‘She’s Exactly Right’: Ainsley Earhardt Defends Jen Psaki After Pete Hegseth LAUGHS at Her For Crying

The hosts of Fox & Friends had a civil yet spirited debate over Jen Psaki’s raw emotional reaction to what she deems to be anti-LGTBQ+ bills that could lead to bullying.  Pete Hegseth literally laughed mockingly at Psaki’s tears, but Ainsley Earhardt quickly came to the Press Secretary’s defense.

Fox & Friends aired a portion of a clip of Psaki and Jessica Yellin discussing a spate of bills designed to limit gender-based curriculum to kindergarten to third-grade kids in Florida, one of which has been signed into law in Florida and derided by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, though those words are not in the actual bill.

Yellin asked Psaki if this was a cynical wedge issue, or as she put it “an organized political attempt to create a wedge issue ahead of the midterms in the 2024 campaign? Sort of like the way gay marriage was weaponized in 2004?”

Psaki condemned the bills in question by calling them “political games and harsh and cruel attempts at laws, or laws that we’re seeing in some states like Florida, that is not a reflection of the country moving to oppose LGBTQ+ communities. That is not what we see in data, that is not factual, and that is not where things stand. This is a political wedge issue, and an attempt to win a culture war.”

The press secretary then grew emotional when she invoked the impact of the legislation on children:

“They’re doing that in a way that is harsh and cruel to a community of kids, especially. I’m going to get emotional about this issue because it’s horrible! But it’s kids who are bullied, and all these leaders are taking steps to hurt them, and hurt their lives and hurt their families! And you look at some of these laws in these states and who’s going after parents who are in loving relationships, who have kids. It’s completely outrageous! Sorry, this is an issue that makes me completely crazy.”

Later in the podcast, she spoke of how a theoretical child with, say, two dads could feel ostracized because he or she has same-sex parents.

A portion of the interview was played on Fox & Friends which was immediately followed by Pete Hegseth channeling his inner Nelson Muntz with a sharp “Ha!” that some may have heard as pretty bullying in tone. Steve Doocy followed by saying ” I don’t know exactly what she is upset about,” then explained the specifics of the Florida Law as though no kids with same-sex parents might feel like outsiders as a result.

Whereas Doocy was nuanced in his comments, Hegseth played the part of, well, the much harsher critic of Psaki’s open empathy.

“That Jen Psaki clip is a perfect encapsulation of the left in America today,” Hegseth smirked in his uniquely self-satisfied way. “Totally mischaracterizes the bill, utterly emotional about something that she has mischaracterized and saying it’s a wedge issue.”

“It’s not a wedge issue that Ron DeSantis is trying to use. He is trying to empower parents and kids to maintain the family unit and have those conversations in the privacy of their own home as opposed to some teacher because a lot of these parents are never notified,” he continued. His phrase “Maintain the family unit” is sure to have elicited a few amens from Fox News viewers.

But leave it to Ainsley Earhardt to defend the empathy on display by Ms. Psaki, saying “The flip side is she says we don’t want to hurt our kids and and we don’t want bullying. No one wants that, no one wants children to be hurt.”

“Talking about gender when you are in first grade won’t lead to bullying,” Hegseth replied. “How does it help the situation?”

“People in Florida who support this bill are saying ‘she’s exactly right,'” Earhardt explained. “We don’t want that. We want them to live in butterflies and rainbows, as long as they can. And then they can talk about sex in middle school when they have these questions and know what it is.”

Earhardt is a devout Christian which she is very open about on the show, and she deserves credit for putting her faith above partisan politics in showing grace and love for people of all sorts despite colleagues encouraging the maintenance of a family unit, as Hegseth insisted was of great value.

Hegseth is on his third marriage, by the way, having married a fellow Fox News producer with whom he was having an affair while his second wife was home taking care of his very young children.

Watch above via Fox News.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.