Former President Donald Trump shared the rare praise of a liberal television host who credited him as a “political athlete” after his recent stop at a Harlem bodega.
Trump posted a clip from Wednesday’s “The Five” in which Harold Ford Jr., a former Democratic congressman, occupied the “liberal seat” on the Fox News show. The former president shared the clip on his Truth Social platform with a quote by Ford as the caption.
“When you think about Donald Trump as a candidate for office, and as a political athlete…I say often, he’s as gifted a political athlete as I’ve ever seen…” Ford said as the panel discussed Trump’s stop at the Sanaa Convenience Store after the second day of his hush money trial in New York City.
“I don’t agree with a lot of his things, but you have to respect the business and understand how politics is that the art of politics is litigated,” Ford added.
“He goes to a bodega he was at, I think, at a gas station a day or so before, this is as good a campaigning, as you can do. Now, whether they, some may argue or say that the crowd was scripted. Whatever happened there, it looks good,” said the former Tennessee Democrat who served from 1997–2007.
“This is the kind of theater you want when you’re in a campaign. And he was able to highlight, in addition to that, an issue that is on the forefront of a lot of voters’ minds, not just in New York, but everywhere, law and order and crime,” Ford continued.
President Trump will put New York in play this November!
It is only Day 2 of this show trial, and President Trump is already breaking the internet by visiting Jose Alba’s bodega.
Alba was shipped to Rikers Island by Bragg after acting in self-defense.
— Lee Zeldin (@LeeMZeldin) April 16, 2024
“I’ll refrain from some of the conversation and analysis around DA Bragg. But if you look at what the judge’s point, this juxtaposition of Donald Trump there versus the trial, this is what’s going to be talked about over the next day or so as a political move, as a political athlete,” he said.
“This was a very, very smart thing, for the president to do now, I don’t think it’s going to necessarily have an impact on the trial itself. But on the campaign itself, there’s no doubt this is one of the smarter things the president could be doing,” Ford added.
Little kids in Harlem to President Trump as he visits their neighborhood:
“I love you, Trump!” ♥️ pic.twitter.com/G1CLOAjHXb
— Karoline Leavitt (@kleavittnh) April 16, 2024
“Trump’s like the White Carl Lewis if we’re talking political athleticism,” co-host Jesse Watters said, agreeing with Ford.
“He’s at a fraternity house throwing footballs. Then he’s at a UFC fight with Rogan and then he’s at a Chick-fil-A. Black women are coming up to him, hugging him, shakes on the house, and then he’s going to the bodega where Hispanic kids are chanting, four more years,” Watters said.