Fox News primetime host compares government shutdown to nagging wife in bizarre rant

Fox News host Jesse Watters recently made a head-scratching analogy on the latest episode of Fox News' "The Five" when defending Republicans' refusal to negotiate with Democrats amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.

According to a Thursday report in the Daily Beast, Watters launched into the analogy after arguing that Democrats — who are the minority party in both chambers of Congress and don't occupy the White House — are "holding the government hostage" by not voting for the government funding bill Republicans crafted by themselves. Watters went on to say that Democrats were asking for too much by pushing Republicans to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies in exchange for reopening the government.

“This is like when your wife forces you to buy an expensive car, and then she just wrecks it over and over again and it is always stuck in the shop,” Watters said. “But she wants to go out, right? But she won’t take an Uber!”

“She won’t be seen in an Uber, she calls you cheap, so you know what you do? You sit on the couch, you say, ‘Fine, babe, I’m just gonna sit down, order pizza and watch football," he continued. "You’re playing chicken with the guy that loves sitting down.”

"’You’re the one that needs to go out and shop and get their nails done,'" he added. "This is a war they cannot win."

While the ACA subsidies (which are technically known as "enhanced premium tax credits") won't expire until the end of the calendar year, Democrats have argued that because insurance companies are already calculating rates for the open enrollment period that begins in November, quick action is needed to extend the credits. Should the credits not be renewed, premiums could spike significantly for millions of Americans across the country.

The current shutdown, which began on October 1, is expected to last into next week, as Republicans have continued to refuse to negotiate an extension of the tax credits. Democrats have also dug in and are refusing to vote for the Republican government funding bill in its current form.

Click here to read the Beast's report in its entirety (subscription required).