By Recker McDowell
Get ready to drink the Kool-Aid or start grinding your gears.
Fox News is bringing its Fox Nation streaming service to Scottsdale for its ‘Inaugural Summit’ on Tuesday. The March 14 event is at the W Hotel. Doors open at 5 p.m. for the 7 p.m. event.
Fox Nation features conservative and pro-Trump voices such as Tomi Lahren, David Webb, Bill Bennett and Pete Hegseth as well as social media stars ‘Diamond & Silk’.
The Scottsdale venue shows the important place Arizona still holds for conservatives and President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign chances. Trump carried Arizona 2016 and has used the state as a top venue for his hard-nosed immigration pushes.
But Red State Arizona turned a more than a bit blue in 2018 with Kyrsten Sinema’s win in the U.S. Senate race and wins by Katie Hobbs and Kathy Hoffman in the contests for Secretary of State and Superintendent of Public Instruction. Democrats will look to Arizona as part of their electoral math in 2020.
The Scottsdale event should have plenty of rhetoric backing Trump and jabs at Democrats from U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to presidential candidates Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris. We are guessing the Fox News and Fox Nation crowd will know who ‘Alfred E. Neuman’ is. That is Trump’s nickname for Buttigieg.
We are also guessing AOC and Democratic U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, both of whom have been criticized for making anti-Israel and anti-Semitic remarks, will get more attention than the 2020 presidential field.
AOC and her ‘Green New Deal’ and pushes for higher taxes on the rich have attracted plenty of attention from pro-Trump and GOP quarters. Like with Trump getting in a feud with the young and photogenic AOC spurs social media attention for both sides.
Political reporter Ed Henry, comedian Tom Shillue and sports reporter Abby Hornacek are also part of Fox Nation’s lineup which offers unique content from the Fox News cable channel and seeks to compete in the streaming world.
Attendees must register online have to be 21 or older. The latter might cut into potential protesters. The Fox Nation event promises photo opportunities, a pop shop to buy gear and chance for some attendees to pitch show ideas.
The wild card in the event will be how Fox Nation commentators and the crowd approach the spat between Trump and late Arizona Senator John McCain and his family. McCain was a top GOP critic of Trump.
Cindy and Meghan McCain are no fans of Trump. But Trump and his base are also not keen on the late Arizona senator or his family.
That GOP fissure could show itself in 2020 and Trump’s reelection bid as well as at the Fox Nation event in Scottsdale. That will be worth watching.
