One Fox anchor visibly struggled to contain his amusement while reporting breaking news that President Trump is mulling the addition of a 51st state.
The president allegedly floated the proposal during a telephone conversation with Fox News’ John Roberts, a claim that has generated widespread doubt.
During the broadcast, the Fox anchor explained, “And when I was talking to the president this morning, just before the Oval Office event, he kind of surprised me a little bit because he said ‘John I just want to tell you I’m very serious about this. So you can talk about this. I’m serious about beginning a process to make Venezuela the 51st state.”
Roberts went on, “Now there’s a rich history in this nation of taking territories and absorbing them into the United States. Puerto Rico is one that people talk about, but this would be the first time, to my knowledge, that a sovereign country was ever invited to join the United States of America. How would that work?”
A fellow Fox host quickly jumped to Trump’s defense, stating, “Well uh John I won’t get ahead of what the president was comfortable sharing with you as far as those plans go, but look, this is a president who is famous for never accepting the status quo. He is always considering a host of options to improve our country and of course Venezuela, now led by President Delcy Rodríguez, is working incredibly cooperatively with the United States.”
She went on to say, “So I won’t get ahead of any plans that the president may have to that effect but look, this has been a tremendous success. The United States revitalizing our relationship with Venezuela and in turn improving the economic situation in both countries and our people.”
The clip quickly gained traction on social media, sparking a wave of reactions from Fox News viewers regarding Venezuela’s potential statehood. One X user wrote, “Fix America first, close the border, cut spending, secure our own nation. No need to add stars right now. America First.”
A second commenter remarked, “It was Greenland first … then it was Canada … now it’s Venezuela. after kidnapping their leader. this is colonization.”
A third user raised doubts about the feasibility of such a move, asking, “Is that even possible? I believe Congress will not approve it.”
Yet another skeptic weighed in, noting, “That would be one of the wildest geopolitical ideas in modern history but there’s a massive gap between political talk and reality.”