Mediaite on the "interesting dynamic" for Democratic candidates who do a Fox town hall

[highplainsdem]

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-fox-news-prime-time-hosts-destroy-pete-buttigieg-night-after-his-town-hall-edited/

The prime-time hosts of Fox News followed the playbook of President Donald Trump in responding to criticism from Democratic hopeful Pete Buttigieg during his Sunday night town hall on their network: hit back ten times as hard.

-snip-

For his part, 8 p.m. host Tucker Carlson dedicated the opening of his show to Buttigieg’s rival, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. But he eventually turned to Mayor Pete, deriding him as a “slippery demagogue” in a segment on his abortion comments. Next up, Sean Hannity went much deeper, but almost entirely focused on his disagreements with Buttigieg’s policy — though he also fairly hit the Democrat’s record as South Bend mayor, based on a report on his absences from the city:

-snip-

But it was Ingraham who went a full 12 rounds on Buttigieg, dedicating seven minutes of her broadcast to mocking what she described as his phony sanctimony.

-snip-

Critics may say that she did not cover herself in glory in the mean-spirited and personal attacks on the Democratic presidential hopeful, who she displayed with a Pope’s hat superimposed on his head.

The full-scale attack set up an interesting dynamic worth keeping in mind for the rest of the 2020 field: appearing for a Fox News town hall is good for name recognition and allows you to reach a broad audience. You will also be treated fairly by the network’s anchors. But you will get destroyed for the next few nights by Fox’s highly-rated prime-time stars.

Video at the link.


I think they have a point about the extra negative coverage Democratic candidates will get from Fox's prime time shows after a town hall.

FWIW, I don't believe Fox News is offering these town halls out of any real sense of fairness, or even in the hope they might be allowed to host a debate.

Hearing that Eric Swalwell was turned down by Fox News when he let them know he was willing to do a town hall just added to my suspicions that Fox is offering these town halls as a way of bolstering Biden's strongest primary rivals, with the intent of weakening him (obviously they don't see Swalwell as any threat to Biden's chances of becoming the nominee). And then, within hours, the hosts of Fox's more highly rated shows will be attacking the Democratic candidates, to try to minimize any chance that Trump's support will be weakened.

I could be wrong about this, but I don't trust Fox News at all.

[brooklynite]

1. The people watching the Town Hall aren't the same people watching the opinion shows at night...

...what Tucker, Hannity or Laura say to the Trump base won't influence the approachable people who saw our candidate for an hour.

[stonecutter357]

2. lol