Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum evidently thought they could moderate a two-hour Republican presidential debate in a fictitious, Donald-Trump-less world on Wednesday. But despite eight years passing since Trump singlehandedly commandeered the party, the moderators seemingly failed to grasp the true hold he held—on voters, the debate audience, and the candidates themselves.
Their goal was evident from the first question, framed around the song currently atop the Billboard Hot 100—mostly due to conservative outrage—Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond.”
“Why is this song striking such a nerve in this country right now? What do you think it means?” MacCallum posed to the eight candidates who bothered to show up.