Before 24 hours had passed since Kamala Harris announced Tim Walz as her choice for vice presidential running mate, former president Donald Trump appeared live on FOX News to share his reaction.
During a 25-minute conversation by phone with the four co-hosts of FOX & Friends yesterday at 7:35 a.m. ET, Trump recalled two phone calls from Walz in 2020 requesting help during the “summer of love” riots following the death of George Floyd.
The 45th president offered his opinion on Walz.
The topics also included the prospects for a debate between Trump and Kamala Harris.
FOX & Friends, the number one cable news channel’s venerable three-hour morning show, is old home turf for Trump. For several years, prior to declaring his candidacy in June 2015, Donald Trump was a weekly guest every Monday by phone on the program, during which he chatted with the hosts about politics and policy and took advantage of the show’s high ratings to keep his opinions in the forefront of the media commentariat landscape.
The following excerpts of Trump’s interview yesterday morning have been edited and condensed for content and clarity from a transcript provided by FOX News Media, while preserving the context. The complete interview, which runs about five times as long as these excerpts, can be watched here at FOX News’ web site.
FOX & FRIENDS CO-HOST BRIAN KILMEADE: So [President Trump], your reaction to Governor Tim Walz joining Kamala Harris to go against you and J.D. Vance.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would say my reaction is I can't believe it. I never thought this was going to be the one that was picked. I know him a little bit.
I helped him very much during the [summer of 2020] riots because his house was surrounded by people [apparently MAGA supporters] that were waving an American flag, doesn't sound like very bad people, and he called me and he was very concerned -- very, very concerned that it was going to get out of control. They only had one guard, I guess. It was at the mansion or at his house in some form.
And he called me. I said, what do you want me to do about it? I was in the White House. He said, if you would put out the word that I’m a good person.
And I did, I put out the word. I said, he's a good person, I hope everything's good, and everybody put down their flags and took their flags with them. But they took their American flags and their MAGA flags and they left.
It was thousands of people. And that was the first time, I said, wow, that's very interesting. And he called me back and he thanked me very much. That's my only thing I ever had to do with him.
He's a very, very liberal man, and he's a shocking pick, and I’m thrilled. I could not be more thrilled.
AINSLEY EARHARD, FOX & FRIENDS CO-HOST: When they selected him, it's really a gift for you, because this election is all about the issues, and all of you all have records. You've been the president. We know where the economy stood. We know what your record is.
We know what Kamala Harris's record is, and we know what his [Walz’s] record is, and they are extremely progressive. Talk about how you're going to handle this on the campaign trail. Will you just really hone in on how they voted in the past?
TRUMP: Well, I am. I’m going to be doing that. What he [Walz] wants, if you look at his record with no walls, no security, let everybody in, he's worse than they are.
You know, nobody knew how radical left she was, but he's a smarter version of her, if you want to know the truth. He's probably about the same as Bernie Sanders. He's probably more so than Bernie Sanders.
She is more so than Bernie Sanders. That's got to be your guide, Bernie Sanders, and it's not a great guide.
There's never been a ticket like this. This is a ticket that would want this country go -- to go communist immediately, if not sooner.
“We want no security. We want no anything.” He's very heavy into transgender, anything transgender he thinks is great. And he's not where the country is on anything.
STEVE DOOCY, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: Mr. President --
TRUMP: This is a shocking -- let me tell -- this is a shocking pick.
And I think it's very insulting to Jewish people, and I think it's very insulting to people that want security. I think it's very insulting to anything having to do with making America great again.
FOX & Friends co-hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade at FOX News studios in NYC interview President Donald Trump August 7, 2024
Screenshot by Peter B. Chowka used by permission of FOX News Media
The discussion then turned to the possibility of a debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
TRUMP: The press is -- the media outside of you people, of course, but the media is so -- they're trying to build her up, to the next Margaret Thatcher liberal version, and I don't believe it's going to happen.
I hear she hasn't taken one interview. She would never do an interview like this. With any network, she doesn't do interviews because she can't answer questions.
I don't know how she debates. I hear she's sort of a nasty person, but not a good debater. But we'll see, because we'll be debating her, I guess in the pretty near future. It's going to be announced fairly soon, but we'll be debating her.
I'd like to see it on FOX [News], by the way. I would like to see it -- my preference would be FOX, but we have to debate. We have to get her on the debate.
DOOCY: Do you have an announcement? Are you working stuff out behind the scenes because we haven't heard about it yet?
TRUMP: No, but I can tell you every network loves me very much right now. They love me very much.
I’ve never been so loved by CBS and by ABC fake news and by NBC.
No, they're all in love with me now so that, you know, I say yes because it's up to me, obviously, also.
KILMEADE: But on the debate --
TRUMP: The most important thing is we get debate.
I think debates are very important, and I think she'll be exposed just like Biden was exposed. Nobody knew Biden was that bad, and then he was exposed during the debate, and they tried to have a series of comebacks after that, and they didn't work out too well, and they viciously overthrew him.
I mean, he was overthrown and using every trick in the book, they overthrew him. It was pretty amazing actually to watch.
KILMEADE: I want to come back to the debate. Just ust to close this up, you're in litigation with George Stephanopoulos on ABC. And the judge says the lawsuit is going to go forward. So how could you go on ABC, especially if he's going to be one of the moderators?
TRUMP: Well, you could use that as an excuse. I could use that. I’ve said that, is there a conflict? And, you know, there might be. George “Slopadopoulos” (ph), and he's got problems, and you know, they've got problems.
But I guess David Muir is going to be the host in that case. You have all the hosts, they’re pretty much named, and you have Bret [Baier] and Martha [MacCallum, FOX News anchors], and they're great, and I'd love to see it on FOX, but, you know, it takes two to tango.
She [Harris] doesn't want to debate. She wants to say I don't want to debate, but I do want to debate.
You know, when it came to Biden, I accepted everything. I accepted Jake Tapper. I accepted everything because he didn't want to debate.
After I accepted everything, the only thing I said, let's stand up, they wanted to sit down at a desk. I said, that's not going to look so great. But I accepted everything.
And you know, pretty much, that's the way I’d do it right now, because I want to debate her. I think it's important for the country that we debate.
More topics were discussed during Donald Trump’s interview on FOX & Friends, including three live questions from voters in South Dakota – a sort of spontaneous mini-townhall – where program co-host Lawrence Jones was situated for remote segments. The complete interview can be watched here.
Peter Barry Chowka has been reporting on national elections since 1964, starting in high school. Later, he reported from several national political conventions and traveled around the country with presidential candidates. Peter is a frequent invited guest on the BBC, the largest broadcaster in the world (his July 27 appearance is here). He has been a frequent contributor to American Thinker since 2007.