OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera, a one-time friend of former President Donald Trump, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 race.
In a lengthy screed on X, formerly known as Twitter, Rivera called Trump a “sore loser” and claimed that he would destroy our country if he became president again.
“With three weeks to go until Election Day, Donald J. Trump stands a reasonable chance of becoming the 47th President of the United States. Despite assassination attempts, impeachments, special counsels, felony convictions and hundreds of millions in civil penalties, most polls show his race against V.P. Kamala Harris is too close to call,” Rivera began in his lengthy post that has received extreme backlash online.
“The first time he ran for president in 2016, he was coming off the last season of Celebrity Apprentice. I had a front-row seat as a finalist on that final season and marveled at his audacity with his checkered past to seek the highest office in the land. Then, in the blink of an eye, he went from novice to formidable challenger to victorious over Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” he continued, writing:
As President he was a loyal friend, who allowed regular access. My resulting coverage gave him the benefit of most doubts. His presidency was underrated. Throughout his first big scandal in office, the 2017-2019 Mueller Investigation into allegations Trump conspired with Russia to undermine our political process, I stuck with him, deeply suspicious of constant efforts to undermine his Administration.
The last time President Trump and I spoke was Friday, November 13, 2020, when he called me at home. It was ten days after his narrow lost to Joe Biden. He was calling to get my take on the controversies surrounding the election, which appeared to have been decided by a handful of votes in several states. I asked him what he would do if the vote count remained against him. As I reported on Fox News that same morning, Friday the 13th, he told me he was a reasonable man and would do the right thing if that time came.
“It never did. Instead, President Trump embarked on an increasingly menacing campaign to discredit the 2020 election. With a motley supporting cast of increasingly fringe characters, he careened from one bizarre theory to the next, offering no meaningful proof, that he had been robbed by the Democrats,” Rivera wrote.
Rivera continued: “Maybe you are inclined to vote for the former president anyway because he says he will cut your taxes or build the border wall or pull out of NATO or put tariffs on China. However, you justify voting for Trump, adopting his big lie about the stolen election makes you a liar.”
“Better to admit he lost last time but that you don’t care because a Harris presidency would be a disaster, or you admire his defiance in the face of an assassin’s bullet. Just don’t pretend that he got robbed in 2020. That is a lie. Former President Trump is a sore loser who cannot be trusted to honor the Constitution. That is why I am voting for Kamala Harris to be our 47th President,” Rivera concluded.
BREAKING: Geraldo Rivera just announced he is endorsing Kamala Harris
What’s your reaction? pic.twitter.com/LjbOgJQDiU
— Wake Up America (@_wake_up_USA) October 14, 2024
Trump has overtaken Harris in a new national survey after a seven-point swing in his favor.
The poll, taken by ActiVote between October 3 and October 8, shows Trump with a 1.2 percent lead over Harris, the Democratic candidate, garnering 50.6 percent of the vote compared to her 49.4 percent.
This marks a reversal of fortunes for Trump, who was trailing Harris by 5.4 points—47.3 percent to her 52.7 percent—in a poll conducted by ActiVote between September 11 and September 17.
The former president has seen a 6.6-point increase in his support in just three weeks.
Both polls surveyed 1,000 likely voters and had a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
This is the first time Trump has led a national poll since September 22, when a Quinnipiac University survey showed him 1 point ahead at 48 percent, compared to Harris’s 47 percent when including third-party candidates.
In a head-to-head matchup, that poll indicated a tie, with both candidates receiving 48 percent. The poll surveyed 1,728 likely voters and had a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points.
Since September 22, other polls have shown Harris leading Trump by as much as 7 points.
Another new poll, meanwhile, shows that Trump is ahead of Harris in five of the seven crucial swing states, which will be crucial in deciding who wins the election.
According to an AtlasIntel survey of likely voters in battleground states, Trump leads in Pennsylvania (51 percent to 48.1) and Michigan (50.6 percent to 47.2).
The former president is also in a “narrow” lead in the states that are in doubt: Arizona (49.8 percent to 48.6), Georgia (49.6 percent to 49), and Wisconsin (49.7 percent to 48.2). This information was provided by AtlasIntel. In Nevada (50.5 percent to 47.7) and North Carolina (50.5 percent to 48.1), Harris is ahead.
Also, 538 voters chose AtlasIntel as the most reliable polling organization for the 2020 presidential contest.
If the Republican takes the five battleground states that he presently leads in their polling, with Harris at 248 Electoral College votes, Trump would win the 2024 election with 290 Electoral College votes.
