MEDIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump took a second whack at Fox News on Tuesday [4-16-19], again expressing frustration that his favored network offered a platform for Sen. Bernie Sanders to connect with 2020 voters. Without offering evidence, Trump on Tuesday night accused Fox News of blocking his supporters from attending the previous night’s town hall with Sanders…Sanders’ screen time on the typically Trump-friendly Fox News on Monday [4-15-19] night was a success by most measures, drawing the highest ratings for a town hall in the 2020 election cycle and allowing Sanders the opportunity to face questioning from more skeptical voters. The town hall was hosted in the portion of Bethlehem, Pa., that voted twice for former President Barack Obama before flipping to Trump in 2016. One viral moment of the town hall came when hosts Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier polled the audience on Sanders’ Medicare for All plan — a proposition frequently scrutinized on the network — to resounding approval. Trump, whose ties to and affinity for Fox News are well documented, tweeted earlier Tuesday that it was ‘so weird’ to watch Sanders on the network, complaining that Baier and the audience were ‘so smiley and nice.’ He also questioned the network’s hiring of former Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman Donna Brazile as a commentator.”
–Caitlin Oprysko, “Trump takes second whack at Fox News,” Politico, April 17, 2019 3:21 pm