Democrats scale down threshold to spy on Americans' accounts
'The Five' co-host Katie Pavlich denounces Democratic push as 'complete garbage'
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld took aim at the media on Tuesday for turning a blind eye as Democrats move to pass controversial legislation that would propel the country into what he called an "authoritarian utopia."
Gutfeld's comment came in reaction to the Biden administration's agreement to scale back a proposal that could force banks to turn over customers' account information to the Internal Revenue Service amid growing criticism from banking groups and Republicans.
Under the new plan, banks, credit unions and other financial institutions would be required to report annually on accounts with deposits and withdrawals worth more than $10,000, rather than the $600 threshold that Biden initially proposed.
WHAT'S IN BIDEN'S PLAN FOR THE IRS TO MONITOR NEARLY EVERY AMERICANS' BANK ACCOUNT?
Gutfeld denounced the $10,000 threshold on "The Five" later Tuesday, and blamed the media for granting Democrats a free pass to move forward with the controversial proposal.
"How did this happen?" he asked. "The media has constantly obsessed with authoritarianism as though it comes from the right. That's because they are not part of the right and hate Republicans," Gutfeld said.
The media believed it would be former President Trump who would create an authoritarian dystopia and undermine the country's democratic foundation, he explained.
"Before Trump it was Bush, before Bush, it was Reagan…but when you look at it," Gutfeld went on, "they [mainstream media organizations] missed the impulse of the left. It is there… I can’t imagine Trump wanting to snoop through people's bank accounts. No Republican would do it.
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The host urged viewers to "step back" and examine the latest Democratic initiatives, which include, "the speech codes on campuses, vaccine mandates, targeting parents who are just trying to protect their kids from crappy education…
"We are barreling towards an authoritarian utopia," he reiterated, "and there's not a single Republican fingerprint on it. It's all academics, it is all politicians, progressives, and ‘wokesters.’
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