There has been a lot of anger from the left over the proposal to cut funding for the National Endowment of the Arts, and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson didn’t mince his words when discussing the issue on his Friday Night segment.

Carlson invited the CEO of the Creative Coalition Robin Bronk, on his show to debate the topic with him.

They did NOT disappoint!

Carlson began the discussion with a heated question:

“The NEA is, in effect, welfare for rich liberal elites. That’s who consumes the products that they produce. Why should, in a time of budget deficits, taxpayers be subsidizing entertainment for rich people?”

“I mean you’re so smart, you’re so scoped, and you’re so global, Tucker,” Bronk fired back. “You know that the NEA has grants and has granted to every Congressional district in the United States, and I know you know that for every dollar the NEA puts into a community, ten dollars comes back.”

The two fired back and forth.

After Bronk asked Carlson to view funding of the arts as “economic development,” Carlson laughed back at her, stating, “There’s lots of ways to fund economic development, and you can’t tell me this is the most efficient way.”

Carlson’s argument (which is absolutely true) is that the arts can be funded by countless other sources OTHER than the government:

“My only point is, when you’ve got people running around with fortunes of 40, 60 billion dollars, why not ask them to pay for public art? Why is that so hard? Why should middle class and poor taxpayers have to pay for it? I don’t get it.”

Bronk replied,

“It absolutely stumps me as to why anyone would be against such a small investment that brings back such a great return.”

Hilariously, Carlson fired back:

“What role did the NEA play in say, the Battle of Fallujah?”

With little else to say, Robin Bronk made one final attempt at sympathy.

“The arts is the everyman issue,” she declared.

Without skipping a beat, Carlson responded,

“Then I am an artist.”

Watch the full segment here: