A Fox News host is under fire after making a startling remark during a segment about disabled children, leaving many viewers in disbelief. The unexpected comment, which seemed to reveal a deeper stance on the issue, quickly went viral, sparking heated debate across social media. Critics argue the host’s words exposed an unspoken truth about the network’s perspective, while supporters claim it was taken out of context. As the backlash grows, will Fox News address the controversy, or will this moment be brushed aside?

One primetime host on Fox News recently uttered a remark about public education and disabled students that visibly shocked one of his co-panelists.

On Thursday, Rolling Stone reporter Nikki McCann Ramirez posted a video clip to Bluesky of a segment from Fox News’ “The Five.” In the segment, liberal panelist Jessica Tarlov was commenting on President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at shuttering the Department of Education, and her fears that it would negatively impact the quality of education that disabled children receive.

“When I hear Republicans out there talking about their plan for education in America, I don’t hear them talking about making sure disabled kids have access to a public education,” Tarlov said. “I don’t hear them talking about empowering—”

“—Because we’re against it,” Gutfeld said matter-of-factly.

“I know you are! And thank you for admitting it in such a public forum,” Tarlov responded. “They want to end up privatizing [education], they want to end up with a voucher system which means kids who can’t get to those schools, don’t have enough money to or frankly don’t want to go to public schools don’t have access.”

“They want to make [schools] private, they want to make them religious institutions, and that goes against what you’re supposed to do in America,” she added.

Historian Kevin Kruse responded to the clip, opining that “the contempt [Republicans] have for disabled children is rooted in a mistaken belief that there aren’t too may of them,” and added that anywhere from one in eight to one in five students suffer from some form of learning disability.

That assessment isn’t too far off: As the National Center for Education Statistics found in May of 2024, roughly 15% of all public school students in the United States benefited from special education services made possible by the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. And among those students, 32% identified a specific learning disability.

“There are an awful lot of SPED [special education] families out here, and we will *fight* this s—,” Kruse wrote.

In a subsequent skeet (the term used for Bluesky posts), Kruse wrote that parents of special education students are “acutely aware of their children’s rights and the gov’t role securing them” and are “fiercely protective” of their kids. And he added that parents can be “deceptively polite when they’re dealing with local officials.”

“But if *national* leaders mess with their kids? The gloves will come off and they will destroy them,” the historian wrote.