On August 12, the day after presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden announced that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) would be his running mate, Fox News attacked her in a majority of its segments about the choice.
Every Fox program but one throughout the day featured at least one segment attacking Harris, and 81% of segments with guests who discussed the choice included an attack on Harris. Of a total 79 segments that discussed the vice presidential nominee on August 12, 50 (63%) included attacks on the candidate.
According to Media Matters' internal database, hosts and guests repeatedly attacked the vice presidential nominee throughout the day, accusing her of flip-flopping on various issues and calling out supposed lapses in her personal traits such as lack of warmth. They also frequently described her as radical.
A guest on the network’s morning show Fox & Friends claimed Harris was “a flip-flopper, a phony, there’s no authenticity,” adding, “There’s something that’s not warm about her.” Another segment on the show featured The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, who argued that Harris is “mechanical, she’s extreme, and she’s manipulative.”
On one of the network’s “straight”-news shows, Trump campaign adviser Steve Cortes said, “Joe Biden has selected a Berkeley radical to join his ticket,” adding that in the process, “he has emboldened the furthest fringe leftist elements of American politics.” On The Ingraham Angle, a segment displaying a chyron reading “How Kamala Harris would abuse the DOJ” featured Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani claiming Harris is “a very mean woman, and she was a terrible prosecutor,” attacking her prosecutorial record, and claiming, “Nobody likes her.”
