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Fox News hosts call out Jesse Watters for saying generals would ‘have their way’ with Harris if elected

Watters was scorned by his female co-hosts during a discussion about Harris’s foreign policy and the US’s Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021

Rhian Lubin
Tuesday 27 August 2024 14:27 BST
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Watters was scorned by his female co-hosts during a discussion about Harris’s foreign policy and the US’s Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021

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Fox NewsJesse Watters was called out by his own co-hosts for saying generals “would have their way” with Kamala Harris if she is elected president.

On Monday’s edition of The Five, the panel was discussing Harris’s foreign policy and the US’s Afghanistan withdrawal in August 2021.

During the discussion – on what marked the third anniversary of the chaotic withdrawal – Watters made the unsavory comment about the woman campaigning to become America’s first female president.

“What is her foreign policy? This is where the president has the most impact,” Watters asked.

“We don’t know who she is, we don’t know what she believes. She’s going to get paralyzed in the situation room while the generals have their way with her.”

Co-host Jeanine Pirro quickly condemned his comments, saying: “I don’t like that. Take it back.”

Dana Perino also waded in, highlighting her disapproval by saying Watters’ name in full.

Jesse Watters was called out by his co-hosts on Fox News for comment about the vice president
Jesse Watters was called out by his co-hosts on Fox News for comment about the vice president (Fox News/screengrab)

In an attempt to row back, Watters said: “Figuratively…Have their way with her, control her…not in a sexual way.”

Viewers were outraged by Watters’s remarks, branding him misogynistic and sexist.

“Jesse Watters thinks misogyny is funny,” one person posted on X.

“This is how these guys talk about their own daughters when they’re not around too,” another said.

Another person also chimed in: “There was a time not so long ago when ppl [sic] most likely would be taken off the air, and possibly fired for saying anything such as this.  He’s a real jerk, to say the least.”

Kerstin Emhoff, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff’s ex-wife, also slammed his comments. “There are many things to worry about, but Kamala being manhandled in the situation room is not one of them,” she wrote on X.

Later on in the show, Watters acknowledged the controversial comment again when the panel discussed the Kennedy family’s condemnation of RFK Jr, after he endorsed Donald Trump for president.

Watters joked his mother would “probably go on MSNBC tonight” and say that “my son, Jesse Watters made a joke about Kamala Harris being manhandled by generals in the situation room... I can see my mom doing that.”

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro has scolded Watters a number of times on the show
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro has scolded Watters a number of times on the show (screengrab/ Fox News)

Its not the first time Perino and Pirro have had to reprimand their co-host for making sexist comments.

In another sexist rant on the show – mocking The White Dudes for Harris fundraiser – Watters suggested that men who vote for a female candidate based on her gender are “childish”, have “mommy issues” or are only “trying to be accepted by other women”.

“It was basically saying ‘If you want to be accepted by women you should vote for a woman’,” Watters said.

That time, Perino also interjected: “What?”

“And I heard the scientists say the other day when a man votes for a woman he actually transitions into a woman,” Watters said sarcastically.

Perino retorted back in the same tone: “Oh is that right?”

Watters was also shut down by his female co-hosts during a rant about electric cars when he said women in relationships “don’t control which car to buy.”

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