Despite the rage and despair they showed on-camera as Republicans suffered a historic wipeout in the midterms, one Fox News pundit says her colleagues act completely differently behind the scenes.
Jessica Tarlov is an on-air personality and pundit for Fox News, noted as one of the conservative network’s vanishingly few liberal voices. Because of this, she frequently calls out and butts heads with her colleagues, taking them to task for their efforts to paint a rosy picture of conservative policies and leadership, particularly in the era of President Donald Trump.
This weekend, Tarlov appeared at Crooked Con, an event in Washington, D.C., hosted by the liberal media and activism organization, Crooked Media. During one of the event’s panels, she sat for an interview with outspoken political YouTube creator and author Brian Tyler Cohen, who asked her what the vibe was like with her Fox News colleagues once they were off-camera.
“Totally fine. They don’t care,” Tarlov said. “I’ve talked to you about this. We’re obsessed with politics. It’s a reflection of our souls, right? It’s our morals. It’s our values… They don’t feel the same way about it. They can compartmentalize these things. They can think about, oh, you know, another election will happen. There can be some degree of self-soothing, which I think you saw a bit of in the election night coverage, but in general, their lives have carried on like usual.”
Cohen suggested that the lack of concern might be a result of the “asymmetry” between conservative and liberal leadership, as, in his words, “the most extreme policy” Democrats might try to push forward would be to give everyone healthcare. Tarlov countered that it is more likely that her conservative colleagues feel fine for the time being because Trump remains president.
“Donald Trump’s also still sitting there in the Oval Office and has said, ‘Just call me Mr. Veto,'” Tarlov said, referencing Trump’s pledge to block much of what Democrats might try to pass until 2029. “So I’m not sure that there’s this feeling that that much more will happen. I will say, though, to your point like, oh, what could happen when we’re in office? If you talk to people who run small businesses, for instance, they would say that there are probably going to be a lot more regulations in place than if there’s a Republican president… they definitely feel that there is a threat to American life with liberal governance. They just don’t see this election as meaning that there’s going to be liberal governance.”