You won’t get much Kamala Harris fanfare on Fox News, but that didn’t stop Colin Cowherd from offering it to America via Fox Sports.
Five months ago, Cowherd touted his Fox Sports Radio show as an escape from politics and cable news as the country heads toward this fall’s presidential election. Since then, he’s bashed Donald Trump, called out Joe Biden, and preached the importance of preventing sports from becoming politics. But earlier this week, Cowherd spoke about a political topic that made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside, Kamala Harris.
“I turned on CNN…They had a Kamala Harris special…what I noticed between her and the other guy running is she smiled a lot. She was happy, she laughed, it wasn’t constant finger pointing…it was kind of uplifting.” – Colin Cowherd pic.twitter.com/4gwyRA5xEx
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 7, 2024
“It’s an election year and increasingly, we’re being fed doomsday scenarios,” Cowherd said Monday on The Herd. “And people want to be happy. So people are putting down their phones and turning on something that makes them feel happy. Caitlin Clark, Copa América, the Summer Olympics. Americans are much more united than anybody on their iPhone would acknowledge, but that’s hard to sell. We really want the same things, but we watch different news channels for it. People are tired of the angst.
“This weekend, I turned on CNN. I didn’t plan to, but they had a Kamala Harris special, it was like two hours. What I noticed between her and the other guy running, is she smiled a lot. She was happy, she laughed, it wasn’t constant finger-pointing and grievance. And I found myself sitting there for two hours, it was kind of uplifting. It didn’t really matter because I don’t know much about Kamala Harris other than what I read, but it was like uplifting. And that’s why I watch so much of the Olympics.”
Cowherd may have used the Olympics as his way in to mention politics, but for a national sports show, this was as close to a public endorsement as you’re going to hear before the fall. And despite saying “It didn’t really matter because I don’t know much about Kamala Harris,” this was a carefully crafted political statement.
It wasn’t about policy, it wasn’t about the border, the economy, race, abortion, or international relations. It was simply about one candidate smiling and being less belligerent than the other. Even the biggest Trump supporter would have to agree that Harris smiles more than Trump. People want to feel comfortable and at ease, and a simple smile can go a long way.
But Cowherd still had to know saying something so simple had the potential to be deemed polarizing on social media. In 2015, Cowherd interviewed Trump on his radio show. In 2024, Cowherd assessed that the former president doesn’t smile as much as his current political opponent. Yet it’s probably the smile comment that will get more attention.
[The Herd]
