Fox host attacks Bernie Sanders for saying incarcerated people should be able to vote: “He needs to get a civics lesson”

Pete Hegseth: “Yes, we all get to vote. But we have a system of other rules as well of checks and balances that make sure we stay free.”

From the April 23 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

Video file

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Of all those little sound bites from the five hour telethon town hall last night, I think the most jaw-dropping was Bernie Sanders. I mean, he was asked do you support voting rights for people in jail, even the Boston marathon bomber who killed those people -- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and he said yes. The RNC sent out an email blast shortly thereafter, it said that his response was beyond extreme. Mayor Pete [Buttigieg] said those in jail should not vote but those released should be re-enfranchised. But Bernie made it very clear, if you are in jail for whether it's murder or sexual assault or anything else, you should be able to vote. 

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): And then he doubled down on it, blaming Republican governors. He said, “Republican governors all over the country, they are doing this. They come up with all kinds of excuses why people of color, young people, and poor people can't vote.”

PETE HEGSETH (GUEST CO-HOST): He got a huge roar from the audience of applause for that answer by the way. 

EARHARDT: Saying that the worst of the worst should be able to vote. 

HEGSETH: The Boston bomber should be able to vote, now he says it's because we are a democracy. By the way, he needs to get a civics lesson. We are not a democracy, we are a constitutional republic because there are certain rights endowed on us by our founders, by our creator that a majority of people can't vote away. You can't vote away my first amendment or my second amendment, that would be an absolute democracy. You hear them all say it, democracy, democracy. Yes, we all get to vote. But we have a system of other rules as well of checks and balances that make sure we stay free. 

EARHARDT: Everyone should vote. Even convicted sex offenders. 

HEGSETH: Convicted sex offenders and the Boston bomber. He said that. 

Previously:

Fox guest: There is a “moral hazard of turning Election Day into election season” with things like early voting and mail-in ballots

Fox & Friends guest claims the Electoral College was designed “to give everybody a vote”

Fox & Friends ignored report that Republican fraud has spurred a new election in North Carolina