Newsmax’s pro-Trump-leaning posturing before the Donald Trump-Kamala Harris debate continued as the debate neared. The apparently unironically named Charlie McCarthy served as an uncritical mouthpiece for a Trump mouthpiece who insisted in a Sept. 2 article that Harris is “terrified” to face Trump:
Former President Donald Trump’s debate preparation has not changed from when he was running against President Joe Biden, Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez told Newsmax on Monday.
Alvarez, while appearing on “Wake Up America,” told co-host Christina Thompson that Republican presidential nominee Trump hasn’t really changed his routine now that he’ll face Vice President Kamala Harris in ABC’s Sept. 10 debate.
[…]Alvarez said Harris’ team likely will “spoon-feed her because they’re terrified that she won’t have a teleprompter.”
“She will have to stand on her own two feet, without [vice-presidential nominee Tim] Walz as a security blanket beside her and talk about her record and talk about the issues and President Trump is ready for just that,” the adviser said.
In a Sept. 7 Newsmax TV appearance, Trump adviser (though not identified as such) Dick Morris insisted that questions about muted microphones meant “she was trying to get out of the debate.” Morris then read “the script that I’ve sent President Trump that I’m urging him to do.” Again: Newsmax did not identify Morris as a Trump adviser. This was followed by a Sept. 8 article by Eric Mack touting that “Trump leads The New York Times/Siena College poll going into Tuesday’s lone debate.”
After the debate, Newsmax served up the expected pro-Trump, anti-Harris spin:
- Daily Express US Poll: Trump Won Debate, 45 Percent to 34 Percent (meaningless snap poll)
- Ric Grenell to Newsmax: Debate Moderators’ Bias Against Trump a Gift
- Sen. Marsha Blackburn to Newsmax: Harris Fumbled, Punted on Questions
- Rudy Giuliani to Newsmax: Would Dems Side With Terrorists on Another 9/11?
Right-wing attacks on ABC’s performance in hostring the debare were also echoed:
- Gov. Burgum to Newsmax: Debate Was ‘Absolutely 3 on 1’
- Megyn Kelly: ‘Disgusted,’ ‘Ashamed’ of ABC’s Muir, Davis
Newsmax also let Trump serve up his own spin unchallenged:
- Trump in Surprise ‘Spin Room’ Visit: Harris ‘Unable to Defend’ Her Record
- Trump: ‘That Was My Best Debate Ever’
In fact, conservatives such as Andy McCarthy, Frank Luntz, Karl Rove and even Robert Kennedy Jr. — as well as a Fox News voter panel — agreed that Trump lost the debate to Harris. The only hint Newsmax offered that the debate may not have gone well for Trump is an article quoting Sen. Lindsey Graham saying it was a “”missed opportunity” for Trump. There was also a column by John Gizzi claiming that “a group of historians and seasoned debate experts who spoke to Newsmax shortly after the nationally televised clash between the two major party candidates” insisting the debate won’t affect anything.
Michael Dorstewitz served up his own faulty spin in his Sept. 13 column:
Vice President Kamala Harris gave a better-than-expected performance at Tuesday night’s ABC presidential debate, and details are now emerging that may help explain her success.
First of all there may have been a conflict of interest between Harris and one of the ABC News debate moderators, Linsey Davis — they’re college sorority sisters at Aloha Kappa Alpha, Inc.
It’s actually Alpha Kappa Alpha. Dorstewitz then promoted a conspiracy theory:
It prompted at least another person to ask, “So, who slipped Kamala’s team the questions?”
Whether that question was serious or meant as a joke, an independent journalist promised yesterday that before the weekend is over, he’ll come into possession of and release an affidavit from a lawyer who represents an ABC News whistleblower.
He alleges that the whistleblower will affirm, among other things, that ABC News gave “sample questions” to the Harris campaign prior to the debate, and those questions were ultimately asked Tuesday night.
He claims the affidavit will also state that ABC promised not to fact check Harris, but would do so against Trump.
In fact, that purported affidavit was completely unsubstantiated and even its promoters now admit it’s fake, and the source of the claim has deleted his Twitter/X account. Don’t expect Dorstewitz to correct the record, though — right-wingers rarely do.
(UPDATE: It has since been revealed that despite the account bearing the name “Black Insurrectionist,” it was operated by a white guy who is known for defrauding investors and owing millions of dollars in back taxes.)
Instead, Dorstewitz pushed the idea of having another debate at the place that publishes his column:
Let’s give Harris her debate.
But at the same time, let’s give the new kids on the block a chance.
Let’s schedule the first-ever Newsmax Presidential Debate in recognition of their rising star status, and hold it on Sept. 25 — the date that was set for the NBC debate.
Same rules as before: The participants stand throughout the 90-minute event, no audience, no notes, no open mics when the other debater is speaking.
And Newsmax has the perfect moderators, “The Record” anchor Greta Van Susteren, and Newsmax White House Correspondent James Rosen.
They each have the qualities necessary to be good presidential debate moderators: They’re intelligent, quick, fair, and tough without being obnoxious. And any debate they moderate will not be a “three-against-one” struggle aimed at either candidate.
And finally, neither Van Susteren nor Rosen is Kamala Harris’ sorority sister.
While Newsmax likely appreciates Dorstewitz’s enthusiasm for it, Trump was beaten so badly by Harris that he has adamantly refused to take part in another debate.