Dispatch from The War on Christmas: Fox News Defies Arsonists and Hecklers at Grand Relighting of Tree

NEW YORK — Deafening chants of “USA” and “Let’s Go Brandon” broke out on the corner of 48th Street and 6th Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The occasion: some 40 hours after Fox News’s “All-American Christmas Tree” was set on fire by a suspected arsonist, a new tree with a commanding presence beneath Fox’s headquarters was given the gift of electricity.

“We will not let this deliberate and brazen act of cowardice deter us,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said of the torching, and she was right. Fox News hosts spent the next two days on offense, conjuring sinister motives for the probably random incident, and a replacement tree was debuted by The Five on Thursday evening at an impressively grandiose ceremony.

A large crowd of Fox News mega-fans assembled outside the News Corp. building – bundled up, as temperatures hovered just above freezing – where a fleet of the network’s top stars gathered at an outdoor set.

The hosts of The Five — Jesse Watters, Greg Gutfeld, Jeanine Pirro, Jessica Tarlov and Dana Perino — emceed the event, which was attended by other network stars including Bill Hemmer, Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, Pete Hegseth, Janice Dean, Sean Duffy and Rachel Campos-Duffy, Harris Faulkner, Todd Piro, Carly Shimkus and Lawrence Jones.

Suzanne Scott and Fox News President Jay Wallace were also in attendance.

“Take that arsonist!” Gutfeld exclaimed after a troupe of carolers finished a song.

One speaker at the ceremony, Rev. Jacques DeGraff, a Fox News contributor, dramatically compared the suspected arson to Pearl Harbor.

“I’m here because these colors don’t run!” he bellowed from a stage. “Eighty years ago this week, they tried to extinguish the darkness in a place called Pearl Harbor. We didn’t fold then, and we won’t fold now because we’ve come this far by faith.”

The crowd of Fox fans went wild, and drowned out the cries from hecklers who assembled behind them to protest the network’s programming.

“Fox has blood on its hands,” read one of the protestor’s signs, along with images of the network’s prime time stars Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. Another large sign read: “White supremacy is terrorism.”

One of the protestors, wielding a camera, got into a shouting match with a young man who made a point to repeatedly insist that “Santa is White.”

Josh, a Fox News fan from Virginia, did not enjoy the clashes. “There are too many morons back here yelling,” he said.

The hecklers could almost be heard from the stage, where Fox News hosts boasted of their defiance in the face of the arsonist. That defiance has been the attitude of Fox’s on-air talent ever since word of the tree-torching first made it to Fox News airwaves.

The motive behind the attack has also been hotly debated.

Tucker Carlson, host of the most-watched show on Fox, declared the tree-torching a “hate crime” and an “attack on Christianity.” Other hosts across the network said the burnt tree was yet another front in the war on Christmas.

Some fans in attendance for Thursday night’s ceremony agreed.

“It was very sad,” said John from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. “Hopefully this was not an attack on Christmas, but I believe it was.”

“Obviously, he had some issues,” Kim from Kansas said of the suspected arsonist. She was visiting New York with two friends, Toni and Jennifer, and they had planned to visit the Fox News tree on Wednesday before finding out it had been burned.

Asked what should happen to the perpetrator, Toni replied, “To get the help that he needs. He needs help.”

Fox News said in a statement that construction on the new tree commenced on Wednesday, hours after a homeless man by the name of Craig Tamanaha is alleged to have scaled the original and torched it with a lighter.

Police slapped Tamanaha, who they said could have mental health issues, with a slew of charges, including arson and reckless endangerment. He has been released without bail.

The new tree was adorned in massive red, white and blue baubles, and enough tinsel to strangle a battalion of would-be arsonists.

Fox News declined to say whether additional security measures were put in place to deter copycat arsonists, but the event was attended by several phalanxes of New York police officers and firefighters. Fox made a $100,000 donation to “Answer The Call,” a group providing assistance to the families of fallen service members of the NYPD and FDNY.

Fans of the network enjoyed the ceremony regardless of the senseless attack that made a new lighting necessary.

“It was great,” said John. “We’re just glad that they’re able to get it back up and running after that nightmare a couple of nights ago.”

“It was a wonderful ceremony,” Kim agreed. “I’m so glad we got the tree back up, and I hope no one messes with it again.”