Brian Kilmeade was visibly frustrated by the pro-Palestinian protesters during Monday’s episode and blasted them on the show Fox and Friends . Amid the Israel-Hamas war, the Palestinian supporters came out on roads and blocked the Manhattan Bridge, preventing people from going about their day.
Kilmeade criticized the protesters as “idiots” when the show opened to a segment holding up to the traffic on Manhattan Bridge on Sunday, November 26, 2023. He continued blasting them on the show, “People have lives. Who are you winning over by sitting on this bridge?” Adding, “You’re not changing anybody’s mind … People don’t even know what they’re doing.”
While discussing the blocking of the bridge, the co-hosts of the chat show explained their discomfort. The 59-year-old explained, “So it’s insane because I was leaving Giants Stadium yesterday, and everybody is through surface roads, and you could not get anywhere, anyway, on this type of day, leaving the stadium of 60,000 people,” per Mediate.
The co-host of Fox and Friends , Steve Doocy, added, “A pro-Palestinian demonstration essentially stopped traffic on one of the busiest days of the travel year,” adding, “And the interesting thing is they were calling for a cease-fire, even though that was day three of the cease-fire.”
Doocy expounded on the situation, “Organizers said, you know, ‘there’s widespread support from people in New York City to do this,” adding, “I got news for the organizers. People were furious they could not get across the bridge.” This further fueled Kilmeade, and he launched an attack on the protesters.
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“And then this. And you can hear people in some of the quotes in the story say, people, listen, I sympathize with you, but I have things to do. I have to get some places. You have these models going. I have a shoot I have to get done,” condemned Kilmeade. “And this mayor, to his credit, is firmly pro-Israel. And this, for a Democratic president, is pro-Israel. What are these?”
Although the protests on both sides are on the rise, former president Donald Trump has often used the ongoing conflict as his strategy to win over Americans for the upcoming 2024 elections. Over the weekend, the Republican front-runner expressed frustration on his Truth Social platform.
The 77-year-old wrote, “Has anybody noticed that Hamas has returned people from other Countries but, so far, has not returned one American Hostage? There is only one reason for that- NO RESPECT FOR OUR COUNTRY OR OUR LEADERSHIP,” per The Hill. However, that was quickly contradicted as among the 13 hostages released, 4-year-old Abigail Idan, an American Israeli citizen, returned to the States.
Trump and his aides have often criticized the Biden administration for mishandling the Middle Eastern conflict. For instance, former advisers said had Trump been the president, he’d have deployed Robert O’Brien, his former national security adviser and one-time chief hostage negotiator, to work more proactively for the release of American hostages.
The advisors also implied that the Republican candidate would have directly contacted Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani of Qatar to push for the release of Americans. Notably, Biden has been in touch with Thani throughout the ongoing conflict and brokered the latest deal with Israel, Egypt, and Qatar officials.