Condemnation rained down on Fox News personality Laura Ingraham after she argued against widespread student loan forgiveness while at the same time admitting she freeloaded off her mother to pay for her own schooling.
Writing on Twitter, Ingraham—who graduated from expensive private Ivy League Dartmouth College—claimed her mother "worked as a waitress until she was 73 to help pay for our college" adding her mother even helped with loan replayments.
Characteristically, with no sense of irony whatsoever, Ingraham added forgiving student loan debt is "just another insult to those who play by the rules."
My mom worked as a waitress until she was 73 to help pay for our college, even helped with loan repayment. Loan forgiveness just another insult to those who play by the rules.— Laura Ingraham (@Laura Ingraham) 1651149787
Ingraham's remarks came just a couple days after news outlets reported the Biden administration "is looking at different options to forgive an unspecified but substantial amount of federal student loan debt," a move that received pushback from prominent Republicans who have accused President Joe Biden of "bribing" voters.
These reports prompted Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney to rail against debt forgiveness, saying Democrats are "taking desperate measures" in response to "desperate polls," though the effort goes back much farther given Biden campaigned on forgiving $10,000 worth of student loan debt per person.
Other Republicans have also criticized the proposal, arguing student loan forgiveness would only shift billions of dollars of debt to taxpayers and deal a blow to the economy, a claim that runs counter to data from economists who've noted student debt cancellations would only boost Americans' purchasing power.
Additionally, conservatives suggested those calling for student loan forgiveness are "lazy" and simply need to work more and go without if they want to pay off their debts, not taking into account the impact of high loan interest rates debt forgiveness advocates have said are predatory, trapping borrowers in an unforgiving cycle of debt that can never be paid off.
Ingraham's statements prompted many to take her to task for her hypocrisy.
What kind of person lets their 73 year old mother work as a waitress to pay off their bills!https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/1519658467652521984\u00a0\u2026— JenNWCbus (@JenNWCbus) 1651252512
Given what you've done with your education, it's safe to say she should have quit and enjoyed her retirement.https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/1519658467652521984\u00a0\u2026— Gareth Dimelow \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Gareth Dimelow \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1651251724
And you brag about that?? I worked and paid my own way through college. What was your issue? Laziness???https://twitter.com/ingrahamangle/status/1519658467652521984\u00a0\u2026— Blue in Alaska\ud83e\udd19\ud83c\udffbTheRealFatShady, Is it 4:20 yet? (@Blue in Alaska\ud83e\udd19\ud83c\udffbTheRealFatShady, Is it 4:20 yet?) 1651249449
imagine being upset that parents wouldn\u2019t have to work until they die to help their children pay for their educationhttps://twitter.com/ingrahamangle/status/1519658467652521984\u00a0\u2026— Hector Aguilar (@Hector Aguilar) 1651250152
You\u2019re mom work until her death to put you through college and you don\u2019t see how that\u2019s a flawed system????https://twitter.com/ingrahamangle/status/1519658467652521984\u00a0\u2026— Ju Don Dada (@Ju Don Dada) 1651250317
Personally if I were a Dartmouth-educated attorney, I wouldn't let my elderly mother wait tables to help with my loan repayment, but maybe I'm unclear on these "rules."https://twitter.com/IngrahamAngle/status/1519658467652521984\u00a0\u2026— The Annasthesiologist \ud83e\udd1f (@The Annasthesiologist \ud83e\udd1f) 1651247513
You, a grown woman with high paying positions, stood back as your own mother worked into her 70s to help pay off YOUR loans?\n\nUgly behavior from an ugly soul.https://twitter.com/ingrahamangle/status/1519658467652521984\u00a0\u2026— Princess Elle (@Princess Elle) 1651245551
Imagine seeing your mom go through that type of struggle and deciding yea I think everyone else\u2019s mom should suffer like that toohttps://twitter.com/ingrahamangle/status/1519658467652521984\u00a0\u2026— Mac (@Mac) 1651245712
The irony of debating against loan repayment by saying someone else paid for your college is a crazy tactichttps://twitter.com/ingrahamangle/status/1519658467652521984\u00a0\u2026— Clayton (@Clayton) 1651240814
Ingraham has repeatedly used her platform to criticize efforts to forgive student loan debt.
Earlier this month, she called student loan debt "a fake crisis," claiming that Democrats "are scrambling to recover young voters who are abandoning the party en masse into the student loan forgiveness scam."
Others at Fox News have also weighed in, including Fox News opinion writer Karol Markowicz, who wrote a column questioning why "a basket weaving major at Super Expensive Private University get her debt paid off while a refrigerator repairman continues to struggle with enormous price hikes on everyday items due to BidenInflation."
