Jessica Tarlov is set to publish her first book, I Disagree: Winning Arguments without Losing Friends, on Sept. 15. The cohost says the project grew out of her experience as the lone liberal on The Five, where she often faces a table of conservative cohosts.
She described her position on the show plainly: “I am outnumbered.” She added, “I still do well though, I think. Or at least that's why my mom tells me.”
Jessica Tarlov on The Five
Tarlov said she wants the book to match the kind of exchanges she has on television. “I hear constantly from people on the right and on the left that they wish they were having conversations with people they disagree with, that we're too siloed, we're too hyper-partisan,” she said. The book is framed as part memoir and part guide to arguing without cutting off the conversation.
That fits her role on The Five, where she is the lone liberal among Emily Compagno, Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino and Jesse Watters. The show gives her a daily national platform, but it also puts her in the same seat opposite voices that rarely start from the same premise.
Fox and Suzanne Scott
Tarlov’s path to that chair ran through Fox in 2017, when she became a contributor, and then to cohost status by 2022. She said Suzanne Scott offered her a job when she was eight months pregnant, and she signed the deal while on maternity leave. Her account of the hire adds a practical detail to the book rollout: she is writing from inside the job, not outside it.
She also said, “Having an employer that basically says, 'You take as big of a swing as you want,'” which helps explain why she can keep pressing her case on air while also publishing a book built around disagreement.
Sept. 15 and the book’s reach
Tarlov said, “Do I want to change votes? Absolutely. I want to win elections,” and added, “I think your quality of life will be better under a Democratic administration.” She also said she uses “a dose of humanity or humor or building that connective tissue” to keep tense exchanges going, language that lines up with the book’s promise of disagreement without a rupture.
The timing gives readers a clear next step: the book arrives on Sept. 15, and it is aimed at people who want a model for sharper political talk that still keeps the discussion open.
