Day: 8/22/2024

Fox News Sort of Fact Checks Trump’s Lie that Kamala Harris Met Putin Before He Invaded Ukraine

Posted by on August 22, 2024 at 12:49 pm. 1 Comments :

for the past several weeks, Donald Trump has virtually abandoned his campaign to avoid prison …er… his campaign for president. He has scaled down his public appearances, limiting the number of attendees to a few hard core cult disciples and members of the MAGA media. His television interviews have been conducted mainly by phone.

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Either Trump is afraid to go out in public after his “ear death” experience in July. Or he is just too old and physically debilitated to keep up a normal campaign schedule. So now he just does these interviews in his pajamas at his Palm Beach hotel/home. His retreat into his Mar-a-Lago bunker may also be due to his suffering from depression as a result of having fallen behind Kamala Harris in most polls since the torch was passed to her by President Biden.

SEE THIS: Polls Show Trump Losing to Kamala Harris Now, So He’s Calling them ‘Fake’ and ‘Dishonest’

On Thursday morning Trump called in to Fox News for another tele-fluffing by the “Curvy Couch” potatoes at Fox and Friends. These segments are usually nothing more than free advertising and in-kind campaign contributions that Fox should be required to report to the Federal Election Commission. And this one was no exception, except for one small portion wherein Fox’s Brian Kilmeade went rogue with something that Fox News never does: A Fact Check.

Trump: Biden sent ‘Comrade’ Kamala to see Putin in Russia three days before the attack. She went, she said, she gave her case. He attacked three days later. He attacked three days later. He laughed at her. He thought she was a joke.
Kilmeade: Just as a quick clarification, we don’t have confirmation that the Vice-President went to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin. I know that she went over to Europe right before the incursion when Russia invaded Ukraine. And it’s a war that’s still going on right now.
Ainsley Earhardt: I’ve heard that said a lot. You don’t have confirmation that that’s true?
Kilmeade: No I don’t know if the Vice-President ever met Vladimir Putin.

For the record, Harris has indeed never met with Putin. Trump is manufacturing that meeting from thin air. Kilmeade is correct that Harris went to Europe prior to Russia invading Ukraine. She went to a security conference in Munich where she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, among other world leaders.

While it is commendable – and for Fox News a bit shocking – that Kilmeade offered any “clarification” at all, it is notable that he didn’t do it while Trump was still on the line and able to be pressed for a response. Not that Trump would have conceded that he was lying. He would likely have just whined that it was fake news, insulted Kilmeade, and hung up.

It is also notable that Earhardt tried to give Trump’s lie some credibility by saying that she has “heard that said a lot.” It would be interesting to find out from where she allegedly heard it. There are no accounts of any meetings between Harris and Putin, even on right-wing news sites. Perhaps she heard it from – you know – Trump. Because he told the very same lie on Wednesday in his speech in North Carolina…

“Remember when Joe Biden sent Kamala to Europe to stop the war in Ukraine? She met with Putin and then three days later, he attacked. How did she do? Do you think she did a good job? She met with Putin to tell him, ‘Don’t do it.’ And three days later, he attacked. That’s when the attack started.”

Actually, Harris did a very good job. Her job at the Munich conference was to solidify the alliance among our European allies in opposition to Russia’s anticipated aggression. To Harris’ credit, that alliance remains strong to this day. It is Trump who continues to take Putin’s side in the war.

Trump’s pathological dishonesty exceeds the boundaries of conventional liars. He doesn’t merely twist facts to fit his narrative. He composes fantastical fictions that bear no resemblance whatsoever to reality. And while Fox News tip-toed into a fact check on this occasion, they did it with absurd caveats and without confronting Trump. But then, does anyone expect anything more from either of them?

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