Just before 10 p.m. Monday, amid an Iran crisis and a ticking Strait of Hormuz clock, Trump took to Truth Social with a demand to fire a Fox News host.
“For Fox executives only, take Jessica Tarlov off the air,” he wrote. “She is, from her voice, to her lies, and everything else about her, one of the worst ‘personalities’ on television, a real loser! People cannot stand watching her. Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Tarlov was not even on television that night. Nobody is entirely sure what set him off.
The Five, the show Trump wants Tarlov removed from, is the most-watched cable news program in America. It has held that position for 18 consecutive quarters with 4 million viewers. Tarlov is part of why people watch. The president would like her gone but the ratings suggest otherwise.
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This is not a new obsession.
Last summer Trump called her a “failed TV personality” and “a disgrace to television broadcasting” after she cited his unfavorable polling numbers on air. He called her “a real loser” days later.
When he phoned into The Five in March while she was absent, he told the panel he was “glad Jessica’s not there,” asked whether she had been kicked off the show, and said he was “not a fan.” He then added: “I’m sure I’d like her, I’m sure she’s a lovely person, she’s just not for me.” Host Jesse Watters told Trump they were “working on her.”
The apparent trigger for Monday’s post was that Tarlov had posted on X on Easter Sunday, sharing Trump’s f-bomb threat to Iran. “What an embarrassment this man is,” she told her 284,000 followers. Trump waited roughly 36 hours to respond.
In February, Tarlov had also called out Melania Trump’s ties to Ghislaine Maxwell and defended Hillary Clinton during the Epstein files probe. Trump has not forgotten any of it.
Tarlov herself responded with characteristic calm. She had not watched the post go up, having been off air Monday, but her track record on this particular subject was already established. When Trump had claimed in March to be “polling very high actually” after she cited his 42% approval rating, she posted: “But I definitely would’ve said he’s even inflating his numbers to 42%.”
Shannon Bream also ended up in the same Monday night post. Trump corrected her on-air reference to his voter eligibility bill, insisting it is “the Save America Act, a big difference,” and accused her of letting Democrat Jake Auchincloss “spew out Democrat propaganda and lies” on her “not very hard hitting show.”
Auchincloss had called Trump’s Iran strategy “TACO Trump” on Sunday, arguing he “always backs down” and comparing the Iran war to the China trade war Trump lost.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
