Watch Fox News Call the Dr. Christine Ford Hearings a “Disaster for Republicans”

Fox News has their top line of journalists hosting today’s panel around the Christine Ford hearings, but it’s still Fox News, so you know that there’s a certain ideological line that they’re incentivized to fall on to today, but their star anchor, Chris Wallace, is eschewing that state-TV trope. Both he and Bret Baier remarked about how credible Dr. Ford has been, and Wallace didn’t mince words in how he—a journalist of 54 years—interpreted the hearings from his conservative perspective.

On Fox News, Bret Baier says hearing from Blasey Ford “is a totally different thing” than reading her allegations.

Chris Wallace: “This was extremely emotional, extremely raw, and extremely credible… This is a disaster for the Republicans.” pic.twitter.com/aSbznSJdHC

— David Mack (@davidmackau) September 27, 2018

He’s right, the optics of this are a nightmare for Republicans, not to mention how incoherent these 5-minute bursts of questioning are (plus, Christine Ford named Mark Judge as a co-conspirator to all this, and the GOP has refused to talk to him, preferring to make this look like a he-said, she-said situation).

This is what Christine Blasey Ford is looking at as she describes her sexual assault. pic.twitter.com/GGxmuHnNpZ

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) September 27, 2018

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch highlighted exactly why the septuagenarians in the GOP are having a woman cross-examine Dr. Ford (and not just because the GOP has never put a woman on the Senate Judiciary Committee).

Happened in a gaggle of reporters, and another woman amd I shared an unmistakable “did he really say that?” look afterward.

— Kate Irby (@kateirby) September 27, 2018

The demographic split interpreting this hearing is impossible to ignore.

Two male callers to CSPAN: one says Blasey Ford is lying, the other said he would take her out to the woodshed (if I heard correctly). One 76 year old woman caller says, weeping, she was molested in 2nd grade and that this testimony is bringing all the memories back.

— Clare Malone (@ClareMalone) September 27, 2018

And to the “why don’t women report sexual assault?” crowd, Chris Wallace has an anecdote that’s pretty instructive. It’s partially because of you folks, who create a culture of intimidation that makes it incredibly difficult and painful to come forward with accusations. Dr. Ford’s heroism has pushed back against that culture, following the #MeToo movement in creating room to publicly talk about one of the worst days of a person’s life.

Fox News’ CHRIS WALLACE says in wake of Kavanaugh allegations “two of my daughters have told me stories that I have never heard before about things that happened in high school & hadn’t told their parents… I don’t this we can disregard Ford and the seriousness of this.” pic.twitter.com/5lKaTDo9Cy

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 27, 2018

This is a dark day in America, but there are glimmers of light shining through the clouds, as we have entered a new world where women are to be believed.

Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling.