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Calexit leader Shankar Singam appeared on Tuesday’s broadcast of Tucker Carlson Tonight to promote the secession of California from the union. Singam said California doesn’t have much in common with the rest of the country. He declared, “This is California. We’re not the United States.”

The Calexit proponent also said it is a “good thing” that the middle class is fleeing the state because it will make room for the “new wave” of immigrants. Singam told Carlson that “the United States” should be thanking “us” for “exporting” the state’s middle class to the rest of the country.

“If everyone in the middle class is leaving, that’s actually a good thing. We need these spots opened up for the new wave of immigrants to come up. It’s what we do,” Singam told Carlson.

Carlson responds to Singam’s claim that California is one of the largest economies in the world, saying that is due to the large wealth gap between the rich such as tech companies and the poor. Carlson pointed out that there is basically no middle class as they are packing up and moving out of the state.

“Your state or country or whatever we’re calling it now, there’s been a massive exodus of middle-class Californians to neighboring states. The numbers are there. You’ve lost hundreds of thousands making between $100,000 and $200,000 over the past 10 years and they’ve enriched Idaho and Montana and even Wyoming and Washington state. If it’s such a well-run place, why are the middle class leaving?” Carlson asked Singam.

“Tucker, you have to look at the bigger picture here,” Singam answered. “The fifth largest economy in the world. Just repeat that. Say it again. We are the fifth largest economy.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that,” Carlson said. “It’s basically the economy of Mexico. You’ve got a small number of rich people, the tech people, and then you’ve got a ton of poor people and the middle class is leaving. That’s a recipe for instability. You’re aware of that, right?”

“If everyone in the middle class is leaving, that’s actually a good thing. We need these spots opened up for the new wave of immigrants to come up. It’s what we do. We export our middle class to the United States. You guys should be thanking us for that,” Singam said to a stunned Carlson.

“Not only that, when our middle class does move out to Texas and Colorado they are taking our values out to the United States. If you look at Texas, in fact, all the major cities Californians are going to they are turning blue. And soon enough Texas will be a blue state,” Singam said.

“Dude,” Carlson said to Singam.

“I’ve never met you, I’ve never heard of you. I don’t know if this is a parody segment, you know, if you’re punking me or if you’re really high and you’re just telling the truth because high people do. But you just said you’re happy to be exporting the middle class in your state. I happen to think your policy makers are happy that they are leaving but the fact that you are admitting this on live TV — bottom line, are you being serious?” Carlson asked.

“I’m only admitting the truth,” Singam responded. “There’s a middle class of people who are leaving California and moving to Oregon and Colorado and Texas, yes, there is.”

“And you’re happy about that?” Carlson asked.

“I think they’ll find out how boring it is and come back,” Singam answered.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics.com