After Trump lashes out, Fox News anchors change the way they interview DNC staffer

Written by Courtney Hagle

Research contributions from Ryan Masri

Published

On August 28, President Donald Trump lashed out at Fox News’ America’s Newsroom for not pushing back strongly enough when Democratic National Committee Communications Director Xochitl Hinojosa mentioned polling that consistently shows top Democrat presidential candidates ahead of him.

On September 12, Hinojosa came on America’s Newsroom and again brought up the fact that Democratic 2020 candidates are beating Trump in the polls in response to anchor Bill Hemmer’s claim that only Joe Biden can beat Trump. This time, Hemmer was quick to cut off Hinojosa when she brought up polls, telling her that Democrats are perceived as socialists and “the Trump campaign is all over that.”

From the September 12 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom

BILL HEMMER (CO-ANCHOR): Wall Street Journal, Dan Henninger. Here’s his headline: He says a normal candidate might defeat Trump but beyond Joe Biden, there is no plan B. What do you think about that in conversation?

XOCHITL HINOJOSA (DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR): I disagree with that. I think that if you're looking at a head-to-head in most of the polling -- in most of the polls -- the top polling candidates would beat Trump in a head-to-head. And that’s why you see Trump attacking most of them. And so I think that a lot of these candidates have a message that resonates, and the voters that I'm talking to are sick of Donald Trump tweeting. They're sick of him not talking about the issues.

HEMMER: Here’s the reason why -- Dan Henninger makes that point for a reason, because a lot of Republicans see a socialist message coming from the Democratic Party. And you know the Trump’s campaign is all over that. In fact, later today they're going to fly a banner above the skies of Houston and here’s what it says: “Socialism will kill Houston's economy, vote Trump 2020.”

Here is the previous interview that Trump lashed out over:

From the August 28 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom

SANDRA SMITH (CO-ANCHOR): That being said, the polling right now, it's become very interesting. And it's what we have to go off of this early on, although a lot of people like to say the polls don't accurately predict things, when you look back at the 2016 election. However, here's a new USA Today/Suffolk University poll. And it does show Joe Biden, the clear front runner. It's got a large margin of error, 4.76%, so keep that in mind, but Joe Biden clearly with the lead there at 32%. And this latest poll, Warren at 14, Sanders at 12. This is coming after a poll yesterday got a lot of attention, showing Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren polling ahead of what has been your front runner, Joe Biden. Bernie at 20, Elizabeth at 20, Joe Biden, 19. That was that Monmouth University poll that had nearly a 6% margin of error. What is going on with the race for 2020 and your party? 

XOCHITL HIOJOSA (DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I wish I could explain the polling, but I can't. And I think there's a lot of enthusiasm right now. You're seeing large crowd sizes for a lot of our Democratic candidates. And they were just at the DNC meeting this last week, where they talked about their vision for America and the vision for the future. And what you heard from DNC members at that meeting was they were excited, and they felt that no matter what happens, our values will bring us together, and they will support whoever the Democratic nominee is. So we came out of that meeting, feeling very positive about the candidates that are in this race fighting for them, and I think that any one of these candidates will be a better president than Donald Trump.

SMITH: Well, who do you think your nominee -- has the best chance of beating him?

HINOJOSA: I have no idea. All of them will --

SMITH: You always have that answer. I mean, you must get together behind closed doors and say this is our best shot. Who is it?

HINOJOSA: Well, I don't know who the nominee is going to be, but what I will tell you is that if you're looking at recent polling, most of the top polling candidates in a head-to-head would beat Donald Trump, and especially in those battleground states. And I think what's really important here is for the first time, the Democratic party has started organizing in those battleground states. So yes, it will be about a candidate's message. It will be about who can beat Donald Trump, but it's also -- we can't forget that it's about who's organizing on the ground and who is reaching out to those voters now.

SMITH: Great point.

 

Hinojosa formerly worked at Media Matters from 2008-2009.