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The Five' panel erupts after Trump is accused of using Afghanistan to distract from Charlottesville
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The Five' panel erupts after Trump is accused of using Afghanistan to distract from Charlottesville

Fox News political analyst Juan Williams faced off with other panelists on Monday's airing of "The Five" after he accused President Donald Trump of using his Monday evening Afghanistan speech as a ploy to distract from the Charlottesville attack and white supremacy.

Reacting to Trump's speech announcing further military action in Afghanistan, Williams voiced his outrage at the perception that Trump used a sleight of hand to distract the world from domestic scofflaw.

What he said

“When I see Donald Trump stand up there — the U.S. military has long been a model of success in terms of race relations, and Donald Trump finds this opportune moment to use them as a toy to say, ‘You know that stuff I was saying about, when I didn’t understand what Nazis and white supremacists and neo-Nazis was about, I forgot what World War II was about, and when real American patriots shed blood to fight those Nazis, there was no equivalence.' No, no, no. But he didn’t say that! Instead, now he’s saying, ‘Oh yeah, so you know what, just like when you go and fight a war, or you should be able to come home, so if we have never had these arguments. ' ... This is brand new. This to me ... is the absolute most cheap use of our military from a guy who was in a hole and has damaged his presidency in a way that he will not recover.”

The fallout

Co-host Greg Gutfield blasted Williams' comments as "nonsense," and repeatedly banged his fist on the table to emphasize his point, while co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle vehemently defended the president, and expressed her outrage at the notion that Trump would "squander lives" in order to "get himself out of a political pickle."

The tension was heightened only by Williams assertion that generals who "pushed" Trump into action against Afghanistan were "screeching hawks."

Guilfoyle, in response, fired back at the unfairness of Williams' comments, and said that his remarks only served to disparage those who serve in the military.

See the full exchange in the video below. Williams' remarks begin around the 20:00 mark.

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