Earlier this week, Fox News host Tucker Carlson invited Dutch historian Rutger Bregman on his show to discuss the merits of imposing higher taxes on the rich, an idea that is as popular in America as it is reviled inside Fox News headquarters. Bregman earned Carlson's attention with a spirited address at the most recent Davos World Economic Forum, in which he argued in favor of such policies as some of the wealthiest people on the planet looked on in abject horror.

What starts as standard-issue Carlson fare—a "conversation" in which the host interrupts with snarky bromides and sarcastic whinnies—devolves quickly after Bregman points out the absurdity inherent in Carlson, a multimillionaire, railing constantly against the evils perpetrated by "elites."

No one's saying that at Davos, just as no one's saying it at Fox News, right? And I think the explanation for that is quite simple: Most of the people at Davos, but also here on this channel, have been bought by the billionaire class, you know? You're not meant to say these things. So I just went there and thought, "You know what, I'm just going to say it, just as I'm saying it right here on this channel."

A few minutes later, Bregman offers a hypothesis about why Fox News takes such a consistently pessimistic view of economic policies that most of its own viewers favor: "What the family—what the Murdochs basically want you to do is to scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance," he says. After Bregman cites Carlson's longtime association with the Cato Institute as another example of self-interested punditry, the host embarks on an O'Reilly-esque "WE'LL DO IT LIVE" journey of his own.