Fox Host Ripped After Claiming AOC, Newsom Don’t Have the ‘Cojones’ to Impose Tariffs

Fox’s Kayleigh McEnany was ripped across the internet after she claimed on Friday’s edition of The Five that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) don’t have the “cojones” to impose tariffs as President Donald Trump has.

While discussing Newsom’s recent appearance at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, McEnany said, “Whether it’s AOC, Gavin Newsom, [former Vice President] Kamala Harris, [Senator] Amy Klobuchar [D-MN], none of them have the fortitude, the strength, the bravery President Trump had.”

“None of them would have bombed Fordo [Iran], none of them would have captured [Venezuelan leader Nicolás] Maduro, none of them would have used tariffs to leverage great deals for the United States,” continued McEnany. “None of them have the cojones — I’ll use it in Spanish — that President Trump has.”

The internet was quick to react to her comments, with HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte writing on X that “ONLY Donald Trump has the cojones to hit Americans with a super regressive tax like this.”

Newsom’s press office even chimed in, writing of Trump’s tariffs, “The ones that cost American families billions?”

As Tahra Hoops, the Director of Economic Analysis at the Chamber of Progress, pointed out, McEnany’s comments that the aforementioned Democratic leaders wouldn’t use tariffs were “correct.”

Per Vince Wilson, a liberal political commentator, “They wouldn’t have implemented tariffs because they have a brain. Something Donald Trump does not have.”

McEnany’s comments come just after six Republicans voted with Democrats this week against the president’s tariffs on Canada, prompting Trump to blatantly threaten members of his party in a Truth Social post stating that “any Republican” who voted against his tariffs would “seriously suffer the consequences.”

According to a Pew Research Center poll released earlier this month, 60% of Americans disapprove of the Trump administration substantially increasing tariffs, including 39% who say they strongly disapprove. Just 13% strongly approve.

Watch McEnany above via Fox News.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!