In a particularly hostile interview with House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday’s NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie interrogated the Republican leader over newly-passed tax reform legislation and suggested that he was “living in a fantasy world” for predicting the bill would spur economic growth.

“And by far, the biggest tax cut here, the cut in rate, is going to corporations....As I understand your argument, and that of your colleagues, you’re counting on corporations to take that money they now have and plow it right back into the economy, hire people, raise wages.” Guthrie began the exchange. Setting up her smear, she noted: “It doesn’t work if they don’t do that. Is that correct?”

After Ryan explained that “studies show us that that is exactly what does happen” and that “we tax American corporations at the highest rate in the industrialized world,” Guthrie pressed: “The idea is – yes, that the corporations will then spend the money on their workers, on jobs, that kind of thing. Correct?” Ryan replied: “Yes, but what we also say to corporations, not only are we going to let you bring your money back from overseas which is trapped overseas, we’re going to tax you at a rate that is on par with the rest of the world.”

She then launched her attack by citing a wealthy liberal activist:

Let me quote Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire, hardly an enemy of business. He said, “CEOs aren’t waiting on a tax cut to ‘jump-start the economy,’ a favorite phrase of politicians who have never run a company – or to hand out raises. It’s pure fantasy to think that the tax bill will lead to significantly higher wages and growth.” I’ll ask you plainly, are you living in a fantasy world?

Ryan pushed back hard with actual data: “I would compare that anecdote to just the surveys of businesses – like the National Association of Manufacturers – surveys which show the vast majority of businesses are going to do just what we say, reinvest in their worker, reinvest in their factories, pay people more money, higher wages.”

The biased exchange was brought to viewers by Ford, Tide, and Macy’s.

Here is a portion of the December 20 interview: