New York Times reporter: Warren’s anti-Fox News argument ‘tiptoes dangerously close to deplorables’

New York Times political reporter Lisa Lerer said Monday that an argument by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), a 2020 White House hopeful, against appearing on Fox News “tiptoes dangerously close to deplorables,” a term used by former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to describe President Trump’s voters in 2016.

“There is this big debate as you alluded in the Democratic Party about whether or not to go on Fox at all,” Lerer told CNN anchor Kate Bolduan. “Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic National Committee, say it’s not something Democrats should do because by going on Fox, Democrats are just helping this network that vilifies them every day nonstop make money.”

{mosads}”And then you have the flip side, which is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), [South Bend, Ind.] Mayor [Pete] Buttigieg, saying we need to reach people where they are,” Lerer, also a CNN contributor, continued, referring to two others candidates in the Democratic presidential field.

“And there is some concern with the Warren argument that it tiptoes dangerously close to deplorables, that phrase that got Hillary Clinton in so much trouble during the last election, so you don’t want to sort of vilify people, even if you’re trying to vilify the network.”

Lerer’s perspective comes after Warren declared she wouldn’t appear on a Fox News town hall because the network is a “hate-for-profit racket.”

Other 2020 Democratic hopefuls have appeared on Fox News town halls, however, including Sanders, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Buttigieg, who was featured in a live event from New Hampshire on Sunday night.

Buttigieg said during the Fox News town hall that many Democrats were critical of his appearance before noting controversial remarks made by Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham.

“I get where that’s coming from, especially when you see what goes on with some of the opinion hosts on this network,” Buttigieg said.

“When you’ve got Tucker Carlson saying that immigrants make America dirty. When you’ve got Laura Ingraham comparing detention centers with children in cages to summer camps. There is a reason why anybody has to swallow hard and think twice before participating in this media ecosystem,” he added.

Buttigieg is polling at 7 percent in the RealClearPolitics polling index, more than 31 points behind former Vice President Joe Biden in the race for the Democratic nomination.

The 37-year-old mayor is the third Democratic presidential candidate to appear on Fox News in a town hall format.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is slated to appear on the next Fox News town hall on June 2.