"Outnumbered" panelists sounded off after progressive TikTok users condemned a California restaurant for playing the national anthem.
FOX Business host and former congressman Sean Duffy warned those types of comments may pose a national security risk.
The TikTok video was taken at Rainbow Oaks restaurant in Fallbrook, California, and showed diners standing for "The Star-Spangled Banner." The video was captioned as "the most dangerous situation I've ever been in" with commenters claiming the incident is their "worst nightmare" and "feels like a horror movie."
Duffy said his heart "swells" at the sight of Americans honoring the national anthem, but he issued a somber warning about the state of the country if action isn’t taken to address comments like the ones on the TikTok video.
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"This is a national security risk for this country that you don't have people who love their country, that don't think their country is great," he said on "Outnumbered" Wednesday.
"You've got all these Marxists in our elementary education, but also in our university system. If this country doesn't get serious about rooting them out, taking them out to get back to the basic principles that have made this country so wonderful, I do think the country is doomed."
"Outnumbered" co-host Emily Compagno noted that many of the TikTok users leaving negative comments not American.
"They can say what they want," Compagno said. "But here to Sean [Duffy]'s point, that's a mark of honor. That's a mark of deep pride and respect and gratitude for the foundational elements that this country was founded on and those that sacrificed their lives supporting and defending it."
She went on to say the voices of true American patriots won’t be silenced by progressive TikTok users.
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"That also goes to show that despite the overwhelming pressure that we receive on a daily basis from the woke left, you cannot take away pride, you cannot dampen pride," she said.
Co-host Kayleigh McEnany called out the callous attitude progressives have toward patriotic American symbols, saying she doesn’t know what’s so "triggering" about the anthem or the flag.
The anthem, she said, is about the heroes that made America great. She recalled Mara Gay of MSNBC and the New York Times saying in 2021 that it was "disturbing" to see American flags on the pickup trucks of Trump supporters.
Rainbow Oaks owner Jeanene Paulino responded to the complaints on "Fox & Friends First," saying the TikTok user likely posted the video for attention. She assured Fox News she "won’t be stopping" her tradition of playing the anthem.
