Danish Politicians Hit Back At Fox Host’s Critical Commentary on Denmark

Danish politicians strike back at FOX Business television host’s recent critical on-air commentary regarding the national economy and sociocultural lifestyles in the Nordic country. Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter have been a primary tool for such responses.

It all started on Sunday, August 12 when Trish Regan, who was a former Miss New Hampshire back in the 1990s as well as a former employee at CBS, CNBC, and Bloomberg, criticized Denmark’s economy as socialist and compared its economic system to that of the developing Latin American country of Venezuela on her own FOX Business program, “The Intelligence Report with Trish Regan.” Regan’s segment video has more than 170,00 views on Twitter and more than five million views on Facebook.

#ICYMI #Socialism NEVER works! Not in Venezuela, not in Cuba, and not even in DENMARK! These countries have stripped people of their opportunities. The Dems need to rid their party of socialists for their own good – and the good of our nation. pic.twitter.com/KRhVFz304i

— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) August 12, 2018

Then on Monday, August 13, the day after the video was broadcasted on television and posted online, Denmark’s finance minister from the centre-right Venstre political party, Kristian Jensen, tweeted at Regan with a 2018 statistic from the International Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development showing that Denmark has a higher employment rate than the OECD average as well as the United States.

So Danes don’t wants to work? 11 places better than US in OECD statistics! We are working much more than Americans and at the same time ranking as the worlds best in Work-Life-Balance. You should come to Denmark if you dare be confronted with facts @trish_regan 😀🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/hFf9ysy62x

— Kristian Jensen (@Kristian_Jensen) August 13, 2018

Afterward, on Wednesday, August 15, NowThis published a report on how a Danish member of parliament from the center-left Social Democratic Party, Dan Jorgensen responded to Regan’s claims about Denmark. In the video posted on Facebook and YouTube, Jorgensen pointed out recent statistics from the OECD, World Economic Forum, and Forbes magazine showing that with more working and college educated people than the United States, Denmark is considered one of the best countries in the developed world for business.

After the online backlash, Regan addressed the criticism on her program. Regan said that she was never implying living and economic conditions in Denmark were similar to Venezuela’s. She said that she was trying to indicate that socialism does not work based on previous reports as well as sources from publications such as The Independent and The Atlantic.