Jason Chaffetz Goes Ballistic at Liberal Fox Commentator, Who Asks ‘Could I Finish My Sentence?

Jason Chaffetz Goes Ballistic at Liberal Fox Commentator, Who Asks ‘Could I Finish My Sentence?

Former Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz tried to pick a fight over immigration reform with Jessica Tarlov, one of Fox News’ rare liberal commentators, during Monday’s episode of Outnumbered. 

The segment began innocently enough, with some bog-standard political analysis from all the anchors about the causes of this recent uptick in border traffic and some sneering about people who oppose sanctuary cities but continue living in them anyway.

Then things got heated.

Chaffetz, who resigned from being a loudmouth know-nothing congressman for the apparently more lucrative career of loudmouth know-nothing Fox News pundit, went on a long rant blaming Democrats for not doing more to stop the influx of migrants. “Democrats say they care and they’re compassionate. But they won’t fund enough beds to make sure these families can stay together. They say they care but they won’t put enough people in the Border Patrol to deal with it.”

This is not exactly true, as Democrats have made various offers to Republicans that would increase the number of Border Patrol agents. The White House rejects these offers because they do not include money for a border wall.

Chaffetz finished by claiming that Democrats, by refusing to fund building a border wall, are “sending a signal” to Central American migrants that “if you can somehow break into this country, we’re not going to deport you.”

Tarlov then tried to explain the reasoning for having sanctuary cities in the first place, telling Chaffetz that he “fundamentally misunderstands” the policy behind them. Chaffetz interrupted by yelling at her.

Tarlov tried again: “We want to make sure the people who are already here, many of whom are paying taxes…”

“Oh, so that makes it okay!” Chaffetz hollered, before continuing to rant.

Tarlov gave up, saying she would explain it to Chaffetz during the break “and I’m sure it will be fruitful.”

After the commercial break, Harris Faulkner announced that Chaffetz and Tarlov had made up, but that neither of them had any last words about the issue.

Watch the segment 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.

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