Varney continued to press Laffer on the need for economic relief, and he has clearly comprehended that there are people living on the edge here, and the government must do something about it.

But again, Varney sang a different tune in years past. Back in 2011, he famously bemoaned that the very definition of “poor families” wasn’t what it used to be — after all, “99% of them have a refrigerator.” After getting raked over the coals by The Daily Show, Varney responded: “The image we have of poor people as starving and living in squalor. really is not accurate. Many of them have things — what they lack is the richness of spirit. That’s my opinion.”

And in 2014, Varney slammed state programs that had the effect of expanding access to food stamps, claiming that “what's really going on here is the government is buying votes. They keep churning out food stamps in return for votes. That's what's happening.”

It is unclear what may have changed Varney's mind about government assistance between then and now. Does he still believe that economic relief is a form of "buying votes”? Then again, the change since then of which party controls the White House — and the crisis happening in the middle of an election year — might make his recent change of heart on the issue less surprising.