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Fox Host CALLS OUT Republican on Deficit Hypocrisy
A common refrain in American politics is that when Democrats are in power, Republicans love to claim Dems are blowing up the debt and deficit and generally being fiscally irresponsible. However, when Republicans are in power, and they drive up the debt and deficit even more than Democrats, members of the GOP ignore these topics altogether. Debt and deficit are used as political footballs and have been for decades but it’s especially done by the right wing. This is dumbfounding because Republicans really don’t have a case to make on these topics looking at recent history. Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump massively increased the deficit whereas Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama significantly lowered the federal deficit. Time will tell what President Biden’s record will be on this topic, but it’s clear that Republicans have no right to criticize him over it when they have a terrible track record themselves on it.
This right-wing hypocrisy on debt and deficit was on full display during an interview with Republican Senator James Lankford on Fox News this week. The interviewer, Neil Cavuto, pointed out that even before coronavirus, “debt also piled up in the Trump administration [and] big packages unpaid for piled up in his administration.” Lankford tried to weasel out of the conundrum by jumping to another common right-wing talking point about how the 2017 Trump tax cut legislation paid for itself (it did not and there is evidence of exactly the opposite). To his credit, Cavuto didn’t let the issue slide and told Lankford that under Trump, “the deficits piled up right? And so did the debt.” This kind of honesty and pushback is rare from Fox News but on occasion Neil Cavuto will surprise us like this. Republican politicians should never again be able to get away with making the argument that they’re the fiscally responsible ones because there’s never been any evidence to back that up.
Fox Guest Confuses China & Japan, No One Corrects Her
The Summer Olympics are still planned to take place this year, after getting rescheduled last year due to the pandemic. They will be happening in Tokyo, Japan and Fox News recently decided to do a segment about how they didn’t like how the American flag is going to be portrayed during the event. However, the part of their discussion that’s getting most of the attention is how one guest managed to confuse Japan with China in embarrassing fashion and none of the fellow panelists managed to correct her. The guest is Morgan Ortagus and she made a case about how the Olympics should not be happening in Japan because of the country's genocide of the Uyghur ethnic minority. Unfortunately for her, she got the country wrong, as the human rights abuses she was referring to are actually occurring in Xinjiang, China and are being committed by Chinese government. Ortagus said “I like to call them the genocide Olympics” before going on to question whether American athletes should be participating in the games. None of the other guests spoke up, and in fact Kayleigh McEnany, who was on the panel, nodded along in agreement. All Harris Faulkner could do was say “wow” in a tone that suggested she was in agreement with Ortagus. This blunder is pretty bad, but probably not all too uncommon for Fox News.
From yesterday’s show:
Trump Called Merkel a "B*tch," "Kraut" in Oval Office
Washington Post reporters Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig have a new book coming out soon called I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year and we’re beginning to get some of the juiciest details from their reporting. According to the book, Donald Trump reportedly called German Chancellor Angela Merkel a "bitch.” Trump also referred to Merkel as a “kraut” which is a pejorative for German people. The reporting also demonstrates that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley was highly concerned about threats to Joe Biden’s inauguration. He said about some Trump supporters, “here’s the deal, guys: These guys are Nazis, they’re boogaloo boys, they’re Proud Boys. These are the same people we fought in World War II.” Many of these tell-all books, like Fury and Fury by Michael Wolff or Fear by Bob Woodward, haven’t turned out to be all that revealing beyond a few soundbites. I think there’s every reason to believe, since this is about the craziest of the four Trump years, that I Alone Can Fix It could actually be worth reading.
--More on the show:
--Caller compares the US's reaction to COVID to its reaction to 9/11
--Caller wonders what will be the result of Texas Democrats protesting the state's voter suppression bill
--Caller talks about voting rights and the Republican Party
--Caller wants to end exotic pet ownership
--Caller talks about what the US's response should be to the crisis in Cuba
--Caller discusses right-wing immigrants in America
--Caller compares Trump supporters to scientologists
--Caller wonders whether unvaccinated people with COVID should be a lower priority in hospitals
--Audience Question: What happens to drugs trafficking if drugs are decriminalized?
--Audience Question: When will COVID become the Republican virus?
--Audience Question: Could Trump 2024 spell disaster for Democrats?
--On the Bonus Show: French rush to get vaccines after health pass requirement, Kristi Noem criticizes other Republican governors, Roy Moore loses lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen, and much more...
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