Chuck Todd Slams Bret Baier; the Fox News Host Delivers a Savage Response

Chuck Todd recently took a shot at Bret Baier 

 

while appearing on "The Bulwark" podcast, claiming the Fox News anchor has become "like Sean Hannity" and is just worried about his next "tee time with the president." Todd finished by mocking Baier, saying, "I hope he enjoys it."

The outburst came under the guise of the former NBC News anchor having "given up" on cable news as a source of information, apparently completely unaware of his well-earned reputation as a left-wing partisan hack. 

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RELATED: NBC's Chuck Todd Makes It Official, He's Leaving As Network Seeks Changes

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He continued: “I’ve handed my credibility to a handful of journalists over there who’ve never reciprocated when times were tough. When times were tough for them, I went out of my way to defend a couple of them. When times were tough, you know, an unfair criticism or character assassination that was taking place. And these people don’t stand… they’re just, you know, there’s…”

After trailing off, he focused on one Fox News personality he chose not to name but revealed was male: “Certainly, we’ve seen the evolution of one of their larger news personalities go from trying really hard to follow in Brit Hume’s footsteps. And suddenly they — [he] looks more like Sean Hannity every day. And it’s a shame, you know, because I thought he really cared about that reputation and I think really actually cared about being a journalist first and wanting to sort of walk that line, understood what his audience was.”

“Instead, he now just wants to have tee time with the president,” Todd concluded. “I hope he enjoys it.”

The sheer lack of self-awareness in Todd's criticism is a sight to behold. This is a man who spent years running cover for Joe Biden, including the then-president's severe cognitive and physical decline. It wasn't until after the former president's disastrous debate performance that it became safe for the former NBC News personality to tell the truth. That he finally spoke out about what the rest of us had been reporting on for years wasn't brave. It was convenient. Todd, like his left-wing colleagues, wanted Biden to step aside to try to stop Trump from winning. He hadn't finally discovered journalist ethics. 

I'm repeating myself, though, as I've made that point several times recently. When Baier was asked about Todd's sleight on Thursday, he delivered a characteristically polite yet savage response. 

HOST: And you take a fair amount of heat for this. Chuck Todd, a, I don't know, ex-friend of yours said, "I thought he actually cared about being a journalist first and wanting to walk that line, and now he just wants to have tee time with the president."

BAIER: Yeah, that's interesting. I don't know what prompted Chuck to do that. I have an interview to do with the UK prime minister today. I don't know what he's doing. 

(Laughter)

Sometimes, you can cut someone down to size without even raising your voice. Chuck Todd is currently unemployed (at least in holding a serious journalist position) and is spending his time crying on "The Bulwark" podcast while Bret Baier is interviewing world leaders. Who's walking the line of "being a journalist" again, and who's just mouthing off for some anti-Trump website's enjoyment?

Baier continued...

BAIER: I think, I think my focus is, you know, what I said, covering the news. If I have off-the-record conversations in moments with President Trump, I think any journalist would want to get in his mind of what's next. Things are going a million miles an hour, just to give some perspective off-the-record. So I don't think that's true. As I've said, we've covered a lot of things that we were first on. You know, the cognitive questions about President Biden. We were told we were running cheap fake videos.

Well, Fox News wasn’t the only outlet accused of running with “cheap fakes.” Many of us were via nonsensical “fact-checks” from outlets like NBC News. It’s worth noting, though, that Baier isn’t just talking about Todd, who did dismiss those questioning Biden’s health, but also CNN’s Jake Tapper. He went from claiming conservative commentators were attacking the former president’s “stutter” to trying to cash in by writing a book about Biden’s decline and terrible decision to run again. The lack of shame never ceases to amaze.

At the end of the day, and I have my own issues with Fox News at times, Baier is a professional. He doesn’t wear any bias on his sleeve, and he’s been maligned by some on the right for not doing so. This idea that he’s a hack doing Trump’s bidding is just false, and it’s the claim of a petty, diminished man in Todd.