A Fox News panel went sideways Wednesday in a discussion about the viral clip of CNN’s Don Lemon, Rick Wilson, and Wajahat Ali apparently mocking President Donald Trump’s supporters.
The conversation came up on “Outnumbered” with Melissa Francis, Harris Faulkner, Marie Harf, Dagen McDowell, and Daily Caller News Foundation alum Chris Bedford. (RELATED: ‘I Can Read With The Best Of Them’: Gun Debate Gets Testy On ‘Outnumbered’)
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Following the panelists’ initial reactions, Harf cut in, saying, “Wait a second. Rick Wilson who made the first joke is a Republican.” (RELATED: It Took This CNN Panel Just 80 Seconds To Show What They Really Think Of Trump Voters)
“No he’s not!” McDowell and Bedford protested almost in unison.
“He’s a ‘Republican strategist,'” Bedford added, employing air quotes.
“And I am Dolly Parton,” McDowell cracked.
“You don’t get to decide who’s a Republican,” Harf protested. “He’s a GOP strategist.”
Harf then went on to excuse the segment as just “bad TV” and immediately pivoted to blame President Donald Trump. “Let’s be very clear. This was a bad cable segment that got out of control,” she said. “It was bad TV. Got out of control. But to be fair, all of the pearl clutching about liberals being demeaning to Donald Trump and his supporters, Donald Trump says the most demeaning things about people every single day.”
McDowell continued, “I’m not offended by them because I’m used to it. Before I started working in TV, somebody very, very brilliantly told me you go home at the end of the day. Don’t go to cocktail parties. These people hate you. They despise where you come from.”
“They laugh at anybody who speaks with an accent. The go to is that ‘you’re ignorant.’ Somebody told me, ‘you call your mom and call your daddy and remember where you came from. Your life in your direction is about community, friends, family, country, and God.’ That’s what they forget,” McDowell concluded.
Francis responded as well, saying that she wasn’t offended so much as she was surprised people would be dumb enough to publicly insult Trump’s supporters for no other reason than the fact that “they wanted a different president.”
Faulkner argued that the real concern was Lemon’s credibility and even CNN’s as a serious network. “I watch all of this and I think of what happens in this country when breaking news happens and I look at Don Lemon and I think your credibility — we were some places, serious point in our history. There are serious things to talk about. As I look at him hitting his forehead on the desk, we all find things funny at different times. But it matters in those moments when you’ve got everybody looking at you and depending on you to bring them serious news. Are they going to take them out of that chair when it gets serious? It’s a dig at CNN’s credibility too.”
Harf repeated her assessment that it was just a segment that had unfortunately gotten out of control, saying several times that not all liberals felt like people who disagreed with them were stupid.
“They don’t know why Hillary lost, clearly,” McDowell offered as a parting shot.
“All liberals don’t feel that way,” Harf said again. “Don’t do the same thing they do to you.”