Trump Breaks from the Norm, Trashes Fox News Over Bernie's Town Hall Event
President Donald Trump delivered a reality check to people claiming he uses Fox News as a propaganda wing for his administration.
The rebuke, posted to his Twitter account, took aim at Fox anchor Brett Baier’s demeanor during the network’s Bernie Sanders town hall earlier this week. He also managed to get a swipe in at Fox for their hiring of former Hillary Clinton ally Donna Brazile.
So weird to watch Crazy Bernie on @FoxNews. Not surprisingly, @BretBaier and the “audience” was so smiley and nice. Very strange, and now we have @donnabrazile?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 16, 2019
And Trump does appear to be onto something here.
Watching the town hall on Fox News’ YouTube channel, it could easily be confused for a Sanders rally given the rock star treatment the audience gives him.
Sanders immediately seems to take control after the first question.
Asked about his wealth and why his tax returns show he didn’t pay the “fair share” he’s so intent on pushing on the rest of the United States, Sanders simply waved it off by saying he paid everything he was obligated to. When “pushed” by Brett Baier on the issue, Sanders pivoted into an attack on Trump, large corporations, and Wall Street.
The audience loved it.
When Sanders was pressed on health care, he turned it into an offense against private health insurance, complete with the scaremongering the Democratic 2020 contenders have become so good at.
“There are estimates,” Sanders said, “that some 30,000 Americans die every single year because they don’t go to the doctor when they should. Meanwhile, we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. One out of five Americans are getting ripped off by the drug companies who make billions in profits while charging us the highest prices in the world.”
“On top of all of that, we spend twice as much per capita on healthcare as do the people of any other nation. So the question I throw back to you is ‘do you think it makes sense to spend twice as much per capita as the people of any other nation, and be the only country in the world not to guarantee healthcare to all people?'”
Baier didn’t challenge any of that, instead turning to ask the audience a question.
“A show of hands,” Baier said, “of how many people get their insurance from work, private insurance, right now?”
The majority of hands went up in the crowd, prompting Baier to ask his follow-up question as they were lowered.
“Now of those, how many are willing to transition,” he said as a few hands began shooting up before the question was even finished, “to what the senator says, a government-run system?”
A sea of hands went up, and a cheer broke out in the audience. This was all Sanders needed to continue his attack on private healthcare.
The back-and-forth between Bernie Sanders and Bret Baier goes along these lines for the duration of the one-hour town hall. An audience member asks a question, Bernie deflects, Baier fails to press him, and the audience roars.
If every Bernie Sanders town hall follows along these lines, he very well may be the candidate Donald Trump faces in 2020.
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