Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Reis Thebault.
Pirro’s most powerful viewer was not happy about it.
“Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro,” President Trump tweeted Sunday morning.
Trump accused Pirro’s critics of waging “all out campaigns” against Pirro and fellow Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who was widely rebuked after decade-old racist, misogynistic and homophobic comments resurfaced last week. Both of their comments prompted some advertisers to boycott the shows.
The president comes to Pirro’s defense
“Stop working soooo hard on being politically correct, which will only bring you down,” Trump said in another tweet, before issuing a curiously dire warning to “Be strong & prosper, be weak & die!”
In yet another post, Trump urged his 59 million followers to “Keep fighting for Tucker, and fight hard for @JudgeJeanine."
Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro. The Radical Left Democrats, working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media, is using every trick in the book to SILENCE a majority of our Country. They have all out campaigns against @FoxNews hosts who are doing too well. Fox .....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2019
Carlson is on his regular weeknight schedule, but the network declined to say whether it had suspended Pirro, and a spokeswoman did not respond to a question about when her show would return.
Last week, network executives said Pirro’s comments “do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly.”
Trump mounted his defense hours after he threatened “Saturday Night Live” and other late-night comedy shows that have made the president a frequent punchline. On Twitter, he asked whether the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Election Commission should “look into” the programs for “knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of ‘the other side.’ ”
For the president’s critics, Trump’s latest flurry of morning tweets again laid bare a truism of his administration’s view of the media: For those who question or mock him, a flexing of executive muscle and vague, ad hoc threats; but for his supporters, an outpouring of praise and exclusive interviews.
Backlash against Pirro
Pirro is one of Fox News’s highest-rated hosts and has been a zealous booster of Trump — and she has a history of rhetoric denounced as anti-Muslim. She began her last show by pointing out that Omar, who was accused of using anti-Semitic tropes, wears a hijab and asked her audience to “Think about it … ”
"Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?” Pirro asked, invoking a right-wing conspiracy theory about a purported attempt by Muslims to take over the U.S. government and install sharia law. (In reality, sharia is a framework of Islam and describes guidelines for living an ethical Muslim life.)
Pirro later defended her statements, maintaining that she didn’t call Omar “un-American” and that her intention was to “ask a question and start a debate.”
“Of course because one is Muslim does not mean you don’t support the Constitution,” Pirro said.
But the backlash was swift and bipartisan. Hufsa Kamal, an associate producer at Fox News, accused her co-worker of “spreading this false narrative that somehow Muslims hate America.”
@JudgeJeanine can you stop spreading this false narrative that somehow Muslims hate America or women who wear a hijab aren’t American enough? You have Muslims working at the same network you do, including myself. K thx. https://t.co/ZfKhRhlvM3
— Hufsa Kamal (@hufkat) March 10, 2019
Some of Pirro’s advertisers also have revolted, refusing to buy time on her show going forward. That list includes the Botox manufacturer Allergan; the health technology company GreatCall; Letgo, a website for buying and selling used goods; and NerdWallet, a financial service.
Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical company, is also “reevaluating” its ads on Pirro’s show.
Carlson is also losing advertising — including the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca — but the network has continued its tacit support for him and his show, which also has high viewership. After Media Matters, a left-wing advocacy group, published audio from Carlson’s old interviews on the shock-jock radio program the “Bubba the Love Sponge Show,” Carlson thanked Fox News for supporting him.
“Fox News is behind us, as they have been since the very first day,” he said last week. “Toughness is a rare quality in a TV network, and we’re grateful for that."
No stranger to unleashing controversy, Carlson dug in. After all, he has seen advertisers flee before, and it hasn’t made much of a difference to his bottom line.
"We will never bow to the mob, ever,” Carlson said on his show.
For good measure, he then added a Trumpian punctuation: “No matter what.”
Abby Ohlheiser, Kayla Epstein and Lindsey Bever contributed to this report.
