Laura Ingraham's Argument Against Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Goes Awry
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Critics came for Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Thursday after she argued against widespread student loan debt forgiveness with a tweet about her mother working into her 70s to pay for her to attend college.
“My mom worked as a waitress until she was 73 to help pay for our college, even helped with loan repayment,” wrote Ingraham, 58, a Dartmouth College and University of Virginia School of Law alum. “Loan forgiveness just another insult to those who play by the rules,” she added.
My mom worked as a waitress until she was 73 to help pay for our college, even helped with loan repayment. Loan forgiveness just another insult to those who play by the rules.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) April 28, 2022
President Joe Biden campaigned on forgiving $10,000 worth of student loan debt per person. This week, he reportedly suggested he may again extend the pause on federal student loan payments. The Biden White House has also indicated an upcoming executive order to cancel some amount of individual debt.
Conservatives have railed against debt forgiveness.
Ingraham’s comments, however, prompted many detractors to point out the obvious flaw in her thinking: that her mother had to work far beyond retirement age indicated the student loan system was “shitty,” “broken” and in need of reform.
Happy Mother's Day! May we all work our moms into the grave!! https://t.co/nBolXbOgZq
— Brittany Knupper (@BrittanyKnupper) April 29, 2022
So you want more mothers to work until they're 73 to pay off loans?
— Val Santos (@ValSantosOnAir) April 28, 2022
1) You let your mom work until she was 73 to pay your debts?
2) What a great argument for student loan forgiveness. https://t.co/O2MsNAQtjE— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) April 28, 2022
You graduated from Dartmouth in 1985 when tuition was $10,000/year. Now it's $61,000/year.
The insult is changing the rules to bail out billionaires to the tune of $10T, but stiffing working people with predatory tuition & interest. Socialism for the rich, bootstraps for us.— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) April 28, 2022
Your mom should not have had to go through this. No one should have to. Why wish this kind of struggle on anyone else? Why should your mother’s struggle be the “rule”? Your mother is an example of exactly why we need loan forgiveness. What’s at stake here. https://t.co/whzy4v6qAs
— Scott Hechinger (@ScottHech) April 28, 2022
And that's the difference. We want 73-year-old moms to work less and rest. We want others to have a better life. We don't need people to suffer to "feel great again." Why be so cruel when you can choose to be generous and kind and help fellow Americans? https://t.co/C7XL6TtmEA
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) April 28, 2022
I bet Laura's mom would want government to liberate her from waitressesing until she was 73. I bet Laura's mom would want other moms to be liberated from that. Especially seeing as her hard work led to Laura using her as a political prop in selfish tweets like this one. https://t.co/OScjsF99hG
— Touré (@Toure) April 28, 2022
Seems like a shitty system that desperately needs to be changed? https://t.co/Ecx2EmS8BI
— John Iadarola (@johniadarola) April 28, 2022
“The rules” shouldn’t include working into your 70’s to pay for a child’s tuition. That’s dumb, and broken, and not at all normal.
Maybe we should stop shaming people who are buried under debt from a corrupt system, and instead reform the system that buried them. https://t.co/Gb7dPx7fGu— Aaron Mahnke (@amahnke) April 28, 2022
I made my mother labor for shit wages until she died too to prove a lesson. https://t.co/lZF6nWOYol
— luke (@lukeoneil47) April 29, 2022
Do you hate your own mother so much, you want others to suffer as she suffered? That tracks.
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) April 28, 2022
“The rules” shouldn’t include working into your 70’s to pay for a child’s tuition. That’s dumb, and broken, and not at all normal.
Maybe we should stop shaming people who are buried under debt from a corrupt system, and instead reform the system that buried them. https://t.co/Gb7dPx7fGu— Aaron Mahnke (@amahnke) April 28, 2022
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.