NewsNation correspondent Geraldo Rivera laid into former President Donald Trump’s debate performance on Tuesday, calling his once-friend “childish,” “creepy,” and “cringey.”
Rivera joined NewsNation’s Dan Abrams, the founder of Mediaite, and Chris Cuomo on Tuesday following the ABC News debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump. Bill O’Reilly also offered criticism of Trump’s performance, but Rivera accused his former Fox News colleague of not being critical enough. O’Reilly said Trump flubbed his performance, but argued “nobody won” the debate.
“I thought that you’re being much to kind, Bill, as you usually are to President Trump. He was childish, he was creepy, he was cringey, that thing about eating dogs — they eat dogs, he was obsessed with it. He wouldn’t let it go. He put that bone in his mouth and he rattled it, and I thought she withstood Hurricane Trump,” Rivera said.
During the debate, Trump went on a rant about a fake story involving Haitian immigrants kidnapping and eating pets in Ohio. The rant earned a fact check from debate co-moderator David Muir. O’Reilly also mocked Trump for focusing on the bizarre conspiracy theory.
Rivera said Trump “descended into chaos” while Harris came across “presidential” and “confident.”
He called his former friend “ineffective” and “blathering.”
Rivera told The New York Times last year that he was forced to “dump” Trump during the 2020 presidential election. Trump at the time asked Rivera to look into his claims of election interference, but when Rivera called to say he’d found nothing to back up Trump’s claims of faulty voting machines, Trump did not take the call and the two haven’t spoken since.
Rivera previously revealed on Fox News in 2020 that his “friend” Trump was not speaking to him over Rivera not backing up his election fraud claims.
On Tuesday, Rivera said Trump couldn’t make a debate team at a junior high school if he tried.
“He was terrible tonight and you can apologize for him all you want, but he did not seem presidential. He wouldn’t have even made a debate team at a junior high,” he said.
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