Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) is rejecting an invitation to do a town hall on America’s #1 cable news network that would be viewed by millions.
Why? Because that network is Fox News, in a statement about her decision behind rejecting the invite.
“[Fox News] gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists ― it’s designed to turn us against each other, risking life & death consequences, to provide cover for the corruption that’s rotting our government and hollowing out our middle class,” Warren tweeted, adding that Fox has a small amount of “legit journalism” to provide cover for “bigotry, racism, and outright lies.”
“I won’t ask millions of Democratic primary voters to tune into an outlet that profits from racism and hate in order to see our candidates—especially when Fox will make even more money adding our valuable audience to their ratings numbers,” she added.
Fox News is a hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracists—it’s designed to turn us against each other, risking life and death consequences, to provide cover for the corruption that’s rotting our government and hollowing out our middle class.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren)
But Fox News is struggling as more and more advertisers pull out of their hate-filled space. A Democratic town hall gives the Fox News sales team a way to tell potential sponsors it's safe to buy ads on Fox—no harm to their brand or reputation (spoiler: It’s not).
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren)
I’m running a campaign to reach all Americans. I take questions from the press and voters everywhere I go. I’ve already held town halls in 17 states and Puerto Rico—including WV, OH, GA, UT, TN, TX, CO, MS & AL.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren)
Warren rejecting a Fox News town hall adds another degree of separation between her campaign and that of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), who is seen as the only other candidate who is as politically to the left as she is. Sanders did a Fox News town hall last month, and when he got the audience in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania — a working-class town that went for Trump in 2016 after voting for President Obama in 2008 and 2012 — to loudly cheer his Medicare for All proposal.
Sanders isn’t the only progressive voice to use Fox News as a platform for getting his message out. In February, historian Rutger Bregman — who called for higher taxes on billionaires in Davos, Switzerland — appeared on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show and called him a “millionaire funded by billionaires.” In the pre-taped interview that never aired, Bregman also said Fox owner Rupert Murdoch paid Carlson “to scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance.”
However, Warren is right in that certain Fox News content has a tendency to promote racism and bigotry. Tucker Carlson has been subjected to an ongoing advertiser boycott over Carlson’s comments that immigrants make America “poorer and dirtier.” As Grit Post previously reported, white nationalists in order to make more convincing arguments.