Yeah I mean he literally could have just said “I believe that we can have a productive discussion and find common ground in our goals for the future of the technology and the prosperity of the nation” or some such smarmy non-answer. Like..dude immediately assumed hostility instead of listening and seeing the kid gloves he was being handled with already lmao
Seems he’s perpetually on the back foot and feeling some high anxiety about the bullshit he’s peddling.