President Trump’s media war and ESPN’s political correctness | Fox … – Fox News

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," August 23, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Hi, I am Greg Gutfeld, with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Juan Williams, Brian Kilmeade and she plays hide and seek in the dollhouse, Dana Perino -- "The Five."

We learned one thing last night: The media is the disease and Donald Trump is the cure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I mean, truly dishonest people in the media and the fake media. They make up stories.

I'm really doing this to show you how damn dishonest these people are.

Well, I mean, CNN is really bad. But ABC this morning -- I don't want it much but I am watching in the morning. And to have little George Stephanopoulos talking to Nikki Haley, right? Little George.

It's time to expose the crooked media deceptions and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting division.

And yes, by the way, they are trying to take away our history and our heritage.

These are sick people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: "Little George." It got better. Trump taped an infomercial for FNC, knowing that it is airing on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I must tell you, Fox has treated me fairly. Fox has treated me fairly.

Someday they might not treat me fairly and I will tell you about it. Okay? But they've treated me fairly. And I don't mean all good, I got plenty of bad on Fox too. But at least it's within reason. And "Hannity," how good is "Hannity"?

And he's a great guy. And he is an honest guy. And "Fox & Friends" in the morning is the best show. And it's the absolute most honest show. And it's a show I watch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: "Fox & Friends." A poor man's "Five."

(LAUGHTER)

BRIAN KILMEADE, GUEST CO-HOST: We were here first. We were the Neil Armstrong of television.

GUTFELD: No. No. Your days are numbered, your days are numbered.

KILMEADE: You were in high school when we started.

GUTFELD: I know.

Anyway, you got to admit that is awesome trolling: Plugging FNC on CNN. That is like ordering a Coke at the Pepsi factory.

Now, by now we know Trump's spiel: The media makes a big deal out of nothing. It craps a redwood from an acorn. But just before his rally, ESPN proved him right. They fooled a reporter from the UVA game because his name was Robert Lee. Yes. It sounded too close to Sara Lee and their pound cake goes straight your hips. Actually, they were worried his name might cause teasing because of the fuss over statues. How sad: Protecting a grown man from jokes. Is ESPN still a sports network? What is the sport, patty cake? Talk about hysteria. And it supports Trump's media analysis: When you react preemptively over a cowardly fear of something that doesn't exist, you are broken.

And the media thinks Trump is unstable? ESPN is trapped in a mirage were all things are viewed irrationally because the poor saps are held hostage to fear. Note: They are not literally held hostage, just a figure of speech.

So, what's next, ESPN? Ban words like monumental or statuesque? What about players name Jefferson or Davis? But really, the story is a healthy sign: Once exposed, everyone did laugh at it. But it leads me to one question: Does ESPN still cover sports or just their asses?

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Oh my gosh!

GUTFELD: Kilmeade. Donald Trump gushing about "Fox & Friends." When you heard him do that, did you high five yourself in the mirror of your lonely sad hotel room?

KILMEADE: It's bit of a surreal experience. The President of the United States in front of the capacity crowd in Phoenix -- I expect that it was -- I fully expect my mom to do that.

GUTFELD: Yes.

KILMEADE: Because she does like "Fox & Friends" and she has got a lot of choices. She controls the channel. I don't know why because she even has movie channels. But I do say this.

(LAUGHTER)

KILMEADE: But that's what Donald Trump is. He is absolutely transparent in that he watched George Stephanopoulos give an interview after an Afghanistan policy about a war we are fighting and trying to win. He got one question out and it was back to eight days later. George Stephanopoulos. How do I hurt his feelings? Attack his height. So, what else do I have in my mind, I start the day with "Fox & Friends" and I like those guys.

GUTFELD: Yes.

KILMEADE: So, I just know Donald Trump as being somebody who speaks the truth, who agrees with my mom.

GUTFELD: I could never be president. I could never say how I start my day.

(LAUGHTER)

GUILFOYLE: So, gross.

GUTFELD: You don't know what that means!

GUILFOYLE: Oh, I do.

GUTFELD: So, Juan, should the NFL continue using Dixie cups on the sidelines?

JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Dixie cups. Yes, that's a good question. That is about the equivalent in your mind.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: That is how serious you think this is.

GUILFOYLE: Yes. Hard-hitting news here.

GUTFELD: What do you make of my connection between ESPN and Trump? That ESPN somehow proved them right but they're kind of like a radical thinking. Yes.

WILLIAMS: No. I don't think they proved him right but I think it was, you know, right before this speech and I think the conservative echo chamber exploded. I mean, you brought it up here.

GUTFELD: I'm part of the echo chamber, America.

KILMEADE: You thought ESPN was out of control --

WILLIAMS: No, no. I think it's an absurd and crazy decision. On the face of it, now there's a statement out from ESPN, which they said, it had nothing to do with anybody being offended by Robert Lee announcing the Virginia game. That in fact, it was about whether or not there would be means and hectoring and --

GUTFELD: They're worried about teasing.

WILLIAMS: Yes. Teasing Robert Lee and that Robert Lee was going to be --

GUILFOYLE: And heckling, yes.

KILMEADE: By the way -- ESPN, I might have to work there.

GUTFELD: Yes. Great move.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAMS: Who knows?

GUILFOYLE: The way the fortune-teller is talking over here. Oh my goodness!

GUTFELD: Yes. I've got my eyes on your seat. Kimberly, you buy -- Juan buys the excuse that they were protecting him from being teased.

GUILFOYLE: Uh-hm.

GUTFELD: It's kind of odd. I mean, would anybody protect you as an announcer?

GUILFOYLE: Has anyone ever protected me? No! Are you kidding me? I'm like the dark board, I'm like the local, you know, deadliest catch bar. Anyway, no. What I think though is, they were protecting themselves. They are not protecting Robert Lee. They want to act like they are altruistic, and we're just looking out for this guy and trying to protect their employee. I don't think that's the case.

I think they're worried that if they were going to face criticism, and it was going to be another sad round of publicity for them. But opps, that actually happened anyway because of the way they had it. And then all day long, you saw everyone was putting up a picture of Robert Lee, such a nice guy. Poor thing. And, you know, it is on and on. And now people are making fun of ESPN and saying, they have kind of no compass. Their compass is whether or not it might be bad press for them. Not about what the right thing to do is.

KILMEADE: Right. But what about the most famous sportscaster who's been there since day one, his name is Bob Lee, why did he escape? Why would they try to protect him from a meme?

GUILFOYLE: I will go by the short nickname like not the full --

GUTFELD: I just hate it when cable network gets bad controversy. Hey, Dana, doesn't this story reveal the difference between the perception of possible outrage and real outrage?

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Yes.

GUTFELD: And I think we operate the media by possible outrage, we are constantly worried about what we are going to say.

PERINO: I self-edit.

GUTFELD: Yes. You have a filthy mind. You know?

PERINO: I actually do think that -- I think that they were over thinking it.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: And I think they made a terrible decision and I was the first to say this was the most ridiculous story.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: But, I think that they probably were, when they got around the -- they probably have consultants who called in, like charging them a lot of money to sit around and say, we should really try to protect him.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: Because he is going to be the subject of all of these insults on Twitter. I can actually buy that. I don't think they were necessarily happened here. I think that they went way overboard. Because every action causes this overreaction in a situation. But Megan McArdle at Bloomberg, she wrote a piece today saying that we are all afraid of the online mob.

GUTFELD: Uh-hm.

PERINO: So that you're making decisions and editing yourself before you can even get anything out because you are afraid of the social media backlash. Actually, if you turn it off, it doesn't exist.

GUTFELD: No, it's like a cloudy day if you just look away. You don't see the clouds.

KILMEADE: Do you want to know how I do it? You have a pan handy? Do you want to try this?

GUTFELD: Yes.

KILMEADE: Okay. What I do is I forget my password. So, I don't log on. I have no idea what --

PERINO: Your password is not "password?"

GUTFELD: It's true. I know what it is, it's "I heart Lucy."

(LAUGHTER)

KILMEADE: We are not really sure. It would be more likely to be Ainsley. So, put it that way. I can't give away my password. But actually, I am not bothered by things I don't know.

GUTFELD: Yes.

KILMEADE: So, I love the line --

PERINO: This is actually the next step.

KILMEADE: I have no idea what's going on.

PERINO: I think people are going to start walking away. At least from the twitter side of this.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

PERINO: Because there is not enough room for context. I re-tweeted something that Mike Rowe wrote today on Facebook and response to somebody who called a white nationalist.

GUTFELD: Uh-hm.

PERINO: And his response is so thoughtful. But it takes a lot longer for him to explain it so he does it on Facebook. I thought Tucker Carlson tonight, he said that he basically took Twitter off of all of his devices. And this is actually the next step in all of this which is, just walk away. Walk away from it.

WILLIAMS: Backlash. Backlash.

GUTFELD: Two sets of people. And I would include Juan in this, are happier people. You don't read your ad mentions on Twitter. I don't see you ever looking at anything.

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President Trump's media war and ESPN's political correctness | Fox ... - Fox News