Former Navy SEAL and former Fox News contributor Rob O’Neill appeared on Eric Bolling‘s Newsmax show The Balance this week to talk about his tweets criticizing Fox News on their 25th anniversary, a falling out that prompted a response from star anchor Bret Baier.
The battle began with O’Neill’s now-deleted tweets, referencing Fox’s calling Arizona for Biden, saying Fox News was “in on it too” and that the network is “all about money,” and doesn’t “care about you.” He also tweeted that Afghanistan is a “shithole” and attacked “talking heads” on TV.
Fox anchor Bret Baier responded with his own tweet on Thursday. “I respect you, your service & I appreciate your point of view. But this is NOT TRUE,” wrote Baier.
Bolling opened his segment with O’Neill by reviewing the Arizona call, saying “Fox called it before anyone else, and it was the shot heard round the world.”
“Former Navy Seal Rob O’Neill called them out yesterday, and he joins us now,” said Bolling, “Rob, you mentioned that, and you got a little blowback from the boys over a 1211 Sixth Avenue, didn’t you?”
“You know, it is what it is,” O’Neill replied. “I mean, you’re going to get blowback. And I’ve worked at
“But I just wanted to remind people that Fox News calling this race like they did, I have several friends who were in line to vote after they worked a full day and they would say, ‘Hey, there’s no reason to vote right now because Biden just won it,'” he continued. “And I don’t think a media outlet should be calling a presidential race.”
“I think it was actually Joseph Stalin, I don’t want to be wrong here, that said, ‘it’s not the person who votes that counts, it’s the person who counts the votes,” he said, “And that’s all they’re doing there.”
O’Neill continued at length, accusing Fox News of having a secret room full of Bill and Hillary Clinton supporters who are slanting the news and decided to declare Joe Biden a winner prematurely, and that he’s “not afraid to say it.”
“Somewhere over there, there’s a room full of, maybe not even full, of a bunch of people who are Clintonites that decided they’re going to call this race for Joe Biden. And there are really good people at Fox News, and I’m not going to mention their names, but I’ve never seen some
of these people so furious at the way that Fox News just called this. And you know, I try to tell the truth. I base my arguments on truth, and it’s easy to remember the truth. I just don’t want people to forget that Fox News did that, and I’m not afraid to say it.”
Bolling said he’s aware of the room as well. “I’m not afraid to say it either. That room you’re talking about is the Decision Desk, and my office was right outside that room, and I used to walk in there during the whole presidential election. I kept telling those guys, there’s a path for Trump, and they never believed it,” he said.
Bolling said “that Stirewalt guy hated me,” meaning ex-digital politics editor at Fox News Chris Stirewalt, who was first sidelined and then fired by the network after the election. (A situation he talks about on episode #18 of Mediaite’s The Interview podcast here.)
Bolling said that room didn’t want to see” that Trump could win. “I believe, and this is my opinion only. I believe they had an opinion that Trump couldn’t become president and they ran with it when they made that decision, Rob.”
O’Neill suggested that he sees a lot of resentment over Fox News as he travels the country.
“A lot of people think the way I do, just they’re just afraid to talk the truth like I do because they don’t want to get canceled,” said O’Neill. “I personally think that I’ve paid a debt to this country. I should be able to say what I want, even though free speech is dead and the truth will get you fired.”
The two then discussed covid vaccines and mandates, criticizing Fox News over covid policies at their headquarters and offices. O’Neill suggested people can’t say what they dislike about Trump or like about Biden and concluded that making fun of people on social media should be taken with a sense of humor.
The entire blow-up was over a series of tweets, which prompted O’Neill to finish his point by saying: “It’s social media. If you don’t like me. Don’t follow me.”
Watch the clip above, courtesy of Newsmax.
This post was updated to specify that Stirewalt’s former editor position at the network was in “digital politics.”