‘Free Campaign Ad’: Professor Rips GB News’ Nigel Farage For Platforming Donald Trump’s ‘Lies’ In ‘Softball’ Interview

Professor Scott Lucas appeared on GB News Wednesday to rip the network’s host Nigel Farage for his “softball discussion” with Republican 2024 hopeful and former President Donald Trump, blasting the exclusive as nothing short of “a free campaign advertisement.”

Lucas, a specialist in US and British foreign policy, was speaking to hosts Andrew Pierce and Bev Turner when he blasted the interview, which aired Tuesday night, as “one politician, Mr. Farage, handing over your channel for 25 minutes to another politician, Mr. Trump.”

He said that GB News platformed, rather than challenged, Trump’s “posturing, his insult, his misinformation, and… his lies.”

Lucas: “Well, it wasn’t an interview. It was one politician, Mr. Farage, handing over your channel for 25 minutes to another politician, Mr. Trump, for whom he has worked and whom he might be working for this year so that Trump could put out his posturing, his insult, his misinformation, and yes, at many points, his lies. There were many issues that weren’t discussed, and the issues that were discussed from NATO to immigration were marked by a series of falsehoods.”

Turner: “It was good in terms of NATO, though, to have some clarification on that going forward. I think he was very straightforward about that, Scott.”

Lucas: “The problem with the answer on NATO is that even as Trump wrote back his comment last month where he effectively invited Russia to attack America’s NATO allies,
is that he set it up with a series of false statements. So, for example, he did threaten to withdraw the United States from NATO in 2020. I know one of the people who was in that meeting, the Irish commissioner to the EU, Phil Hogan, another commissioner to the EU, Thierry Breton, has also testified to that. So I know people who were in that conversation, and Trump lied that he, in fact, had never made that while he was president. He also put out the misinformation that because of his threats, such as inviting Russia to come in and attack NATO’s allies, that was why NATO countries have increased spending. That is false. Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, said last month that there’s an unprecedented increase in spending on defence by NATO members last year, in 2023, where 18 of 31 NATO countries at that time were now meeting their target. But Trump actually, again, lied that Stoltenberg told him that he was the reason why the NATO countries had increased their spending.”

Pierce: “Is he sounding to you… I mean, I appreciate you’re no fan of the former president of the United States, got to put it mildly, but is he sounding more presidential to you than Joe Biden?”

Lucas: “It’s not a question of being a fan of Donald Trump.”

Pierce: “Well, you’re not a fan…”

Lucas: “No, it’s being a fan of the facts. And it’s being a fan of realistic, sensible discussion of the issues, rather than giving someone a free campaign advertisement for 25 minutes. He, of course, gave out many of his scripted answers that were set up beforehand. The interview was edited to make sure that there were no glitches in it. So yes, Donald Trump was on safe territory to say whatever he wanted to with Nigel Farage nodding. And, you know, if you constitute that a softball discussion, a campaign advertisement of being presidential, so be it.”