Fox guest: Green New Deal is “nothing more than a socialist Trojan horse”

Justin Haskins: In 20 years “we're going to find ourselves... in an America that looks more like the Soviet Union and less like the United States.”

From the January 11 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

Video file

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): When you hear, “Green New Deal,” you think, OK, this is just about the environment, right? But when you look at some of the main points, and then we'll ask you to comment on it, it does call for the elimination of the use of fossil fuels within a dozen year [sic]. It calls for universal health care. It calls for federal jobs guarantees. And it calls for a basic income program across the country. That is not just about the environment. That's pretty much about everything. 

JUSTIN HASKINS (THE HEARTLAND INSTITUTE): Yeah, that's right. This is actually not about green energy, it would be impossible to switch the entire electricity generation system in the United States over to renewable energy in just 12 years. And I think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders and people like that know that. This is really about socialism. This is nothing more than a socialist Trojan horse. That's why they have inserted all sorts of programs into the Green New Deal that have nothing to do with green energy. 

DOOCY: Right, exactly. You know, and when you look at those things, and I've been to Bernie Sanders rallies where the audience there, you know, they love to hear what he's saying because he said, look, you have been kept down by Washington. I'm going to open up possibilities that have never been possible before. The problem is, when you realistically look at the price, it's like wow, can we afford that? 

HASKINS:  Yeah. Well we absolutely cannot afford it. I mean, we're talking about tens of trillions of dollars, just the single-payer health care part of this alone. The Mercado Center estimates would cost $32 trillion in the first 10 years. And, even if we were to double all taxes, including individual and corporate rates, we would not be able to pay for just that one part of it. 

DOOCY: Why do you think, Justin, so many of these prominent Democrats are moving so far to the left? Is it because Bernie Sanders had such a good run last time? 

HASKINS: Yeah. I think that that's a big part of it. I certainly think it helps. But I think that the party is moving to the left. I don't think this is just political posturing. I actually think that the Democratic Party is becoming the socialist party of America. That it’s slowly occurring and that if we don't do something to stop these individuals, we're going to wake up in 20 years and we're going to find ourselves in a radically different America, an America that looks more like the Soviet Union and less like the United States.

Previously:

On Fox & Friends, climate denier attacks proposed Green New Deal: “Carbon-based fuels actually improve the environment”

Sean Hannity: Getting off fossil fuels would be an “unmitigated disaster” and would lead to poverty

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and our warped discourse on taxation