Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera and Pete Hegseth had an intense live exchange Monday on “The Five” over the U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Hegseth called into question the way a “fraught process” of evacuation was carried out, referring to it as a “disaster of epic proportions.” “[T]he amount of people we brought through — who probably shouldn’t qualify to get through — is immense. What’s that vetting process like?” he said. “And then the Afghan allies and American citizens who are still left behind and … soon-to-be hostages. ISIS is hunting those people right now. The Taliban know who they are right now.”
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The Fox News host then went on to express his doubts that the new government of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban would be any different than during its previous reign. He added that the militant group is unlikely to ever compromise on its ideology because otherwise, it would “lose its legitimacy.”
“I get it. I get it … Then why did President Trump want to end the war?” Rivera interjected.
The two Fox News personalities then started to speak over each other.
Hegseth first wondered what the actions of President Joe Biden’s administration had to do with former President Trump, but then argued that Biden had scrapped every other deal made by his predecessor except the one with the Taliban.
Rivera continued to suggest that both administrations played a role in contributing to the current situation in Afghanistan. (RELATED: DeSantis Demands Answers From Biden Administration On ‘Self-Imposed’ Afghanistan Crisis)
“Damn it! You have to recognize that we wanted out of this twenty-year war,” Rivera exclaimed, cutting Hegseth off mid-sentence.
“It’s always easy to get the audience applause when you say, ‘Let’s attack the bad guys. Let’s bomb ’em. We’ll get ’em!'” Rivera said. “Everybody hates losing a war.”