Elections are strategic. Parties want to maintain control and they place their tentacles everywhere. They attempt to command certain behaviors by candidates explicitly or implicitly. Senator Bernie Sanders’ appearance on Fox News was epic for several reasons.
Sanders defied the spirit of the Democratic Party leadership and appeared on Fox News. Many probably believed he was on a fool’s errand. But that is not what happened. On issues that really matter, the majority of the audience was decidedly listening and on his side.
Most importantly, Bernie Sanders went in the Fox Hole and was unabashedly Progressive. He also necessarily scolded the hosts. He went back and forth with them and did not allow them to get away with false equivalencies or fallacies.
How do we know Bernie was successful? It got the president very upset.
President Donald Trump took a second whack at Fox News on Tuesday, again expressing frustration that his favored network offered a platform for Sen. Bernie Sanders to connect with 2020 voters. Without offering evidence, Trump on Tuesday night accused Fox News of blocking his supporters from attending the previous night’s town hall with Sanders.
“Many Trump Fans & Signs were outside of the @FoxNews Studio last night in the now thriving (Thank you President Trump) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for the interview with Crazy Bernie Sanders,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “Big complaints about not being let in-stuffed with Bernie supporters. What’s with @FoxNews?”
Before the event, however, Fox News anchor and town hall host Martha MacCallum spoke with The Morning Call about the event, including how the audience was picked. The Pennsylvania paper reported, “Fox reached out to various political and local groups in the area and mined requests to attend after it publicly announced the event. Fox said ‘hundreds’ of people are on the waiting list.”
The Democratic Establishment is the left rail. The Republican Establishment is the right rail. The interesting thing is that the rails are going in the same direction. Bernie Sanders, appealing to the Right and Left with common interests and values present a danger to that paradigm. He would likely build a real middle-class and poor coalition. That terrifies both establishments.