Rachel Campos-Duffy is filling in this week on “Fox News Primetime.” The 7 p.m. Eastern show continues to rotate guest hosts for the time being. Campos-Duffy, however, might not be considered as a permanent host if she has many more moments like Tuesday night.
Peter Navarro, the former trade adviser for President Donald Trump, unleashed a wild claim during a rant, saying, “(Dr. Anthony) Fauci is the father of the actual virus. Fauci’s the guy. And basically, we had Fauci not only funding that lab with American taxpayer dollars. He authorized this thing called the gain of function research. He allowed the Chinese Communist Party … to genetically engineer a virus.” He later called it the “Fauci virus.”
And Campos-Duffy just sat there, never interrupting. What was she thinking?
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” blasted Campos-Duffy. Yes, it’s true, MSNBC is a competitor of Fox News, but Campos-Duffy’s decision to let Navarro go on with no pushback deserves criticism.
“Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough said, “I’m really shocked with what that guy got away with saying.”
Co-host Mika Brzezinski was even harsher, saying, “If you’re a news operation, that’s fireable.”
MSNBC’s Willie Geist ripped into Campos-Duffy and Fox News for giving Navarro a platform for “complete, utter conspiratorial nonsense.”
This piece originally appeared in The Poynter Report, our daily newsletter for everyone who cares about the media. Subscribe to The Poynter Report here.
I believe that Rachel Duffy has a specific agenda and that is to drive a conversation in accordance to her views. If she allows a guest to ramble on about a subject, it’s because she wants to and it’s a big part of her own belief. She is an evangelist when it comes to many topics and oftentimes defies reasoning and what is appropriate. She is angry and often comes across harsh. She knows exactly why she allows guests to speak on any subject she agrees with…