Fox News announced Monday that longtime Democratic political operative Donna Brazile has joined its network as a contributor, leaving more than a few viewers confused.
After all, isn’t this the same woman that many at Fox News correspondents have spent the last two years raking over the coals for leaking the 2016 Democratic primary debate questions to then-candidate Hillary Clinton? Indeed, it is!
Really, though, it’s not that difficult to understand Fox News’ thinking. The cable news racket is more entertainment than straight news. Fox News understands this better than most. The Brazile hire is good show business.
“I’m delighted to be joining FOX News,” Brazile said Monday in a statement. “I know I’m going to get criticized from my friends in the progressive movement for being on FOX News. My response is that, if we’ve learned anything from the 2016 election, it is that we can’t have a country where we don’t talk to those who disagree with our political views.”
She added: “There’s an audience on FOX News that doesn’t hear enough from Democrats. We have to engage that audience and show Americans of every stripe what we stand for rather than retreat into our ‘safe spaces’ where we simply agree with each other.”
Brazile made her debut Monday afternoon on “The Daily Briefing” with host Dana Perino.
The newly minted Fox News contributor wrote elsewhere in an op-ed published on Fox News’ website, “Will I agree with my fellow commentators at Fox News? Probably not. But I will listen. Will I question them if they make assertions about hard-working Americans, low-income people and issues like climate change that I disagree with? Absolutely. But I will do so with civility and respect. I will also freely admit the weaknesses in liberal arguments and the strength in conservative positions.”
She added: “And I welcome the opportunity to challenge many of the false assumptions about progressives, especially those newly elected to Congress. To leave the world a better place, you need to help make the world a better place. Just as it takes many ingredients to make a good gumbo, it will require listening to many voices before we are able to move forward as one people. And that’s exactly why I am so excited to join the honest and passionate debate at Fox News about our future.”
Brazile is no dummy, but she’s not being brought in to change minds or start conversations. She’s being brought in for the entertainment value, as a foil for the network’s hosts to cut down. Fox News viewers are already primed to view her as a villain, meaning her inevitable showdowns with the network’s conservative and pro-Trump heroes will make for gonzo viral ratings.
That Fox News is bringing on an establishment Democrat at a time when her party is trending far, far, far left also suggests a cunning political calculation on the part of Fox News executives. There will eventually come a moment when Brazile rolls her eyes at the antics and policies of increasingly popular progressive politicians, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. That will make for especially good TV and clickable news stories. It’s shrewd.
