During Fox News Channel’s rather sparse Election 2017 coverage, the network invited David Avella, the chairman of a Republican political action committee, and Simon Rosenberg, the president of liberal think tank and advocacy organization NDN, to talk about the Republican tax cut plan. Despite Rosenberg rolling his eyes several times and vowing to never return, the resulting Happening Now episode went about as well as could be expected. You can watch a short clip above with the full segment below.
After saying (possibly after reading the tea leaves) that most voters don’t remember who their governor is, Avella said that voters would remember if their taxes were cut or not. Host Melissa Francis then turned to Rosenberg to name one thing that would make the bill “palatable to Democrats” before immediately accusing him of “doing talking points” after Rosenberg said Democrats aren’t on board for cutting taxes for wealthy people.
“Is that the estate tax?” Francis asked.
“May I finish?” Rosenberg responded. “May I finish?”
“Well, you’re doing talking points,” Francis repeated.
“It’s insulting that you say that to me as if I don’t actually understand what I’m saying and can do my own analysis about the economy,” Rosenberg said to a now-grinning Francis.
“But you’re not answering the question,” Francis said.
“No, I am answering the question,” Rosenberg continued, “which is ‘Democrats are not going to support tax reform that dramatically cuts taxes on people that don’t need tax cuts and prevents middle class people from sharing in the benefits of these tax cuts while driving up the deficit.’ We’re never going to support that framework.” Then Francis and Rosenberg really get into it.
Francis asked him again if there was one thing Democrats would add to the bill, Rosenberg again mentioned the fundamental flaws Democrats have with the issue, and Francis accused him of not answering the question.
“Repeating yourself isn’t helping the argument,” Francis said.
After a minute of raising their voices at each other and arguing over whether or not the middle class will actually see a tax increase under this plan (and Rosenberg essentially saying “I know you’re smarter than this” to the host), Francis mercifully closed the segment and suggested she and Rosenberg “get a drink sometime” to show there were no hard feelings.
“Melissa, don’t worry, I’m never coming back on this show ever again, so it doesn’t matter,” Rosenberg said.
Through laughter, Francis replied, “Alright, thank you.”
Watch the full video of the segment below (the fireworks start around the 3:00 minute mark).