From the April 20 edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co.:
Fox panel panics over public disapproval of Trump's tax law: “Socialism is back, socialism is now acceptable”
Meanwhile, Wall Street banks saved $3.6 billion in taxes under the new law
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
STUART VARNEY (HOST): You know, look, we all faulted [Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)] when she said it's just crumbs, we all said “oh, she's totally out of touch,” but maybe it's working. Because, if you look at that poll in The Wall Street Journal, tax cuts are not popular. More people oppose them and think they're a bad idea than think they're a good idea. Maybe Nancy Pelosi is working a political line that's working.
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): I don't understand that poll. I mean, I know people -- I live in middle America, I know people. They're happy about the tax cut, and so are all the businesspeople in main street who are also benefiting from the tax cut, so are all the people who are going back to factories and getting jobs because of all the regulations that have been decreased as well. Which, by the way, as you know, the regulations were as important, if not more important, than the tax cuts in terms of bringing back this economy.
VARNEY: Maybe the message isn't getting through.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: It may not be.
VARNEY: The Democrats' message is, “It's all for the rich. The rich are getting richer. This is just a -- crumbs for us, everything for the rich.” That message is getting through.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: It's true, and it's what they tried to do at the beginning. They said -- in December -- they said, ''Listen, you're not going to feel any of it." So, I don't know how the Democrats have any credibility, because people began to feel it immediately as well as through the bonuses that they got. So, I don't know how the Democrats have that kind of credibility when it comes to it, but they've been hounding and doing class division and selling saying it's just for the rich for a long time. It's what works for them. Republicans need to come back and talk about not just the tax cut, but a bigger issue. We have people running right now as socialists, and it's working for them. The Republicans need to have a conversation about free enterprise and what eight years of a slide to socialism under Barack Obama brought us, which was stagnation, and how this is a comeback of American entrepreneurial capitalism. That's the conversation we should be having.
VARNEY: How do you think I feel? I'm a refugee from socialism. I left England in the 1970s because it degenerated into a socialist society which was absolutely going nowhere. I come to America, glory -- I mean, a wonderful place --free market, individuality, and now I find socialism is back, socialism is now acceptable.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: That's right. And if you're over 50, you don't like it, according to the latest polls. If you're a millennial, you're OK with it, which means the left has a hold on our universities, they're indoctrinating our children. Barack Obama made it -- normalized it. Bernie Sanders did it even more. And, again, the conversation can't be about tax cuts, we need to have a broader conversation about entrepreneurial capitalism and what are really the things that bring back the American dream to the American people. It's certainly not socialism. You can look down to -- Let's send all these young kids to a spring break trip to Caracas, Venezuela. Maybe that will help explain what happens to socialism.
Related:
AP: Big banks saved $3.6B in taxes last quarter under new law
Previously:
Hannity pleads for Trump to cut taxes on the rich so they can buy boats and stimulate the economy
An overwhelming majority of economists are predicting failure for Trump’s tax cut agenda