'Limits of Republican propaganda': Harris’ surge has Trump’s Fox News allies in full 'panic'

14 August 2024

With Vice President Kamala Harris enjoying small single-digit leads over Donald Trump in many polls released in August, some far-right pundits on Fox News and Fox Business are expressing fears that Trump's 2024 campaign is in trouble. And they are urging him to stick to policy-based arguments against Harris instead of making racial attacks against her or claiming that she is exaggerating the size of the crowds at her campaign rallies.

But The New Republic's Greg Sargent considers that disingenuous coming from Fox News, which, he argues, has repeatedly used racial arguments against Harris. And Sargent believes that "the Fox News panic" over Harris' performance in recent polls "shows the limits of Republican propaganda."

Sargent discussed Fox News and the 2024 presidential race with MSNBC's Steve Benen, author of the new book "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past," during a podcast episode posted by The New Republic on August 14.

When Sargent asked Benen if he thinks Trump's "Fox News allies are panicking right now," the MSNBC columnist responded, "Oh, I think there's no doubt that they are. And I think they're looking at the same polls that the rest of us are. And I think they're aware of the momentum that the rest of us are when it comes to the Harris campaign…. For that matter, we see Trump himself panicking."

Benen continued, "Look no further than his social media feed to see that every hour, every day, we see this increasing anxiety on his part as his attacks turn more frantic, more ridiculous. And then, of course, we see his allies in conservative media looking for ways to kind of steer him back to some kind of safer electoral ground…. They see the race going in the wrong direction for (Trump)."

Sargent noted that right-wing media have been demonizing Harris for years by "painting her as a "DEI hire" and criticizing her "for not having kids and her laugh" (the vice president has two adoptive children via her husband Doug Emhoff).

Benen told Sargent, "Here we have them flailing as they pursue one failed line after another. And it reinforces the fact that they're not even executing their own strategy well. Their own tactics are failing them as they throw things against the wall to see what sticks — except that in this case, they don't know what to throw against the wall. And they can't find the wall."

Benen added, "It's this comedy of errors that's unfolding in real time."

Listen to Greg Sargent's full interview with Steve Benen for The New Republic at this link or here.

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