'Fox & Friends' co-hosts defend Vince Vaughn after Trump controversy

If social media’s treatment of Vince Vaughn is an indicator of the state of the union, the co-hosts of Fox & Friends think we might be in trouble. Vaughn raised eyebrows after footage of him having a conversation with President Donald Trump during Monday’s College Football National Championship game was posted online by former Deadspin editor and writer Timothy Burke. Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy said the backlash over the interaction exposed the country’s deep divide. “Unless America talks to the other side and we can just talk to each other ... they might as well just split the country right in half, right down the Mississippi,” said Doocy. He also suggested that anyone in Vaughn’s position would have spoken to Trump. “If you’re in the same box at an event or something like that and the president’s right over there or you’re sitting next to him — who wouldn’t talk to him?” he added. Co-host Brian Kilmeade echoed Doocy’s explanation of the exchange, saying “If the president of the United States gave me the opportunity to say ‘hi’ I’m going to do that.” Fellow panelist Ainsley Earhardt noted, “It doesn’t mean you have to vote for him, it doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything they say — he’s the president of the United States!”