Fox News host Harris Faulkner and commentator Tammy Bruce clashed with Democratic strategist Jonathan Kott over the company former President Donald Trump keeps after Kott reminded them of Trump's infamous dinner with white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Fuentes generated significant controversy in 2022 when he joined rapper and designer Ye for a meeting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, an incident that cast more attention on Trump's ties to far-right hate groups.
The discussion between Faulkner, Bruce, and Kott initially focused on President Joe Biden's fitness for office but Kott quickly shut that down, pointing out exactly why Trump should not return to the White House:
"I would rather have a president who maybe has a stutter once in a while than one who spews conspiracy theories, racist nonsense, and has dinner with Nazis. So if given the choice between one of the other, I'm happy that Joe Biden might misspeak once in a while when he's trying to name a president of a foreign country."
An angry Bruce accused Kott of calling “a number of Republicans Nazis and racists" and dismissed him outright, telling Faulkner that "we can put [Kott] in the category of willing to go there.” Kott interjected that he had merely noted that Trump "actually had dinner with a Nazi."
Bruce didn't listen and accused Kott of "desperation," adding:
"The American people don’t like it, and they are taking it personally. Look at his numbers. It’s not going to work.”
Faulkner chose to end the conversation but not before scolding Kott:
“We have to go, and I had even said I never heard you talk like that. And, look, five seconds later, I was wrong. Sadly."
You can watch what happened in the video below.
Many appreciated Kott's candor and criticized Fox.
Fuentes—who has been cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for his hateful rhetoric and previously advocated for "something like Taliban rule in America"—viewed his meeting with Trump as a badge of honor and bragged about it in numerous interviews with far-right outlets.
Amid the criticism, Trump attempted to distance himself from Fuentes and claimed he didn't know who Fuentes was even though sources told reporters Trump openly praised Fuentes during the dinner he attended as the guest of Ye, who at the time had just announced an ill-fated 2024 presidential bid on the Republican ticket.
However, there is no indication that Trump didn't know who Fuentes was, and according to Ye, Trump was "very impressed" with Fuentes—who referred to Trump as a personal "hero"—and The New York Times reported that Trump declared he liked Fuentes, even saying that Fuentes "gets me."
Fuentes, for his part, said on his podcast he "had a very interesting dinner" with Ye and Trump, though he added he feels "a little bit embarrassed in a certain sense because, you know, this has become a little bit of a scandal for President Trump."
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