Fox News’ Megyn Kelly replacement, Tucker Carlson, hasn’t always been the biggest fan of Donald Trump. According to bits of trivia unearthed and put together by The Daily Beast in January, the Tucker Carlson Tonight host often made fun of the New York real estate mogul. Since Trump’s ascendancy to the Republican nomination and the White House, however, Carlson has become more understanding of the president, his Twitter tantrums, and his administration’s policies. After all, this is the same talking head who told Teen Vogue‘s Lauren Duca to “stick to the thigh-high boots” in December.
So why did Carlson go after Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday night’s show? For starters, Fox News and its viewers haven’t always been the Wisconsin congressman’s biggest fan. And with the American Health Care Act, otherwise known as “Trumpcare,” making its way through the House at an alarmingly fast rate, Carlson had just as many criticisms as he did questions for Ryan.
“We’re 47 days into the Trump administration and really nothing’s gone through the Congress. At this point, during the Obama administration eight years ago, they passed all kinds of stuff,” said Carlson. When Ryan predictably disagreed, the show host demanded notable examples of what — if anything — Congress had actually passed since Trump’s inauguration. The speaker then discussed the Congressional Review Act (an obscure law allowing them to rollback Obamacare) and other technical legislative matters, but Carlson seemed unmoved.
For starters, his face didn’t change throughout Ryan’s response…
And the Tucker Carlson Tonight host wasn’t satisfied with Ryan’s answers due to the perceived inaction (or fast action) of Congress. What Republicans should be doing, he argued, was figuring out how to make Trump’s many campaign promises into a reality, and as soon as possible:
“With respect, I don’t understand this. This is the 115th Congress. I think you’ve been in session for less than half of that time. So in April, we checked… The House is in session for eight days in April. There’s a lot to do. Nothing meaningful has really been… I mean you could say, ‘I went to a bill signing about coal,’ but there’s a lot of stuff that hasn’t been done that he promised, but it hasn’t made its way through Congress. Not all your fault, obviously, but eight days is not a lot of time to be working in an entire month. Why?”
The two then debated whether or not the House was only going to be in session for eight days in April, with Ryan assuring Carlson the stat was wrong (it’s not) while Carlson gave another solid face freeze.
To further bolster his and Congress’ efforts to repeal Obamacare, push Trumpcare through and address many other points of interest, the speaker went through a laundry list of items. Ryan then claimed they would do “all of those things… in just 2017.” Even Trump’s wall, which Carlson concluded the segment by discussing.
(Via Mediaite)