Truth is always the first casualty in post-Obama American politics, with Democrats now so confident that the media will back their every play that they simply make up their own version of reality to serve their extremist agenda.
Texas state Rep. James Talarico, one of 51 Democratic lawmakers who absconded to Washington, D.C., in a weak attempt to stop a legislative effort to prevent voter fraud, appeared on Fox News but the gloating lawmaker quickly proved to be no match for network host Pete Hegseth, who was clearly ready to do battle.
The outclassed lawmaker was easily led to admitting on national television that he does not support voter ID, while he feebly tried repeatedly to get Hegseth to say the obvious, that former President Trump lost the election, thinking this was a sound tactic.
Fully armed with party talking points, to include the standard fare that’s been leveled at Fox News for years, the Harvard-educated, not quite ready for primetime Talarico was not prepared for a robust debate as Hegseth wiped the smirk off his face on more than one occasion.
In an attempt to move beyond the talking points, which Hegseth laid out for his guest, the Fox News host asked Talarico about national Democratic leaders using them “as a prop or a puppet” to push HR1, their power-grabbing “voter rights” bill.
Almost immediately, Talarico referenced former President Donald Trump and the “big lie,” prompting Hegseth to marvel over him making it about Trump within 20 seconds. The Democrat followed that with a fanciful version of reality.
(Video: Fox News)
“When President Trump lost the election, he told Republicans across the country that he didn’t lose the election and this caused Republican legislators in state capitols from Georgia to Austin to start putting forward bills that would make it harder to vote,” the state lawmaker claimed. “Actually, Texas is one of the hardest places to vote in the whole country.”
There was an exchange about what’s in the Texas bills and whether this was overly restrictive, with Hegseth asking if it was “too much” to ask voters to show a driver’s license or provide the last four digits of their Social Security number?
Talarico dodged the question while going on about how a county in Texas can extend voting to 24 hours.
“You can actually vote all night, which is really convenient if you work through the day,” he said approvingly. “A lot of working folks aren’t able to get off work to go vote.”
Never mind that his remarks undercut his own argument that it’s hard to vote.
“Is there anyone in Texas that’s not currently able to vote? Because I have heard the hyperbole, ‘This is Jim Crow. This is voter repression.. This is a Civil War,’ from the leadership of your party. Is there currently a single example can you provide me of a registered citizen voter in Texas that can’t vote if we’re fighting a Civil War here?” Hegseth asked.
Talarico tried to get out of answering the question by saying the bill hasn’t passed yet, and when Hegseth pressed on the assumption that it did pass, he again dodged.
After taking a quick jab at the Texas Democrats for not wearing masks in their flight to DC, Hegseth steered the discussion to the pandemic being used to expand voter access in 2020 to ask if efforts to move back to what was in place previously were in order.
Sending out millions of unsolicited mail-in ballots across America in 2020 may be the number one reason Joe Biden resides in the White House today, and Talarico made it clear that making voting “more convenient and more accessible” was the priority.
And that’s when Hegseth asked his guest if he was okay with voter I.D.
“So voter I.D. is currently required in the state of Texas. I opposed having to have a driver’s license to vote,” Talarico replied.
“How about mail-in ballot, how about having to send your ballot in? Should you have to prove who you are, because that’s what Democrats are opposing?” Hegseth quickly followed.
“Dude, I just said I oppose voter I.D. Currently it’s the law in Texas, but I oppose that law,” the lawmaker said, adding that “hundreds of thousands” of Texans don’t have a driver’s license.
When informed that Texans can provide the last four digits of their Social Security number as an alternative, Talarico had no answer and pivoted away from the issue to claim the bill will also “empower” partisan poll watchers.
As Hegseth continued to effectively counter his efforts, Talarico redirected his aim toward the host and his network, saying the reason so many people believe in the “big lie” is “because folks like you get on television and repeat the lie over and over again.”
Refusing to take the bait, Hegseth countered to say “it’s so condescending to say that people can’t get identification. Have you found someone in your district that can’t get identification?”
Unable to answer the question, Talarico continued the personal attacks.
“You’ve made a lot of money personally and you have enriched a lot of corporations with advertising by getting on here and spewing lies and conspiracy theories to folks who trust you, and so what I’m asking you to do is tell your voters right now that Donald Trump lost the election in 2020,” he replied.
Hegseth responded by noting that at least Talarico “resolved the lie that Democrats are now for voter I.D.”
The best Talarico could do was to repeatedly ask him if Trump lost the election.
“I don’t answer the questions. I don’t feel any obligation to answer any question for you,” Hegseth reminded his guest.
He ended the segment by scoring a final point, recalling the hypocrisy of the Texas Democrats not wearing masks on their charter flight to DC.
“All of us are fully vaccinated that got on the plane without a mask,” Talarico assured him.
“Hey, as long as I know that you support that if you are fully vaccinated you can get on a plane…,” Hegseth concluded.
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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