President Donald Trump used an appearance on Fox News’ The Five to slam its lone liberal panelist while she was away.
Trump, 79, phoned into The Five on Thursday for a rambling chat that ranged from the Strait of Hormuz to his popularity with gay voters.
Regular co-host Jessica Tarlov, a Democratic strategist and co-host of the Raging Moderates podcast, was not on Thursday’s panel.
At one point during his interview, co-host Jesse Watters asked Trump if his next appearance on the show could be in person, “Because we really want you to sit next to Jessica.”
As the panel laughed, Watters added, “I think you’d be a good influence on her. Can you do that?”
Trump paused and said, “Well... I watch Jessica, and I’m not a fan.”
He then claimed Tarlov “uses fake numbers” to report negatively on his popularity on his favorite network.
Trump imitated her reporting saying, “‘He’s only polling 42 percent...’” before adding, “That’s not right, I’m polling very high actually.”
The president’s remarks come after the network released devastating polling numbers on Wednesday, registering Trump’s highest disapproval rating across both his terms as president.
The poll found that 59 percent of registered voters did not approve of Trump’s job as president, and 47 percent said they strongly disapproved of his handling of the presidency. Among Republicans, Trump’s approval dropped to his lowest level of the second term at 82 percent, down from 92 percent last March.
“I hate people that use fake polls because polls are just like bad journalists,” the president told The Five. “You know, bad journalists, they write fake stories. Well, fake polls do damage also.”
Trump then stated, “I’m sure I’d like her, I’m sure she’s a lovely person, she’s just not for me.”
Watters remarked, “I get it, we’re working on her, don’t worry.”
The president then referenced Tarlov’s absence. “Now tell me, did she not want to do it or did you kick her off the show?”
The host laughed and said, “We didn’t kick her off; she had a previous schedule she couldn’t change,” before abruptly changing the topic to Trump’s war in Iran.
Her absence was not mentioned at the start of Thursday’s episode, which featured Dana Perino, Kennedy, Greg Gutfield and Kayleigh McEnany, as well as Watters.
Tarlov later shared a clip of Trump talking smack about her on The Five on her social media, saying she was “so bummed” to miss the show.
She added, “But I definitely would’ve said he’s even inflating his numbers to 42 percent!”
The Daily Beast has contacted Fox News for comment.
Tarlov, 41, has form for criticizing Trump. On Wednesday’s episode of The Five, she referred to the “daily war snuff film briefing” Trump is given by his aides because he “likes to see what’s getting blown up.”
NBC reported Trump was shown a two-minute-long highlight reel showing frontline victories in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
“There was concern that he was not taking in all of the dimensions of this war,” Tarlov said before stating that Trump’s war on Iran “is the least popular military incursion in modern American history.”
Last month, she called out the president’s remarks that he had been “exonerated” by the release of the Epstein files.
In a post on X, Tarlov shared a video where he said he claimed “nobody used to speak about Epstein when he was alive... but I’m the one that can talk about it, because I’ve been totally exonerated. I did nothing.”
She added the caption, “Then release all the files.”
The president has a history of attacking female journalists while they are doing their jobs.
In December, he called ABC reporter Rachel Scott “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place.” He blasted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for not smiling when she asked him about Epstein survivors, called New York Times reporter Katie Rogers “ugly, both inside and out” and shouted “Quiet, piggy!” at Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey.
