Dialing in to Fox News, Trump offers a rambling rebuttal to Harris’s speech

Former President Donald Trump was watching television Thursday night and he did not like what he saw.

His newly minted Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, had just accused him of groveling to dictators, imperiling democracy, betraying American values and, to top it off, deemed him “an unserious man.”

So Trump picked up the telephone and called Fox News. The network quickly patched him in to its live coverage of the Democratic convention, and the former president proceeded to issue a meandering, stream-of-consciousness rebuttal.

Several times, Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum tried to interject to ask a question. Several times, Trump ignored them. “Mr. President, let me interrupt,” Baier pleaded at one point. Trump kept talking.

The impromptu call-in — which lasted for 10 minutes, until Fox News informed Trump that the network had run out of time — came shortly after he had taken to his social media platform, Truth Social, to provide real-time commentary on Harris’ speech.

His posts there, capitalized in a haphazard manner, were less directed at her specific remarks than at broader complaints about issues that Trump wants to keep the focus on: crime, immigration and the economy.

At times, he digressed.

“WHERE’S HUNTER?” Trump asked as Harris came onstage, reviving one of his favorite slogans about the son of President Joe Biden, who withdrew his candidacy weeks ago.

At one point, referring to Harris, Trump asked, in all capital letters, “Is she talking about me?” (She was, often.)

Trump also accused Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, of puffing up his resume as a leader of a high school football team. “Walz was an ASSISTANT Coach, not a COACH,” he wrote.

A few minutes later, on Fox News, Trump argued that Harris had not accomplished much during her tenure as vice president.

“All of these things that she talked about — ‘We are going to do this, we are going to do that, we are going to do everything’ — but she didn’t do any of it!” Trump said on the air, complaining that “she didn’t talk about China, she didn’t talk about fracking, she didn’t talk about crime.”

His one concession? The Democrats’ convention hall. “It was a nice-looking room,” he said.

When MacCallum observed, accurately, that Harris was “having some success” with women, Hispanic and Black voters, Trump objected. “She’s not having success; I’m having success,” he said. “I’m doing great with the Hispanic voters, doing great with Black men, I’m doing great with women.”

“It’s only in your eyes that they have that, Martha,” he added. “We are doing very well.”

At several points during the call, a familiar beeping sound interrupted Trump’s remarks. It appeared that the former president was accidentally pressing buttons on the keypad of his phone.

Finally, while Trump was still midsentence, Baier moved to end the interview and thanked his guest for his time: “We appreciate that live feedback.”

The network immediately shifted to an episode of its late-night comedy program, “Gutfeld!”

The host, Greg Gutfeld, looked bemused. “That wasn’t my fault, Donald Trump,” he said, speaking to the president through the TV.

“He’s still talking, by the way,” Gutfeld joked.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.