Donald Trump boasted on Sunday’s Face The Nation, “I fight like hell to pay as little as possible” in taxes. So on Monday, Fox went into a spin cycle to make sure that nobody thinks ill of a billionaire looking for ways to dodge his civic debt while running for president.
“He’s just being honest here,” host Neil Cavuto said in response to Trump’s declaration. Cavuto also claimed that Trump’s message “appears to be resonating despite the play it’s gotten in the media that he’s some sort of a selfish Scrooge.”
Cavuto hosted two Republican strategists to debate zero Democrats for Fox’s idea of a “fair and balanced” discussion.
Guest Cheri Jacobus claimed everybody watching Trump on Sunday said to themselves, “I want Donald Trump to do my taxes.” She called his tight-fistedness “good business.” She added, “Secondly, we do see how the government is wasting our money. We saw it with what Obamacare has done to businesses as well as individuals. We’ve seen the wasted stimulus package, and it sounds like a smart businessman. …This is probably the one case where being a businessman, as opposed to somebody who’s held office, can pay off.”
Guest Lisa Boothe was just as enthusiastic. “I’d say amen to this. He’s absolutely right.” She also tried to blame President Obama for Trump’s stinginess. “Look, the federal government spends too much, taxes too much, and regulates too much… and it’s really happening under President Obama.”
Jacobus added, “United States has the highest corporate tax rate of anybody when you average in the state taxes on top of that. So it’s good business to want to pay as little as possible. …Maybe he can be a good Secretary of Treasury.”
In fact, the U.S. effective corporate tax rate is lower than that of big industrial nations. But Cavuto did not point that out.
“Businesses have been pummeled under the Obama economy. They’ve been hit with higher taxes, higher regulations, and the government is spending too much,” Boothe claimed. Nobody mentioned that the stock market has hit all-time highs during Obama’s presidency.
But Cavuto said, “So Donald Trump is saying what people are thinking, right?”
”Absolutely, what we’re all thinking,” Jacobus agreed. “I think he’s driving the debate right now.”
According to Forbes, Trump’s net worth is $4 billion. He can surely pay his fair share of taxes and not starve to death.
Watch the PR job below, from the August 3 Your World.