Howard Schultz has it all figured out. The real problem with Democrats is that they don’t reach out to the other side. (This, incidentally, is also the real problem with Republicans.) So Schultz is showing them how it’s done. On Wednesday, he appeared on the Fox News rundown podcast, where he made the case that he would work with both parties. On Thursday morning, on Fox News’ website, he published yet another one of his deeply misguided diatribes about the national debt; in the evening, at a Fox News town hall hosted by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, he parroted Clint Eastwood with an empty-chair shtick. There’s an implicit message in all of this political theater: The Democrats are too afraid to appear on Fox News, but Howard Schultz is not.

There’s a bit of truth to that. Last month, the Democrats said they wouldn’t invite the network to host any of the party’s upcoming primary debates. But one Democratic candidate is willing to dance with the devil: Bernie Sanders. Fox News announced on Wednesday that Baier and MacCallum will host a town hall with the Vermont senator on April 15 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.



Sanders has taken heat for his decision from Democrats of all stripes. “WTF is Bernie doing?” tweeted ThinkProgress’ Ian Millhiser. Daily Kos’ Carolyn Fiddler told The Washington Post the move was “unfortunate and dismaying,” adding, “I don’t know why he would lend his considerable presence to a network that routinely pushes sexist and racist tropes about progressives and his supporters.” Splinter’s Katherine Krueger cast the town hall as a waste of time: “The chance that Sanders brings over some Trump voters is a spectral vision that remains to be seen, but I’d argue that the ones who are already tuned into Fox News when that town hall starts aren’t going to move an inch on this pinko socialist.”



The debate over whether Democrats should engage with Fox is a microcosm of the broader debate within the Democratic Party about engaging with Trump voters. Just as many Democrats believe that appearing anywhere on Fox legitimizes the network’s most offensive bloviators, many believe that courting Trump voters will require legitimizing the president’s views. Both fears are understandable, but quite overblown. If Democrats want to win back white voters—and that’s a big “if”—they need to meet those voters where they are.



In early March, Tom Perez, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, released a withering statement that cited a recent New Yorker investigation into Fox News’ symbiotic, often propagandistic, relationship with the Trump administration. “I believe that a key pathway to victory is to continue to expand our electorate and reach all voters,” said Perez in a statement. “That is why I have made it a priority to talk to a broad array of potential media partners, including Fox News. Recent reporting in the New Yorker on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and Fox News has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates. Therefore, Fox News will not serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates.”

