“As a political junkie,” Fox News anchor Bret Baier told me, “this is really, really fun.”
I was sitting with him and fellow network anchor Martha MacCallum on the final morning of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. And while many of us in the media center were bleary-eyed after three long days at the political circus, Baier and MacCallum were in “heaven.”
“There’s nothing like these stories,” Baier said.
Indeed, a wild—and high-stakes—election cycle has gotten even more chaotic in recent weeks: The disastrous debate performance by President Joe Biden last month turbocharged questions about his health and mental acuity—and has led to increasing pressure for him to pass the torch to a candidate better positioned to beat Donald Trump. That uncertainty on the Democratic side was already looming over the RNC. But the convention was infused with even more drama when Trump was nearly assassinated at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on the Saturday before. “I didn’t have ‘assassination attempt’ on my bingo card,” Baier said. “Or COVID,” MacCallum added, referring to the White House’s announcement Wednesday that Biden had tested positive and was self-isolating.
In a conversation with Vanity Fair, which has been edited for clarity and length, the two Fox hosts talked about the convention, the state of the relationship between Trump and the conservative network, and a presidential race like no other. “I think the 2024 election is going to be something that people watch and talk about for a really long time,” said MacCallum.
Vanity Fair: What has it been like covering this election? Just thinking back four, eight years ago, can you imagine that we’d be here?
Martha MacCallum: Well, I think, you know, often at conventions, the effort on the part of the parties is to juice up enthusiasm and to bring some emotion and create some drama and compelling storylines. There’s no need to make an effort to do that this time. I mean, what happened last Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, created a backdrop for this event that I think has propelled it to another level. And I think people are feeling very connected to this event, and very motivated by it, I think. Just by looking at how it’s all been managed and orchestrated, I think any objective observer would say that they’re pulling it off quite effectively.
Bret Baier: I think there was a hunger after COVID to have these in-person conventions—you know, to see the funny hats and the buttons and the balloons coming from the ceiling. But I think the attempted assassination changed the feeling here. It galvanized even some of the skeptical Republicans. And it really gave another boost to the emotion. On the flip side, you know, on the other side of the political aisle, there’s a lot of discontent and disunity and questions, because there’s possibly a new nominee in the making someplace, as it’s becoming more and more evident that President Biden seems like he is going to eventually step down as nominee. That’s cataclysmic as far as a political story. And if you look at the political stories that we’ve been covering, each one is massive.
On a personal level, what’s it been like?
Baier: It’s like drinking from a fire hose. Every day you’re just trying to absorb all the important stuff, tell the important things to the viewers, and not get wrapped up in all of it. But it is a lot to digest, with all these tectonic shifts happening at the same time.