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Over the weekend, Kirsten Gillibrand became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to take part in an hour-long town hall on Fox News. The forums have become controversial since the Democratic National Committee, citing the network's "inappropriate relationship" with Donald Trump, very publicly refused to let Fox News host any of the presidential primary debates this campaign season. Still, several Democratic candidates in recent weeks have booked time on the GOP propaganda network in hopes of reaching additional voters.
The truth is, if Gillibrand hopes her recent Fox News appearance will deliver a key boost to her campaign, she's likely going to be disappointed, since there's little or no indication that any of the Democrats who have appeared on Fox have benefited from the town halls. To date, the only winner appears to be Fox News.
The New York Times this week declared that the right-wing cable channel was flexing its Democratic primary muscle and had become a "power player" by landing so many televised candidate town halls. There's no doubt the town halls represent a lucky break for Fox News, which has been kept out of Democratic debates for 15 years, and it desperately wants back in the election season game. With few GOP presidential challengers expected to step forward in 2020, the Republican Party primary season could be nonexistent. With the DNC debate snub, Fox News would be entirely locked out of hosting any debates for this primary season, which would be a painful setback in terms of pride. Fox News loves the Democratic town halls because they also allow the network to sanitize its brand, especially when it faces a steady stream of boycotts from advertisers who don't want to be associated with its hate programming.
Fox News' racist and hateful environment is one that Democratic candidates should not be helping to normalize. The alliances mark a clear surrender in the recent progressive push to neutralize Fox News as a dangerous propaganda outlet. During Trump's presidency, the network has become a truly tasteless outpost of white nationalism, anti-Democratic Party smears, and xenophobia, all delivered by Trump sycophants.
Just last week, Fox News host Laura Ingraham sparked controversy when she specifically defended white supremacists who were being kicked off social media platforms. The controversy only reinforced the point Sen. Elizabeth Warren made last month when she announced she wouldn't appear on Fox News because it's a "hate for profit" operation. "I’m just not going to give them a full hour to help raise money and help get credibility," she said.
But more importantly, the town halls are not delivering long-term benefits for participating Democrats.
None of the Democratic candidates who have done Fox News forums can point to any bump in public backing or major fundraising support in the wake of their appearances. For instance, according to Morning Consult, which has been doing some of the most regular polling on the Democratic primary race, Bernie Sanders on the eve of his high-profile Fox News event in April was the top pick of 20% of Democratic voters. Two weeks after the town hall, Sanders stood at 19%. Today, he's at 20%, trailing Joe Biden by 18 points. Pete Buttigieg won media accolades for his Fox News town hall last month, and Donald Trump even noticed, producing an angry tweet. But in terms of polling, the short-term exposure of a national appearance on Fox News did little to boost Buttigieg's campaign. (For days afterward, Fox News used snippets from the town hall to pummel and malign Buttigieg.)
Why so little impact among Democratic voters? Because—surprise!—Fox News viewers aren't Democratic voters. "I want to meet voters where they are, and I want to talk to all voters," Gillibrand said before her Fox News forum. Reaching "all voters" is one thing. Reaching Democratic voters is quite another. Fact: According to a CNN report, just 6% of Fox viewers are people of color, and just 1% are black. Fact: According to the Brookings Institution, almost half of all Democratic primary voters are nonwhite. Also, just 12% of Fox News viewers identify themselves as "liberal." And that's why a huge majority of Fox News viewers support building Trump's wall along the U.S. southern border.
The simple fact is that Fox News represents a proud MAGA outpost, a bastion of white, conservative voters who have almost nothing to do with the Democratic primary season. Yes, Democratic candidates do well in the Fox News town halls, but that's because they're smart, informed, and engaging politicians. They would do well in any televised forum. Also, Fox News wants the candidates to do well. The Democratic town halls for Rupert Murdoch's propaganda machine are part of a marketing campaign to reassure Madison Avenue that the network's not really a beacon of ugly white nationalism: that Fox News, for at least portions of the day, functions as a legitimate news outlet. Spoiler: It does not. Recall that Fox News sat on a stunning scoop weeks before the 2016 election about Trump's now-famous hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The reporter was allegedly told by her Fox News boss, "Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go."
Much of the Beltway press, of course, has remained in hand-wringing mode about the Democratic debate over Fox News, announcing that staying off the network is both bad form and bad politics—that Democrats are showing they are “scared” of tough questions posed on Fox News. (They are not.) But this is the same Beltway pundit class that barely raised a peep in 2015 when the Republican Party specifically canceled a GOP election-season debate scheduled to be hosted by NBC because the network's sister cable channel, CNBC, had asked Republican candidates questions that were deemed too mean during a previous debate.
Here's what Democratic candidates should know about the Fox News town halls: They'll win you cheers from D.C. pundits, and they'll win an audience of white Republican voters. But they won't help your campaign.
Eric Boehlert is a veteran progressive writer and media analyst, formerly with Media Matters and Salon. He is the author of Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush and Bloggers on the Bus. You can follow him on Twitter @EricBoehlert.
This post was written and reported through our Daily Kos freelance program.