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Fox hosts weighed in last night on the Buttigieg town hall: "slippery demagogue," "take a look at this stupid proposal," "forget Mayor Pete, maybe we should call him Pope Pete": mediamatters.org/blog/2019/05/2…
To the extent that regular Fox viewers were tuning in to Buttigieg’s town hall, he had an opportunity to speak to them. But now Fox’s hosts, who have a much more extensive and durable relationship with their audience, smear him and rebut everything he said for hours on end.
This suggests that any support Democratic presidential candidates gain from Fox’s viewers during the town halls will be ephemeral at best.
Fox, however, gets a big, durable bonus from being legitimized by Democrats.
Fox, however, gets a big, durable bonus from being legitimized by Democrats.
The argument Dems are making for doing Fox town halls is that they specifically want to reach Fox viewers. If they want to reach people who don't normally watch Fox/cable news with a special event, they can do it with a different network & not help Fox.
For Fox viewers, the town hall doesn't happen in a vacuum, but within the context of watching years of anti-Dem propaganda and subsequently hearing tons of attacks from the hosts that they watch every night.
