Friendly Fire: Stephen Colbert rattles 2020 candidate with tax cut question

The disheveled nature of the democratic party has been on full display this year, as an enormous field of candidates hit the campaign trail in hopes of becoming the organization’s 2020 presidential nominee.

Of course, the fact that there are twenty-some democrats all vying for the same spot has made the affair quite a salacious spectacle.  Not only has the dilution of the field led to mass confusion on a number of important subjects, but the insults and take-downs have been flying in all directions.  It’s every man or woman for themselves at times, and this disunity is wearing down at the very psyche of the liberal constituency.

Even progressive television host Stephen Colbert has been prone to criticizing democratic hopefuls, as he did last night with Senator Liz Warren.

Colbert asked Warren, a strong advocate for a government-run health care system, if Medicare for All would result in higher taxes for the middle class — a question she has faced before but has continually refused to answer directly:

“You keep being asked in the debates ‘how are you going to pay for it. Are you going to be raising the middle class taxes?’” The Late Show host said. “How are you going to pay for it? Are you going to be raising the middle class taxes?”

“So, here’s how we’re going to do this,” Warren said. “Costs are going to go up for the wealthiest Americans, for big corporations… and hard-working middle class families are going to see their costs going down.”

“But will their taxes go up?” Colbert asked, before offering a suggestion to the presidential candidate on how to better frame the “radical” proposal.

Colbert was ruthless.

“I’ve listened to these answers a few times before, and I just want to make a parallel suggestion to you that you might defend the taxes perhaps that you’re not mentioning in your sentence,” Colbert said.

“Isn’t Medicare for All like public school? There might be taxes for it, but you certainly save a lot of money sending your kids to school and do you want to live in a world where your kids aren’t educated? Do you want to live in a world where your fellow citizens are dying, even if it costs a little bit of money?” he asked.

This was a bone of particular contention during last week’s democratic debate, as the dais swiftly devolved into chaos on the subject of healthcare.

Warren’s non-answer was the subject of great criticism on that night, and may very well remain under scrutiny for some time to come.