‘Well, That’s What They Were!’ GOP Senator Bristles When CNN’s Chris Wallace Cites ‘Trump Tax Cuts For The Wealthy’

Tommy ChristopherMay 6th, 2023, 10:03 am

CNN’s Chris Wallace stuck to his guns after GOP Senator Bill Cassidy bristled at his description of the “Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.”

This week’s episodes of Wallace’s HBO Max/CNN series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace featured an interview with country superstar Miranda Lambert and a new format for the show: a dual interview with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy and Democratic Senator Ben Cardin pegged to the roiling debt limit snafu.

At one point in the joint interview, Cassidy objected to Wallace’s citation of the Trump tax cuts, and Wallace gave an immediate rejoinder:

CARDIN: No, you’re blaming everything on politics here but let’s be clear about what President Biden inherited. He inherited a large debt. He inherited 2017 tax bill —

WALLACE: He added to the debt?

CARDIN: Well, the — look, Trump administration also added to it.

WALLACE: No, I agree but then —

CARDIN: But their 2017 tax bill is one of the leading causes for the high debt we have today. It gave tax breaks to the wealthy and the large corporations and we’re paying that cost today.

CASSIDY: If we move beyond talking points —

CARDIN: Thank you.

CASSIDY: — we can talk about the tax cut and Jobs Act bill which gave us record low unemployment, which gave us income growth disproportionately among the lower income.

WALLACE: These are the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.

CASSIDY: As he phrases it, and I would say —

WALLACE: Well, that’s what they were!

CASSIDY: I would say this would be the Trump tax cuts, the congressional tax cuts that actually created the best economy in any of our lifetime.

CARDIN: So, why we have so much debt?

CASSIDY: So, in the CARES Act, when the economy —

CARDIN: No, wait a minute. The debt —

WALLACE: All right. Guys, we’re getting a little bit too much into the wave (ph). But inflation is clearly a problem and we’ll have to see what the Fed does and whether or not it works and whether the landing is soft or hard.