Fox News host rages at rising Democrat for accusing him of abruptly ending interview – UK Times

Fox News’ Will Cain fired back at Texas State Rep. James Talarico on Tuesday after the rising Democratic star claimed that an intense on-air interview was abruptly ended because the conservative host struggled to answer questions about Republican gerrymandering.

“Trolls distorting the interview is one thing, but you were there,” Cain tweeted at Talarico. “I respectfully gave you ten minutes, an eternity in cable news.”

In recent days, Talarico has served as something of a spokesman for the Texas Democrats who fled the state in an effort to block Republicans from pushing through a redistricting vote that could potentially allow the GOP to pick up five new U.S. House seats. Talarico, along with many of his Democratic colleagues, is currently holed up in Illinois to deny the legislature a quorum.

Talarico, who suddenly burst onto the national scene last month following a well-received appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, appeared on Cain’s show to defend the Democrats’ decision to flee the Lone Star State. Throughout the interview, which featured Cain repeatedly denouncing the lawmaker for “abandoning” Texas, Talarico widely condemned redistricting efforts as an attempt to “rig” elections.

Having vehemently defended the Texas GOP’s mid-decade gerrymander push by claiming it better reflects the state’s overall electorate, Cain accused Talarico of hypocrisy before tossing out a sports analogy.

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“You’ve done something that you say is constitutional, which I’d suggest is pretty radical, which is leaving your office – abandoning your office – in defense of a minority point of view. It’s been done in several other states where your party has a majority,” the Fox host declared. “It’s a little bit like taking your basketball and going home when you don’t like the way it’s played, but when you’re winning in Illinois, you’re happy to play by these rules.”

Once again saying he’s “condemned all gerrymandering across the country,” the Democratic legislator retorted with a question of his own that left the right-wing commentator scuffling.

“When Democrats had a majority in Congress, they voted to ban gerrymandering. Do you know how many of them joined them in that effort?” Talarico asked.

“Which one? I’m sorry, which state did you just refer to?” Cain, after a brief pause, responded.

“I’m asking, do you know how many Republicans joined Democrats in the U.S. Congress to ban gerrymandering? All the Democrats voted for it. Zero Republicans voted for it, zero,” the Democrat shot back. He was apparently referring to the 2021 For the People Act, which would have banned mid-decade redistricting and required independent redistricting commissions. The legislation passed the House but eventually died in the Senate due to a lack of GOP support.

“You can spare me both-sides rhetoric. It’s clearly one side that is trying to rig the rules in the middle of the game,” Talarico continued. “We don’t accept cheating in politics and in our relationships. We shouldn’t accept cheating it in our elections… We should stand up to politicians that don’t want to face accountability at the ballot box. That’s what’s happening here.”

After Cain admitted he was “unfamiliar” with the details of that legislation, he attempted to corner Talarico on Massachusetts and why the state doesn’t have any Republican-held congressional seats despite Donald Trump receiving roughly 35 percent of the vote during the last presidential election.

“In my view, what has happened here is you’ve done something in certain states, and you don’t like it when it’s done in Republican states,” Cain proclaimed before referencing California’s threat to respond to Texas’ redistricting effort with one of its own.

“ And now you’re saying you’ve done the same thing as us—you’ve done the same thing as us—and we are going to, by the way, if you do it, we’re going to ratchet it up even more, in the words of Gavin Newsom,” he added.

Talarico, however, appeared to turn the tables on the Fox star and stumped him once again.

“My party has never gerrymandered in the middle of the decade at the request of the president of the United States, nor would we. The only way this is going to happen in blue states is if Texas executes this power grab,” he replied.

“You mentioned Massachusetts. Do you know the party of the governor that signed that map into law? He was a Republican. It was a Republican governor that signed that map into law,” Talarico continued, referencing then-Gov. Charlie Baker signing off on Massachusetts’ new map in 2021. The Boston Globe has also reported that it is “practically impossible” to draw a GOP-leaning district in the state due to geography.

“And I asked you if Republican policies are popular, why do they need to redraw these maps? Why can’t they just run on their policies?” Talarico then pressed the host, prompting Cain to seemingly tap out.

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“I’m getting wrapped on time. I’m enjoying this conversation. I apologize,” Cain said before asking his guest one more question about whether he was receiving any funding from liberal philanthropist George Soros or former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke.

With the back-and-forth quickly going viral on social media, Talarico tweeted a clip of the exchange on Tuesday evening and claimed that Cain cut the interview short rather than respond to his questions about the GOP’s gerrymandering efforts.

“I just went on Fox News to tell the truth about the redistricting power grab in Texas,” he posted on X. “I asked a simple question: ‘If Republican policies are so popular, why do they need to redraw these maps; why not run on their policies?’ He refused to answer — and cut the interview early.”

Cain, meanwhile, quickly shot back with a pair of social media posts of his own and accused Talarcio of “dishonesty,” noting that the conversation ran nearly ten minutes and that the Democrats’ pointed question wasn’t the reason why the interview wrapped when it did.

“Oh James. Trolls distorting the interview is one thing, but you were there. I respectfully gave you ten minutes, an eternity in cable news. And in all that time you had no answer as to why you’ve abandoned your job. You can take a flag to IL but you still cut and run from Texas,” he wrote.

“And your dishonesty in suggesting I cut your interview short perfectly illustrates the honesty of your run away from TX,” Cain added. “I always welcome honest debate but it’s clear that’s not who you are. Stay in Illinois little Jimmy. Better fit for you than TX.”

Meanwhile, Talarico could soon be back in Texas along with his other Democratic colleagues. ABC News reported on Tuesday evening that the legislators will return to the state this weekend after GOP Gov. Greg Abbott – who has threatened to arrest the lawmakers and remove them from their seats – ends the special legislative session on Friday.

Those plans could change if Republicans go back on their word and call a second special session on Friday that would include the redistricting legislation. Abbott, who has also threatened to gerrymander Texas even more in Republicans’ favor if other Democratic-led states try to redistrict, said on Tuesday morning that he would “immediately” call another special session after ending the first one.