President Donald Trump has a thing for butts this election cycle. And Fox News’ lone liberal, Jessica Tarlov, thinks she understands why.
Trump, 80, has drawn ridicule from both sides of the political spectrum for drooling after Ohio Senator Jon Husted’s “pile of muscle” backside and rapper Nicki Minaj’s “beautiful a--” during various MAGA events.
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, Tarlov, the 42-year-old co-host of Fox News’ The Five, said “there is a greater message” behind Trump’s obsession. The bottomless well of the president’s purported thirst for MAGA buttocks indicates his party’s knowing complicity in the chaos of his midterm campaign.
“This is what I tell people about politics when they say they can’t believe this stuff, or ‘They’re stepping out of line,’ or how everyone on Capitol Hill loves to report, ‘Behind closed doors, they all know he’s insane’: Stop it. Everyone is fine with this,” Tarlov told host Meyers. “That’s really what’s going on here. I’m so sick of these stories. It’s a complete waste of our time.”
Trump’s administration has proven it will bolster the president, no matter what comes out of his mouth, Tarlov said. She doesn’t buy claims that Republican officials will ever stand up to the president.
“Like, ‘Oh, [House Speaker] Mike Johnson, his spine is actually forming as we speak’—it’s done,” she said. “And I think that we can just put all the a— stuff in that category. It’s fine for them because they believe in the larger project. And if that means talking about how obnoxious we are about The Cheesecake Factory or Jon Husted and Nicki Minaj’s backsides, they are cool, because they’re on this ride.”
Trump has habitually lashed out against Tarlov, calling her a “loser” at a Nebraska rally and “stupid” on Truth Social. Tarlov, though, has refused to back down. She told Meyers that her goal is to open the minds of her MAGA viewers and provide enough facts to “plant a little seed of doubt” about their convictions.
Though Trump’s posterior preoccupation won’t make his die-hard supporters rear away in disgust, Tarlov is hopeful that her more open-minded viewers will think critically before casting their ballots.
“The question is, how do the people who might hear someone with an alternative point of view feel about it when they go to vote next Tuesday?” Tarlov said. “Those are the people that I think about.”
