Chances are you won't find a more openly 'progressive', or flat out radical leftist than Democrat Texas State Representative James Talarico, who is his party's nominee for the U.S. Senate race in 2026, who has said, God is nonbinary, there are 6 sexes, radicalized white men are the greatest domestic terrorist threat in our country, and our border should be like a front porch, it should have a welcome mat out front and a lock on the door. There is more, but none of that stopped Fox News's Jessica Tarlov from defending Talarico Tuesday on The Five, and Greg Gutfeld wasn't having it.
After presenting some of Talarico's past comments, co-Host Joey Jones threw it to a clip of an interview Tarlov had conducted with the candidate Monday on her Podcast, Raging Moderates, where he claimed he was about to be victimized by the opposition..
TALARICO: They are going to throw everything they've got at us. They are going to dig up all kinds of, you know, old statements, take them out of context, and try to paint them in the worst possible light because this is the only playbook they have in 2026. I of course, looking back at some of these old statements from years ago would maybe word them differently or communicate them differently, but the values that I hold are still the same.
Even though he had a chance to walk back some of his radical statements, he chose not to, and unsurprisingly, after the clip, Tarlov couldn't praise him enough.
TARLOV: I thought he was great.... And I think the overarching point about what is about to go on from now until November is really what people are concerned about and what voters are paying attention to, and he had a line he used the other night, they care about pronouns or they care about prices. And he explained some of them, like people have been using a clip that's been cut and they don't let him finish in it, where he says, I think that immigration should be run like a front porch, there is a welcome mat but also a lock on your door. So you can be pro-immigrant and also pro-security. He said I wouldn't have phrased some of these things in the same way, but I think that you are going to have a very hard time making the case that this guy is just a wacko doodle when you look at his policies.
And just what are those policies that will dispel his wacko doodle status? She didn't say. Soon it was Gutfeld's turn.
GUTFELD: : I love that this guy Talarico, he is going through a makeover and it's really easy to undergo a makeover because the media will do it for you. Republicans, you have to do it yourself. It's impossible to get a makeover as a Republican, you always get a make under, they make you look worse. But Talarico, he says he is tired of the division. This is the guy who split the sexes into six boxes, right? This is a guy who is against division and he created a space for trans who want abortions....The problem with Talarico, and I'm surprised Jessica, you don't see this, maybe you do but you don't want to because he's on your side , I can't read your mind. But his biggest division isn't in gender or politics, its belief. You know, if you don't believe, as he does, you are evil.
And Gutfeld didn't mince words.
Christian and Jews, they divide by behavior, you can be a bad Christian, you can be a bad Jew but that doesn't happen with someone like Talarico.It doesn't matter if you are good, decent person. If you believe in two sexes, you are evil. Think about all those Trump supporters that were demonized, who you knew were good people, grandfathers, parents, just nice people who would help you fix a tire. Didn't matter what their behavior was like. It was that their belief was evil. This is what happens with Progressives. This guy speaks a good game, but if he does not, he does not like your belief, it doesn't matter how good you are. He's as extreme as a radical Islamist, because that's how they think as well. Because his values are not based on behavior....That guy's bad news, and you're gonna find out.
This was only round one of what promises to be a great bout, taking place between now and November.
