National Review editor David French set off MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle on Monday after claiming that he wasn't convinced "there's too much money in politics."
"Let's keep all this in perspective, the amount of money in politics is still far, far less than the amount of money we spend on lots of different kinds of random consumer goods," French said. "Yet politics help shape the direction of the world's only superpower, so I'm not entirely convinced there is too much money in politics."
"Really?" replied a clearly gobsmacked Ruhle, as French went on to say that Americans "spend probably more money on their pets" and live "in an atmosphere of unbelievable civic ignorance." Ruhle's face contorted as she cocked her head and frowned, trying to make sense of French's thesis.
"Hold on a second. Do you think campaign dollars actually make us smarter on the civics front?" she asked, as French laughed. "If that kind of money was going to, I don't know, civics education in public schools, I might buy that argument."
French pivoted quickly and said that money buys "access to voters", and explicitly equated political messaging with education. Ruhle cut him off.
"I look forward to ads that are going to make us smarter and better, but I'm an optimist," she said scornfully. "Let's see what we get in 2020."
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