Even Fox News Thinks Bernie Sanders Is Adorable In Lighthearted Moment
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Fox News on Thursday perhaps saw the curmudgeonly charm of Bernie Sanders that many on the left see. (Watch the video below.)
The independent Vermont senator was questioned by Fox Business correspondent Hillary Vaughn about student loan forgiveness earlier that day, and she felt the Bern of his retorts.
“Is it really free if you’re raising taxes to pay for it?” Vaughn asked him in a Capitol hallway.
“Well, given the fact that we have the billionaire class paying a lower tax rate than working families, I think it’s appropriate that the wealthiest people in this country start paying their fair share of taxes,” Sanders said.
“Thanks very much,” he added in a brushoff.
Vaughn pressed on, asking whether his proposal to fund student loan forgiveness by taxing Wall Street deals “would hit average Americans saving for retirement.”
That stopped the former presidential candidate in his tracks.
“What people say that? People on Wall Street. Thank you,” he said, waving her off.
Perhaps moved by Sanders’ curt determination to stay on message, Fox News anchor Bret Baier laughed along with “Special Report” panelist Juan Williams and others as they watched a clip of the exchange.
“You gotta love Bernie Sanders,” Baier said. “You do.”
Though Baier went on to criticize Sanders’ loan forgiveness plan for its “absorb it all” approach, there was no doubting his affection for the Vermonter in a rare moment on the conservative channel.
A pandemic-era waiver on student loan payments is set to expire in the coming months, forcing many borrowers to start making payments again soon. President Joe Biden is pushing a proposal that would forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers earning under $125,000 per year. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is mulling a legal challenge to his debt relief scheme, with a decision expected this summer.
Sanders has explained on his website how taxing Wall Street could generate $2.4 trillion over 10 years to eliminate student debt and make public colleges free for all.
“We will impose a tax of a fraction of a percent on Wall Street speculators who nearly destroyed the economy a decade ago,” the site says about his proposal. “It works by placing a 0.5 percent tax on stock trades – 50 cents on every $100 of stock – a 0.1 percent fee on bond trades, and a 0.005 percent fee on derivative trades.”
