Thus far, four Democratic 2020 candidates have done town halls on Fox News. (Gillibrand, Klobuchar, Sanders, and Buttigieg.) Now a fifth contender has approached the network looking to get a slice of that high-ratings goodness, and it’s none other than New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Of course, people were quick to point out that it might be a bit awkward for Hizzoner to go to Fox with his hat in his hand after some of the things he’s said about the network in the past. And we’re not even talking the distant past. (Free Beacon)

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has approached Fox News about doing a town hall on the top-rated cable news network, despite previously eviscerating it as racially and politically divisive. The New York Times reported on the 2020 Democratic candidate’s desire to appear on Fox, which a spokeswoman chalked up to a desire to reach as many voters as possible. His honor is a current non-factor in the polls and still has work to do to reach the first primary debate stage later this month. “We want to talk to all voters about why the mayor is the best candidate for working people–regardless of what news channel they watch,” de Blasio spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie said.

So… this would be the same Bill de Blasio that previously said this?

Murdoch's media empire is "dividing people and creating hatred and negativity and changing our political landscape for the worse," @BillDeBlasio told me on today's @ReliableSources. Here's how he reacted when I challenged him https://t.co/6DleOhw7bO pic.twitter.com/fUVAbLjHAW — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 12, 2018

The Mayor’s desire for a spot on the Fox evening lineup is understandable. After all, when Kirsten Gillibrand did her town hall on Fox she racked up solid ratings that dwarfed the town halls being held on CNN during the same time period. So it’s not hard to see why de Blasio might want to grab some of that magic for himself. After all, he’s still showing up in the most recent polling with a score of… [checks notes] zero percent and a favorability rating of 12%.

With that in mind, good old Bill could definitely use a boost from something. But is Fox going to go along with the request after the rather… harsh critiques they’ve received from the Mayor in the past? They still haven’t officially said anything in the few days since de Blasio asked, but it could definitely go either way in my opinion. Sure, they could snub him and wait for a more promising candidate to ask for a town hall. (That won’t be Elizabeth Warren, though. She’s refusing.) And who could blame them? They could phrase the denial in terms of either his lack of viability or relevance, which would sting quite a bit.

Alternately, they could offer him the town hall but makes sure that the host (or hosts) were some of the Fox folks that de Blasio has verbally savaged the most. Talk about awkward. The opening would probably consist of something along the lines of, “Welcome back to the network of overt hate. We’re joined this evening by one of the Democratic candidates for the presidency… [peers at 3×5 card] Bill… Da Blaze Eye Oh?”

It probably won’t give Bill a boost in the polls but it would be a ratings giant and the clips would live on forever on social media.