Chris Coons’s Fox News interview gets testy over Trump tariffs and early voting – Washington Examiner

Sen. Chris Coons’s (D-DE) Election Day eve interview got a bit heated when discussing the 2024 election, specifically regarding former President Donald Trump’s plans for tariffs and the decrease in early voting compared to 2020.

Coons, the co-chairman of the Harris-Walz campaign, expressed criticism over Trump’s closing arguments, suggesting his discussion of tariffs does not connect with families who are financially struggling in the current economy. The senator was then asked if Coons was aware of Trump’s new campaign promise to threaten Mexico with a 25% tariff if Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum does not secure the border.

“Well, that’s just another reminder that Trump’s idea of how to conduct international relations is through threats and bullying,” Coons said on Fox News’s America Reports. “Mexico is our largest trading partner. It didn’t work really well the last time he was president with our key allies around the world. I met with the heads of state from countries like Australia, Canada, Germany, Korea who found his onboard and unbalanced leadership style discouraging and, in sometimes, unnerving.”

Coons’s comments received pushback from network anchor John Roberts, who argued Trump’s leadership on international relations did work. Roberts also interjected when the senator said Trump’s handling of foreign affairs “didn’t work really well,” stating, “Yeah, it did.”

The Democratic senator contended that the answer to fixing the southern border was using a bipartisan bill that “should have passed,” arguing Vice President Kamala Harris would pass this bill should she win the election. Coons added that this bill had been endorsed by the Border Patrol’s union, prompting Roberts to respond that the union also endorsed Trump’s presidential bid and that Coons’s comments were “a bit of a wash on that front.”

Roberts then asked about the decrease in early voting that both parties are seeing in Pennsylvania this election cycle, with the Democratic Party’s turnout being down by 42% compared to the Republican Party’s turnout being down by 8%. Coons responded by hoping that people would get out and vote while stating Pennsylvania would not have the final voting results “for several days” after Election Day.

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This prompted Roberts to ask Coons if he was worried about the vote, to which the senator argued the election was going to be “razor-thin” and that this is why he campaigned for Harris in Pennsylvania.

In July, Coons praised President Joe Biden’s “brave” decision to drop his reelection bid, which the president announced less than a month after the first presidential debate between him and Trump. Since then, the final polling data ahead of the election have shown no clear front-runner between Harris and Trump.

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