New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio accused Fox News host Sean Hannity of orchestrating a "charade" instead of an interview during their live sit down discussion Wednesday night. They covered a lot of political ground - and some non-political ground like their debate over Meatless Mondays - but the two topics that really made their veins pop were illegal immigration and taxes.
This short clip may give you an indication of how those conversations went.
Bill de Blasio and Sean Hannity can't stop shouting over each other pic.twitter.com/NF6KUrc3dD
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) August 8, 2019
Hannity pressed the mayor over his apparent plans to give the 500,000 illegal immigrants in New York City free health care. He insisted that first things first - we need to build the wall. The mayor dismissed the notion and made the point that those same taxpayers are already footing those ER bills.
"I want every New Yorker to get health care because folks go to the emergency room because they don’t have a doctor and who’s paying for it?" he asked. "The same taxpayers."
"These are human beings who are part of our economy, who are part of our neighborhood," he added of the "undocumented" New Yorkers.
When it came time for their tax talk, Hannity was offended that de Blasio planned to tax people like him at a rate of 70 percent, telling the mayor, “I think you’re stealing from me.”
But, de Blasio was convinced that the system was broken and that the middle class was being screwed. He accused Hannity and Fox News of trying to stage a cover up.
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“This is a charade,” de Blasio said. “Stop it…Too much of the time what Fox and News Corp. do is trying to people’s minds off the fact they’re being screwed economically by the 1 percent.”
De Blasio kept demanding Hannity tell him “why it’s okay the 1 percent are paying less and less in taxes.”
It may have been a hostile meeting, but Hannity applauded de Blasio for being the first Democratic candidate to accept his invitation to chat. And, he encouraged other 2020 Democrats to do the same.
...Bravo Mayor de Blasio. Thank you for being the first to accept our invitation. Look forward to meeting you.
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) August 6, 2019
Best Sean
You can watch their entire interview below.
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