Trump Makes Cable History Record with Fox News Town Hall
Fox News’ town hall Thursday evening with President Donald Trump averaged 4.2 million viewers, making it the most-watched election town hall in cable news history, according to early Nielsen Media Research data.
The event hosted in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and moderated by “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier and “The Story” anchor Martha MacCallum also brought in 744,000 viewers in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic, Fox News reported.
The Fox News town hall was shown from 6:30-7:30 p.m. EST and dominated the other cable news programs during that time, with MSNBC and CNN bringing in 1.4 million and 1 million viewers respectively.
Another 2 million viewers tuned in to the encore presentation of the Town Hall at 11 p.m.
Trump’s first town hall of 2020 was more conversational than his rallies and gave him a chance to connect directly with voters who had the opportunity to ask the president questions personally, Fox News reported.
He started by defending his administration’s response to the coronavirus, arguing that limiting travel from China early had averted a broader crisis in the United States.
Trump said he had been ready to face Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for the presidency, but then Biden won quite a few states on Tuesday.
“I’m all set for Bernie, communist, I had everything down, I was all set,” Trump said.
“And then we have this crazy thing that happened on Tuesday, which [Biden] thought was Thursday. But he also said 150 million people were killed with guns, and he was running for the United States Senate — there’s something going on there.”
By highlighting Biden’s most recent gaffes, Trump called into question the former vice president’s mental acuity and fitness for office.
Trump criticized Sen. Elizabeth Warren for not dropping out of the race sooner, saying that Sanders “would have won five, six, seven states.”
The president also responded to a question about the rhetoric of insult politics in today’s culture and how it is dividing the country.
Americans want their president to fight for them.@realDonaldTrump is that fighter.
Great Town Hall event tonight. pic.twitter.com/jZjQFkaxuL
— Brad Parscale – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@parscale) March 6, 2020
“I think the way we unite is really through success, but when they hit us, we have to hit back,” Trump said. “There’s two ways of doing it. Turning your cheek — but I wouldn’t be sitting up here if I turned my cheek.”
Fox News has hosted eight town halls with 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, most recently with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — who have all since dropped out of the race.
Fox News’ town hall with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders held the previous record in this election cycle, with 2.6 million viewers tuning in in April 2019, The Hill reported.
On Friday, Fox News Media President and Executive Editor Jay Wallace announced that the network will host the second town hall event with Sanders in Detroit on Monday.
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