The unaired Tucker Carlson Tonight discussion with historian Rutger Bregman that went so far off the rails last week it never aired has now become public. You can watch it in its entirety after the jump.
As I posted last week, Bregman caused quite a stir at Davos recently when he told the elite attendees that getting the wealthy to pay more taxes is a solution to many of the world's economic problems. That, apparently caught Carlson’s attention.
The video, published by NowThis, shows that the discussion with Carlson began with him chuckling with approval over Bregman sticking it to the Davos elite. “That’s one of the great moments, maybe the great moment in Davos history,” Carlson said. “I can’t stop laughing.”
“Are you the first person ever to note that people are flying private to talk about global warming and that none of them mention tax avoidance?” Carlson asked. “Has anyone ever said that before at Davos?”
Carlson, still laughing, added admiringly that while he has mentioned such hypocrisy on his own show, “We’ve just never gone to Davos and said it out loud, as you did. So if I was wearing a hat, I would take it off to you.”
But that soon changed. Bregman said that “the vast majority” of Americans, including Fox News viewers, are in favor of higher taxes for the rich. “But no one’s saying it at Davos, jut as no one’s saying it on Fox News, right?” He claimed that the reason is that Davos attendees, like Fox News viewers “have been bought by the billionaire class.”
I’ll give Carlson credit for keeping his powder dry for a while. He tried to focus on the Davos elitists but Bregman kept going back to Fox News’ antipathy to higher taxes.
“It would be interesting to know how many hours of Fox you’ve watched,” Carlson said, more politely than I would have expected. “But I’m interested in what you said about tax avoidance.”
I have written that Carlson seems a lazy and incurious host who, instead of discussing the subjects like a grownup, resorts to sabotaging his guests. But in this case, Carlson seemed genuinely interested in both the topic and the guest. “What would you do, specifically, to make certain that this class of people pays what they’re supposed to pay?” he asked Bregman.
We need to crack down on tax paradises and tax avoidance, Bregman recommended. “But it’s also about having higher taxes.” He cited the 1950s and 60s as the “golden age of capitalism” when taxes were much higher.
Carlson replied that at that time, we had a “broad and deep” industrial economy that no longer exists in this country.
Bregman thought that irrelevant. Then he started to lower the boom on Trump, Fox and Carlson. “The thing is, you guys have brought into power a president that doesn’t even want to show his own tax returns,” he began. “I mean, who knows how many billions he has hidden in the Cayman Islands or in Bermuda? So I think the issue really is one of corruption.”
“What the Murdochs basically want you to do is to scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance,” Bregman continued. “You are a millionaire, funded by billionaires,” Bregman told Carlson. “I’m glad you’ve now finally jumped [on] the bandwagon, you know, of people like Bernie Sanders and AOC but you’re not part of the solution, Mr. Carlson. You’re part of the problem, actually.”
And that was the beginning of the end. Carlson accused Bregman of not watching Fox. Bregman shot back that while he’s not a fan of Carlson’s show, “I do my homework when you invited me on your show.”
Personally, I think Bregman blew a moment when he had Carlson open and willing to listen to him. I’m a believer that liberals should go on Fox and challenge the agenda but I don’t see what good it did to attack Carlson before he rolled out whatever agenda he had, especially when it was obviously at least somewhat in sync with Bregman’s. Whether or not he agreed with them, Carlson was clearly interested in Bregman’s theories.
Usually, I accuse Carlson of being unfair in interviews. But in this case, I think it was Bregman.
Not that that excuses the torrent of childish attacks from Carlson that followed: “I want to say to you, why don’t you go f*** yourself, you tiny brain – and I hope this gets picked up because you’re a moron.”
Watch the unaired February 11, 2019 discussion meant for Tucker Carlson Tonight below, via NowThis, and let me know what you think.
(H/T Eyes on Fox)
Watch Fox News host Tucker Carlson call one of his guests a 'tiny brain...moron' during an interview. NowThis has obtained the full segment with historian Rutger Bregman that Fox News is refusing to air. pic.twitter.com/kERYPUaGLY
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 20, 2019