Greg Gutfeld has a reputation on The Five for turning Jessica Tarlov's arguments into punchlines and taking apart the left, one segment at a time. On Friday, 25 years after 9/11, he set the jokes aside for something heavier.
Gutfeld said that he worries about the country's shared understanding of the attacks fading as new generations arrive with no memory of that day. First, he pointed out just how many people now living in the U.S. weren't around for it at all. "We have over 100 million people that have been born since 9/11. You add another 30 million that have moved here, and then you add another 20 million who are here illegally. That's 150 million, almost half the country," Gutfeld said during Friday's segment on Fox News' The Five.
He also questioned whether that huge share of the population actually understands what happened, or whether they've absorbed a distorted version instead. I have to admit, I’m worried it’s the latter.
"Do you think they all fully grasp the import of this event? Or have they been indoctrinated by academics or religious ideologies, or distracted by technology or entertainment?" he asked. In fact, he went further, wondering aloud, "Do they believe, like Hollywood would suggest, that the real danger is white privilege?"
Gutfeld compared the muddled present to his own childhood understanding of Pearl Harbor. "I always think about when I was a kid, 1970, learning about Pearl Harbor. It was 29 years prior. And yet it was so black and white," he said. "'What was Pearl Harbor?' 'The Japanese attacked us and we went to war.' It was black and white."
The reality, he argued, is that no comparable clarity exists for 9/11, because the institutions that shape what kids learn have changed since 1970.
In other words, the woke left happened.
"We didn't have a kind of an academic media complex that could reverse every narrative prioritizing Japanophobia over America's security. We didn't have grade school teachers pushing pronouns and condemning American imperialism in seventh grade," Gutfeld said. "So today there is no black and white, unless, of course, you're talking about race."
For our VIPs: Did AOC Just Nuke Her Presidential Ambitions?
Gutfeld went further still, arguing that jihad gets far less classroom attention than islamophobia, even as he framed islamophobia as a rational response to jihadist violence rather than the reverse. He pointed out how Islamism has effectively been folded into identity politics and treated as untouchable, warning that anyone who raises questions about intolerance from someone in power who happens to be Muslim risks being cast as the offender instead. "Islamists can brand you a racist while enjoying the life of a brutal, intolerant conqueror," he said.
Fact Check: True.
Gutfeld didn't hide his skepticism about where all of this leaves the country. "I obviously am a very cynical person on this. I worry about that. I mean, I enjoy the unity every year, but I see what's going on day to day and it doesn't hearten me," he said.
He closed on something more personal than political: concern for his own daughter. "I worry about where I'm gonna send my kid," Gutfeld said. "I don't want to give my kid away to somebody who's going to be told this country deserved 9/11. I don't want my kid hearing that, God forbid I'm not around at the time." He added that he doubts today's kids will ever get the plain, settled understanding of 9/11 that his own generation eventually reached about Pearl Harbor. "I think about that, like, what are we teaching them about this? I understand, Pearl Harbor, you know, do kids understand this? I don't," he said.
“What are we teaching them about this?” @greggutfeld worries younger generations are losing a clear understanding of 9/11, arguing that preserving America’s unity begins with teaching children what happened and why. pic.twitter.com/6WUOksgcFm
— The Five (@TheFive) September 12, 2026
Twenty-five years removed from the attacks, nearly half the country alive today has no personal memory of that morning. Gutfeld isn't wrong to wonder what they're being taught instead.
Editor's Note: Do you enjoy PJ Media's conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join PJ Media VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member