Fox News Reporter Perplexed When Diner Guest Tells Him He Supports Higher Taxes For Green New Deal

Fox News Reporter Perplexed When Diner Guest Tells Him He Supports Higher Taxes For Green New Deal

A Fox News reporter seemed stunned on Thursday morning by a voter who supports raising taxes to pay for the Green New Deal.

Todd Piro was in a Kansas City diner talking to voters ahead of a Fox News town hall with billionaire Howard Schultz, who is still kicking around the idea of running for president. Perhaps the cliche about how mainstream media reporters missed Donald Trump’s rise by not talking to enough voters in diners in middle America made him think he would find only support for conservative policies there.

Piro spoke to a young man named Jack, who wants to hear Schultz talk about climate change. Jack supports the Green New Deal, the nebulous plan to retool the economy to adapt it to the warming planet.

After asking why Jack supports the plan, Piro got right to what’s on the minds of all Fox News viewers: How do we pay for it?

“How did we pay for World War Two?” Jack replied. “At the end of the day, if something is this important, our economy is going to suffer if we don’t pay for it.”

“You do agree with the sentiment that climate change is as big of a deal as World War II,” Piro said, somewhat incredulously.

Jack then mentioned how many Americans died in World War II versus how many are dying per year because of climate change. Piro went right back to financing it.

“Let’s talk about the money, because that’s a huge part of this. How are we going to pay for it?” he asked again.

Jack responded by saying the government paid for World War II by fronting some of the cash and raising more through tax increases.

“So to review, you are in favor of raising taxes in order to support the Green New Deal,” Piro said, seemingly stuck on that point.

“If that’s the optimal solution,” Jack responded.

Piro then moved on to the next diner, who talked about how much he prays for Donald Trump to keep being great.

h/t @revrlewis at Media Matters.

Watch the clip up top, via Fox News.

Gary Legum

Gary Legum has written about politics and culture for Independent Journal Review, Salon, The Daily Beast, Wonkette, AlterNet and McSweeney's, among others. He currently lives in his native state of Virginia.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *