THURSDAY: We saw "the storm" blow through The Five!

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2025

This is the illness we've chosen: Aside from a few basic points, we won't even try to describe what happened yesterday on The Five.

The full tape of the relevant segment is available at the program's web site.  Somewhat comically, the dual headline says this:

We're in a season of 'real leftist violence,' says Paul Mauro
'The Five' co-hosts discuss a shooting at an I.C.E. facility in Dallas and the state of political rhetoric in America

We call that comical for an obvious reason. What actually happened during that segment had nothing to do with the things Paul Mauro said.

What actually happened involved a remarkable example of "the storm"—a remarkable example of the irrational fury which increasingly seems to come from the Fox News Channel's Greg Gutfeld. As we've been noting this week, this irrational fury has also been coming from other members of Red America's elites.

The basic background to yesterday's storm is this:

In every segment of this ludicrous show, one of the five co-hosts is assigned to serve as the moderator. The other four co-hosts then take their turns discussing the topic in question.

As we've often noted, the gruesome program achieves its considerable frisson on the days when Jessica Tarlov sits in the one (1) "liberal / Democratic Party" chair. 

The four (4) pro-MAGA children all listen politely when their pro-MAGA colleagues take their turns to speak. The excitement starts when Gutfeld and Watters start interrupting and overtalking Tarlov, with the other pro-MAGA co-hosts sometimes joining in.

(That was especially likely to happen when Judge Jeanine was still a daily co-host.)

Yesterday, the first topic involved the fatal shooting at the ICE facility in Dallas. Jesse Watters, acting as moderator and seeming to be on his best behavior, threw to Tarlov in the manner shown:

WATTERS (5/24/25): Jessica, you've never called ICE agents "fascists" or "Gestapo," "Nazis." You've never done that. But there are people in your party that have done that. Do you think that's responsible?

TARLOV: Listen, I think that "fascism" and fascists" is a very special category of people, and you should use it when it's really applicable and sparingly, because then people will believe you when you say it. And it has become too common to hear words like that...

So far, so acceptable! At that point, Tarlov began recalling her recitation, on last Friday's show, of the many times when President Trump has dropped that same f-bomb on Democratic heads. 

Yesterday, she said it was a "both sides problem." That's when the roof fell in.

"That's garbage! That's absolute garbage!" the visibly furious Gutfeld now shouted, breaking in. After ordering Tarlov to "Continue," he instantly began railing at her again.

By our count, Tarlov had been permitted to speak for 37 seconds before the roof fell in.

Gutfeld's furious interruptions went on and on, then on and on some more. At one point, he seemed to have decided to stifle himself. But he soon returned to the practice of shouting at Tarlov, generally as soon as she had uttered three or four words.

It wasn't the familiar rudeness of the behavior, and it wasn't the sheer stupidity of some of the ways he tried to refute Tarlov's assertions. For us, it was the raw fury this extremely unusual person exhibited in his rant at Tarlov this day.

At Sunday's memorial service for Charlie Kirk, Stephen Miller described a growing reality. We offered a longer transcript this morning, but this was Miller's key statement:

MILLER (9/21/25) When I see Erika [Kirk] and her strength and her courage, I'm reminded of a famous expression:

The storm whispers to the warrior that you cannot withstand my strength. And the warrior whispers back, "I am the storm."

Erika is the storm. We are the storm. And our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve, our passion. Our lineage and our legacy hails back to Athens, to Rome, to Philadelphia, to Monticello. Our ancestors built the cities. They produced the art and architecture. They built the industry.

[...]

We will prevail over the forces of wickedness and evil. They cannot imagine what they have awakened. 

We assume that Miller's reference to "the storm" is a nod to the QAnon crowd. But the fury to which Miller gave voice erupted yesterday, on The Five, in Gutfeld's weirdly unhinged performance.

We strongly suggest that you watch the tape; to do so, just click here. Tarlov starts attempting to speak at the seven-minute mark. Strangely, the tape of the program is missing from the Internet Archive's compilation of yesterday's Fox News Channel programs.

We strongly suggest that you watch that tape to see where the nation is going. Or you could just consider this:

In this morning's New York Times, we read this overview of President Trump's current stance on climate change:

At a Times Event, Opposing Views on Climate Change Collide

[...]

The split-screen view underscored the extent to which the United States under President Trump has become isolated from the rest of the world on climate change, perhaps more than on any other issue. Mr. Trump has said the United States will withdraw from the Paris accord, joining Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only four countries to not recognize it. In recent months, Mr. Trump has also issued numerous policies that could thwart renewable energy projects, and his administration has ordered a halt to the construction of offshore wind farms.

[...]

By contrast, Mr. Trump told the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday that climate change is the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” and called renewable energy “a joke.”

On climate change, it's Iran and Libya and Yemen—and it's also us! Meanwhile, on your TV screen, you have the endless apparent misogyny of Gutfeld, tied to the remarkable, barely controllable anger he put on display yesterday.  

We're sincere in saying that the furious Gutfeld seems to need some help. We do want to comment on one of the many ridiculous things he said as he kept overtalking Tarlov:

GUTFELD: The left calls Trump a hatemonger. They've called me a hatemonger because  ridicule the left, I ridicule protesters, I ridicule academia—Hollywood, the news media. I make fun of The View every day...

Actually, no. The gentleman doesn't "make fun of" The View. Night after night, he compares the women of The View to horses, cattle, cows and pigs, to whales and also to "livestock." 

(After that, it may be time to start saying that "Tampon" is secretly gay.)

They open the garbage can every night. This is what comes slithering out. Blue America's orgs avert their gaze. To appearances, no one wants to report what happens on Fox.

In fairness, Tarlov was granted her 37 seconds. Then "the storm" began.

We'd like to see the guy get some help. But more and more, in various ways, this is the illness we've chosen.