Home Sweet Home: How Bernie Sanders' Return to Fox News Should Surprise None of Us
And so it begins. More than 10 months before the Iowa caucus, Senator Bernie Sanders is already well on track once again undermine the Democratic Party. Less than a month after the Democratic National Committee announced it would not field a Fox News debate, Senator Sanders today announced he would be participating in a Fox News Town Hall event on jobs on April 15th in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a key swing state ahead of the 2020 presidential election. This is the latest in a series of town halls for Sanders, who seems intent on reaching out to traditional Republican voters. This outreach began almost immediately after the inauguration of Donald Trump as Sanders scheduled a town hall in West Virginia in February of 2017. However, that event was canceled at the last minute due to an issue with availability and Sanders reacted furiously to the cancellation. The event was later rescheduled for the next month with MSNBC's Chris Hayes moderating and Sanders discussing such topics as health care and the opioid crisis in a state that overwhelmingly votes Republican on national elections. However, Sanders, who won the West Virginia primary by 15 points in 2016, felt that he could somehow sway these staunch Republican voters to somehow consider voting Democrat in future elections. Despite this hopeful outlook, West Virginia Democrats lost all 3 congressional elections in 2018, a clear indicator that West Virginia was still a staunchly Republican state despite Sanders' attempted outreach. Yet, Bernie Sanders has never been about results. It's why his chosen candidates have lost mayoral races in Nebraska, gubernatorial races in Virginia, congressional races in Kansas, and national party races for DNC chair. It's all about Sanders' ego and his unwavering belief that his brand of Democratic socialism can catch fire in working-class (read: White) communities. Sanders repeatedly dismisses identity politics because he honestly believes that racism, sexism, homophobia, and Islamophobia will magically disappear as soon as people have achieved economic stability. Never mind the successful Black attorney who can't hail a cab, the female middle manager who's making 20% less than her male peers, the gay doctor who can still be fired in 26 states, or the Muslim computer programmer who's afraid to wear her hijab in public. To Sanders, all these individuals need is a good paying job and those problems will magically disappear. His worldview has been remarkably consistent over the past 50 years, ever since he was a founding member of Vermont's Liberty Union Party, a party that later disowned Sanders after seeing him move toward a more pro-war stance. To Sanders, economic equality trumps all other forms of equality and is the only thing standing between individuals and a blissful life. But more than tooting his own horn, Sanders will use the Fox News Town Hall to once again smear the Democratic Party. He will undoubtedly be asked about the Party's stance on not having Fox News host a DNC debate and Sanders will use his response to claim how the Party is unreceptive to what the people want. He will be asked about things that Fox News loves to use to rile up their base including the Green New Deal, immigration (most likely conflating that with the absurd idea that Democrats support open borders), and Medicare For All, a policy championed by Sanders, despite having no earthly way to pay for it. The Fox News viewers will never vote for Sanders anyway but what Fox News can do is selectively edit Sanders' answers to then frame the arguments against Democrats. As we've come to see, Russian trolls have used Fox News segments to sow division in the United States by targeting undecided voters. By even having the debate, Bernie Sanders is once again playing right into the hands of both Republicans and the Russians. At this point, we should expect nothing less from the treasonous, independent Senator.
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