This is a rush transcript from "Media Buzz," August 23, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

HOWARD KURTZ, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: This is “Media Buzz”. I'm Howard Kurtz. Ahead, we'll talk to top Trump campaign advisor, Jason Miller, and to former Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell. We're on the verge of this week's dominant media story, President Trump's Republican convention following the saturation coverage for the virtual Democratic convention with Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and their allies getting largely positive reviews from the press.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The current president's cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy, they're all on the ballot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Joe Biden just hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never seen a Joe Biden speech anywhere near as good as that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It may have been the best speech that Joe Biden ever delivered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think most people concluded that was the best speech they've ever seen Joe Biden give, which of course, undermines everything that Donald Trump and Donald Trump's campaign has been trying to say about his mental fitness.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were expecting him to flub every line and have a senior moment. But he delivered, though, he delivered a good speech. And it was, you know, for what he was doing, very emotional.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Kamala Harris made her debut as running mate, but what the pundits mainly wanted to talk about was Barack Obama's harsh attack on his successor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: No interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves. Do not let them take away your power. Do not let them take away your democracy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was an unprecedented speech to have the immediate past president go speak at a convention and talk about basically this is a four alarm fire. You have to defeat this guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Obama looked terrified. This was not an uplifting speech at all. It looked like he knows this is going to be a low turnout election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Joining us now to analyze the coverage, Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist and Fox News contributor, Gillian Turner, a Fox News correspondent here in Washington, and Ray Suarez, Washington reporter for Euro News and host of KQED's WorldAffairs. Mollie, let's start with Joe Biden. When you have Fox's Laura Ingraham and Karl Rove giving Joe Biden's speech pretty high marks and the liberal ladies at MSNBC were over the moon. It was probably a pretty good address.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the media were really over-the-top in their praise for Joe Biden. They acted like his ability to stand upright for 20 minutes was some huge accomplishment. And I'm not sure if it quite merited that much. I thought he gave a better speech myself in 2008 when he accepted the vice presidential nomination.

He's not known as being a particularly good speech giver. I think the over- the-top praise was just part of what a lot of the media coverage was of the entire convention. As more and more media are being more open about being in the tank for Biden and Harris, they had to say that this was a great convention. That everything was done perfectly.

A Washington Post person said that the TV coverage, which was so boring, was so good that it actually deserved awards. And that is just what happens when journalists replace their journalistic hat with their partisan activist hat, and it was way over-the-top this week.

KURTZ: All right. I was just making the point that some conservatives credited the Biden speech as well. Gillian, with ratings down as much as 30 percent for this virtual convention, most of the country didn't watch the Biden speech. I think it was about 21 million on TV at least. But the key is been they've been inundated with clips and mostly positive coverage in the days since that speech.

GILLIAN TURNER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the DNC has put out their numbers. They're claiming that between television and streaming and online, they got about 122 million views over the course of those four days. So they're making the argument that it's pretty strong. Howie, you're the expert on that, though. I defer to your analysis of those numbers.

To a certain extent here, every single person who spoke at this convention had one job and one job only. And that was to keep the focus on President Trump and make this direct hard-hitting case that he is unfit for office. Everybody from President Obama to Kamala Harris to the Republicans who spoke in the first two nights stuck to that playbook.

Joe Biden himself actually veered a little bit from that. I think his job, according to the pundits now, was to kind of make that case but then swiftly move on to this hope -- what was really hope and change, looking forward to the future and reintroduce himself to the American public. That's what he was getting those kudos for.

I agree with Jake Tapper, though. President Obama went all in. It was unprecedented, the degree to which he --

(CROSSTALK)

KURTZ: All right. Let me get Ray in -- let me get Ray -- let me get Ray and we'll come back to Obama. I take your point about the importance of streaming. Ray, has the Trump campaign's constant criticism of Biden's mental acuity. The president now refers to him as no longer Sleepy Joe. It's Slow Joe. Did that help make the Biden speech exceed expectations?

RAY SUAREZ, WORLDAFFAIRS PODCAST HOST: Well, almost by default. This, if anything, points out the peril of lowering expectations for your opponent for two months, implying that he has dementia, is unable to speak, is unable to complete a coherent sentence, doesn't know where he is, then he gives a workman-like, decent speech, and people are pleasantly surprised by it.

I -- that people should be tough on an incumbent president they're trying to beat during a political convention shouldn't surprise anybody, just as the president speaking every night in the coming week will be tough on the Democrats and question their ability to lead. It's a convention. Yes, it was a novel one. It was an odd one, but this is what they're like.

KURTZ: Right. It's a convention. Mollie, I think it's fair to say most of the media have swooned over Barack Obama's harsh attack on his successor. Michelle Obama, by the way, also got rave reviews. But even some liberal journalists are saying that Obama's warning about democracy being at stake, if Trump wins a second term, is a far cry from the hope and change message of 2008.

HEMINGWAY: You know, President Obama's very different now in 2020 than he was in 2008. And I think he's acutely aware that had he had a successful presidency then a Democrat would have been elected last time and not Donald Trump. They -- people really praised Obama's speech. What I thought was interesting is back on July 3rd when President Trump gave a speech at Mount Rushmore.

And he talked about his aspirations for the country and the threat he felt that the left posed to America. That was portrayed routinely in the media as dark and foreboding. And here, President Obama actually says democracy is at stake. He gives this very joyless and seething and angry speech, and he still got praised from his fans in the media. Of course, nobody loves Obama like Washington, D.C. and New York journalists.

KURTZ: Gillian, here's a lead from a story in the liberal Atlantic Magazine. Barack Obama didn't try to inspire Americans. He tried to scare them. Of course, fear is not an unknown tactic in presidential politics.

TURNER: Yeah. I think to a certain extent, what Ray was saying is true, which is this is a convention. What do you expect? It's going to be a hit job on the incumbent. But one thing that President Obama did that garnered particular praise in the media was to make this case really introduce this case that President Trump has not grown into this role in the Oval Office.

He has not become a better person or a better leader as a result of serving as the commander-in-chief, the leader of the free world for four years. I think that was something that resonated deeply with Democrats, something that maybe nobody else had sort of put their finger on in the same way that President Obama did until that night.

It's something that a lot of journalists really like that he said. I think people aren't talking about that. But I think that that was something that proved to be so popular and so powerful that you saw on the final night. Biden picked up that ball and carried it across the finish line.

KURTZ: Right. Well, you've hit on a key point, what journalists say. So Ray, I can see a lot of Trump supporters out there, saying of course the media hailed the Obama speech because most of its members agree that Donald Trump is a danger to democracy, in other words, a partisan judgment.

SUAREZ: Well, here I would split those people who write opinion for a living. And the way we handle opinion and commentary in newspapers and on- air is fundamentally different from the way it used to be, bracketed, made clear that it was separate and an opinion product. Now, analysis sits right alongside the news and is taken in the same way as the news.

What we say is the media. And what we say is coverage is often indistinguishable, and by the institutions themselves not distinguished from the straight news coverage. The straight news coverage for the most part just said this is what he said. And noted that it was unprecedented for an incumbent to speak this way during -- not an incumbent, a predecessor to speak this way during a convention.

KURTZ: And that is true. Let me get to Kamala Harris who made her debut as the VP nominee. Here's a clip of her speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Black, Latino, and indigenous people are suffering and dying disproportionately. And this is not a coincidence. It is the effect of structural racism. And let's be clear. There is no of vaccine for racism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Mollie, I think most journalists gave Kamala Harris a B-plus, solid B-plus. But what's fascinating to me was for the next 24 hours, what they really wanted to talk about was Obama's speech, not the actual VP nominee.

HEMINGWAY: And President Obama originally was going to give the speech last. And he asked to go before Kamala Harris so that he wouldn't overshadow her. But the strength of his speech, I guess, did in any case. There is another issue, which is enthusiasm is not high for the Democratic ticket. I know people in the media think focusing on bad orange man is the way to cultivate voters.

But big missed story is the lack of enthusiasm. The Biden-Harris ticket has less enthusiasm than either of the previous two losing candidates, Romney and Hillary Clinton. And they both had enthusiasm problems. And so while the media loved to hear about how much other people hate Donald Trump as much they do, I think the convention missed an opportunity to reach out to those moderate voters.

And that's what having everybody in newsrooms have the same perspective. It causes you to miss in your analysis, is that they don't see what is good or bad about the Democratic convention from the eyes of the average American who doesn't go to sleep at night, seething with hatred for Donald Trump like they do.

KURTZ: All right. A little short on time here, Ray, I mean, Senator Harris also praised her Indian-American mother. But what attracted the most attention was her attack on systemic racism and a question of whether the first black woman on a major party ticket should have made that a focus.

SUAREZ: Well, that's a style choice when you are in that unique historical position. You either face it by not mentioning it at all and just letting it be self-evident. You're standing there. You're the first mixed race, black and Asian woman to accept a nomination from a major party, or of you take it and run with it. She sort of split the difference.

She mentioned it in some parts of the speech. She talked about her mother. And, you know, going after Barack Obama I think is a -- following him is a tough sell. I'm surprised they did that.

KURTZ: Tough act to follow. Gillian, I've got 20 seconds.

TURNER: I think the Clinton factor here, both Bill and Hillary, is very weak. A lot of the media didn't focus on the fact that nobody really cared about either of their speeches, didn't get a lot of pickup online or TV. The Obama's were really the stars of this show.

KURTZ: Yeah. I wrote a column saying that the Clinton era was over based on the way they were kind of relegated to taped speeches earlier in the evening. And Bill at least made, of course, now be seen as something of a liability. Ahead, Jason Miller of the Trump campaign, but when we come back, should The Washington Post have published secretly recorded tapes of the president's sister disparaging him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: We have another media explosion that just happens to be time for the eve of the Republican convention. The Washington Post just published transcripts and audio secretly recorded by Mary Trump, the president's niece, who just wrote a book brutally attacking him. She's admitted surreptitiously taping for 15 hours the president's sister, retired federal judge, Maryanne Trump Barry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And his (AUDIO GAP) tweet and lying. Oh my, God, I'm talking too freely. But, you know, the change of stories, the lack of preparation, the lying (AUDIO GAP). But he's appealing to the base, what they're doing to the kids at the border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Mollie, Mary Trump despises her uncle. She got a huge media ride. Now, she admits to this -- secretly recording the president's sister over a two year period. Should this sleazy tactic make the press greatly discount these tapes?

HEMINGWAY: Well, yes. There are three groups of people who look bad here. There's the niece who surreptitiously taped her aunt, according to The Post as part of an attempt to get more money out of her family. There's the aunt who appears -- the sister of Donald Trump who appears ungrateful for the help she got from her brother for her first federal judgeship.

And then there's the newspaper, which has no business publishing this, you know, on the same weekend as another brother had his funeral. I know that they're upset that the Democrats didn't have as good of a convention as they would have hoped. And they're trying to hurt the Republicans right on the eve of their convention.

But as if the people don't hate the media enough, to do this type of, you know, opposition research. It's as if they are the Democratic campaign themselves. And it really does hurt journalism when they behave this way. They're -- this did not meet journalistic standards.

KURTZ: It turns out that Maryanne Trump Barry was the source for Mary Trump's charge about someone else taking Donald's SAT's in high school. It turns out she has no firsthand knowledge. I think that's been discredited. But Gillian, let me pose the question that Mollie raised to you. Do you think The Washington Post, having been presented with this stuff, should have published these tapes?

TURNER: So as salacious as they are, as much as it's inside baseball in the sense that this is the personal business of the Trump family, as much as I don't like to hear information like this because it makes everybody uncomfortable. Let's be honest. I do think that The Washington Post had the prerogative to publish here.

I think that regardless of the content, once it was in their possession and they vetted that it was indeed authentic, meaning it really was Maryanne Trump Barry. They actually had an obligation to push it out. The difference here, though, is as a journalist there's not a whole lot I can really do with this aside from play the tape, if I so choose on the air.

This is really one for the opinion folks to chew over and to use as they would like. Meaning, there's nothing indicting here. It's just a personal opinion of somebody that's related to the president and is also angry at him for various reasons.

KURTZ: Ray, the president says in a statement every day it's something else. Who cares? I missed my brother Robert's funeral. I was at the White House. And I'll continue to work hard for the American people. Not everyone agrees. But the results are obvious. Does this news of the president's sister privately disparaging him change the mind of a single voter who didn't already think Donald Trump is a terrible person?

SUAREZ: I doubt it changes the mind of a single voter. I was a little surprised to see this. But The Washington Post can use as a shield. I guess that it is legal. New York is a single party authorization state, which means only one of the parties being taped has to give assent to being so. Back when I was a young reporter, that was not the case, both parties had to be aware.

I was very surprised. It won't change anybody's mind. If you didn't like the president, this just confirms what is in Mary Trump's book. If you like him, it's unlikely to distract you at all. It's just more grist for the mill. I was a little surprised.

KURTZ: I agree with the idea that it doesn't change any minds. Mollie, I've got about half a minute here. I find this betrayal extremely distasteful. But conservatives, many of them did not object, when Monica Lewinsky was secretly taped by her late friend by Linda Tripp talking about Bill Clinton, which of course, helped lead to his impeachment.

So the press tends not to care about motive when they've got good -- what they see as good stuff to push out there.

HEMINGWAY: Yeah. And I do think, like, 20 or 30 years ago this might have been a different story itself. But it is distasteful. It does make people uncomfortable. It doesn't have particular news value. And it just is -- it already seems like the media are just behaving as if they were political operatives.

And for them to continue doing this, you know, particularly given the time, leading into the Republican convention, which normally right before the convention you're talking about what's going of to happen and whatnot. I'll be very curious to see if the media are as effusive in their praise with the Republicans as they were with the Democrats.

KURTZ: And that will be a prime subject of next week's :Media Buzz”. All right, Ray Suarez, Mollie Hemingway, Gillian Turner, thanks so much. Up next, huge headlines as one time White House aide, Steve Bannon is charged in a fraud case. But does that affect the campaign?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: The breaking news banners came out of nowhere. Federal prosecutors in New York charging Steve Bannon, the former Trump campaign chairman and former White House senior advisor, with fraud, Bannon and three associates who raised $25 million to build a border wall were accused of illegally diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars for their personal use.

Bannon, who we see there outside the courthouse, pleading not guilty and defended himself on his podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not going to back down. This is a political hit job. This was to stop and intimidate people that want to talk about the wall.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I know nothing about the project other than I didn't like -- when I read about it, I didn't like it. I said this is for government. This isn't for private people. And it sounded to me like showboating. I think it's a very d thing for Mr. Bannon. I think it's surprising.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Joining us now, Griff Jenkins, a Fox News correspondent here in Washington. Griff, I know Steve Bannon. This was kind of stunning. But when you look at what he and his three associates are charged with, skimming off money, seems like a garden variety fraud case.

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Howie. Let's first look at what he's charged with. It's in this (Inaudible) New York charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. This was a non-profit organization, set up by Bannon and the three other individuals charged to raise funds for the wall. Remember at the time, Democrats were not giving the administration the money they needed.

But in this case, some hundreds of thousands of donors raised more than $25 million. And this indictment says that Bannon specifically took more than a million for personal expenses, alleges that, and then Brian Kolfage, a triple amputee, also some $350,000. It's not a good story for the administration, coming up on completing what should be soon their 300th mile of the wall that the administration did despite the lacking of backing by Democrats.

KURTZ: Let me challenge you on that. I certainly get the symbolism of it with this planned celebration of building some of the wall. But since this had nothing to do with the 2016 campaign, nothing to do with the president, and happened well after Bannon left the White House under pressure back in 2017. Is it fair for the media to portray this as hurting President Trump?

JENKINS: They're going to make the case, critics of the president. And obviously, I would think the Biden campaign will say that the same donors, for whom they perhaps elected Donald Trump, voted for him because of the wall issue, are you now being taken for suckers by guys like Bannon, because they were told that all of their money that they would give them would go to this wall.

Instead, if it is proven true that they used it for personal expenses, it's an old tale in Washington that if you capitalize on the political expediency of a politician. The voters won't put up for it. And I think that's the connection, Howie that is potentially in trouble. Now, that probably would go away. As you mentioned, we haven't heard as much after the big headlines.

However, once the administration this week tries to make note of this accomplishment of the 300th mile built, well, that's an opportunity perhaps for the Biden campaign to strike.

KURTZ: All right. Griff, I've got about half a minute. By the way, Bannon, of course, entitled to the presumption of innocence legally. But one reporter asked the president in light of other people like Paul Manafort, like Michael Cohen going to prison, whether this reflects a culture of corruption at the White House. Is that fair game?

JENKINS: Well, I'm not sure if it's fair game or not. It's certainly a legitimate question. Let's just not forget the optics of Steve Bannon being arrested on a super yacht belonging to a Chinese billionaire, certainly doesn't help to that end.

KURTZ: Certainly doesn't help. And I would just say that you can certainly question the president's judgment in terms of people he hires, but again, nothing even remotely tying him to this. Griff, we'll see you a little later. Thanks very much. Coming up, Jason Miller of the Trump campaign on the coverage of the DNC, the president, and plans for the GOP convention, and later, former Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: Joining us now as the republican convention is about to take over the media spotlight from the Democrats, Jason Miller, senior adviser to the 2020 Trump campaign.

And Jason, do you believe the coverage of the democratic convention was mostly praised and do you expect at least fair treatment for the coverage of this week's republican convention?

JASON MILLER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Howie, I never expect fair treatment for President Trump in the press. That's why you see between 92 and 96 percent of all the news coverage being negative towards the president.

But I do think that the Democrats fell into a little bit of a trap last week. I think that they went down the Hillary Clinton road of what they tried to accomplish with their convention. It was basically a whole bunch of empty nothings, a bunch of platitudes, a grievance fest, and attack on President Trump at a personal level.

What they failed to do, just like crooked Hillary forgot to do four years ago, was lay out the case for their candidate. You're going to see a big difference between last week and what the president is going to do this week.

KURTZ: All right. The president and his allies have openly questioned Joe Biden's mental acuity. But you're the only one I've seen who says, hey, this guy is a pretty good and experienced debater based on his record.

So my question is: Didn't Biden's widely praised speech -- yes, of course, it was scripted on a teleprompter, but it was delivered live -- knock down the notion that this is a confused and doddering guy?

MILLER: Not entirely. Look, Joe Biden shows up to play on whether it is a big speech or debates. I've said this number of times on the record and I will continue to say so. I believe that Joe Biden will be the favorite heading into the debates this fall. He's had 47 years of practice. He has had months of sitting in the basement to go and get ready for this.

As I've gone through and watched all of Joe Biden's debate performances going back to 1987, he gives the same answers over and over and over. They can put him up there and program him and he just goes straight ahead.

But here is the thing with Joe Biden. It's the moments when he's not scripted, it's the moment when he gives his honest opinions such as the you ain't black or when he says that he would be willing to shut down the country in January, at a time when our economy can't afford it, it's those unscripted moments and his lack of being able to lay out a vision going forward, I think, will be his undoing.

KURTZ: Well, the campaign will test that. Now, the media is going wild today, as you know, over this Washington Post story according to president's sister, former federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry, as probably disparaging the president. Those tapes secretly recorded by his niece, Mary Trump, who has written a book and obviously despises the president. What do you make of the Washington Post decision to publish those tapes?

MILLER: I think it was really disturbing. I think, particularly to going publish the story literally the day after President Trump and the rest of the Trump family laid Robert Trump to rest after they had his funeral services at the White House, and this is President Trump and Maryanne's brother Robert, and to go and run that just immediately after the services, I really think is beyond the pale.

I think there's something very wrong when the Post would decide to go do something like that. I pray that they find some peace in their hearts because there's clearly so much anger and bitterness towards President Trump that I don't think is fair to Robert Trump and his family.

KURTZ: Yeah, the timing by Mary Trump obviously no accident. Now, Barack Obama got huge and mostly positive coverage for his speech at the democratic convention, particularly for not just the harshness of his attack but saying that democracy is in jeopardy if Donald Trump wins a second term. What is your response?

MILLER: Well, I was surprised that President Obama wanted to tarnish his legacy like that, to go and try to get behind someone who he tried to convince not to run. And let's not forget, President Obama went all-out for Hillary Clinton four years ago and we now have President Trump.

So, you can say, like the president does, that the reason why President Trump got elected is because Obama and Biden failed so spectacularly in the eight years running up.

But next week, Howie, you're going to see a much different story. You're going to see the great American story, a lot of new voices telling why -- how they've been benefiting from the past four years of the Trump administration, how these policies have helped their lives. But you're going to see from President Trump this forward vision, why people are excited to be on-board with him.

And Howie, here's the biggest thing, since we're here on MEDIA BUZZ, we are talking about media coverage. I believe that there is a certain misperception of who Trump supporters are, I think the way the media likes to try to typecast Trump supporters or try put them down.

I will tell you, looking at some of these speeches and hearing some of these stories, every night, there will be at least one point where there won't be a dry eye in the entire country. As you hear these motivational and uplifting stories and the president's speech next Thursday, you're going to want to be tuning in.

KURTZ: Oh, you're not setting low expectations. Now, I know you work with Steve Bannon on a podcast before joining the campaign. I also want to make clear you had absolutely nothing to do with this case in which he's charged with fraud for private fundraising for a border wall. But is this a distraction to the campaign?

MILLER: I don't think so. I think President Trump being out there pretty vocally opposing this wall effort a month or two ago, I think definitely made it pretty clear for the media this was not something that he was on board with.

I definitely hope that Steve gets the opportunity to tell his side of the story. I pray again that there are some good answers to these very serious allegations. He's someone who showed me grace and kindness at various points in my life. And so I hope he has a chance to get out there and clear this up because it's very serious.

KURTZ: All right. Kamala Harris, of course, is giving her big speech at the convention as the vice presidential nominee. She and Joe Biden did a joint interview airing tonight with ABC's David Muir and Robin Roberts. Let me play a little bit of that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MUIR, ABC ANCHOR: President Trump has referred to you as nasty, a sort of mad woman, a disaster, the meanest, most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the U.S. Senate.

KAMALA HARRIS, DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Listen, I really -- I think that there is so much about what comes out of Donald Trump's mouth that is designed to distract the American people from what he is doing every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Jason, is the president's record -- is the president's accusations and rhetoric, I should say, towards Senator Harris overly harsh?

MILLER: No, not at all. If you look at how Senator Harris treated Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings, if you look at the way Senator Harris treated former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, I think it was -- President Trump's criticisms are very well-warranted here.

And the fact of the matter is what we didn't see from that little brief clip that we're going to see tonight is that Joe Biden is willing to shut the entire country down in January.

So think about that, Howie, on day one of a Biden administration, he would A, raise taxes by $4 trillion, and B, put the entire country into a shutdown when we can't afford it. That's what's coming at folks with the Biden presidency. That's why we're working so hard to try to stop him.

KURTZ: I saw how you pivoted to that. But it's always good to talk to you, Jason Miller. We'll look forward to the coverage. We'll see if you're right about the treatment of the president. Thanks for joining us.

MILLER: Thanks, Howie.

KURTZ: Next on “Media Buzz”, equal time with veteran Democratic politician Ed Rendell. And later, more on the harsh coverage of the president and QAnon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: Joining us now with an opposing point of view is Ed Rendell, former Pennsylvania governor, former Philadelphia mayor, and former chairman of the DNC. Welcome.

And governor, Joe Biden got strong reviews for his speech, including here on Fox. But many in the media gave mixed reviews to the sort of virtual convention. Doesn't this four-day infomercial helped Biden less than would have been if he had been up there with a huge cheering crowd, embracing Barack Obama, and 15,000 journalists had been in Milwaukee?

ED RENDELL, FORMER PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR: Well, I think so. I think a live convention probably would have given us more of a bounce. But you've got to make concessions to what's going on. I think the Democrats did a very good job reminding the country of how serious the COVID-19 virus is and how we have to take precautions in everything we do.

KURTZ: Yeah. We in the media are taking precautions, as well, as the way we do our television. What should journalists do about these pretty repeated charges by the president and his allies that Joe Biden has lost his step, that he's confused, that he doesn't have all his mental faculties, and trying obviously to tap into public concerns about his age? Do you think the whole line of attack is fair game?

RENDELL: First of all, he's not running against a guy who is 45 years of age. President Trump is a few years younger and in much worse physical condition. That is number one. Number two, I think Joe Biden did a great job in his speech on Thursday night.

You can say it's on a teleprompter but as someone who has to read a few speeches off of a teleprompter, I can tell you that is a very physically, gruelling task. He did it and he did it brilliantly. He never stumbled. He was strong through the end. He was even more powerful at the end.

I think he is going to -- if President Trump keeps that line of attack, he's going to have a tough time making it in view of what Joe Biden did at the convention.

KURTZ: You backed Joe Biden virtually from the beginning during this primary process. There were many pundits during the primaries. I was not one of them, I was one of the few who said Biden is going to implode, he is too old, he is too out of touch, and he is not liberal enough for this party and all that. All which turned out to be wrong.

But is there a danger now that Biden is being pulled to the left by the Bernie Sanders faction and the more progressive people in your party?

RENDELL: No, not at all. Joe Biden, first of all, knows of what he speaks. He's going to make his own decisions. Like for example on the Green New Deal, he didn't accept the Green New Deal because some parts of it are not very credible or workable at this point. But he said the goals are good. I think every American would agree with the goals. But it's how we get there, number one.

Number two, take Pennsylvania, fracking has been a tremendous success. In fact, I was the governor when fracking took place. It's had a great help to the economy of Pennsylvania. But Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren said that they would ban fracking on day one.

Joe Biden said no, fracking is going big to the future, it's time when maybe we can pretty solve our electricity, when it is 50 percent less carbon producing than burning coal, so fracking is something that has to stay. So Joe Biden makes up his own mind. He's a solid and moderate, slightly left of center Democrat like I am and like most of the party is.

The media made a big mistake in interpreting the '18 election as a shift to the far left. They focused on the Gang of Four, AOC and her colleagues. Really, most the democratic Congress that took the republican seats were moderate Democrats, who took seats from Orange County, California, Texas, in Philadelphia suburbs, places like that, were only moderate progressives to win the day.

KURTZ: Right. Well, I know some people would quarrel with your description, slightly left of center, but I can take your point about how we interpret the midterm elections.

Look, a nominee, presidential nominee, usually shows up the next morning on all the network morning shows. Joe Biden didn't do that. In fact, his recent interviews with Cardi B, also with People Magazine, and a few weeks ago with Joy Reid.

Now, he is doing a joint interview, already taped it with ABC with Kamala Harris. Would you advise him to do more interviews, hit more major league pitching as a way of countering the notion we hear endlessly from the Republicans that he just basically lies low and stays in his basement?

RENDELL: I think he has done what he had to do perfectly. I mean, look, he's nine and a half points up, the average of all the national polls. He can't do much better than that in a presidential election. When was the last presidential election that was decided by more than three or four points?

So what he's doing is obviously working. He should keep doing it as long as it keeps working. And he's been out there. He gave five individual speeches about building back the economy better and they were covered a little bit. The media didn't give him as much coverage as they should have but they were covered, and I think he did exceptionally well in laying out a vision.

KURTZ: All right. As a journalist, I wish he would do more interviews. I suspect we will see more of this. Look, you were quoted as saying during the veepstakes that Kamala Harris rubbed some people the wrong way. Now, that along with other people saying, well, she's too ambitious, are the kind of things that are said never about male politicians. Didn't you rub some people the wrong way as governor and mayor?

RENDELL: Well, ironically, in that interview, what I said after that phrase was, of course, I rub a lot of people the wrong way, and I got re- elected by 21 points in a battleground state.

So the point I was making is that Kamala Harris rubs people the wrong way because she's tough, because she tells the truth, and because she takes no prisoners when she's trying to establish a point. And I think everyone saw that during her questioning, not just of Kavanaugh but Barr and all the other Republican witnesses.

I think she is going to be a great asset to the ticket. And I said in that same interview, if I had to pick, I would pick her to be a running mate. I think she is terrific.

KURTZ: All right. Thank you for clarifying that.

RENDELL: I always piss people off.

(LAUGHTER)

KURTZ: All right. On that note, governor, thank you for joining us.

RENDELL: My pleasure.

KURTZ: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is whacking NBC News and she's right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-NY: And thank you to everyone here today endeavouring towards a better, more just future for our country and our world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: The geniuses at NBC tweeted that in one of the shortest speeches of the DNC, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez did not endorse Joe Biden. Here's the New York Post: AOCYA Joe! She doesn't even mention Biden in the speech.

The congresswoman told NBC on Twitter this is completely unacceptable, disappointing, and appalling. It sparked an enormous amount of hatred and vitriol here.

AOC, who had already endorsed Biden, was given 60 seconds to deliver a speech for Bernie Sanders. The Biden campaign knew about that all along. NBC deleted the tweet and corrected the mistake.

So a reporter asked President Trump about the conspiracy theories with QAnon and outraged by his response.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KURTZ: The media are on fire about President Trump's comments on QAnon, a group of conspiracy theorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The crux of the theory is this belief that you are secretly saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals.

TRUMP: I haven't heard that. But is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The president of the United States has validated, praised, and maybe now even inspired a group about which the FBI has issued dire warnings.

KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Big mistake. This is a group of nuts and kooks, and he ought to disavow them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: And we are back with Griff Jenkins. Griff, take a second to explain what QAnon is and how it's viewed by law enforcement.

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think Karl Rove may have gotten it right, Howie. This is an online conspiracy group to the fringes of the dark corners of the internet that believe President Trump was ordained by God to defeat this cabal of same worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles and sex traffickers.

We saw back in 2016 a QAnon supporter actually fired a shot here in a pizza restaurant in Washington. In May 30th last year, the FBI listed QAnon on a group of possible conspiracy theories that could motivate domestic terrorism.

And the problem here and what the media is making a lot of noise about is that the president did not take the opportunity to disavow it, when you have had Vice President Pence just on Friday dismiss it out-of-hand.

KURTZ: Right. So the president said these are people who love our country. Facebook and Twitter have banned some QAnon content. And now, you know, you had Jeb Bush saying, why in the world would the president not kick QAnon supporters' butts? Liz Cheney, a dangerous lunacy, that this should have no place in American politics. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is echoing the same.

This is not just a bunch of liberal media types taking on the president over those comments.

JENKINS: McCarthy also said, look, QAnon has no place in the Republican Party because a candidate, Marjorie Greene, down in Georgia, a safe GOP seat, won the primary and she has espoused support for the QAnon theory. And you see QAnon people signs, t-shirts at Trump rallies, dozens of which I've been to.

But now that this online conspiracy theory on the fringe has possibly made it into Congress and again if this woman in Georgia wins and we expect she will, it will actually give some legitimacy to what obviously so many other Republicans are trying to tip the president's hand and say don't get behind this, even though they support you, because it's dangerous.

KURTZ: Right. Now, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is telling Chris Wallace this morning -- kind of flipped the script. He says, why are reporters asking about this? Of course, the president could have deflected the question.

But he also has -- he likes to say nice things about those who support him. That's part of the president's pattern, whether the media like it or not.

JENKINS: Well, the media might stop asking questions if the president would dismiss it as he should. We'll see if it comes up at all this week. If the president has anymore press avails, we know the president may have a press conference here this evening, so perhaps there will be a question there, as well. But pretty much everyone but the president is disavowing this conspiracy at this point.

KURTZ: Right. Or it may get washed away like so many controversies with the republican convention beginning tomorrow.

Griff Jenkins, thanks for doing double duty for us.

JENKINS: Thank you.

KURTZ: And that is it for this edition of “Media Buzz”. I'm Howard Kurtz. Hope you'll check out our Facebook page. We page my daily columns there. You can yell at me on Twitter at Howard Kurtz.

Check out my podcast, "Media Buzzmeter." You can subscribe with all kinds of ways, Apple iTunes, Google podcast, Amazon device, foxnewspodcast.com. We try to look at the day's buzziest stories.

I don't have to tell you we'll be back here next Sunday at 11:00 Eastern. This time, we'll be focusing on the republican convention. We'll see you then with the latest buzz.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END

Content and Programming Copyright 2020 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2020 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.