By Wednesday morning, former President Donald J. Trump had crafted a clear response to his contentious performance in the ABC News debate against Vice President Kamala Harris: the real loser is ABC, not him.
In a live interview on “Fox & Friends,” Mr. Trump criticized the network’s moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, accusing them of bias. “I thought it was terrible from the standpoint of ABC,” he stated, labeling the network as “the most dishonest, in my opinion, the most dishonest news organization.”
Mr. Trump claimed that ABC “lost a lot of credibility,” took a significant hit, and should feel embarrassed for fact-checking several of his statements while allegedly overlooking Ms. Harris’s answers. He even suggested that the network should lose its broadcasting license.
In a surprising twist, Mr. Trump expressed nostalgia for his past appearances on CNN, calling it “much more honorable” despite years of criticizing the network for its perceived bias. He referred to a previous debate with President Biden from June as “a much more honorable one,” indicating that he believed it was handled better.
The “Fox & Friends” team saw this as a strategic opportunity to push Mr. Trump for a commitment to participate in a debate on their own network, a goal Fox News has been pursuing for some time. Anchor Steve Doocy broached the idea of hosting a debate moderated by the network’s leading political figures, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.