In what might be an even more surprising clip from Fox News Channel than that of the surprise news that FNC host Greg Gutfeld and his wife had just had a new baby girl, Jessica Tarlov, the liberal co-host on “The Five,” had a very sane and compelling take on Daniel Penny. Penny, as background, is the young man who was recently acquitted in a case regarding the death of Jordan Neely, who he restrained on a subway after Neely started threatening subway passengers.
Tarlov, commenting on the case and Mr. Penny, argued that those who are going after him are doing so because they don’t know the details of the case and are instead just accepting a narrative. She said, “I’ve had a high opinion of this young man since this happened. I think that people who are criticizing him and criticizing the verdict haven’t paid much attention to the details of it and they are going with an overarching narrative.”
She continued, “Just because the system has failed in other instances doesn’t mean that the system failed this time. And the fact that there are words like ‘lynching’ being thrown around, I saw Jamaal Bowman, who thankfully lost his primary over the summer to George Latimer, posted a ‘Dear white people’ post on X. It is not the time for that.”
She then argued that it is important that the jury was able to come to an agreement and acquit, saying, “And you want the system to work this way. You want — I’m sorry for the trauma that he endured, but he sat before a jury of his peers, a diverse jury, they heard him out there, deadlocked on the manslaughter charge, and they were able to come to this agreement.”
Tarlov then slammed the idea that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had some sort of “duty” to bring the case against Penny, saying, “And people were saying across the political spectrum, when this case was being brought, that Alvin Bragg had a duty to bring it because someone had tragically passed away.”
Then, after a brief back and forth with Judge Jeanine Pirro, Tarlov said, referring to what Mr. Penny said about his thought process, “And there was an exchange during a trial where the question was, ‘Why do you think that people were in danger?’ Because he explicitly said it. Jordan Neely said, ‘I’m here to kill people and I’ll go to prison.’” Pirro added, quoting Mr. Penny, “‘For the rest of my life, I’ll go to prison.'”
Tarlov then noted that the New York City subways can be utterly terrifying, saying, “Right. And as a subway rider myself, twice a day, who has a lot of complaints about the experience on an almost daily basis, I know there are a lot of people like me, who have the same politics as me, who are very happy to know that there are people like Daniel Penny who are riding those trains with us, because it is very scary and we all just reflexively, especially if you are weaker than someone who is having an episode, you know, move to another car or move down the car out of the way.”
She continued, explaining what it’s like being on the subway now, “You know, I took my kids in the subway for the first time since Cleo was born, she’s three years old tomorrow — no one helped me with the stroller…” Fellow co-host Dana Perino then chimed in as well, saying, “Penny would have helped with the stroller, too.” Tarlov agreed, adding, “And he would have carried Teddy as well.”
Watch that exchange here:
Wow. Liberal Fox News host Jessica Tarlov gave one of the most compelling defenses of Daniel Penny that you’ll hear.
“I’ve had a high opinion of this young man since this happened. I think that people who are criticizing him and criticizing the verdict haven’t paid much… pic.twitter.com/1q0Eww64pz
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) December 11, 2024
Conservative X personality Kyle Becker, commenting on what Tarlov said, wrote, “This is the unspoken truth that is making it so hard for many people to condemn Daniel Penny. When violent criminals are threatening women and children, there are many people who wish they had a hero like Daniel Penny around to put a stop to it.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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