Reacting to former Fox News colleague Geraldo Rivera saying they’d probably “square off” if they ran into each other in public, MAGA podcaster Dan Bongino wondered aloud on Monday “why everybody wants to fight” him all the time.
“Do I have a punchable face?!” Bongino exclaimed at one point.
So, what prompted this bizarre back-and-forth in the first place? Well, it all started with CNN reporting last week that President-elect Donald Trump was considering naming Bongino — a fierce Trump loyalist and popular right-wing media personality — as head of the Secret Service.
During a Friday appearance on CNN, Rivera — who frequently engaged in heated on-air clashes with Bongino when they were both at Fox News — was asked to weigh in on the possibility of the Secret Service being led by the pugnacious pundit.
“I can’t imagine anyone who I feel more fiercely combative with than Dan Bongino,” Rivera noted. “If he were to walk into a bar and I was having a beer, we’d probably square off. We disagree on everything. I think he has his own set of facts. I think he’s a provocateur.”
Throughout their joint tenure at the conservative cable giant, Rivera grew so incensed with Bongino during panel discussions on Sean Hannity’s show that he would not only resort to personal attacks — calling Bongino a “punk” on multiple occasions — but he even threw paper at the camera in disgust.
Despite suggesting that they would get into a bar brawl if they saw each other again, Rivera still said on Friday that he felt confident that Bongino could capably serve in the Trump administration, citing his decade as a Secret Service agent.
“I have no issue at all with his honesty, his credibility, his character, his patriotism, his love of the Secret Service,” Rivera stated. “I think all those things are positive for Bongino.”
Over the weekend, Bongino responded to social media clips of Rivera’s CNN appearance by noting that the “tale of the tape is a little rough on Geraldo,” pointing out that Rivera is 81 years old and at least 40 pounds lighter than himself. He then decided to devote the top of Monday’s broadcast of The Dan Bongino Show to addressing Rivera’s apparent challenge.
After mockingly pantomiming martial arts poses as the show began, Bongino told his viewers, “Geraldo’s back, and he wants to fight me again,” before jokingly wondering why so many people wanted to engage him in fisticuffs.
“Why does this guy always want to fight me? Why does everybody always want to fight Dan Bongino?! Why?!” he shouted, rhetorically adding: “Do I have a punchable face?!”
Over the next few minutes, Bongino not only aired portions of Rivera’s CNN interview but clips of his ex-Fox compatriot angrily flinging paper balls at the camera during one of their heated Hannity arguments. He also aired a “Tale of the Tape” graphic showing the differences in the rivals’ age, height and weight. It also included “reach,” which in this case, was the amount of social media followers each had. (The graphic declared Rivera’s reach to be “irrelevant.”)
In the end, though, Bongino noted that Rivera actually “said some very nice compliments at the end” and that this was “all in good fun.”
At the same time, the right-wing radio host also disputed CNN’s reporting that he is being eyed by the Trump administration to lead the Secret Service, saying he doesn’t “know where this rumor is coming from” and that “there is no such thing that is out there.”
