Democratic state Representative out of Texas, James Talarico, appeared on Fox News Primetime Tuesday where he sparred with guest-host Pete Hegseth over the constitutionality of proposed voting laws in Texas, and over reality itself. Texas Democratic legislators are currently in Washington D.C. in an effort to thwart the passage of new, more restrictive voting laws in the state.
The interview quickly went off the rails when Talarico referenced former President Trump’s constant lies about election fraud as the reason behind the new voting bill, along with many others introduced by Republican state legislatures around the country. Hegseth interrupted before repeating one of the Trump camp’s lies about Republican poll watchers not being allowed to monitor ballot-counting. One of Trump’s lawyers in the Pennsylvania lawsuit even admitted in court that this was not true, saying there was a “nonzero number of people in the room.”
“Do you remember a second ago when I talked about the big lie? This is exactly what I’m talking about,” Talarico said as Hegseth began to speak over him. Talarico continued, “And the reason that so many folks believe in that in our country, is because folks like you get on national television every night and repeat the lie over and over again.”
Talarico went on to call out Hegseth for profiting off of lies like the one he’d just repeated..
“You have made a lot of money personally and you’ve enriched a lot of corporations with advertising by getting on here and spewing lies and conspiracy theories to folks who trust you,” Talarico said. “So what I’m asking you to do is tell your voters right now that Donald Trump lost the election of 2020.”
Then, as Hegseth continued to talk over him, Talarico unsuccessfully challenged Hegseth to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election.
“Did you catch what I just asked?” Talarico said. “Did you hear what I asked? Did Donald Trump lose the election in 2020? Can you answer the question? Did Donald Trump lose the election in 2020? Is this an uncomfortable question for you?”
Hegseth all but ignored the line of questioning, saying, “I don’t really feel any obligation to answer anything of you.”
Fox News Primetime airs weeknights at 7 p.m. on Fox News Channel.
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