After his Fox News town hall, Fox & Friends launches a propaganda onslaught against Pete Buttigieg

[.99center]

Last edited Mon May 20, 2019, 02:14 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2019/05/20/after-his-fox-news-town-hall-fox-friends-launches-propaganda-onslaught-against-pete-buttigieg/223745
Fox hosts called Buttigieg a "clown," said his town hall was stacked with friends and relatives, and mischaracterized his positions

South Bend, IN, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s performance at a Fox News town hall garnered rave reviews Sunday night from journalists and pundits, with some arguing that his successful turn proved that Democratic presidential candidates should be making on-air appeals to the network’s viewers.

<SNIP>
What pundits who offer opinions like these are really demonstrating is that they do not understand what Fox is and how it operates. Appearing on the network did give Buttigieg the opportunity to speak directly to its audience. But the town hall does not exists in a vacuum; Fox is a right-wing propaganda machine that constantly pushes disinformation in order to damage progressives and help conservatives. And within hours -- after the commentariat had stopped watching Fox -- the network began smearing Buttigieg in an effort that will likely minimize any gains he might have made with its viewers.

Fox & Friends, the Fox morning show beloved by President Donald Trump, devoted significant time on Monday to undermining Buttigieg’s presentation. Buttigieg is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan; co-host Brian Kilmeade presented him as trying to undermine American patriotism, calling him a “clown” who wants to “erase our country’s history” for arguing that the Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinners should be renamed for people who didn’t own slaves. The candidate received a warm response from the town hall attendees; Kilmeade bizarrely claimed the crowd was enthusiastic only because it was stacked with his friends and relatives. Buttigieg is a gifted communicator; the program sliced and diced his town hall answers into a clip reel of disjointed quotes which the co-hosts warned prove he is a “very progressive” radical. “He had some interesting comments last night, sounds like a nice guy, but do you agree with his policies?” co-host Ainsley Earhardt said at one point before rattling off a misinformation-laden litany of Buttigieg’s purported positions.

This onslaught will almost certainly continue throughout the day and into the night, when the network’s stars perform for an audience that will surely be much greater than Buttigieg’s. That was also the trajectory Fox’s coverage tracked after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) partnered with the network for a town hall recently.

Link to tweet

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Most of us here on this board,

could see that coming miles away. Prefect Storm for Murdoch and Friends.

[DrToast]

2. Newsflash: His audience wasn't Fox and Friends.

[brooklynite]

7. Newsflash 2: They would have beaten up on him for doing an MSNBC or CNN Town Hall

[LonePirate]

3. The candidate receives 1 hour of live air time followed by weeks/months/years of attacks.

Some may see that as a fair trade but I do not.

[True Dough]

5. Those attacks are ongoing

over at Fox, practically 24/7. All Democrats are targets. No exceptions.

[DrToast]

6. The alternative is zero airtime and STILL weeks/months/years of attacks.

[True Dough]

4. Sure, it was predictable

but Mayor Pete went into enemy territory and said his piece.

Guess what? Fox and Friends mercilessly mocks and ridicules all Democrats at one time or another. Nothing new there.

[marylandblue]

8. Their attacks on him will only increase his popularity, if he plays it right.

All he has to do is criticize Fox News some more and repeat the more popular lines of the night.

[leftofcool]

21. Yep

Pete knew exactly what he was doing.

[cwydro]

26. Agree.

I think he scares the right. On any number of levels lol.

[BeyondGeography]

9. IOW, score another one for Warren

[DrToast]

10. Another loss? Afraid of Fox News?

[.99center]

13. "Afraid of Fox news" Hmm, where have we heard that talking point?

Warren's statement was clear.

“A Democratic town hall gives the Fox News sales team a way to tell potential sponsors it’s safe to buy ads on Fox,” she continued. “I won’t ask millions of Democratic primary voters to tune into an outlet that profits from racism and hate.”

[stonecutter357]

14. "Fox News is a hate-for-profit racket." elizabeth warren

She is not Afraid of Fox .

[BeyondGeography]

15. She welcomes their hatred

We need more of that.

[leftofcool]

23. She welcomes the hatred of 20% of Democrats who watch Fox News?

[BeyondGeography]

24. See the post I responded to

for clarity in your mind.

[LanternWaste]

31. Pretending an abject waste of one's time is equivalent to fear seem irrational.

But I'm certain you'll create a distinction lacking a relevant difference to maintain that particular pretense.

Good luck with that!

[left-of-center2012]

16. no

[Kurt V.]

27. +1

[Iliyah]

11. Getting additional national

exposure is a plus especially from fake news (Murdoch) since many Americans considered that station of propaganda total bullshit. Right on, Pete!

[shraby]

12. MSNBC is showing parts of his fox interview. Showed also his standing ovation.

I assume most of the shows there today will keep showing it.

[Chin music]

30. Standing O....

Still not worth feeding the evil that is fox 'news'.

[beachbum bob]

17. The overlying reason for any and all democrats to go on Fox is to make direct attacks against

Foxnews and programs like "Fox & Friends". Where is is it more useful to do???

Call them out in their own frontyard. We have allowed the right to paint democrats as p*ussies for decades. Lets set them straight in their face

[brush]

18. Which is why Warren and Harris knew better than to go on that right wing...

propaganda network.

[DrToast]

22. lol right. Fox News definitely won't say anything bad about Warren now!

At least Mayor Pete got in his shots in on their own channel.

[brush]

34. So did Sanders, the first one to allow FOX to pretend they are a real...

Last edited Mon May 20, 2019, 08:35 PM - Edit history (1)

news outlet and thus make money with advertisers in exchange for one hour or air time after which they trash you for weeks on their opinion shows. And btw, Sanders' numbers have plummeted since he made his appearance.

[Tarheel_Dem]

19. More power to Pete, but I hope Biden avoids that network like the plague. n/t

[leftofcool]

20. He will

If Team Pete reaches just 100K new Democratic voters, it's all good for us.

[Celerity]

25. +10000

[Kurt V.]

28. just guessing here but pete going on fox will probably not play well with

our most reliable base.

[.99center]

32. It's big finger to young Dem activists that have successfully

Pressured advertisers to pull their ads from Fox.

[Chin music]

29. So glad my choice said NO to fox.

Last edited Mon May 20, 2019, 06:10 PM - Edit history (1)

They are evil. And there's no way to justify the channel even being on tv menus. It's hateful, and a set-up job, for any Democrat foolish enough to feed their advertising dollars.

[elfin]

33. Pete exemplifies courage in so many ways

Probably not enough to draw enough African American voters, but enough to make a real difference for his and the nation's futures.

[wellst0nev0ter]

35. All these FAUX appearances do is give bipartisan cover to a fascist network

I thought this was a Democratic primary, why are these candidates going after Fox voters?

[highplainsdem]

36. Tucker Carlson continued the onslaught, called Pete a "slippery demagogue":

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/tucker-carlson-calls-buttigieg-a-slippery-demagogue-arguing-for-no-limits-at-all-to-abortion/

[.99center]

37. Tucker's taking full advantage of this opportunity to push white supremacist talking points

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Do you think Pete's younger supporters would recognize white supremacist talking points? I hope they didn't tune back in thinking Fox was a legitimate news network.