The Fox News Lessons Elizabeth Warren Had to Teach Meghan McCain

These days at The View, visits from 2020 Democratic hopefuls are the closest the show gets to must-see TV. During these chats, viewers get to see how women from various backgrounds (though all in the 1% economically) respond to candidates and their ideas.

As a high-quality SNL parody noted recently, Joe Biden has been the preferred candidate of the hosts. It’s not for any policy reason, mind you, but the ladies like Joe’s sense of decorum and reputation (not entirely deserved) as a common-sense politician.

The hosts at The View also have strong feelings about Fox News town halls. They’ve applauded Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders for holding them and frowned at Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren for shunning the network. On Warren’s May 30 visit, she explained the reasons behind her decision.

As in so many cases in the past, Meghan McCain seemed baffled and upset by what Fox News represents to Warren (and so many others) in 2019. It appeared McCain wasn’t familiar with the programming at the network where she used to work. TV economics also seemed to fly over McCain’s head.

Warren said she wouldn’t participate in the ‘hate-for-profit scam’ running nightly on Fox News.

Citing the “successful” town halls Fox News has held for Sanders and Buttigieg, McCain made the case that Warren was being “shortsighted” by not holding one of her own. “I really think its a mistake, and that’s just my anecdotal, uh…” McCain said.

“I want to reach out to everybody,” Warren replied, citing town halls she’s held in West Virginia and other red states in America. “But here’s the deal about Fox News executives. They’re running a hate-for-profit scam.”

Warren continued on describing what Fox executives allow on the air to stir up viewers. She cited Tucker Carlson’s comments about immigrants making America “poorer” and “dirtier,” the network’s extended stretch of fake news on the Seth Rich murder, and its open platform for white nationalists.

“[Fox News] makes a lot of money off those town halls,” Warren continued. “We bring in a big Democratic audience to watch that night. Then, Fox sales reps go out and say, ‘Look at our high numbers. And look how even-handed we are.’”

“I’m just not gonna give them a full hour to help raise money and help get credibility [with advertisers].” After saying she heard Warren’s point, McCain said it sounds like the senator “didn’t care about people who watched Fox News.” The entitled victim had returned at The View.

Only Whoopi brought any insight to the discussion.

After McCain finished pouting, Sunny Hostin made the familiar (if empty) argument that journalists like Chris Wallace and Shep Smith work at Fox News. Though that didn’t have anything to do with her decision, Warren repeated that she wasn’t going to legitimize the network with a town hall.

We’ve pointed out how indispensable Whoopi is to The View in the past, and we saw it again on the air yesterday. After Warren made her point, Whoopi stepped in. “We should be very careful,” she said. “If you scratch the surface wherever you go, cockroaches run out.”

While it wasn’t the most elegant expression, Whoopi was saying that every cable news channel has their eye on profits. “Fair point,” Warren responded. However, she didn’t need to go any further.

The reason is obvious: There’s only one state-media network in America: Fox News. Even Republicans describe it as pure propaganda in 2019.

Also see: Why Meghan McCain Keeps Getting Knocked Around on ‘The View’

Source: Read Full Article