Tempers flared on the set of Fox News’ “The Five” on Thursday afternoon.

The show’s co-hosts blasted the media’s coverage of President Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House so far, versus that of his predecessor, Barack Obama — with one host even calling reporters propaganda-mongering hacks, as Mediaite reported.

Following the decision of editorial boards across the nation to push back on Trump’s frequent railing against the mainstream press, liberal Juan Williams (shown above left) praised the move by the press. And he gave his vocal support to reporters who often find themselves the target of the president’s unrelenting attacks.

“The legitimate purpose of the press is to be an adversary to people in power and hold them accountable,” Williams said, adding that it is the job of the press to call out “a guy who lies and lies.”

“They’d have a lot more credibility if every administration that came around, they were this adversarial,” said co-host Jesse Watters (above right), immediately pushing back on Williams’ assertion.

“Donald Trump has exposed them as dishonest Democrat Party hacks,” Watters added. “The media right now are extensions of the Democratic Party. They give him no credit for anything good he does and deny him all credit for anything he does.”

Though Williams attempted to interrupt, Watters kept going, arguing that journalists are in fact frustrated over being criticized for what he called biased reporting, noted Mediaite.

“Why they get so upset is because their credibility rests upon the fact that they pretend to be independent,” he said.

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Williams said Trump’s attitude toward the press was not that of a president but of a monarch.

“The only thing the king wants is somebody who will adore him, who will honor him, who will say, ‘Donald Trump’s the greatest ever,’” he said.

“They give him no credit for anything good he does and deny him all credit for anything he does,” noted Watters.

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See the panel’s heated debate in the video below: