Speaker 1: The American right wing has a number of bogeymen, but one that has withstood the test
of time is the IRS, which is why many on the right right now are going apoplectic
over the Biden administration's plan to hire 87,000 new IRS agents with the $80 billion that
they're getting from the Inflation Reduction Act as a way to beef up tax enforcement and ultimately
increase revenue for the federal government. So the right they're trying to tie in the FBI raid of
Donald Trump's home with the hiring of these IRS agents, as if the two things have anything to do
with one another. I already showed you a clip of Tulsi Gabbard trying to connect these dots earlier
in the program, but she's not the only one. We also have Florida Senator Marco Rubio who asked
after today's raid on Mar a Lago, what do you think the left plans to use those
87,000 new agents for Rick Grenell, a former Trump administration official tweeted, quote,
The FBI raids Trump's house and the Democrats votes who had 87,000 new IRS agents to go after
Americans. Wake up, America. And then we have Indiana Congressman Jim Banks, who said if the FBI
can raid the home of a former president, imagine what 87,000 more IRS agents will do to you. Well,
the only connection that I can see between these two things is that they involve agencies at the
federal government under the executive branch. But aside from that, it seems pretty weird to
lump these two things together unless you want to fearmonger and not care about the facts.
But then the rhetoric starts to get dangerous. Because when you hear from some of these right
wing personalities, they're trying to talk about how the Biden administration wants to not only
add to the IRS force, they also want to give them new weapons. Brian KILMEADE, for example,
suggested on Fox News last week that these new IRS agents are ready to hunt down
and kill middle class taxpayers with the weapons that they have. Let's take a look at the video.
Speaker 3: The so-called Inflation Reduction Act also says that $80 billion budget is for,
quote, increased enforcement, operational improvements and customer service. What
kind of customer service? We don't have to wonder before the IRS took it down yesterday.
There was a posting. Watch this on their website. They listed the job requirements for a special
agents position. The major duties require agents to, quote, carry a firearm and be willing to use
deadly force if necessary. A little like James Bond. But instead of hunting down evil maniacs,
these agents hunt down and kill middle class taxpayers that don't pay enough. It's Joe Biden's
new army. Americans are rightly concerned about this. Got a new poll I'll share with you. Shows
45% of the country fears the IRS will increase the number of audits. According to the CNBC,
which is another business network. The second best financial experts are predicting the bill
will spark more audits for small business owners. Speaker 1: So what Brian KILMEADE was referring
to in this clip is the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, which is nothing new. It's been around
for over a hundred years. They've always had firearms training, and it's because they go
after things like money laundering schemes and cybercrime and situations that could get violent
or deadly. And so it makes sense for those agents to be armed. But the average IRS auditor, when
undergoing a routine audit, if someone is unarmed, no surprise there. We also had Iowa Senator Chuck
Grassley making this very same point that KILMEADE made. He went on Fox and Friends and said, quote,
Are they going to have a strike force that goes in with AK fifteens, already loaded,
ready to shoot some small business person in Iowa? So first of all, he said AK 15,
which I thought wasn't a gun. I thought he was mixing up a AR 15, an AK 47. He may have
mixed them up, but luckily he gets a pass because it is a gun that exists, although
it's quite rare. But if he was a Democrat and the gun didn't exist, you better believe he would be
raked over the coals for making a statement like that and not having an understanding of firearms.
But he just barely passed the test there. But the broader point to his question is that, no, he's
just trying to feed into a conspiracy theory as to what the Biden administration wants to accomplish
by hiring all these agents and acting like it's something nefarious or out of the ordinary.
But also the very idea that these agents are going to go after people who make $50,000 a year,
60, $70,000 a year. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense because, first of all, they've already said
and it's been outlined in the text, you can look at it. They're only going to look after look for
trying to recover money from people who make $400,000 a year or more. But if you don't take
them at their word, just think about it logically. Just look at the math of the situation. So does it
make sense as an agency when you have limited time, money, resources to go after Joe Schmo,
who makes 50 K a year with the hopes of maybe recovering an extra couple of hundred dollars or
$1,000? Or does it make sense to put that time and energy into scrutinizing someone who makes
$10 million a year or more with the idea that maybe you can recover another million dollars,
couple of million dollars. Obviously, it makes sense to investigate the wealthy
and also more revenue for the government means that. We're going to be able to lower our debt and
deficit. All else being equal, I thought that the right wing was in support of that. But of course,
we know that debt and deficit, they're a political football, which at this point it's just not all
that convenient for Republicans to play with. So they'll put that issue aside for now. So on
multiple fronts, the right wing fearmongering about these new IRS agents doesn't make a whole
lot of sense. But it's the perfect opportunity for millionaires and billionaires. The people who
are in charge over at Fox News to convince middle class earners that the IRS is going to come after
them so that they're opposed to the Inflation Reduction Act. They're opposed to move like this,
even though it's really not going to affect them at all. It's going to impact the big money
earners. And that's exactly what Fox News and the right wing media sphere does best.