How talk radio hosts heard in Philly feel about Kamala Harris’ pearl earrings and other baseless theories
“Those earrings are beautiful,” WNTP-990 AM radio host Mike Gallagher said in reference to the internet conspiracy.
Conservative talk-radio hosts told Philadelphia on Wednesday morning that former President Donald Trump endured unfair treatment during Tuesday’s debate — first by the moderators for debunking his claim that immigrants were eating people’s pets, then by Vice President Kamala Harris for wearing hidden earphones implanted in her earrings
The perceived affronts placed Trump at a severe disadvantage, and boosted Harris’s performance, the hosts said.
Mike Gallagher of WNTP-990 AM was particularly outraged by David Muir, one of the ABC moderators, who countered Trump’s claim that Haitian immigrants were eating neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio.
“They’re eating the dogs,” Trump said from his debate lectern. “They’re eating the cats.”
Muir told Trump that reporting indicated the story wasn’t true. Gallagher disagreed vigorously during his show, saying, ”ABC lied.” He then augmented the false account, adding, “I heard Haitian migrants are walking around with dead geese. Spare me all the chest thumping for Harris.”
In his angriest tirade, Gallagher indicated he was put out by the moderators’ failure to bring up the assassination attempt against Trump.
“Not one word about him nearly being killed!” Gallagher said. “We’ve gotta kiss Kamala Harris’ butt a few more times.”
Sarcastically extending a compliment to Harris, he quickly added, “Those earrings are beautiful,” a reference to an unproven internet rumor that Harris was wearing so-called Nova H1 Audio Earrings — wireless earphones embedded in a pair of pearl earrings that allegedly allowed her to access coaching from her staff during the debate. The earrings actually may not be available for purchase, according to Newsweek, which doubted the rumor.
Later in his show, Gallagher went on to criticize singer Taylor Swift for endorsing Harris on Tuesday night, calling her a “big-time fool.”
Debunking reports that Harris had won the debate, Gallagher told his audience, “Don’t believe the hysteria from people that she was Winston Churchill.”
Meanwhile, on rival station WPHT-1210 AM, host Dawn Stensland mocked what she called the “breathy tones” of Muir and co-moderator Linsey Davis as being “almost satirical.”
Similarly distressed, Rich Zeoli, who also hosts a show on WPHT, posted to X during the debate Tuesday night in real time, decrying the moderators.
“It would be amazing if the moderators actually fact checked anything Kamala Harris says,” Zeoli wrote. He followed that up with, “Trump is debating three people right now. Moderators are team Kamala.”
‘Boredom and exhaustion’
After critiquing the moderators, Stensland said Trump had missed opportunities to score points against Harris during their debate.
Harris had commented that people who attend Trump rallies have lately been leaving early out of “boredom” and “exhaustion.”
Stensland said that Trump should have responded, “Madame Vice President ... the only time my supporters left a rally early was July 13,” when an assailant in Butler shot at Trump and killed a firefighter standing near him.
“Can you imagine if Trump had a powerful comeback such as that?” Stensland asked.
Later in her show, Stensland welcomed Elizabeth Pipko, whom Stensland described as a model and a Republican National Committee spokeswoman.
Agreeing with the premise of the morning, Pipko said the debate moderators “infuriated” her.
Pipko added that the moderators should have fact-checked Harris when she asserted that Trump would support a national ban on abortion, adding that he never said it.
But a New York Times story published in February said Trump “had told advisers and allies that he likes the idea of a 16-week national abortion ban with three exceptions, in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother, according to two people with direct knowledge of Mr. Trump’s deliberations.”
While it was unclear whether Gallagher and Stensland believe Trump should participate in a second debate, Dom Giordano, another conservative talk-show host at WPHT, wrote in a post on X Wednesday morning: “Trump should do another debate and better prep team.”