Gutfeld: An attempt to solve mass shootings
When it comes to preventing gun violence, we need to stop the bad eggs, not target law-abiding Americans.
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 19, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Hi, I'm Greg Gutfeld with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Juan Williams, Jesse Watters and Dana Perino -- this is "The Five."
So as students plan gun violence protests, let's be honest: no one trusts each other in this debate. If you say "sensible gun control," others hear code for "you're taking away my guns." If you say "protect my gun rights," others will call you a murderer.
I say let's make it simple:
We need to harden soft targets. Big companies do this already -- they're surrounded by guards. So should schools. It's a trillion-dollar industry waiting to happen.
Bring back psychiatric hospitals. Right now, they house less than one-tenth of the people they did 60 years ago. A Florida agency looked at this latest creep in 2016, but they let him go. Do you want to bet it was based on space, that he wasn't worth a bed?
We also must slash the media footprint of killers and reduce the appeal for infamy. Creeps obsess over the fame of previous creeps. It's their drug. Let's take away that drug.
We need to think offensively. Instead of asking how do we rig the system to stop perps from getting guns? Ask, how do we tag the perps and keep them from getting guns? We want to get the bad eggs, not the law-abiding ones. You see the difference?
Florida was preventable. The fiend was all red flags, perfect for a database of nuts and perps who shouldn't get guns. This guy had no violent felonies, so a civil tag is what could have nailed him. Based on testimony from cops, students and school officials, a judge could then issue a simple court order.
Rather than defensively cast a wide net that catches tons of fish we don't want, you tag the right people who are placed into one single database along with violent felons. If you're in it, no gun. And if you violate the database, that's mandatory prison time.
This isn't just see something, say something, it's actually do something. So by all means protest, but it won't do much when you're targeting the haystack while letting the needle slip through.
We learned about the FBI screw-up, Kimberly.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Yeah.
GUTFELD: And now about this Florida mental health agency, that it examined this guy in 2016, but they didn't hospitalize him. The article I read didn't say why. But I'm assuming if there was room for him, why not hold him for 72 hours. They didn't even do that.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah. And that's the problem. So they're going to have to do some analysis on that. They're going to have to go back and talk to the people who is in charge, and who is the supervisor on duty, who actually had contact with him and made that determination. That's the only way we're going to get better. Unless you do these kinds of thoughtful, deliberate and deep probing investigations to figure out how we can do it better for the next time because this cannot continue to happen, especially when someone is basically screaming out for help, presenting these problems and having this violent ideation and saying that they want to become a school shooter, they have the weapons, they have the means and ability to do so. They go in front of a mental health professional. The FBI has them on the screen. So it wasn't just on one level that this was a fail, it's on multiple levels that people could have caught this and stop it and kept him in.
GUTFELD: Yeah.
GUILFOYLE: And held him -- maybe 72 hours, Greg, and then out again.
GUTFELD: He was self-harming, Juan, I guess on snap chats and saying he was -- I mean, this guy had more red flags than -- I don't know, a red flag factory.
JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: Right.
GUTFELD: And we talked about -- like, we look at Vegas, I don't know how we could have prevented that. That guy capitalized on obscurity, you know, no one knew. But here, this is a guy, basically, telling you what he's going to do and nobody listens.
WILLIAMS: Well, the question is whether or not you take him seriously and, of course, his civil liberties because what we know is going back to the '80s.
GUILFOYLE: Reagan.
WILLIAMS: . and earlier. Right. Well, that was the point that they deinstitutionalized people and they've said, you know what, folks have a right to not have their freedoms taken away because you deem them to be somehow mentally incompetent.
GUTFELD: Right.
WILLIAMS: We're not sure who you're picking on, who you're not picking on, etcetera. But I couldn't agree with you more. I think it's a danger, increasing danger to society when you have so many -- it's not only people who are of a murderous instinct. But I think we have high rates of people who, for example, veterans who have traumatic syndrome as homeless people. I see more homeless people all over the country, to me, than ever. And I think that's a lot of mental illness. I will say, I think it's great that the young people are willing to march in Washington. I think that hopefully it will change the tenor of the debate because -- maybe if young people are saying you've got to do something, it will appeal to people who, as you point out, are just locked into, oh, you're going to take my guns. Are you going -- people say, wait, you know what, gun owners, NRA members think that background checks can be done better. And President Trump has now said today, or his aides had said that he's interested in doing something to strengthen our background checks.
GUTFELD: To that point, Jesse, I think it's important that the -- these -- like suggestions that I've made and people like -- David French wrote a good piece for National Review on.
DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Gun violence restraining order.
GUTFELD: Yes. It comes from the conservative libertarian side because nobody trust coming from the other side because everybody is so -- we hear the dog whistle that they're coming to take the guns away, right?
JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: It's true. It's like a pre-9/11 mind-set when it comes to school shootings. After 9/11, everybody realized they were stove pipping all these information. All these other agencies weren't sharing anything with each other. But now you have the police, the school, the department of children and family. Everybody knows something, even the FBI and no one is sharing this information. So you look at a threat matrix on a kid like this. He's diagnosed autistic. He's diagnosed depressed. He's diagnosed mentally unstable by the agency that looked at him and someone who is an at risk adults because of mental instability. He was developed mentally disabled. And you have a mobile crisis unit that is dispatched to the school. He is expelled for violent behavior at the school. The police are called dozens of times to the house. If you add that up, all those different things, and you say, you know, if someone qualifies for 60 percent of all those things, then maybe they don't get a gun.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
WATTERS: Maybe you make them wait a few years before he's able to purchase a weapon like that at that age. So, obviously, we need gun control, but it shouldn't be taking guns away from people or not manufacturing the AR-15. You can't even ban gun bump stocks after Vegas. But we should increase background checks and make sure these information -- the information is shared appropriately.
GUTFELD: I think the thing to worry is that whenever gun control comes up the law-abiding gun owner thinks it's about them. And the idea is to switch it, so you're saying no. It's almost like stop and frisk or community policing but applying to this.
PERINO: I think so. And I actually think that it's not necessarily a congressional move here because the states are the policy innovators and incubators. And I would think that this is mostly a state right issue. So, it's not like you would have to wait for congress and D.C. to actually move forward on something like gun violence restraining order or these red flag laws. You could actually do that in Tallahassee.
GUTFELD: Yes.
PERINO: And that could happen in Florida. Or you might do it in another state and that's an experiment. That's where all the experiments happen in the states, and then you could figure out a way if you want to move it forward. Sometimes the federal governments will do things like tying transportation funds in order to get a state to comply with something like the drinking age or something like that. But if this were to work in a certain place, you could try it out somewhere. And you have somebody like the mother from Connecticut at Sandy Hook. She tried to get help. She didn't know where to go. There's also a real concern about cuts to Medicaid, which is where people -- a lot of people get their mental health help if they're going to get any. I hadn't heard the autism diagnosis. I think -- I don't know enough about it. I think there's a tendency to then extrapolate that.
GUTFELD: Yeah.
PERINO: . into others. But I would say this on the communication standpoint, the kids staying in this story makes it very hard for the media to ignore it. So they know that. And I think they've been pretty smart. They're working together. They're using their social networks in order to gather not just in Tallahassee. They're calling for a march on March 24. That sounds weird. A march in March. March 24th. And the more they stay in this story it would be harder for people to ignore. But I don't necessarily think that this is just a congressional issue. I think that you can get more done faster at the state level.
GUTFELD: I think the media doesn't have to be -- this is a highly visual protest, especially if it's going to be nationwide and the women's march is getting behind it, which is then going to raise suspicions that it's more of a political event at the women's march.
PERINO: And a liberal one.
GUTFELD: And a liberal one. And I think that's an error -- that's an error, and also an error to continually talk about repealing the second amendment because that's not never going to happen, but you hear that. I think that the media may be focused on why he wasn't placed in the hospital. How did the FBI dropped the ball as well as these protests.
GUILFOYLE: You want to make sure that this isn't going to be, you know, a direct, you know, full on assault on the second amendment and the gun grabs because then -- it's right given the political differences and ideological differences to try to use this as a vehicle to try to confiscate guns. There're situations where somebody can just make a complaint against the neighbor or something like that.
GUTFELD: Yeah.
GUILFOYLE: And then you have to be very careful.
(CROSSTALK) PERINO: It will be like -- once you get on the list, how would you.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: . in order to get off of it, and that will be hard. But, again, I think -- one of the states could start this and.
GUTFELD: It's simple. If it's a civil tag that means the bar is lower. And it's always -- it's about these people. It's about the guy that you know. It's like nobody knows what to do with the problem, you know.
WATTERS: Kimberly mentioned the state agency that went and visited this guy after he was posting pictures on social media of him cutting himself.
GUTFELD: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
WATTERS: . and saying he wanted to do violence and buy a gun. He was wearing long sleeves at the time. And the reason they didn't involuntary commit him was because they never even checked and looked at his sleeves. Hey, dude, pull your sleeves up. It's a really pathetic visit by the state agency, I think.
GUILFOYLE: But that's what happens. They're not thorough and they're pressed and they have so many cases, and they go in and do a rush. I mean, I won't even tell you about a case that -- I mean, they didn't check this little girl who'd been beaten. Her scalloped was duct taped.
WATTERS: Oh, my gosh.
GUTFELD: Juan, you brought up vets and the problems that they have. There's a positive argument to maybe on how to use that. This is from Tyrus who is a co-host on my show brought up this as a practical solution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYRUS: When 9/11 happened, the planes hit the towers, airports were changed forever. We got the TSA. Our children are getting hit. It's time to change the schools forever. And there's a population out there and I check, didn't have the new stats out, but last year's stats was 4.3 percent unemployment for returning veterans in this country. That's 435,000 trained men who have eyes and ears. We need to have them at the schools.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: I mean.
GUILFOYLE: I like it.
GUTFELD: I think it's a great idea. What do you think, Juan?
WILLIAMS: Well, I know the criticism is that if you police the schools so intensely, then everything that a young person does becomes a criminal act rather than a teenager acting up because, all of a sudden, there's a cop there and now there's a criminal record. And so, essentially, you are institutionalizing a school in a way that I don't think schools are intended.
(CROSSTALK)
PERINO: If I understand what Tyrus is saying, they wouldn't be there in order to have disciplinary action oversight. They would just be there to protect.
WILLIAMS: Well, that would be ideal. But what happen is if you have police there, then I think the school authorities.
PERINO: But the vets wouldn't be police.
WILLIAMS: I think the bigger point to me is the one that you're talking about earlier, which is basically people get locked in to their political boxes right here. And people will say you're coming for my guns. Now, to my mind, when I think about the NRA and its role here, I don't see how you get away from it because they are so heavily politicized and they put so many dollars into Republican candidates. They backed Republicans.
WATTERS: I think the NRA influence is a little overrated because unions and Planned Parenthood puts a lot more money. But if any president could do something on this issue, I think Donald Trump could.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: Very, very supportive of the second amendment. And if he wants to give a little on background checks I think the country would be open to it.
WILLIAMS: Yeah, absolutely. The question is would his right wing be open to it. With the NRA be open to it? Because I think that so many, in the case of gun owners, are single issue voters, and that's the only issue. They see the whole world through that prism and are easily threatened. And I think that if Trump, if others at the NRA would finally say, listen, here's reasonable step that we can get behind, it would make a huge difference because, remember, we didn't get bump stocks. We haven't had any added steps in terms of the mental illness issue that Greg is talking about today. Medicare, as Dana was talking about, less opportunities for coverage for mental health issues. To me, this is right staring us in the face. We don't have to wonder about it.
GUTFELD: Yeah. It's just that we haven't really had good, practical solutions from the loudest voices. When you even look what the ACLU came out against the Obama bill because it was a defensive move. It was casting a wide net on people who can't fill out their social security benefits because of a disability. This crowd is not the type of crowd that shoots up schools. So, anyway, President Trump's tweets storm over Mueller's indictment in the Russia probe. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUILFOYLE: This weekend, President Trump chided the FBI for missing warnings on the accused Florida gunmen and spending too much time instead on the Russia probe. He fired off more than a dozen tweets after the special counsel's indictment of Russians from meddling with our election. He also, continuing his terror on President Obama, for failing to stop Moscow from interfering with our vote. Quote, Obama was president up to, and beyond, the 2016 election, so why didn't he do something about Russian meddling? Even Democrat, Adam Schiff, agrees with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: I've said that all along that I thought the Obama administration should have done more. At that time we couldn't get the Obama administration to acknowledge the Russian interference. They were very wary of appearing to be putting their hand on the scale on the election. Now they did make an acknowledgment of the following month, but I don't think that was sufficient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: OK. So Dana, so interesting, strange bedfellows.
PERINO: Thumb on the scale, not hand on the scale.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
GUTFELD: He has tiny hands.
(LAUGHTER)
PERINO: OK, let's see. On the Obama administration, that is one of the underreported stories of the last year. That while there's been a huge focus on the Mueller probe, that if you go back to now we know in 2014 that was one when Russia started this operation to come after us in our election in all sorts of different ways, this is at the same time that they're invading Ukraine. And so, the Obama administration would say we're really focused on the fact that we're trying to protect the actual people. They don't get ahead of this one. And I think that, you know, history will have to decide what it will on that front. There are a lot of people on the Democratic side very frustrated that not more was done. I look back and think I don't know what more could have been done in the middle of it because I understand the sensitivity about not getting in the middle of the election and acting like the Russians were trying to help President Trump, and then it would look like Obama was trying to help Hillary. So that's another reason why there are a lot of people that want Mueller to finish his investigation at least in the late spring because the later you get, then you're getting involved in another election, this time the midterm elections of 2018. On the other front, I think that talking about the FBI being distracted by doing too much on Russia and that's why it couldn't prevent 17 children from being murdered, a fine line for a pundit. Not a good one for a president. If the president believes that the Mueller indictment of the 13 Russians was a good news for him just let that sit. Instead it stirred the pot even more and made the story last through the weekend.
GUILFOYLE: Greg?
GUTFELD: I have advice for Democrats and for Republicans. The advice for Democrats, I'm going to use an Olympic metaphor, you know when you're a curler, that's not your full-time job, right? You got to have -- it would be foolish to pin all your hopes and dreams on being a curler because those skills are not transferable. So the problem is, especially if you lose, you're quickly forgotten. The Dems -- Democrats.
GUILFOYLE: We don't know what it is. People not following.
GUTFELD: Curling, it's an Olympic event.
GUILFOYLE: I know it is.
GUTFELD: Anyway. For the Dems, collusion -- their collusion obsession is their curling. But unlike the athlete, they don't have a backup yet. And they've got to get a backup. They're planning everything on a very specific event like the Russian collusion with a low chance of payoff. They're going to lose big. That's for the Democrats. For the Republicans, last year, or maybe a year and a half ago, I said this, do not take satisfactions in Russians hacking of DNC or Podesta because it's going to happen to all of us. They will try because the Russians do not play favorites. They play the hand that they have. Right now, they were going after the Dems and the RNC, but it was easier on the Dems. The Russians realized they're 1/8 the size that they use to be. It's not about territory. It's about broadband.
So this to my more scary point, people bring up paper ballots. We talked about this, to combat this intrusion. We don't have that remedy for our banking system. We don't have paper ballots for our banking system or for our electric grid. So when somebody hacked that stuff, then it's over. That's what scares me. It's not about -- the marginal attacks on our election system, we do that already. I mean, we do that to ourselves. We're as negative as they are to ourselves. I'm worried about what happens when they paralyze our banking system, when you can't get money out of your atm. Then we all end up robbing each other.
GUTFELD: I thought you keep it in your mattress.
GUTFELD: I do. My pillow, actually.
GUILFOYLE: It's all gone.
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: I sleep on nothing but my pillows filled with catheter.
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my God.
GUTFELD: I do. It's two advertising plugs right there.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: I say, looking back, Russia should have helped Hillary, and here's why. Obama was soft on Russia. He let them take over Ukraine. He let Assad run wild. He gave the Iranians a billion dollars or so in cash. And, you know, they ran wild during his administration. Trump comes in. Energy is soaring. We're now beating them in energy production. We sent missiles right on their doorstep to Syria. And, you know, we slapped some sanctions on them. So going back, I think we're overstating the whole issue when it comes to this interference. They spent $40,000 on Facebook ads. Hillary and Trump spent $81 million. And if you talk about the propaganda that was injected into this election, think about the corruption that really happens. CNN and Donna Brazile gave information, questions to Hillary beforehand. NBC leaked the locker room talk tape. There was a lot of really dirty stuff that went on through the media and through Hillary. The dossier I would argue is more impactful than a few Russian bots on twitter. That infected the entire mainstream media. They reported that Trump was a traitor for the last three months of the election. So, just imagine if Donald Trump had paid a foreign agent millions of dollars to bring Russian dirt and pump it into Fox News and smear Hillary as a traitor, he would have been the biggest colluder ever. Hillary actually did that on the other side and no one wants to talk about that.
GUILFOYLE: Juan?
WILLIAMS: Well, I mean, what stands out to me this afternoon is that the president over the weekend went on a twitter rage. I mean, he was upset about something and he's blaming Democrats. He's blaming the FBI. He did not see the result of the indictment last week of the Russians in the way that he had hoped -- he hoped that it was somehow because he said it was going to vindicate him. Over the weekend he hears people say no. Guess what, the Russians may have unwittingly, but they were, in fact, involving Trump officials in their efforts. And to Jesse's point, well, if he wants to take action right now, Jesse, he could implement the sanctions that were passed by congress and that he's sitting on. He's not punishing the Russians with something that's right before him. And don't forget, When you talk about the impact of what the Russians did, there is the email hacking, they went after the Clinton speeches. Remember that? They even got inside the Democratic campaign because they tried to exacerbate tensions between Bernie Sanders and Hillary.
GUTFELD: And don't forget Jill Stein. And also, you add all the liberals showing up at the anti-Trump rallies run by the Russians.
WILLIAMS: My favorite part of all this is the activist, they go after the minorities and they say that minorities and stuff like -- oh, yeah, black activist and black people who are woke would never vote for that devil, Hillary. They make black people threatening so that the Trump people are then afraid the black people are going to take over with Hillary. I mean.
GUTFELD: I've got to respond to that. We're already doing that to ourselves in a ten times greater scale.
PERINO: That's why we should be kinder to each other as Americans.
GUTFELD: True. That's true.
GUILFOYLE: But let's not let Fergie sing us to sleep at night. Ahead, Fergie giving Roseanne Barr a run for her money with the most widely panned rendition of the national anthem yet. Stay with us.
COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: Everyone stood for the national last night at the NBA all-star game, but some couldn't stand what they were hearing. Fergie's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" is getting scathing reviews on social media. Even many players on the court were taken aback.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FERGIE, SINGER (singing): O say, can you see by the dawn's early light...
Banner yet wave in the home of the brave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my gosh.
PERINO: So the singer has given a statement to TMZ: "Last night I wanted to try something special for the NBA. I'm a risk-taker artistically, but clearly, this rendition didn't strike the intended tone. I love this country and honestly, I tried my best."
Jesse, I cannot sing at all. I don't sing ever. So...
GUTFELD: We know.
PERINO: Right. So I'm not going to sing. But...
WATTERS: I'm worse than you.
PERINO: ... that's pretty bad.
WATTERS: I'm the worst singer of all time. I never sing, and I would never allow myself to sing in front of you or anybody at this table.
GUILFOYLE: You dance better than you sing.
WATTERS: Well, that's not saying much.
GUILFOYLE: Correct.
WATTERS: And the only time I sing is in church, and it's embarrassing.
I would say this. I don't like it when people take liberties with the anthem. I think it's such a great song and such a perfect song that I don't want to hear your spin on it. I want to hear the anthem. And a lot of the times the artists make it about themselves when they do their little twists and turns with it. Just keep it about the anthem. Keep it about the country.
Ben Shapiro had the best tweet. He said, this -- it was like if she had knelt during the anthem, it was worse than that.
PERINO: What do you think, Juan?
WILLIAMS: I liked -- I liked Charles Barkley's comment in which he said, "After that, I need a cigarette."
I just -- I guess she was trying to be bluesy, sexy with it, but it really didn't work for me.
And I was -- I loved the cutaways. Because the players, obviously, it didn't work for the people who were listening right there. And you think this is in Los Angeles. They could've gotten tremendous talent, because I think...
GUILFOYLE: She's a very good singer normally.
WILLIAMS: Yes, normally.
GUILFOYLE: I don't know what happened here.
WILLIAMS: But I think there are lots of renditions of the national anthem that are a little bit different, and sometimes I'm thrilled with them. I mean, obviously, I think what Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, I just think those were great.
PERINO: Do you think this could've been one of those times, Greg, where nobody in her entourage or in her bubble wanted to tell her it wasn't great?
GUTFELD: It's one of those problems I have with my entourage. They will not tell me. And I'll go out and do something, you know, and I'll embarrass myself. And I go, "Why don't you tell me?"
They go, "Greg, we can't."
You know, I actually have to give her credit for knowing all the words. So that's good. And -- she reminds me of my drunk aunt, like, at a wedding reception karaoke. You know, in her head, she sounds fantastic.
But there's the other thing. This is what society has mistakenly identified as sexy, you know, this kind of like, "Ooh." It's like...
WATTERS: Do that again, please. Please do that again.
GUTFELD: Like "Gilligan's Island." Like "Gilligan's Island," it's supposed to be Ginger but actually, it's kind of like Mary Ann.
WATTERS: Sultry.
GUTFELD: Yes, but like, just like fake sultry. GUILFOYLE: Are we doing this role-playing again?
GUTFELD: No, but acting sexy is never sexy. It's, you know...
PERINO: Right.
GUTFELD: It's confidence and self-assurance that is kind of alluring but not this kind of, like, "Ooh." She was like Marilyn Monroe doing the...
WATTERS: "Happy Birthday."
GUTFELD: "Happy Birthday."
But I've got to give -- you know what? I like the fact that she took a risk.
PERINO: My fondest wish is that somebody makes a GIF of Greg doing what he just did.
Kimberly, last word.
GUILFOYLE: Yes, yes, yes. I feel for her. I think she's, like -- she is a very good performer and singer. This did not hit the right notes. She's figured it out already. So I think she should do -- get a do-over. Get a mulligan.
PERINO: Yes. A do-over.
GUTFELD: With Roseanne. Her and Roseanne on tour.
WILLIAMS: Well, Roseanne has taken advantage of it and has said, you know, "Not as bad as what I did."
PERINO: Now she's second worst. Awesome.
All right. Oprah interviewed voters last night, and it got President Trump all riled up. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: Oprah Winfrey has been shutting down rumors about her run in 2020, but she challenged President Trump on "60 Minutes" last night as she was interacting with some of his supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, MEDIA MOGUL: Who here believes that he made the comment about, quote, "(EXPLETIVE DELETED) countries"?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did not say the Haitian people or the people of Africa. He said those countries.
WINFREY: Come on, Matt.
Polls are showing that respect of the United States is eroding around the world.
There have been some members of Congress, including Republicans, questioning his stability and fitness for office.
Do you think the president is held to a different standard when it comes to this issue of sexual harassment?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. The question is are these accusations credible?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: The president was watching, and he had a lot to say about it on Twitter. Quote, "Just watched a very insecure Oprah Winfrey, who at one point I knew very well, interview a panel of people on '60 Minutes.' The questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!" end quote.
Gregory gets a kick out of it. Go ahead.
GUTFELD: I do. Why does he do it? Because, A, it's fun, and it requires minimal effort for maximum impact. Like, that took him a minute to write. And it delivers a day of, like, magical chaos.
But he's got to be careful.
PERINO: Magical.
GUTFELD: This is what happened to him at a Correspondents' Dinner. People mock him and then he became president.
The other point is, you must -- you usually expect a person to hold back on Oprah, because she's wildly popular African-American woman.
PERINO: Yes.
GUTFELD: He's the least aware of identity politics of anybody on the planet. He just doesn't care.
WATTERS: Good.
GUTFELD: He'll make fun of anybody. I mean, he'll go after -- virtue signaling is not in his DNA. I don't think it is.
WATTERS: He went after Gold-Star families.
GUTFELD: I mean, yes, it's...
WATTERS: Doesn't care. He's got to defend his brand.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WATTERS: I do -- I'm a little worried that he's watching "60 Minutes" on a Sunday night. I'm not sure if that's the best use of his time. But I understand the strategy. Because instead of giving a huge speech and wasting 45 minutes, he can send out a tweet and create this narrative where he is seen as the victim and the media is seen as trying to get him.
And I understand why, though. I'd be sensitive, too. It's funny he's calling someone else insecure. But he is, when it comes to protecting himself, he's the only president to fight back against the biased media.
But you have a celebrity that comes out who endorsed Hillary, who endorsed Barack Obama and then hurling slanted questions at Trump supporters.
I don't mind if CBS is tough on Trump, but they're only tough on Trump. They don't treat people of different parties the same. I don't care if you're tough on Republicans but be tough on Democrats. If you want to do softer, more personal interviews with Democrats, do some with Trump, too.
There's no balance at CBS, and they have a poor track record. They tried to get Bush with the forged documents on the eve of the election. Remember, they edited out the Benghazi comment by Barack Obama that was pretty critical. So, you know, CBS is in the tank. We know it. And obviously, Trump's a fan, though.
WILLIAMS: So Dana, what did you think of the questions?
PERINO: Well, I'm -- I wrote down that I'm curious about the assignments that they're giving Oprah. Because I didn't think that she would be doing as many political segments for "60 Minutes" when she was announced, because we haven't really seen her in mainstream media for a long time. She has, of course, her cable network, the OWN network.
But I always -- I want to listen to her. I usually like the questions. But I could see why somebody would think that just does not -- there is a divide there. Right? There's an obvious bias that comes into it from both sides. Right? Everybody is suspicious of each other. I admire her for going, and maybe we can hear from her personal how she feels about that.
If I were the president, I would focus on hobbling people that are really going to run, like John Kerry, who's thinking about it, and Bernie Sanders. I would cut their legs out from under them before they get going.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my gosh.
GUTFELD: Dana.
WILLIAMS: Kimberly, so -- but this was a group put together in Michigan, you know, a swing state, by Frank Luntz, the conservative pollster.
GUTFELD: Luntz.
WILLIAMS: And what you have here is this group had been together before. They've come together again. She's asking questions about polling that shows eroding support for the U.S. overseas, about questions -- people in Congress questioning the president's ability. The comment about the African, Caribbean and Latin American countries. Do you see that as biased, or do you see that just as a journalist asking a question?
GUILFOYLE: Well, obviously, the president, the eye of the beholder, he felt that it was biased against him, that these were inflammatory and planted to give -- elicit a poor response about the president. So as you saw, quite quickly, he reflexively reacted on Twitter to denounce it.
Yes, I'm not really sure what's going on here in terms of, it seems like they're positioning Oprah a little bit. In terms of, like, they're saying the assignments, and the coverage, and the topics and stuff that she's doing. So you know, I look at this little bit through a very critical eye.
PERINO: But it is good for both of them. Right? Everybody is talking about Oprah and Trump today.
WILLIAMS: All right. it is being talked about as the cruise from hell. You won't believe what reportedly set off -- I mean, it's unbelievable -- a violent, bloody brawl on a South Pacific cruise. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: Family vacations can sometimes get tense, but I've never seen anything like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SCREAMING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: Twenty-three members of one family were kicked off a Carnival cruise ship in Australia after engaging in brawls with other passengers for days. This one's unreal.
It's not clear what set this off, but the original fight may have originated from someone stepping on another passenger's flip-flop.
Other guests on board reportedly locked themselves inside their cabins to escape the violence. Something tells me, Greg, you would be the one locking yourself in the cabin.
PERINO: With a bottle of wine.
GUTFELD: Yes, they should have gone camping. Then it would really have been in tents.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WATTERS: Ooh.
GUILFOYLE: You practiced that.
GUTFELD: Look, I -- this is -- finally something that's interesting about a cruise. I'm not -- a cruise is essentially a mall/hotel on a moving platform. It's basically house arrest with a buffet. So when there's -- the result is you can't get away from the people you want to get away from.
And then -- but this is actually better than the fake, forced friendships you acquire on vacation. The, quote, vacation friends. "Oh, yes, they're great." And you find out they're swingers and alcoholics.
GUILFOYLE: What kind of vacations?
WATTERS: And you never keep in touch with them after the vacation.
Juan, did you see the security guard? He was the one delivering a bunch of blows. I mean, he was stomping on some of these people.
WILLIAMS: I don't understand what led to this level of acrimony.
PERINO: Oh, yes? Well, don't step on my flip-flop.
WILLIAMS: Is that it? Just a step on -- but anyway, no, so what I read was that there was a big family, and one big family then sort of nursed a grudge against another big family, and then it just blew up. So it's like a virus was spreading on this cruise.
WATTERS: The Montagues and the Capulets.
WILLIAMS: I've only -- I've only gone on one cruise. And I did that as a favor to some friends at The Weekly Standard. And I've got to say, I'm not a cruise guy, because you're trapped in with the people. So if you get people who are violent or crazy or angry, you know, then I don't see that you have an out. That's why I don't like cruises.
WATTERS: I think The Weekly Standard cruise might sell some more tickets, if it got...
WILLIAMS: If it got like that?
WATTERS: ... a lot of action.
WILLIAMS: Really?
WATTERS: Kimberly, have you ever been on a cruise before?
GUILFOYLE: No.
WATTERS: That doesn't surprise me. How would you have reacted if you saw that chaos?
GUILFOYLE: No, but I have nothing against cruises except for noroviruses and, you know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) have happened or people getting thrown overboard or murdered.
WATTERS: You've tanked the Carnival Cruise stock.
GUILFOYLE: Yes. So that's a little bit of a problem.
I've been on big boats before but not like this one.
So...
GUTFELD: There were only four people on that boat.
GUILFOYLE: Yes, exactly.
WATTERS: Only yachts for Kimberly.
GUILFOYLE: But this is really out of control. I mean, I don't know, and you're sort of trapped there. Right? Because what are you going to do, jump overboard to, like, get away from the melee? But I mean, yes, it seems like security was, like, overindulging in stomp action.
WATTERS: That's...
GUILFOYLE: There's going to be lawsuits.
WATTERS: That's a little rough.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WATTERS: Have you ever been on a cruise?
PERINO: I've never been on a cruise, and I don't think that I could -- I don't think I have 23 members of my family that I could pull together.
WATTERS: Extended family. Can your family fight? I mean, could they throw down like that?
PERINO: No, no. NO.
GUTFELD: They bite.
WATTERS: They bite?
GUTFELD: They bite.
WILLIAMS: You know, Carnival is being asked for refunds, and they say, "We're going to do very little in terms of refunds."
PERINO: Yes, I wouldn't refund their money. No way.
WATTERS: Maybe we should do a "Five" cruise. You know, we charge people a lot of money. We can all go on a big boat together.
PERINO: That is the worst idea I've ever heard.
GUILFOYLE: Give "The Five" tour.
GUTFELD: That is a great idea. That is a great idea. I would go on that.
WATTERS: That's right.
PERINO: He's joking.
GUTFELD: I'd be on a lot of pills.
GUILFOYLE: He'd go for a speaking fee.
WATTERS: All right. Yes, if the price is right.
"One More Thing" is up next.
GUTFELD: So true.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: It is now time for "One More Thing." I shall go first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAPHIC: Greg's Flashback.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: "Greg's Flashback." I like to go back to earlier times in my career when I was just starting out, like about 22 minutes ago. Yes, it's amazing how quickly this showed up. And you know what? Just 10 minutes before I was making fun of -- well, no, I wasn't. I was making fun of Fergie and then now I am Fergie. We're all Fergie, Juan.
WILLIAMS: You think that's it? I don't know. Is that Vic Damone, maybe?
GUTFELD: The late Vic Damone.
WILLIAMS: Yes. Or who was that guy, the sexy guy, the singer.
GUTFELD: Tom Jones.
WILLIAMS: Yes, maybe it's Tom Jones.
GUTFELD: I've been hit by his underwear.
GUILFOYLE: Eww.
GUTFELD: Remember, he used to throw underwear into the crowd.
WILLIAMS: OK, OK. We give up. We give up. All right. So...
GUILFOYLE: Way to ruin the whole show.
WILLIAMS: What do you do the snowy woods on a winter's day? How about start a fire? But this fire is unlike any you've seen before. Someone glued together 42,000 matchsticks into a green sphere, and then they hang it in the woods. Here he is trying to light it three times. And boy, does he get a blazing result. Watch this.
GUTFELD: That's pretty interesting. You promised.
GUILFOYLE: Wait for it.
PERINO: There you go. Wow. Is that a good idea?
GUILFOYLE: That doesn't seem so safe.
WILLIAMS: No, I don't think -- well, it's in the woods, Kimberly.
PERINO: Wow.
WILLIAMS: Anyway...
GUILFOYLE: There's a lot of trees.
WILLIAMS: That's a good point. But there's a lot of snow on the ground. The video has been viewed over 4 million times.
PERINO: Wow.
WATTERS: I'd see a doctor for that. Kimberly.
GUILFOYLE: OK. Well, I just want to give a quick shout- out to a young man who is an amazing example of what you can achieve when you put your mind to something and you never give up. His name is Andrew Kurka, and he was -- when he was 13 years old, he was already a six-time Alaskan state wrestling champion. But he had a tragic ATV accident that left him sadly paralyzed from the waist down.
But his physical therapist encouraged him to do this mono skiing sport. And fast forward to a couple of years. He never lost his faith and he made the U.S. Paralympic national team. He's already won four championship metals in the sport, and now, 26, he's competing in the games in PyeongChang.
And cheers to Andrew, because he's a fantastic role model for so many young people, and people like you, too, Greg.
GUTFELD: I just got a great "One More Thing" idea. You can live -- the key to living to 90 is drinking alcohol. That just came across. Stupid. I should've done that one.
PERINO: Well, we can do it tomorrow.
GUTFELD: Jesse. Yes, I'll do it tomorrow.
WATTERS: Happy Presidents' Day, everybody. All five former presidents are alive. This rarely happens. There you have them right there: Carter, H.W. and W. and Clinton, and Barack Obama.
And I just want to wish everybody a happy Presidents' Day. It started, I think it was George Washington's birthday.
PERINO: Yes.
WATTERS: That's where it becomes originally known as. And then, I think in '71, they included everybody, which is very nice.
WILLIAMS: Well, isn't Lincoln's birthday in here?
WATTERS: Yes, we're going to throw them all in together. Even -- we're celebrating even Jimmy Carter's birthday, Juan.
GUTFELD: Even Jimmy Carter.
WATTERS: Even he gets a little...
WILLIAMS: You're so generous.
PERINO: That was a great "One More Thing," Jesse.
WATTERS: Thanks, Dana. Maybe next time I'll do a dog.
GUTFELD: All the dogs. President's Day.
PERINO: I have a presidential -- Presidents' Day related one. I've got this there. The 2018 White House Christmas president's ornament was introduced today.
GUILFOYLE: Beautiful.
PERINO: I don't know if you can see. They're going to make a tribute to our 33rd president, Harry Truman. It honors the changes that Truman made to the White House. First was the seal. He is the one that turned the American eagle to face the olive branch of peace, and then he also oversaw the building of the south portico, which is the Truman balcony right there that you can see.
GUTFELD: So that's -- he's going from Truman to tree man.
PERINO: And the back of it, it's a Christmas tree in the blue room.
GUILFOYLE: Very beautiful.
PERINO: I actually think -- I collect these, and I think this might be the best one.
GUTFELD: Why is it so -- it's only February.
GUILFOYLE: They should give us these one year.
PERINO: They have to have a whole year to market them.
WILLIAMS: And by the way, the White House Historical Society. I don't care about your politics. They do great work. I mean...
PERINO: Yes, Stewart McLaurin runs it. He is a pretty amazing guy.
WATTERS: Not a holiday ornament. A Christmas ornament. Juan wants to call it a holiday ornament. Unbelievable, Juan.
PERINO: No, they actually say, "2018 Christmas ornament." It says "Christmas ornament" right here. And guess what? It always has. They never -- they never caved.
WATTERS: They'll never win the war on Christmas. They can't win.
GUTFELD: All right. On that note, set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of "The Five." "Special Report" is up next. John Roberts...
GUILFOYLE: All right.
GUTFELD: ... is in for Bret. Hi, John.
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS: Greg, good afternoon to you.
Quiz, what else is Harry Truman famous for at the White House?
GUTFELD: Oh, jeez. He had a secret tunnel?
ROBERTS: The bowling alley in the Executive Office Building.
WILLIAMS: Way to go, John.
Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox