Tim Scott Gives Lester Holt a Lesson After Moderator Tries to Fact-Check Him
Liberal debate moderators may have grown more aggressive over the years, but in some ways they never change. In fact, when it comes to basic economics, they remain as illiterate as ever.
NBC’s Lester Holt demonstrated as much during Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate when he tried to fact-check Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina on the relationship between energy production and fuel prices.
With characteristic politeness, Scott corrected Holt’s correction.
The exchange occurred following comments by Scott regarding Americans’ ability to produce enough surplus domestic energy for export.
Holt then insisted that increased domestic energy production had no immediate effect on fuel prices.
“Let me just follow up. The idea of pumping gas — of turning on pipelines — that doesn’t put — make gas cheaper that day,” Holt said.
“I’m talking about — you become president — what can you do specifically to help people feel better about their situation, or be better with their situation?”
Scott replied that Holt, in fact, had it wrong about increased domestic energy production not affecting fuel prices right away.
“Well, actually it does, to be honest with you,” Scott said.
“The way that the economy works is it works on the ability to anticipate excess supply versus the demand. When that happens, confidence drives our prices down, because we know there’s gonna be a greater surplus,” the senator added.
When we hear a sentence begin with the elementary-sounding phrase, “The way that the economy works,” we know that the speaker has addressed this basic explanation either to a child or to a liberal.
In any event, Holt’s failed correction proved useful, for it allowed Scott to hit his stride by touting energy independence.
“As President of the United States, I would lead this nation to making sure that we first use the resources in our own country and not going outside of our country in order to achieve our objectives,” the senator said.
That scenario, of course, sounds a good deal like what former President Donald Trump delivered during his successful administration.
Scott shared a clip of the exchange late Wednesday on his YouTube channel.
Holt’s eagerness to challenge the GOP senator does make one wonder. When exactly did debate moderators begin bandying ideas with candidates?
I do not pretend to know the techniques of an effective moderator. But I do know what sounds off-putting and absurd. It sounds like this:
“Your idea will not work, so let me ask a question that assumes the validity of my own idea.” Holt, in essence, said precisely that.
In a larger sense, that kind of statement also reveals much about the way many modern journalists view their role. The culture of “fact-checking” has produced legions of arrogant scribes who conflate their own half-baked ideas with “facts.”
Happily, Scott dismissed this particular lame “fact-check” with admirable skill.
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