Hours after Fox News anchor Chris Wallace heaped praise upon President Joe Biden’s inaugural address, his network colleague Greg Gutfeld roundly mocked the Fox News Sunday moderator’s remarks and, of course, tore apart the new president’s speech.
Immediately following Biden’s speech, in which he called upon Americans to “end this uncivil war,” Fox News viewers were greeted Wednesday afternoon with Wallace labeling it “the best inaugural address I have ever heard.” Beyond that, the veteran news anchor also touted Biden’s warning to the media about spreading disinformation and lies—something many of his Fox cohorts have especially profited from throughout the Trump era.
During Wednesday’s broadcast of Fox News’ The Five, resident liberal panelist Juan Williams first grilled Gutfeld about the post-election predictions from right-wing media pundits (and QAnon conspiracy theorists) that President Donald Trump would somehow remain in office.
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“What happens now that Joe Biden is in office?” Williams wondered aloud.
Gutfeld ignored the question, making a snide remark about the Russia investigation and claiming Williams just wanted him to “take the bait.” From there, the pro-Trump Fox host went on a lengthy rant about the inauguration’s messaging.
“I believe there should be a call for unity until you consider the source, a party, and a candidate that pushed smears, that ginned up racial division and other kinds of divisions toward half a population,” he groused, somehow not talking about Trump. “The Democrats manufactured the divide!”
“They seasoned it and watered it and it culminated in a year of violence on, get this, both sides,” Gutfeld continued, invoking Trump’s infamous Charlottesville defense that the Fox host now believes was fake news. “So the Dems are great at creating a problem and saying they have a solution. This is called extortion!” The Fox host additionally claimed that the “media-industrial complex” has created division, echoing a previous argument he made the day after the deadly Capitol riots, in which he claimed Trump supporters were “justified” in their distrust of the media or elections.
“Other than that, Juan, an amazing inauguration,” Gutfeld snarled. “I agree with Chris Wallace, the greatest inauguration I’ve ever seen in my entire life!”
Continuing with the over-the-top mockery of Wallace, he shouted, “And I’ll even go further than Chris Wallace: It’s the greatest inauguration I will ever see! Ever see! I think we should just stop with the inaugurations!”
Gutfeld’s mocking outburst comes as the network deals with declining ratings by overhauling its weekday lineup to emphasize right-wing opinion programming—an obvious effort to lure back disgruntled pro-Trump viewers who abandoned the network over Fox’s accurate election-night news reporting. Gutfeld himself is reportedly in consideration for a daily late-night talk show, while Fox recently let go a number of news staffers, including political editor Chris Stirewalt, who defended Fox’s election decision desk on-air after the Arizona call.
