ABC News‘ Jonathan Karl interviewed Sen. Tom Cotton on “This Week” Sunday. The heated on-air exchange was evidently not to former President Donald Trump‘s liking. He swiftly blasted the network for its “biased approach” during the interaction, and this might just have landed the only debate he’s agreed with Vice President Kamala Harris (and vice versa) in deep water.
Railing against ABC, Trump penned a fuming Truth Social post on Sunday night. “I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” he wrote, threatening to walk away from the September 10 debate on the network.
But, what happened during the interview that led Trump to possibly trample on the soon-to-happen ABC debate?
The ABC News interview that possibly served as the final nail in the coffin as far as Donald Trump’s debate with Kamala Harris is concerned
Senator Cotton took a dig against Harris for her support for policies like “supporting decriminalising immigration, or giving taxpayer-funded health insurance to illegal aliens,” while highlighting that Trump will work in “sharp contrast” from the Harris campaign.
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The conversation eventually led up to the Democratic presidential nominee previously calling for “taking away health insurance on the job for 170 million Americans,” as Cotton spotlighted. Harris had come under fire in 2019 when she indicated that people couldn’t keep their health care plan under her “Medicare-for-All” plan and would instead be moving towards a single-payer system.
“Well, listen, the idea is that everyone gets access to medical care. And you don’t have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork, all of the delay that may require,” she told CNN host Jake Tapper after announcing her then-2020 bid.
“What do you mean taking away health insurance? What are you talking about?” the ABC host asked. The Republican politician eventually helped Jonathan Karl recall the time Harris vouched for her support of eliminating private health insurance, pushing for her “Medicare-for-All” plans in 2019.
Foregrounding that Harris no longer campaigns for her past support of the system, Karl replied: “I mean, that is not her position now.”
However, Cotton didn’t let him off easy. “How do you know that is not her position now?” Before Karl could interject again, the Republican lawmaker added, “She has not said that. Maybe anonymous aides on a Friday night have said that but the last thing that she said…”
The fiery conversation continued with the host commending the present-day vice president for “making an effort to move to the middle.”
“She’s taking these efforts not to change these positions but to hide these positions,” Cotton fiercely responded. “The American people are totally justified to conclude that Kamala Harris is a dangerous San Francisco liberal based on what she campaigned on the last time she ran for president and what this administration has done the last four years.”
Cotton pushed on, saying that last week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago was presented as an event as if “Democrats are not in office, they’re not in power” and are “campaigning against an incumbent Republican.” Pointing towards the “reality,” Cotton continued, “She’s been part of the failures of the Biden-Harris administration for four years and when she campaigned for president in her own right, she did in fact promised things.”
Cotton’s interview ended up largely focussing on whether Harris’ stance on her claims and policies from 2019 had evolved. Karl continued to side with her, asserting, “She said she has changed.” But the senator didn’t have any of it and curtly replied, “No, she hasn’t.”
The pushback went on.
Jonathan Karl: “Yes she has.”
Sen Tom Cotton: “No, no she has not.”
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Reactions to Tom Cotton’s ABC interview
Ultimately, the same thing happened that always follows after such fervid interactions. Clips of the interview took social media by storm, with the official Trump War Room account sharing the video. “This you, @jonkarl?
In 2020, you were literally on the same program mentioning Kamala’s support for Medicare for All (which, by her own admission, would abolish private health insurance),” the account tweeted.
Someone further slammed the ABC host: “Is @jonkarl auditioning to be Harris’ press secretary? What the hell is he doing here.”
Others even highlighted how Harris has evaded formal interviews so far, leaving room for her to be questioned directly about the issue. Earlier this month, Harris’ campaign told Fox News that she would not push for “Medicare-for-All” plans despite her previous support.
Kamala Harris’ principal deputy campaign manager, Quentin Fulks, recently said during his “MediaBuzz” appearance on Fox News that the vice president will interview before the end of August.
Going back to Trump’s take on the situation, he seemingly asserted that he would not participate in the ABC debate and that the network has “a lot of questions to answer!!!”
His TruthSocial post concluded with the question: “Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS and even CNN?”
“Stay tuned!!!”
This isn’t the first time Trump has voiced his qualms with the ABC debate. He originally agreed to the event, thinking he would be contesting against President Joe Biden.”
Trump vs ABC News goes on
Trump’s tug-of-war with ABC News goes deep beyond his issues with Harris. Earlier this year, he filed a lawsuit against the network and Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos after he said that the former president was responsible for raping American journalist E Jean Carroll.
On the contrary, a civil jury did not find him liable for the misconduct under New York State law. However, Judge Lewis A Kaplan later clarified, “The finding that Ms Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’”
He also said that New York’s legal definition of the word is “far narrower” than how it is understood in “common modern parlance.”
In another dramatic brush with ABC News, Trump “happily” posted about the network’s former president Kim Godwin’s retirement. “Happy to report that Kim Godwin, Head of ABC, has resigned. Could it be the unfair reporting on EVERYTHING TRUMP? In any event, GOOD RIDDANCE! Hopefully somebody else will be able control George Slopadopolous and the rest of the Fake News Thugs over at ABC? Best wishes Kim!” he wrote on TruthSocial. Godwin was the first-ever black woman to lead the network’s news division.