'Fox & Friends' co-host Pete Hegseth defends 'send her back' chants and Geraldo Rivera isn't having it: 'What the hell, Pete?'

Conservative television personality Geraldo Rivera stopped by Fox & Friends on Friday, butting heads with guest co-host Pete Hegseth over President Donald Trump’s recent Twitter controversy, and his recent rally where chants of “send her back” drew further criticism.

Trump came under fire after encouraging four congress members to “go back” to the countries from which they came, despite three of the four having been born in the United States. The tweet has been slammed by many as being racist.

Hegseth defended the President’s tweet — and the rally chant — telling Rivera, “If you go back and look at that tweet he’s not talking about race. He’s talking about whether or not you love this country and appreciate it.” He added, “If you don’t appreciate it and don’t love it and don’t want to work to make it better then maybe you could consider going somewhere else.”

Rivera expressed his objection to Hegseth’s defense of the tweet, shouting “What the hell, Pete?” He continued, “This is their country. They’re citizens of the United States. You cannot say that.”

Hegseth fired back, “They could say that to me.” Geraldo countered, “Some things are intolerable. You cannot say that. You can’t say it to me. I’ve had 10 street fights with people who have said that to me.”

Viewers on Twitter were split, with many applauding Rivera for slamming Hegseth’s defense of the president’s tweets:

Other felt Hegseth was in the right, and that Trump’s tweets weren’t an issue:

Meghan McCain slams fellow conservative Kellyanne Conway:

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