in a post on the Truth Social platform.
“I AM LEADING BIDEN IN ALMOST ALL POLLS! LEADING REPUBLICANS BY 50 POINTS,” asserted the former president in all caps. “FOX NEWS REFUSES TO POST OR DISCUSS. BRIT HUME, WORKING WITH RINO BRET BAIER, IS DELUSIONAL!!!”
Trump added in another post:
“NO, I’M THE ONE THAT THE DEMOCRATS DON’T WANT TO RUN AGAINST. They said the same thing in 2016. How did that work out? We did MUCH better in the Rigged Election of 2020. The RINOS and DEMS are all about DISINFORMATION! @brithume @bretbaier”
Trump decided not to partake in the Fox-sponsored debate hosted by Baier on Wednesday evening. The decision came after Trump expressed several grievances about the network in recent months.
Based on an interview conducted with Baier in June. President Trump voiced his displeasure by asserting, “It was nasty.”
“When I did the interview with Bret, I thought it was fine. I thought it was okay, but there was nothing friendly about it. You know, it was nasty,” Trump said, explaining his view of the situation. “It was really like, unfriendly. Everything was like unfriendly. No smiling, no let’s have fun, let’s Make America Great Again. Everything was like a hit. So you have a hostile network.”
On Thursday morning, Trump exclaimed that his interview on Tucker Carlson’s show which aired at the same time as the GOP primary debate, “The Tucker Carlson Interview with me was a BLOCKBUSTER. Could hit 200,000,000 Views, and more! Thank you! I hope it was enjoyed by everyone.”
Trump railed against Ron DeSantis after the debate. The former president posted on X, formerly known as Twitter:
“Ron DeSanctimonious is always talking about the number of votes he got in Florida. He doesn’t say that I got a record 1.1 Million more votes than him. He forgot!!!”
“DeSanctimonious was a “BOMB” tonight, especially with his softball interview with Sean Hannity. This guy has totally forgotten his past. Who cares!?!?”
On Fox News Thursday morning, presenters Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino interviewed conservatives regarding the debate. The majority of respondents indicated that DeSantis was the most viable alternative to Trump in the 2024 general election.
Baier participated in an interview with Hugh Hewitt, a conservative radio presenter, on Tuesday in anticipation of the impending Republican presidential primary debate.
Hewitt questioned the Fox anchor during the interview, “Bret Baier, there’s a story this morning that he has agreed to turn himself in in Atlanta on Thursday. Do you think he plans this? Because that would be the worst counterprogramming ever if that’s voluntary.”
Baier responded by emphasizing the need for a strategic planning procedure.
“I think there has to be some planning.”
“I mean, I think it is about sucking the oxygen out of the room for anybody who had a big night on Wednesday making the rounds on Thursday. I do think that there is, they are calculated like that. It’s not a great counter-programming thing, but I do think it is calculated,” Baier asserted.
During the conversation, Hewitt inquired about Baier’s perspective on Trump’s announcement that he will not participate in the forthcoming debate, as well as several other Republican debates.
“I regret that President Trump has declined the invitation, and I think he has made a mistake announcing he’s not going to do any debate. I don’t think you can blockade the debates and win. I don’t know if you have an opinion on that, Bret, do you?” Hewitt inquired.
“I do. I think he has to do a debate,” Baier responded by suggesting that it is necessary for him to engage with those other candidates.
“I think, you know, I think it’s fair when these other candidates say it’s not a coronation, it’s an election. And, you know, I do think that you know, he skipped the 2016 Iowa debate with us and he ended up losing the Iowa caucuses. I’m not saying there’s a direct connection, but people do like to see engagement. He’s very good at it. And I assume he’s going to eventually do one debate,” he finished.