Senator Bernie Sanders appeared on The Daily Show Thursday night where he was warmly welcomed by host Trevor Noah and his enthusiastic audience. At one point during the interview, Noah expressed confusion on why the radical Democrat would agree to appear on an “illegitimate” news source like Fox News.
Before that, Noah gushed at the audience’s reaction when Sanders came on stage, comparing him to the Beatles:
“It literally feels like you are the political Beatles. That's what you are. You're all of them rolled into one,” he teased, adding, “Do you ever get used to this?”
The late-night host went on to compliment Sanders for leading a “political revolution” that caused many Democrats to accept his socialist ideas, praising him for getting young people and minorities out to vote in the 2016 election.
Noah then confronted Sanders on his decision to appear on Fox after the DNC ban, wondering why he would go to an "illegitimate" news organization:
You really have connected with people that you wouldn't expect. I mean, young people, people of color, you've connected with so many groups, and now what's really interesting to me is it recently came out that you have decided to do a Fox News town hall, even though, you know, the D.N.C. made a decision to not go with Fox News for any of the debates.
You're breaking with that line of thinking. Some would say, but Bernie, why would you go to Fox News, it's not a legitimate news organization. So what are you doing there?
“Trust me, I know Fox News. I know who they are and I know the role that they are playing,” Sanders snarked back, adding that the network was not the same as the “millions” of Americans who watch them. He argued that Trump voters needed to hear that the president had lied to them about healthcare and tax reform and it was “important” that they hear his explanation for why Trump had “betrayed the working class of this country.”
“I'm excited to chat with you not about Trump's lies but your ideas for the country,” Noah responded as they cut to commercial.
Although Democrats tend to avoid Fox News like the plague, some other Democrat candidates like Howard Schultz and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg have also appeared on Fox News for a town hall and sit-down interview, respectively.