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Fox News hosts struggled to get a rattled Donald Trump off the line as he went on a right-wing media blitz hitting out at Kamala Harris following her Democratic National Convention speech on Thursday night.
Trump called into Fox News and Newsmax mere moments after the vice president gave a forceful address at the Union Center in Chicago, Illinois, where she formally accepted the party’s nomination and blasted her Republican rival.
In the call with Fox News, hosts Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier flailed as they tried and failed to keep control of the interview – and then couldn’t get the former president to end the call.
“Twenty million people have poured into our country – many of them from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums and a record number of terrorists,” Trump falsely claimed in a live on-air rant.
“President Trump,” MacCallum interjected helplessly, with Trump continuing on his fiery tirade of falsehoods.
“Other countries are releasing their prisoners from their jails, they’re emptying out their jails into the United States of America because of her [Harris] incompetence and her bad border policies,” Trump continued.
“Sir,” MacCallum said, desperately trying to cull his monologue.
“A horrible person to run this country,” Trump snapped. “We won’t have a country if she gets elected.”
As Trump pivoted to attack Biden, he was met with “hmms”, a “yeah” and vigorous head-nodding from Baier as he tried to bring the interview to an end.
“Mr president,” Baier tried and failed to interject.
Ultimately, both Baier and MacCallum chimed in with “thank you very much,” prompting Trump to finally relent and bid farewell.
“We appreciate that live feedback,” Baier added.
X users were quick to comment on Trump’s on-air meltdown, with NBC News analyst Claire McCaskill quipping: “When you are trying to get off the phone with your poor neighbor who is not well.”
Another person chimed in: “WOW. Such a disaster from Donald Trump Fox literally cuts him off to end the interview.”
Trump wasn’t quite finished though, as he rang into Newsmax moments later where he bizarrely invited the hosts to come to Venezuela’s capital with him.
“You look at Venezuela, they got into Caracas which was a very unsafe city, and now it’s safe. In fact, some day the three of us will have to go there – let’s bring your husband with us also, right – and we’ll bring some of the other people that are with you because I like the people that are with you,” Trump said.
“And we’ll go to Caracas because it will be safer than any place in our county.”
“Yo–,” said Mercedes Schlapp with an awkward smile, as Trump also spoke over her and returned to his usual talking point trying to blame Harris for issues at the southern border.
Trump’s shouty rants on the right-wing networks came after he went on a Truth Social rampage during Harris’s DNC speech, running his own personal commentary with a staggering 58 posts during her 38-minute address.
In his Truth Social posts, he repeatedly called her “Comrade Kamala Harris”, accused her of “gaslighting” America and bizarrely complained she was saying “too many ‘thank yous’”.
In Harris’s speech, she announced her plans for the economy, immigration and abortion rights while hitting out at Republican rival Trump.
Describing Trump as a very “unserious man”, she warned of the “serious consequences” for the nation if he was to return to the White House – noting that his premiership would be self-serving and condemning the MAGA Republicans as “out of their minds”.
The vice president noted that he also “fanned the flames” during the Jan 6 riots on the Capitol in 2021.
She also vowed that she would lead “for all Americans” and create an “opportunity economy” for the nation, before being joined on stage by husband Doug Emhoff and her running mate Tim Walz.
“Let’s get out there, and together let’s write the next great chapter in the greatest story ever told,” she said to cheers in the convention, which crescendoed to 120 decibels – the same level as a plane taking off.
