#pennsylvania

Fox News hosted a town hall with Bernie Sanders on Monday, and I decided to watch it. Here are my impressions and takeaways:

Audience Reception on the Issues

The town hall took place in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, described by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as an industrial town with a closed steel plant that voted for Obama and then voted for Trump. These are swing voters who Bernie Sanders should appeal to on issues like trade and workers’ rights. And, to be certain, when NAFTA, CAFTA, and TPP were brought up, the audience sided strongly with Sanders.

But on other issues, even though this town hall aired on Fox News, the audience was often very supportive. This might have best been illustrated by one of the most interesting moments of the town hall: Bret Baier asks the crowd how many of them have private work-provided health insurance, by a show of hands. Many hands raise. When asking the crowd whether they would want Medicare for All, more hands shoot up, some people stand, and some vocalize their support, as well. This is, I’m sure, not what Baier was expecting, because one of the arguments used against universal healthcare, often framed disingenuously, is that people want to keep their private insurance. The audience responded very positively to the idea of having stable, ongoing coverage.

Later, I was surprised by how loudly the crowd applauded the following comment:

“The American people, I think, are ready to deal with justice in America. That is what we’re fighting for. And that’s economic justice, social justice, environmental justice, racial justice.”

Even though this was a Fox News town hall with attendees who appeared to be mostly white, the audience got really excited and loud when Sanders brought up racial justice. From that point through the end of the town hall, it was fairly clear that the majority of those in attendance supported most if not all of what he had to say. Viewers could hear Bernie chants here and there, particularly in the second half of the telecast. Towards the end of the town hall, one of the hosts was booed for asking if Bernie supported prisoners having voting rights for his own political benefit. When he was given an opportunity to provide a closing remark, he and the audience engaged in some call and response, and he was sent off with repeated chants of Bernie.

The message

The case Bernie Sanders made was for a politics and a movement for the working class. He’s advocating for a positive agenda that benefits all workers. In many ways, he appealed to liberal Democrats: he proactively discussed climate change, he discussed suppressing black people’s voting rights, advocated for universal healthcare, challenged the demonization of immigrants, and he didn’t criticize other Democrats when given a chance while criticizing Fox News. But he also advocated for policies further to the left of Democratic Party dogma: he criticized the military industrial complex and the Pentagon for refusing to do an audit and for wasting incalculable amounts of money, he called on us to “rid the world of nuclear weapons,” he said it’s not anti-Semitic to criticize Israel, and he brought up poverty over a handful of times, even mentioning childhood poverty. And that’s where the strength of Bernie’s campaign lies: appealing to the shrinking middle class on standard Democratic issues while also appealing to the poor and working classes of all ethnicities, and he was particularly effective in advocating for inclusive class-based politics and policy, even on Fox News.

What the town hall achieved

First,he looks like the front-runner and a leader. He was criticized by the center and the Democratic Party for appearing on Fox News, and he was criticized by some of my compatriots on the left for platforming Fox News. I see the merit in the latter argument, but Fox News is mainstream and has been for a long time. I’d be concerned if he went on Tucker Carlson, but that’s not what this was. That said, being a leader means making choices you think will be beneficial even when the decision is unpopular. Effective leadership also means walking the walk: Bernie Sanders is about working class politics; refusing to go on Fox News does, to some extent, leave out a platform where some of the working class goes for news–even if the outlet itself is a horrible news source. Trump won the votes of some Americans who voted for Obama; failing to try to bring those voters back into the fold would be political malpractice.

Finally,Sanders effectively demonstrated that he can take on Trump. At multiple times during the broadcast, he spoke directly to Trump: when he brought up his support for staying out of Syria and Yemen and ending endless warfare, he called on Trump to sign the measure he introduced to end America’s support for Yemen. He also went after Trump’s hypocrisy of refusing to cut Medicare on the campaign trail but then proposing budgets that support Medicare and other social insurance programs. At multiple times during the town hall, he positively contrasted himself with Trump. Democrats and many independents–and some Republicans–want to envision a candidate who can emerge victorious against Trump. Bernie’s performance could help some of those voters envision that.

Was his appearance effective?

Press coverage suggests it was. Here’s a sampling of headlines:

1. “Bernie Sanders may have just set the model for 2020 Democrats with his Fox News town hall” -The News-Times
   
2. “Sanders takes on Fox” - and emerges triumphant -Politico
   
3. “Bernie Sanders Beat Fox News on Its Own Turf” -Spin
   
4. “How wide is Bernie Sanders appeal? This cheering Fox News audience is a clue” -The Guardian
   
5. “Bernie Sanders Shines on Fox News” -The National Review
   
6. “Bernie’s victorious Fox News town hall” -Vice
7. “Bernie Sanders on Fox News is Most-Watched Town Hall of 2019″ -The Wrap

What could he have done better?

The first ten minutes of this town hall were particularly combative, and I think that largely stems from the initial focus on Bernie’s tax returns, which revealed him to be a millionaire, and possibly his desire to ensure that he articulated clearly that he is not on board with Fox News as a media organization. While the line of questioning about why Sanders wouldn’t just send his tax cut from Trump back–even though he voted against the bill–is completely asinine, I would like to see him come up with a better answer to what he’s doing with his newfound wealth. Ultimately, though, I think this is a debate of minimal consequence. You can certainly support policies that benefit the 99% without actually being in the 99%. Sanders, as he pointed out, also supports taxing himself at a higher level. And I think most people can draw a distinction between the Clintons, Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, and others and how they generated their wealth versus how Bernie made his. And, not to forget, the very real degree of separation in their wealth.

And while I think that Bernie has improved on his messaging around foreign policy and developed a better vision of what that would look like, he didn’t proactively bring up foreign policy in the first half of the event. Mostly, I’d like to see him connect what’s happening at the border with our foreign policy. He said that people are desperate and “fleeing violence and misery in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala.” This is true. He said we need more immigration judges. That’s also true. But he needs to then say that we need to stop intervening in the affairs of these countries and using diplomacy to support stability and economic growth throughout the Americas by supporting workers’ movements at home and abroad.

Final Thoughts

If you know me or were aware of my blog during the 2016 election, you know that I was a strong Sanders supporter and that I volunteered for his campaign. Over the past few years, my political views have shifted more to the left, and I’ve developed more criticisms of Sanders. In spite of that, I did come away from this town hall reminded of the appeal of the Sanders campaign: one that could represent a shift towards an inclusive working class policy focus and movement building, and away from a divisive Red State/Blue State paradigm.

I haven’t made any kind of endorsements for 2020 because, again, it’s too early, and there are many candidates running who will be out of the race a year from now. However, it was difficult not to come away from viewing the town hall with some combination of familiarity and inspiration. One could say I was feeling the Bern…

This post is the last in a series about voter registration deadlines for the 2020 U.S. General Election. To read the first post, clickhere. To see the second post, click here. The embedded links will take you to voter registration applications and more information. Please hover over the text in parentheses for the embedded links, since not all embedded links are underlined text. A star, or asterisk (*), means the state has a later registration deadline for a certain registration method. For example, Minnesota allows you to register in-person on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. This is also called Same Day Voter Registration. This post was developed usingBallotpedia and The League of Women Voters’Vote411.org.

Monday, October 19:

• Alabama (in-person,mail: received, online)
• California* (other languages,in-person,mail: postmarked, online) (Same Day Voter Registration: During the Early Voting Period (October 5-Monday, November 2, 2020) and on Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020)
• Maine* (mail: received) (Same Day Voter Registration: in-person: Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020)
• Michigan* (mail , includes other languages): postmarked, online) (in-person:up to 8 p.m. on Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020)
• Pennsylvania (in-person;mail, other languages: received; online)
• South Dakota (in-person, mail: received)
• Wyoming (in-person, mail: received)

Friday, October 23:

• Guam* (Same Day Voter Registration: in-person during Early Voting: until 6:00 P.M. on Friday, October 23, 2020; mail: contact Guam Election Commission)
• Nebraska (in-person)
• Utah* (in-person,mail: received, online: by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 23, 2020) (Same Day Voter Registration: in-person during Early Voting Period (Tuesday, October 20- Friday, October 30, 2020, or on Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020)

Saturday, October 24:

• Iowa* (in-person: by 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, 2020; mail: received, online) (Same Day Voter Registration: in-person at polling place on Election Day: Tuesday November 3, 2020
• Massachusetts (in-person, mail: postmarked, online)

Monday, October 26:

• Colorado* (in-person,mail: received, online) (in-person: Same Day Voter Registration: During Early Voting Period: Monday, October 19-Monday, November 2, 2020, or until 7:00 PM on Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020)
• Montana* (mail: postmarked) (in-person: Same Day Voter Registration: During Early Voting Period: October 5-Monday, November 2, 2020, or on Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020)
• Washington* (mail, includes other languages: received, online) (in-person: Same Day Voter Registration: During the Early Voting Period: October 16-Tuesday, November 3, 2020, or on Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020) 

Tuesday, October 27:

• Connecticut* (in-person,mail, other languages: received, online) (in-person: Same Day Voter Registration on Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020)
  

Thursday, October 29:

• Nevada* (online) (in-person: Same Day Voter Registration: During the Early Voting Period: October 17-Friday, October 30, 2020, or on Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020)
  

Friday, October 30:

• Wisconsin* (in-person) (in-person Same Day Voter Registration: at your polling place on Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2020)
  

Saturday, October 31:

• New Mexico (in-person) (in-person Same Day Voter Registration: During the Early Voting Period: October 6-Saturday, October 31, 2020)
  

Port Richmond, Pennsylvania