Fox News host says Native American land 'wasn't stolen': 'We won this land on the battlefield'

Jake Lahut
Updated ·2 min read
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  • Fox News host Jesse Watters made two separate comments Tuesday about American land being "stolen."

  • Watters was weighing in on comments made by Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo.

  • Even when asked about Native Americans, Watters insisted the US "won this land on the battlefield."

  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

Fox News host Jesse Watters went on-air Tuesday to say American land was never "stolen," just "won on the battlefield" and "bought."

"This land wasn't stolen," Watters said. "We won this land on the battlefield."

"And we bought it, right? We purchased Spain - I mean we purchased Florida from Spain."

Guest host Geraldo Rivera then asked Watters about Native Americans, who lost an estimated 90% of their pre-1492 population over decades of violence and viruses they had no immunity from as Europeans continued arriving.

"Well what about them, Geraldo? We won that territory on the battlefield," Watters said. "It was an ugly, brutal battle, but we won it. We're not just gonna give everything back to the indigenous people of this country."

Watters' initial comments, made on "The Five," were in response to Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who received backlash from conservatives and several Republican lawmakers over a tweet she published over July Fourth weekend.

The co-host of "The Five" later doubled down on his comments during an appearance on "Tucker Carlson Tonight," the network's most viewed show.

"Well first, we did not steal this land," Watters said. "We won this land on the battlefield, and the rest we purchased from the Europeans. So I don't know what Congresswoman Bush wants us to do. Are we supposed to give the Dakotas back to Crazy Horse's family? Are we supposed to give California back to Mexico? ... Then she says Blacks aren't free in this country. Blacks are free, except for the Democrat Party."

Bush did not respond directly to the comments from Watters or the GOP lawmakers who took issue with her Fourth of July tweet, but she did follow up with a dig at Republicans over trying to pass laws banning the teaching of critical race theory.

"It's not a coincidence that the people who are saying Black people have full freedom in our country are the same ones trying to prevent teaching the truth about white supremacy in our classrooms," Bush tweeted.

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