Fox News host Lisa Boothe grilled democratic socialist congressional candidate Oliver Larkin on Saturday, challenging him over his expensive education and questioning how he could advocate for government-funded programs while coming from what she described as a background of “great privilege.”
During Larkin’s appearance on “The Big Weekend Show,” Boothe and co-host Joey Jones highlighted the Florida House candidate’s educational history.
Larkin attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school that currently costs approximately $71,000 per year. He later attended Sewanee, where tuition costs upwards of $60,000 annually.
“Some people might look at that and maybe think you’re a little bit of a hypocrite on some of this stuff,” Boothe told Larkin.
Her comments came after Fox News displayed portions of Larkin’s political platform, including his calls for Medicare for All and college for all.
Boothe then confronted Larkin directly about how he planned to pay for those proposals.
“Why do you think you’re entitled to other people’s money?” she asked.
“I’m not entitled to anyone else’s money. I’m talking about universal programs that we all pay into,” Larkin responded.
When Boothe pressed him on the cost, Larkin argued funding would be easier if President Donald Trump were not spending what he claimed was between $1 billion and $2 billion per day on the “illegal” war with Iran.
“We’ve seen so much of our blood and treasure go into foreign wars overseas that have not made Americans safer, and we have seen a declining standard of living,” Larkin said.
Boothe returned to Larkin’s personal background, questioning how someone who attended elite institutions could campaign on issues such as income inequality.
She noted that most Americans could never afford those schools and asked Larkin how he reconciled his background with his political message.
“When you are the living definition of someone who has experienced great privilege of some of these incredibly elite institutions,” Boothe said, “how do you square that hypocrisy?”
Larkin acknowledged attending prestigious schools and said he was proud of his background.
“I certainly have attended some prestigious institutions and I am very proud of the background I come from,” he said.
Larkin then discussed his father, a retired Army captain who he said was able to “climb out of the lower middle class” because the military paid for his education.
The candidate argued that the answer was to invest in public education so more Americans could benefit from the kind of educational infrastructure he enjoyed while growing up.
Larkin’s appearance came just days after another heated Fox News interview in which Sean Hannity repeatedly demanded that the democratic socialist candidate specify how much he wanted to tax Americans to finance his agenda.
“Give me a number!” Hannity repeatedly told Larkin during that exchange.
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