Fox Host Slams 'No Courage' Buttigieg for Attacking 'Prime-Time Lineup'
“Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade took Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg to task for denigrating Fox News prime time opinion programs, but lacking the “courage” to appear on them.
Addressing the topic of defeating President Donald Trump during a New Hampshire town hall hosted by Fox News Sunday night, Buttigieg — the mayor of South Bend, Indiana — said that part of the strategy must be reaching out to those beyond Democratic circles.
“A lot of people in my party were critical of me doing this, and I get where that’s coming from, especially when you see what goes on with some of the opinion hosts on this network,” Buttigieg told Fox News anchor Chris Wallace.
Buttigieg then honed in on two Fox News personalities in particular: Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham.
“I mean, when you’ve got Tucker Carlson saying that immigrants make America dirty. When you’ve got Laura Ingraham comparing detention centers with children in cages to summer camps,” the 37-year-old said.
“There is a reason why anybody has to swallow hard and think twice before participating in this media ecosystem,” Buttigieg added. “But I also believe that even though some of those hosts are not always there in good faith, I think a lot of people tune into this network, who do it in good faith.”
Kilmeade responded to Buttigieg’s critique, saying the South Bend mayor should not have participated in the town hall if he has such ill-will toward Fox News.
“(D)on’t hop on our channel and continue to put down the other hosts on the channel, or the channel. If you feel that negative about it, don’t come,” Kilmeade said.
“Because for him to go out there and take shots of our prime-time lineup without going on our prime-time lineup shows, to me, absolutely no courage.”
The Fox News host also called out Buttigieg for promoting the false Democratic line that the Republican tax cuts only benefited wealthy Americans.
“The other thing that’s flat-out wrong is the tax cuts were for the rich,” Kilmeade said. “They weren’t. The biggest cuts were corporate taxes to make us more competitive around the world and they have worked. So, the smallest tax cut was for those who pay the most. The rest — if you just look at The Washington Post fact check it shows that he is wrong about that.”
The Washington Post gave Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden four Pinocchios for falsely claiming the tax cuts “all went to folks at the top and corporations that pay no taxes.”
The paper noted the tax cuts were across the board, hitting all income levels. The wealthiest Americans, in fact, received a smaller percentage cut to their taxes than lower income Americans, though higher income taxpayers had a larger dollar amount taken off their taxes, because they pay more in the first place.
Following the Buttigieg town hall, Trump hit the network for hosting the event.
“Hard to believe that @FoxNews is wasting airtime on Mayor Pete, as Chris Wallace likes to call him. Fox is moving more and more to the losing (wrong) side in covering the Dems. They got dumped from the Democrats boring debates, and they just want in,” he tweeted.
“They forgot the people who got them there.”
….who got them there. Chris Wallace said, “I actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance…fascinating biography.” Gee, he never speaks well of me – I like Mike Wallace better…and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
Trump added, “Chris Wallace said, ‘I actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance…fascinating biography.’ Gee, he never speaks well of me – I like Mike Wallace better…and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!”
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