In other words, Gutfeld is deeply enmeshed in the Fox News world. A Washington Post profile last year explores his lengthy history with Microsoft, which has now evolved into his being the guy asked to deliver jokes that flit back and forth over the boundaries of amusing and bitter. Or, really, that flit into amusing territory, briefly.
On Thursday, Gutfeld was nowhere near 'amusing' territory. In frustration with another of the channels' endless line-up of stories about crime in urban America, Gutfeld offered up a tirade in which he proposed that voting in elections was futile and that the only solution to America's problems might be war, as it was in 1861.
The panel was discussing a report that Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner, who is a target of the right, plans to individually consider the charges against each of the 70 people arrested after a recent outbreak of looting. Dr. Krasner said he found out that he could be in a better position to deal with the situation.
Start with the Capitol riots: Those arrested for their actions on Jan. 6-2021 are only a subset of those who were there that day. Of those charged, only a small number are still incarcerated, and that group consists of those charged with, convicted of, or who pleaded guilty to violent or more dangerous crimes. Some Philadelphia looters will face severe sanction, some won't.
But Gutfeld does not think his opponents can 'loot and burn' and call it social justice. This runs parallel to the argument above, depending on cherry-picking examples of perceived indifference to the violence that unfolded in the summer of 2020 and the harsh treatment of Capitol rioters. I can attest from personal experience that Gutfeld is at times incurious about the truth of subjects presented on his show. There is little reason to think that he examines the claims and vitriol that are folded into the playlist for each episode of the season to ensure that the show's framing is an accurate, fair presentation of what's happening. There's little reason to think he does so; in general temperament and outward manifestation, it seems safe to assume that Gutfeld hears about things like Krasner's approach to the looters as the show is running and then does what he's paid to do, get mad about it in a way that can pass as 'humorous'.