WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  • Jessica Tarlov defended Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed during a contentious segment of The Five.
  • Greg Gutfeld challenged her claims about Islamophobia and El-Sayed’s attitude toward Jews and Israel.
  • Jesse Watters accused Tarlov of shifting the discussion after raising El-Sayed’s alleged Muslim Brotherhood connections.
  • Tarlov relied heavily on her personal conversations with El-Sayed while dismissing concerns raised by her cohosts.

Jessica Tarlov delivered another painful performance on The Five this week, rushing to defend Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. The Fox News cohost’s argument left Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Watters openly challenging both her reasoning and her willingness to accept El-Sayed’s assurances.

Tarlov, who is Jewish, began by criticizing Republican candidate Mike Rogers over his changing position on tariffs. Gutfeld promptly redirected the discussion toward El-Sayed and his attitude toward Jews.

“But so what? That still, that makes them worse than Abdul who doesn't like Jews?” Gutfeld asked.

Tarlov responded by citing her own conversations with the candidate. “That's not… If you listen, listen, I have interviewed Abdul, I have talked to him about this, I've talked about the concern of Jewish Michiganders, we have talked about the situation in the Middle East, we have talked about the situation here and preserving Jewish safety, and the Israel question,” she said.

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Her defense essentially amounted to saying that she had spoken with El-Sayed and heard him discuss Jewish safety and Israel. The friendly conversation was apparently supposed to settle concerns about a candidate having a long record of hostility toward Israel.

Tarlov then accused Republicans of campaigning on Islamophobia. She insisted that such rhetoric “will not sit well with Jews,” a claim that visibly baffled Gutfeld.

“Wait, what did you say? I don't get that you said that Islamophobia won't sit well with Jews,” Gutfeld replied. He then pressed Tarlov to explain what she considered Islamophobia.

Her leading example was that Republicans had called El-Sayed “Muhammad.” Gutfeld and Watters pointed out that Muhammad is actually part of his name.

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“It's his middle name,” Tarlov answered. The distinction did little to strengthen her case or answer why using the candidate’s real middle name should be treated as anti Muslim prejudice.

Gutfeld next asked whether concerns about Sharia law should qualify as Islamophobia. Tarlov responded by highlighting El-Sayed’s Michigan background, education, personal tastes, and clothing.

“Abdul el-Sayed is from Michigan, went to Michigan, was the valedictorian,” she said. “What's Sharia law is coming out of this guy who likes Taylor Swift and wears tight black t-shirts?”

That argument did not satisfy Gutfeld, who returned to El-Sayed’s inability to identify whether Israel or Iran represented the greater threat. “Forget about that. He was asked, 'who's the bigger threat, Israel or Iran?' He couldn't do it, Jessica. He couldn't do it,” he said.

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Tarlov replied that she would rather let voters evaluate El-Sayed’s answer themselves. She then accused Gutfeld and Watters of attempting to frighten viewers rather than merely scrutinizing the candidate.

“How are we scaring?” Watters asked. “We're just pointing out he's got Muslim Brotherhood connections. It's called reporting,” he said.

Instead of directly resolving that dispute, Tarlov shifted the conversation toward Elon Musk and Starlink in Ukraine. Watters immediately called out the pivot and brought the discussion back to El-Sayed.

“You're moving around kind of flagrantly to different directions. We're focusing on him and he doesn't like you and he doesn't like your people. And if you're okay with that, fine,” Watters said.

“I think he likes me more than you,” Tarlov replied. That response only sharpened the segment’s central absurdity, since Tarlov was publicly defending a candidate accused throughout the exchange of hostility toward Jews and Israel.

The segment showed Tarlov treating her personal interaction with El-Sayed as meaningful evidence while dismissing the concerns raised by her cohosts. Her attempt to frame criticism of his record as Islamophobia repeatedly collapsed under basic questions about his name, views, and answers.

Tarlov apparently believed she was displaying an open minded approach. Instead, the defense made her look less like an independent analyst and more like a convenient political prop for the very candidate she was trying so hard to protect.

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