On Monday, a Fox News host ridiculed new Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's follow-up to factually incorrect statements she made to CNN, and ended up broadcasting fake news by misstating details of her plan to tax the very wealthy.
Fox & Friends first aired Ocasio-Cortez's reply to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper in a 60 Minutes segment on Sunday.
"If people want to really blow up one figure here or one word there, I would argue that they're missing the forest for the trees," Ocasio-Cortez said. "I think that there's a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually and semantically correct than about being morally right."
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade commented that she had "an interesting comeback to that question."
"I think it left Anderson Cooper befuddled, but she also talked about a lot of things," Kilmeade said. "Number one, I think she's had a remarkably easy run for things, even for 60 Minutes last night, I mean, that was not a hard-hitting interview."
Kilmeade then gave false information about a plan that Ocasio-Cortez floated to impose an income tax rate of up to 60 to 70 percent on super-rich Americans.
"The other thing she brought up is the fact that she wants people taxed as high as 89, 90 percent if you make 10 million dollars or more, where she calls them the tippy top," Kilmeade claimed. "So that's great, if you want to find out how to tell people not to make a lot of money, you take 80 percent of what they make and tell them we're taking it all and they will do it."
Kilmeade's co-host Steve Doocy noticed his colleague's error and corrected it.
"The 60 or 70 percent rate kicks in at 10 million and everything else is progressive up to that," Doocy said.
"Makes sense," Kilmeade said, then continued to bash Ocasio-Cortez by saying her plan lacked momentum.
Cooper's CNN colleague Brian Stelter pointed out Kilmeade's mistake Monday morning on Twitter.
"This is how @FoxAndFriends tricks viewers: @Kilmeade said @AOC 'wants people taxed as high as 80, 90% if you make $10 million or more,'" Stelter tweeted. "Huh? She said '60 or 70%' on 'your 10 millionth dollar.'"
This is how @FoxAndFriends tricks viewers: @Kilmeade said @AOC "wants people taxed as high as 80, 90% if you make $10 million or more." Huh? She said "60 or 70%" on "your 10 millionth dollar."
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 7, 2019
Stelter also tweeted that Kilmeade said the right percentage later in the segment, but let other misrepresentations stand on the conservative-leaning show.
"Later in the hour, Kilmeade accurately said 70%, 'but another Democrat wants to go even further,'" Stelter tweeted. "Banner: 'DEMS OPEN TO TAXING THE RICH UP TO 90%.' He showed @JulianCastro saying 'there was a time' when the top rate was over 90% -- but Castro was stating a fact, not promoting it."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
A Los Angeles native, Jessica Kwong grew up speaking Spanish, Cantonese and English, in that order. Her journalism career started ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
