Tepidly and cautiously, “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade for a brief moment defied network narrative and criticized President Donald Trump on Wednesday for mocking Dr. Christine Blasey Ford the night before.
even brian kilmeade doesn’t think trump should have mocked dr. ford last night (though don’t give him too much credit; kilmeade’s concern is “tactical”) pic.twitter.com/oxs6RmmLBx
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) October 3, 2018
““The tactic of the president laying low has been lauded by all sides,” said Kilmeade while under the censorious gaze of his co-hosts. “Last night he chose to blow it.”
Speaking at a rally in Southaven, Mississippi, on Tuesday night, the president for the first time attacked the testimony and character of Dr. Ford, who accuses Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanauh of attempted rape.
Ever since Ford’s accusations became public last month, Trump made an attempt to appear neutral. He publicly encouraged Ford to speak before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and then after she gave testimony last week described her as a “credible witness.”
But on Tuesday his tone changed.
“How did you get home? I don’t remember. How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember. How many years ago was it? I don’t know,” Trump said, mimicking Ford to a laughing, cheering crowd. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”
Kilmeade didn’t overtly chastise Trump for the indecency of directly mocking an alleged sexual assault victim, but rather questioned its strategic “wisdom.”
“I wonder about the wisdom, as much as the crowd loved it,” Kilmeade pondered. “I wonder about the wisdom tactically of him doing that.”
Before Kilmeade had a chance to develop his rebuke, though, his co-hosts chimed in to bring back the plot.
“Well, there were holes in her story,” Ainsley Earhardt said, cutting Kilmeade off to discuss discrepancies between Ford’s testimony and a statement obtained by Fox News by an ex-boyfriend of Ford from the time.
A limited-scope FBI investigation into Ford’s allegation is expected to conclude on Wednesday.