A day after Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren rejected Fox News’ offer to participate in one of the its town halls, calling the network a “hate-for-profit racket,” the crew at MSNBC’s Morning Joe criticized the Massachusetts senator’s decision while also suggesting she was right to claim the network peddles in bigotry and conspiracy theories.
Co-host Joe Scarborough kicked off the conversation Wednesday morning by asking if Warren would be able to reach out to swing voters by going on Fox News, especially since some of their anchors like Chris Wallace are “pretty darn straight.”
This prompted Mika Brzezinski to concede that the network was “exactly as Elizabeth Warren describes it” as it has a “direct connection from a corrupt president who is a racist” before ultimately chastising Warren for rejecting the invitation.
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“I would argue that a presidential candidate should be able to walk into any situation, walk into any fire, and have the confidence and the ability to put it out by spreading the democratic values and his or her beliefs,” Brzezinski declared. “I think they should go into Fox and do all the town halls they can do. Fox, you could argue, is smart to be doing these. That’s a sign of some sort of change.”
New York Times reporter and MSNBC political analyst Nick Confessore chimed in, adding that Warren was “looking for a viral moment to stand out from the crowd” before arguing that candidates “can’t get votes you don’t ask for.”
“The person who wins the White House for the Democrats is going to have to persuade some people who voted for Trump to vote for them instead,” he added. “The people doing the town halls is not Sean Hannity. It is the newscasters.”
Scarborough later claimed that independent and swing voters watch Fox News. Warren needs to “get out in front of people who may not agree with you,” he said, invoking Barack Obama’s 2008 election strategy.
Fellow host Willie Geist further piled on Warren by insisting that appearing in a town-hall setting with anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum is not the same as endorsing Fox’s far-right primetime lineup.
“You’re not talking to the hosts at Fox News, it is the viewers who may be having doubts about President Trump,” Geist said. “If you can win a couple of votes, seems to me to be worth it.”
Brzezinski, meanwhile, concluded the segment by telling Warren that she can go on a Fox News town hall and give her opinion of primetime—once again suggesting that the only issue at the network is with its opinion hosts.
