Rick Scott interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins goes sideways

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott got ample time for an interview on CNN, but the nearly 12-minute segment proved ineffective for the Senator at best.

Though the segment arguably didn’t go as bad as a 2016 MSNBC interview he had that was cut short, the interrogation by Kaitlan Collins found the Senator fulminating about everything from policy proposals made by then-Senator Joe Biden in the 1970s to comments made by CNN host Jake Tapper previously.

For Scott, who does the bulk of his interviews with friendly conservative outlets, the CNN segment was the latest indication of struggles to get talking points over with a non-ideological, mainstream audience.

Responding to President Biden brandishing a pamphlet during a speech Wednesday featuring proposals from Scott’s plan to “Rescue America,” a non-starter even with Republicans in last year’s failed election cycle, Scott contended that “nobody believes that I want to cut Medicare or Social Security, I’ve never said it,” in reference to Collins’ questions about the plan urging a “review” of all federal programs, including these bedrock entitlements.

He then cut to a decades-old proposal by Biden.

“In 1975, he has a bill, a sunset bill, it says — requires — that every program be looked at freshly every four years — not just cost, but worthiness,” Scott said, paraphrasing Biden. The senator argued Biden “fought for it year after year after year.”

Collins noted the irony of Scott’s claim that his words were being twisted, given the deep dive into ancient history. Scott stood his ground, saying “mine says clear, if it’s worth keeping, we’re going to keep it.”

Scott then went on to joust with Collins, repeating a documented falsehood about a Democratic vote that did not cut benefits but allowed for negotiation with pharmaceutical companies, which the Senator claimed “cut $280 million out of Medicare.”

“That’s not true, Senator,” Collins said, leading Scott to spend some time hashing out what apparently was a direct quote from CNN’s Tapper, with Collins bringing up fact checks to establish her premise that the Inflation Reduction Act “saves Medicare nearly $300 million” and that “only drug companies would say saving people money is a bad thing.”

“What they did last fall is going to reduce life-saving drugs,” Scott maintained, before going back on the attack against Tapper and urging “fact checkers” to examine what the television personality said.

“I’m not sure that what Jake Tapper said is relevant,” Collins continued.

Collins then went on to press Scott on proposals as to what federal programs he would eliminate to lower the federal debt, now over $31 trillion. The Senator lacked specifics.

“There’s a variety of things,” Scott contended, including “87,000 new IRS agents” and so-called “Green New Deal” proposals. Those won’t put a serious dent in the federal debt, however, and Scott did not offer more suggested cuts beyond those well-trafficked talking points.

The interview continued, working its way back to Scott’s recycled call, amplified in an ad running in Tampa, that Biden should resign.

Calling Biden a “failure,” Scott cited inflation, gas prices, the “open border,” and people taking “little rafts from Cuba” who died on their way to Florida’s shore, as well as Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine.

“Look at the Chinese spy balloon,” Scott urged. “Now he lies about what I want to get done, and I don’t appreciate it.”