A tense exchange unfolded Monday on Fox News during a recess at the Republican National Convention over how strong rhetoric led to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
The awkward discussion between Jessica Tarlov, a rotating co-host of "The Five," and "Gutfeld!" host Greg Gutfeld stemmed from a new interview clip of President Joe Biden.
In the clip, NBC News anchor Lester Holt asks Biden the consequences of incendiary language, and pressed the president on his statement that Trump is an "existential threat" and that it was "time to put Trump in the bulls-eye." The comments came before a gunman in Butler, Pennsylvania, shot at Trump with an AR-15 during a rally and killed an attendee.
In response, Biden explained he didn't mean to say explicitly, "bulls-eye" and meant figuratively put Trump in the "crosshairs" — "focus on him."
The clip led to a broader discussion on "The Five" over the role that strong language plays in the recent political violence.
Tarlov said that despite calls for toning down the rhetoric, she expects "fiery" speakers at the Republican National Convention, and added that, "nobody who is being an honest broker can possibly believe that the Democratic rhetoric is the problem here."
"If the issue is that we're saying all the time, 'he's like Hitler,' and 'he's a threat to democracy' — and by the way, J.D. Vance has also said, 'he's like Hitler,' and I guess he's redeemed now. But Donald Trump sent out a fundraising email just last week that said Joe Biden is a threat to democracy."
Read also: Donald Trump starts fundraising off his own assassination attempt
Tarlov added that only one of these candidates has "inspired people to send pipe bombs to leading Democrats" and "inspired mass shooters," not to mention saying Second Amendment supporters could take care of Hillary Clinton if she abolished the amendment.
"Talk about firing up the base? Donald Trump has been doing that since 2016," she said.
Gutfeld finally had enough when Tarlov mentioned Trump reposted a photo of Biden hog-tied.
"Oh come on!" he interjected, as Tarlov tried to talk over him. "That was hilarious! Your examples are so tiny! We're talking about an attempted assassination that left an American man dead. The shooter groomed and incentivized by a drumbeat of demonization."
He added, as she continued to try to shout over him: "You can call people 'Hitler' all you want, but you have to ask yourself, 'Why would you?'"
The two continued to spar, with Gutfeld proclaiming: "You cannot pretend you didn't know where it would lead. Trump laughs about a picture of a hog-tied Joe Biden on the back of a pickup truck? That is not a demonization — that is a meme!"
Watch the clip below or at this link.
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