Rebecca Kaplan, dons prayer shawl, jousts with Fox News host

Fox News host Tucker Carlson and guest last Friday, Oakand Councilmember  Rebecca Kaplan.

OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL
Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan went where many progressives have failed before her, participating in a one-sided conversation with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Last week, the Oakland City Council approved a resolution–strongly backed by Kaplan–to prohibit the city’s police department from aiding ICE agents in any way, even to bring them a cup of coffee, she quipped last fall.

Kaplan may have believed she was appearing on the Fox News program last Friday to talk about the legislation and the incident last August that preceded it, but Carlson had a different take.

Instead, the focus was on comments made last week by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra threatening the state’s employers if they cooperated with ICE officials. Carlson maintained Becerra’s comment could result in “civil war and anarchy” if precedent is set for states to ignore federal laws.

He then repeatedly tried to get Kaplan to acknowledge the point, but she resisted. Instead, Kaplan switched the subject to ICE and the action in West Oakland.

“I think this is bigger than whether a family in Oakland was hassled by ICE,” said Carlson. “This has to do with the staying together of the 50 united states.”

Kaplan did not relent before an exasperated Carlson exclaimed, “Don’t be a robot give me a real answer.” Kaplan immediately loosened up and told Carlson she worries about overreach by law enforcement.

But before the interview wrapped up, Kaplan, who appeared on the program wearing a Jewish prayer shawl, attempted to squeeze in a few lines of scripture into the conversation.

“Don’t give me the Bible thing,” Carlson interrupted, before concluding the interview.

“We’re out of time, Rebecca,” Carlson said, “but I appreciate you coming on even though you refused to answer a single question.”

Earlier this year, East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell made several appearances with Carlson in which, like Kaplan, he was repeatedly baited into making a comment that Carlson and conservatives could later belittled as typical progressive ideology.