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Fox News personality ridicules Trump’s obsession with her: ‘Why is this man not busier?’

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Cite

Keane, I. (2026, September 20). Fox News personality ridicules Trump’s obsession with her: ‘Why is this man not busier?’. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/fox-news-jessica-tarlov-trump-criticism-b3053258.html

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The Independent · collected 2026-09-20 · by Isabel Keane

Quick Summary

Jessica Tarlov, Fox News' liberal host on "The Five," responded to President Donald Trump's frequent criticisms by asking why he isn't focusing on more pressing issues. In April and July, Trump called Tarlov "one of the worst ‘personalities’ on television" and a "real loser," among other insults. On Pod Save America, promoting her book I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends, Tarlov dismissed Trump's comments as a distraction from more important matters and suggested that such criticism indicates she is succeeding in substantive debates.
Written by AI on 2026-09-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Jessica Tarlov, Fox News' lone liberal host, responded to Donald Trump's frequent criticisms of her by asking on a podcast why he wasn't busier with other matters. In April and July, Trump had called Tarlov “one of the worst ‘personalities’ on television” and "a real loser," respectively. On Tuesday, Tarlov promoted her book, I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends, where she discusses handling such criticism and emphasizes that there are better uses for his time than targeting her.

Written for “Trump Obsession With Host” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump Obsession With Host
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
59/100
The Independent's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Independent · 3499 article(s) · 8 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 8 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Isabel Keane
83 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by Isabel Keane
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 83 articles by Isabel Keane →

Topics

Democratic Fox Fox News Fox News’ the Los Angeles Times

Subjects

Tarlov PERSON · 5× Fox ORG · 4× Trump PERSON · 3× Jessica Tarlov PERSON · 2× Democratic NORP · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Fox News ORG · 1× Fox News’ ORG · 1× The Guardian ORG · 1× the Los Angeles Times ORG · 1×

Narrative

“I’ve never had a conversation with him, but the idea of posting ‘Dear Fox executives, fire Jessica Tarlov’ or calling into The Five and saying the show would be better without her, I don’t think he thinks that means that I’m going to get fired from my job.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-20
🔮 “If I had a son I would definitely teach him that when you grow up you should write about how a woman looks on television and sounds, and then call her ‘a big dummy,’” Tarlov retorted.

Claims (20 extracted, 0 hedged)

Fox News’ lone liberal host clapped back at President Donald Trump’s frequent criticism of her, asking, “Why is this man not busier?” asserted
man → clap → her
The 80-year-old Fox fanatic has often shared his opinions of the network online, especially of its outspoken left-leaning host Jessica Tarlov, who he called “one of the worst ‘personalities’ on television” in April — as well as “a real loser” in July. asserted
he → share → July
Trump has also called Tarlov “one of the Least Attractive and Talented People on all of Television.” asserted
Trump → call → Television
Tarlov, 42, addressed his frequent criticism on the podcast Pod Save America, saying, “Why is this man not busier? asserted
man → address → podcast
“If I had a son I would definitely teach him that when you grow up you should write about how a woman looks on television and sounds, and then call her ‘a big dummy,’” Tarlov retorted. asserted
Tarlov → have → her
Tarlov was on the podcast promoting her book, I Disagree: Winning Arguments Without Losing Friends, which hit bookstores on Tuesday. asserted
which → promote → Tuesday
The book, which is a mesh between memoir and advice, details how she handles that type of criticism. asserted
she → detail → criticism
“By the president coming after me and looking at the content of the criticism, I actually got to a place where I genuinely feel like when people pick on you because of style, that you’ve just done really well on substance,” she said. asserted
she → come → substance
“That feels good, the inner monologue feels good. asserted
monologue → feel → ?
It’s still sad and crazy,” she added. asserted
she → ’ → ?
Tarlov, who joined Fox News as a commentator in 2017, is known as the primary liberal voice on the network's “The Five.” asserted
who → join → Five
She recently signed a three-year contract with the network — despite Trump’s suggestion that the show would be better off without her. asserted
show → sign → her
“I’m trying to show that a Democratic voice like mine can exist there, without an apology,” she told the Los Angeles Times about her Fox position. asserted
she → try → position
“And that a person with strong liberal beliefs can bring that same perspective to a host of outlets and places.” asserted
person → bring → outlets
When asked about Trump trying to get her fired, she recently told The Guardian, “I think that [Fox CEO} Suzanne Scott and the entire leadership team know exactly who I am, and that they want me to keep doing what I’m doing.” asserted
I → ask → what
She continued: “And if it aggravates him – he would just get annoyed at somebody else, anyone. asserted
he → continue → somebody
If he’s in a bad mood, he’s in a bad mood. asserted
he → ’ → mood
And I think he understands that as well.” asserted
he → think → that
“I’ve never had a conversation with him, but the idea of posting ‘Dear Fox executives, fire Jessica Tarlov’ or calling into The Five and saying the show would be better without her, I don’t think he thinks that means that I’m going to get fired from my job. asserted
I → have → job
But yes, in general, we don’t respond to it, and there’s no reason to, and honestly it just makes it worse.” asserted
it → respond → it
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