Fox News host Jessica Tarlov on Tuesday brought some damning receipts to a discussion about inflammatory rhetoric stoking political violence, reading some of the many words from President Donald Trump to argue this isn’t the Democratic problem her colleague claimed.
The “Five” discussion saw Kayleigh McEnany argue “deeply irresponsible” rhetoric from Democrats such as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker fosters political violence, while Dana Perino argued “the extreme left” gets radicalized online.
Jeffries had used the term “maximum warfare” while discussing political redistricting efforts in the days before Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, after which the Trump administration began blaming political violence on Democratic rhetoric.
“I just feel like this is a massive gaslighting scene,” Tarlov told McEnany. “I mean, the Hakeem Jeffries comparison, I think, is so unfair. He’s talking about redistricting. He’s not talking about a human being. He’s really not talking about a Republican.”
She continued, “You say Democrats went out and called Donald Trump a threat to democracy — absolutely. The guy still doesn’t accept the 2020 results and a majority of the party doesn’t, as a consequence of the fact that he continued to proliferate that lie.”
Tarlov is the only liberal commentator on “The Five” and has frequently tried to set the record straight and called her conservative co-hosts out over their often baffling or baseless claims.
She explained Tuesday that the president of the United States is “the most important person” in the country and has a “responsibility” to set the tone. Tarlov went on to note just how often Trump “has done something absurd — like celebrate Rob Reiner’s death.”
“Or say, Bob Mueller, ‘good riddance,’ whatever it is,” she added. “And you think you can run through things Democrats have said? Donald Trump: ‘enemy within,’ ‘communist,’ ‘marxist,’ ‘fascist,’ ‘radical thugs,’ ‘vermin,’ ‘garbage,’ ‘traitor,’ ‘sick,’ ‘party of hate,’ ‘evil’ and ‘satan.’”
Trump has used all of these terms to warn his base about the purported threat of Democrats and “the radical left.” He argued Sunday during a “60 Minutes” interview, “I do think that the hate speech of the Democrats, much more so, is very dangerous … for the country.”
The data shows political violence is most often committed by right-wingers, however.
A 2024 study by the National Institute of Justice found ”the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.” It was widely available on the Justice Department website — until its quiet removal in September.
“The responsibility lies with all of us, but it has to start at the top here,” Tarlov said Tuesday. “And I agree with Charlamagne [Tha God] that that discussion is one that Republicans should start taking a part in if there is any way to come back together in this country.”
