Dennis Kucinich: Southern border wall is a waste of money

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Dennis Kucinich: Southern border wall is a waste of money

Candidate for Ohio governor Dennis Kucinich says on 'Hannity' that he would prefer border wall funds be used on infrastructure like bridges and roads.

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 30, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JEANINE PIRRO, HOST: Welcome to special edition of "Hannity: President Trump versus the oblivious left."

I'm Jeanine Pirro, in tonight for Sean.

For the hour, we'll discuss President Trump's battles with the left and Democrats, his recent clashes with the fake news media and his ongoing feud with 2016 rival Hillary Clinton. You won't believe what she said this time.

But, first, we are going to start with President Trump's legal fight against California's sanctuary state policies. According to the "Los Angeles Times," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today released a policy guide to schools on how they should protect students from federal immigration enforcement. Now, this comes after California earlier this week wrote a clarification to state and local law enforcement that its sanctuary policies do not give them authority to disregard federal immigration law but they do limit how they can cooperate with the feds.

However, this battle is far from over. The Escondido City Council, along with the San Diego County board of supervisors may become the latest two governing bodies there to join the Trump's administration's lawsuit challenging the state's dangerous and reckless sanctuary policies.

Joining us now with a report from Escondido, California, is Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins.

Hi, Griff.

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Judge.

There is undoubtedly a backlash here in California against the state's sanctuary -- controversial sanctuary new laws and here in Escondido, which is within San Diego County, it is definitely the next frontier in this battle. We came and spoke with the mayor here, Sam Abed, about what they plan to do on Wednesday of next week, April 4th. They are going to vote on an ordinance that would formally join the Trump administration's lawsuit against the sanctuary laws.

And we also talked to him about how that has impacted his small community much like we saw out of the reporting in Orange County yesterday and Mayor Abed has a very strong message for California's governor and attorney general. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENKINS: What do you say to Governor Brown and Attorney General Becerra?

MAYOR SAM ABED, R-ESCONDIDO: They are insane. They have reached a level of emotional state that is really affecting their own constituents. These two leaders in California, they care more about illegal criminals and protecting illegal criminals than protecting our citizens.

This is a moral issue. This is immoral. This is illegal. This is unconstitutional. Period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JENKINS: And, Judge, Mayor Abed came from Lebanon, an immigrant 30 years ago. And he said this isn't the America that he came to. If, indeed on next Wednesday, Escondido passes this ordinance, it will likely pave way for larger San Diego County to try to make a similar move. They are expected to do that some time in middle April.

While here we spent some time in the Los Angeles headquarters of ICE, speaking to the director, David Marin, about how these laws are impacting ICE's difficult and tough work.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENKINS: You have you this state law SB-54. And what's happening in Orange County, how is this impacting you? What are your thoughts on it?

DAVID MARIN, FIELD OFFICE DIRECTOR OF DHS/ICE: Well, so the state law has been extremely detrimental to our operations here. California politicians have tried to put ways out there that prevent us from really protecting the public. So, what has happened is these individuals, these criminal aliens we are trying to get off the street, they are now being released back out into the communities to commit more crimes. It makes it difficult for us.

Again, we are not asking California law enforcement to become immigration agents. That's not what we want. But when they have somebody in custody that we are looking for, we are just asking that they let us know and they allow us the opportunity to come pick that person up when they finish with their criminal proceedings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JENKINS: And Director Marin, Judge, also told me on February 23rd, a drunk driver deported multiple times, convicted multiple times was released into the public and killed a 6-year-old girl. ICE believes it may have prevented that had this law not existed -- Judge.

PIRRO: Terrible, terrible story there. Thanks, Griff.

And meanwhile, today in Washington, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection acting deputy commissioner Ronald Vitiello provided an update on construction of the border wall.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALD VITIELLO, ACTING DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION: Let me be clear, without the president and the administration's leadership and a commitment to border security, the funding for construction for these projects would not be possible. In San Diego, we are looking at 14 miles of new border wall, getting rid of old dilapidated landing mats in favor of a steel bollard wall. In Calexico, we're on schedule and on budget to build a new 30-foot border wall continuing east. We are on track to 22 miles of border walls in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. In addition, we have 40 (ph) new miles of border wall in El Paso.

Finally, we plan to replace at least 47 miles of dilapidated border fencing with new border wall system in various locations along the southwest border. The U.S. border patrol sector chiefs and agents in the field have been vocal about their need for effective barriers to deny the entry of illegal aliens and contraband. The truth is, walls work and the data show it and agents know it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: The construction of the border wall is a huge step in the right direction. And as Hannity keeps saying, it's something along with tax cuts that will help President Trump and Republicans going in to this year's very important midterm election.

And speaking of the midterms, President Trump during his speech yesterday in Ohio issued a stern warning to his supporters about the upcoming elections. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a very important election coming up. And they don't like the wins we have been getting. They don't like that the economy, the Democrats, they don't like that the economy is so strong. They don't like that they don't have one vote on the tax cuts, not one vote. And we should do well.

History says that when you win the presidency, that party doesn't do so well in the midterms, because people get complacent. They get complacent.

We cannot be complacent. We have got the greatest economy, maybe ever, maybe in history. We have the greatest economy we have ever had. You know, expression, I guess it was Bill Clinton. It's the economy, stupid. Well, it is the economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: And the president's warning is spot on. According to a recent FOX News poll, Democrats hold a slight five-point lead on who voters prefer in this year's midterm. However, it's down a whopping 15 points from last October.

Joining us now to discuss this is FOX News chief national correspondent Ed Henry.

ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Judge.

PIRRO: Good to see you, too.

All right. What do you say about the midterms and what's going to be happening.

HENRY: Look, the economy is going to be better for the president than anyone expected. And that could be the ace in the hole. This is going to be a tough year for Republicans. New president comes in power, the midterms are always tough.

But the bottom line is, The Washington Post just did this massive study of Labor Department data. No fan of the president, The Washington Post, and they went through the data honestly and said that the counties that the president carried in battle grounds like Ohio and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are creating jobs faster than any other counties in the country. They are recovering faster than anyone.

What does that tell us? Number one, that this economy is strong. It's actually trickling down to real people, number one. And number two, that the president is keeping his promise to not forget about the forgotten man and forgotten women.

So, that could actually break through. I'm not saying the Republicans are going to win. This is going to be a tough year for them.

PIRRO: Yes. But, Ed, when you think about it, the number was 15. It's down to five. The difference between Republicans and -- I mean, they were predicting a slaughter.

HENRY: Correct, because real people are feeling the economy. Nancy Pelosi set this barrier. Don't anybody vote for it, right, as the president said in that sound clip. And so, now, no Democrat is on record for tax cuts that are helping the economy, number one, and number two, Nancy Pelosi said it's just going to be crumbs. It's not really trickling down to anyone.

Those numbers, the president's approval ratings coming up and also the FOX poll shows the gap between Democrats and Republicans in the midterm is tightening. It's because of the economy. It's because real people are feeling real benefits.

PIRRO: And, you know, what would be very good if someone ran for office to do an ad, my opponent didn't want you to get those tax cuts. My opponent is not responsible. If he had or she had her way, there is no way you would have that benefit in your check.

HENRY: And there is an ad could be run we promised if the wanted to go to the American people, we promised we're going to cut your taxes and we did it amid Democratic obstructionism. Not one Democrat in the House or Senate voted for it. You know what also would be an effective ad is you're going to actually start building the wall.

And I think that sound clip from the border protection person is important. He is telling us something that people in Washington can't get their heads around. Everybody in Washington both parties think the president is going to build this big, beautiful wall sort of all at once like awoke and a half. It's going to be $20 billion, $30 billion. It's going to be hundreds of miles.

No, listen closely what he is saying. He is saying that we're building two miles here, 10 miles here. And they are going to build this brick by brick, whether the Democrats want the president to or not.

This week, the president tweeted this photo of prototypes. And I think BuzzFeed and other news organizations said, oh, this is an old fence from the 1990s. This is not even a real one.

What people didn't grasp is and if you listen closely to that sound clip that leader was saying that there was an old fence from the `90s in Calexico, in California on the Mexican border, and it was all broken down.
It was recycled steel. It was just a few feet high. And they are redoing it right now as we speak, to 30-foot high bollards.

Another way of saying 30-foot high bollards, Judge, is a wall.

PIRRO: Oh, clearly.

HENRY: And so, people keep saying he is never going to build the wall, and the president says I'm going to build it, and the fact checkers say, he's not -- he is building it as we speak. People don't realize it.

PIRRO: Well, you know what, Ed, I mean, between the wall and money in their checks and deregulation and making sure that Middle America gets their jobs back, it might not be as predictable as some think.

HENRY: That's why it's tightening.

PIRRO: We appreciate your input. Thanks, Ed.

All right. And joining us with reaction to all of this is former Democratic Ohio congressman and current candidate for Ohio governor, Dennis Kucinich.

All right, good evening. What shall I call you, congressman? Dennis? Maybe governor?

DENNIS KUCINICH, D-CANDIDATE FOR OHIO GOVERNOR: Dennis is fine, your honor.

PIRRO: All right. Touche.

All right. Let's talk about the border wall. You know, one of the issues that people have been talking about is the fact that they think that it doesn't really serve a purpose. And whether it's a wall or some other kind of construction, you would have to agree that 80 percent to 90 percent of the drugs coming into this country, irrespective of whether there is a market for these drugs here comes from our southern border.

KUCINICH: Well, we want to do everything we can to stop the drugs from coming in and to stop them in the countries that they are coming from. That's true.

But I'm not a fan of the border wall, Judge. I think that it's a waste of money they can accomplish the same thing with electronic fencing. And that, you know, we have bridges in Ohio that are falling down. I would rather see the money be spent on infrastructure here at home.

PIRRO: Well, would you tell your Democratic compatriots or Democrat compatriots to go to the table and talk to the president about infrastructure and, you know, taking care of the bridges and the roads?

KUCINICH: Look, we need a lot of money to do that. It's probably going to take a couple trillion dollars. If I was advising the president, I'm not, but I would say put more money in it and build more. Let's put America back to work rebuilding all these bridges and roads.

PIRRO: Well, but I wants to go back, Dennis, to the whole issue of wall versus the fence. You know, what we have seen is billions and billions of dollars. I mean, I remember talking about a fence, you know, when Bill Clinton was the president. I mean, there was a lot of talk about building some kind of separation and that just hasn't worked.

And I was at the border myself several months ago. And I have to tell you, they have these areas where during monsoon season, they actually raised these gates or fences and, you know, the illegals could go through and popping up on the U.S. side. I mean, you know, we've got to stop the human trafficking and the drug dealing. And I think that the thought that technology can really perform the same function doesn't make sense because with technology, you constantly have to be watching it.

KUCINICH: Well, look, you know, in our backyards we have motion detectors that can tell if you a cat is moving across the backyard. We are spending all this money on brick and mortar and I think it could be better spent. But the deeper issue here is our immigration policies. I mean, yes, we have to protect the border, but, you know, right now, what's happening is people who are -- who don't have a criminal record are being deported. There has been an increase in that. And --

PIRRO: Yes, well, maybe they're not supposed to be here with all due respect, Dennis. I mean, they are being deported because they weren't invited. They didn't do it legally.

And I have to tell you something very powerful. And that is with a mayor from Escondido I believe who talked about making sure sanctuary cities are protecting criminal illegals. He wasn't born here. People get it. It's about our safety. Or am I wrong?

KUCINICH: Well, I'm not going to say you are wrong. I'm going to say this-- there is a danger here of the federal government conscripting local and state police. The local police have to have discretion in law enforcement. Senate bill 54 in California basically has stated that if we federalize the police, then we are going against the spirit of posse commitatus.

And here in Ohio, we have a number of sanctuary cities. I agree with the sanctuary city principle. Columbus, Dayton, Lorain, Painesville, Oberlin, Lake County, these are all sanctuary places. And, you know, we want to protect people who don't have criminal records.

PIRRO: Who came here illegally. You want to protect people -- you know what? We are running out of time.

But I got to tell you, Dennis, what is so frustrating is that for all of the dangers that are consistent with someone being released by local law enforcement, you would think that people would stand up for American citizens because it becomes a danger zone.

KUCINICH: The ones who are criminals, yes. But the people who have not committed a crime --

PIRRO: Well, how are they going to get them if they don't share the information?

KUCINICH: If they haven't committed a crime, they are protected by the Fourth and Fifth Amendment.

PIRRO: Really? OK.

KUCINICH: Yep, absolutely.

PIRRO: We'll talk about it again. Thank you, Dennis Kucinich.

KUCINICH: Thank you.

PIRRO: All right. Coming up, Hillary Clinton is at it again after insulting half the country earlier this month, she is making even more controversial remarks. RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is here to react as this special edition of "Hannity" continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

PIRRO: Welcome back to this special edition of "Hannity: President Trump versus the oblivious left."

She is back and despite being urged to get out of spot light by politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle, oblivious Hillary Clinton just won't go away. After facing heavy criticism for her demeaning remarks about Trump voters while in Asia, the twice failed presidential candidate is once again lashing out. During a paid speech at Rutgers University, Clinton complained that the recent criticism launched against her is because she is a woman.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People saying get off the public stage and shut up, which is something we are hearing all the time.

HILLARY CLINTON, D-FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you --

CLINTON: Well, you know, that began to happen after the election. The election was pretty traumatic.

(LAUGHTER)

I was really struck by how people said that to me. You know, mostly people in the press for whatever reason like oh, you know go away, go away.

And I had one of the young people who works for me go back and do a bit of research. They never said that to any man who was not elected.

But I do worry that what's happened to the Republican Party is that it's being held captive by a very small group of powerful forces. We have seen the power of the NRA, for example.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: While Hillary Clinton continues to bash Republicans and play the gender card, her speaking fees are taking a hit. According to reports, the $25,000 Hillary Clinton received for the speech you just saw was actually $7,000 less than Rutgers paid "Jersey Shore" reality TV star Snooki.

So, joining us now with reaction is RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

Ronna, I just want to say one thing. Hillary Clinton kept saying in that sound the press kept telling her to go away. Now, what I find shocking she wrote them off during the campaign? She had them all roped off so she wouldn't have to talk to them.

What's your take on Hillary and what she is doing in the public square?

RONNA MCDANIEL, RNC CHAIRWOMAN: Where do we start? I mean, she is so willing to play the sexist card when, in reality, she is being treated exactly like any other nominee who would have continued to denigrate half of the country, who would continue to fail to acknowledge the failings of their campaign. And the other thing she doesn't acknowledge is what President Trump provided for the American people, which was a vision of more jobs and higher wages.

And so, by continually refusing to acknowledge the failings of her campaign and why she lost, she is hurting her party and her party is saying please go away, you are hurting us. No other previous nominee has put their foot in their mouths as much as Hillary Clinton has since this election ended.

PIRRO: And, you know, what's interesting is we never thought that that Clinton machine would ever be confronted by someone as daring as some of these politicians to say, you know, maybe it's time for you to go away or as I say go back in the woods.

But, Ronna, you know, the talk about midterms presidential election, you know, first term I should say, is usually it benefits the other party. But, now, with Hillary Clinton, and this loon circumstance her saying that the election was traumatic, you know, doesn't this benefit Republicans?

MCDANIEL: It does. And I do think the people who aren't telling her to go away are the Democrat leadership. We haven't heard from Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi.

What she said was truly insulting to say that women only voted for President Trump because our husbands told us to, that is so denigrating. To say that we are against African-Americans having jobs and progressing in our economy, that is so insulting. And so, what she has said should be denounced by Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and these red state Democrats that we're not hearing from, Joe Donnelly, Debbie Stabenow in my state, Tammy Baldwin, Bill Nelson, where are you?

So, it's interesting that the Democrat leadership is not distancing themselves as vocally as they should be from the very, very insulting comments of Hillary Clinton. And it is going to help us in these midterms, because President Trump not only put forward a vision in this election, he is delivering, with people getting bigger paychecks and more jobs coming back. People are feeling good about their lives. They have more money to spend on their families.

This is something that they're going to take to the polls in November and say, I need to return Republicans to office because they are delivering for me and my family.

PIRRO: Well, you know what? It's not just returning Republicans to office but Republicans who are like-minded like President Trump, you know, I think that going forward, it's only going to benefits to at least talk the way president does.

MCDANIEL: Yes, of course. I mean, look at what President Trump has done. ISIS is on the run. Our military is being funded.

He cares about our borders and our laws. He cares about our judges, making sure they abide by our constitution. And then just look at the deregulation and the tax cuts.

Two thirds of Americans are seeing bigger paychecks because of President Trump. So, every Republican should be looking at what President Trump did. He is a bold leader. And it is going to take a bold vision to win in these midterms.

And we're going to need to get out there and make our case. We are starting to see those numbers close. The RNC has raised double the DNC. We are in all these battle ground states. We know we have to keep these majorities because we have something to fight for.

America is on the come back, and we cannot go back to the Schumer-Pelosi dark ages.

PIRRO: All right. Ronna, thank you so much for being with us.

MCDANIEL: Thanks for having me.

PIRRO: All right.

And joining us with more reaction is Fox News contributor and Washington Times columnist Charlie Hurt, the editor in chief of Campus Reform, Lawrence Jones, and Fox News contributor, Tammy Bruce.

All right. Tammy, I will start with you because you are sitting next to me and you are a woman.

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: There you go, why not?

PIRRO: What do you think of this woman Hillary Clinton?

BRUCE: Yes.

PIRRO: What is happening to her?

BRUCE: Look, this is a woman who spent pretty much all of her adult life expecting to become president, probably put up with a lot with her husband expecting he was going to be the entree. All of the decisions he made. She was told this would be delivered to her. And really, the nomination was.

This tells you how the system used to work. And then that black swan of Donald Trump showed up. And the American people interrupted that by, in fact, remembering that they're the sovereign and deciding they wanted something more and better.

Now, for her to be able to move on to a fourth act, which she can do and deal with policy, and this is one of the problems. Look, she is harming the Democrat Party because she is complaining. And she says, you know, no man was ever told to shut up. Look, Al Gore, even if you disagree, of course, with his global warming stuff, it's still about policy and McCain and Romney dealing with policies and issues that you can debate.

Hillary is not doing that and this is why it's harming the party. It's why as a feminist it's embarrassing for every woman out there that this woman who is the first major party nominee is behaving so badly. We deserve better and I believe the Republicans are going to deliver better for women.

PIRRO: Charlie, when Hillary Clinton says no man has ever been told to shut up. Is that the truth?

CHARLES HURT, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: No, of course not. All of these people that are run terrible races and lost have all been told to shut up.

But I could not agree with Tammy more. What is so embarrassing about all of this is that every single one of these people who went on to drone on and on like John Kerry, I didn't want to hear him before the election, much less after the election, they were at least talking about things and talked about issues they cared about.

This is -- all Hillary is talking about is blaming everybody for why she lost. And it's so depressing and to hear her talk about what a traumatic event it was. It makes you sort of wonder if maybe it hasn't even fully sunken in it yet that she actually lost. And she's still sort of grappling with it on a very personal way and it's embarrassing.

And you kind of -- you kind of tend to want to turn away and not watch it it's so gruesome.

PIRRO: Lawrence, wouldn't you agree this is the kind of thing to discuss in therapy and not necessarily in front of the nation.

Lawrence, your take, anybody ever tell to you shut up, a woman?

LAWRENCE JONES, CAMPUS REFORM: I think we tell a lot of people to shut up when we disagree. I know on the right, we told Mitt Romney to shut up when he started to get back involved in the primary, talking about Donald Trump. And so, when people -- members of political parties don't agree with past leaders that have failed leadership, generally, we tell them to move on and let the new leadership come in.

But I think this goes back to something mentally with Hillary Clinton, because for far too long, the Democratic Party has operated off of identity politics and they traditionally have won. And that was until Donald Trump came and talked about money with the American people. And the people weren't concerned with identity politics, they were concerned about their families and having to live paycheck to paycheck.

And so Hillary Clinton, being a veteran politician, didn't know how to handle that she realized that her strategy for once the Democratic strategy just didn't work. And I think it's hard for her to comprehend that.

PIRRO: You know, and Tammy, you make a very good point. Here's a woman who was touted as this great United States senator. Wonderful secretary of state she probably should discuss issues of policy.

BRUCE: Sure, sure.

PIRRO: That is if she is capable.

BRUCE: Yes, this is it. I mean, there is a point where we all make mistakes and the way that we are able to move on and remake ourselves or at least become influential again is make a determination of what went wrong and what I can do now and what the priority is, but this is the problem for the Clintons, it's never been about other people.

JONES: That's right.

BRUCE: It's never been about policy really in the end and this is where you see the kind of the nakedness not that we want to think that right now.

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: Judge, that's why she didn't -- Judge, that's why she didn't go to Middle America. She won't take responsibility.

BRUCE: Let me just add. Just let me just add though that this is the problem. And I think that for young women, you know, women who are homemakers, all of us who wanted a woman to be president we like breaking these barriers.

PIRRO: Sure.

BRUCE: We like the underdog. This can't be, and we don't want it to be the imagery that is left about how women run for president.

PIRRO: Yes. That's a very good point.

BRUCE: This is why we think about the next president, a Nikki Haley.

JONES: That's right.

BRUCE: You know, any of the other women, even Ivanka Trump, women who are dynamic. You might disagree with them. But the GOP bench is deep with women who think about policy and want--

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: And the left doesn't want to talk about those women.

PIRRO: And you know, I want to get Charlie in here. You know, Charlie, when you talk about what Tammy just hit on which I think is very important and that is this is hurting other women now. It's not about you.

HURT: Yes.

PIRRO: And it's also hurting the Democrats. When are they going to get the hook and yank her--

(CROSSTALK)

HURT: Well, when I look around and I see--

PIRRO: -- off the stage and that's what I meant?

HURT: When I see all of the strong successful, powerful women in all aspects of professional life, they all earned it on their own. And what's strange about Hillary Clinton is she got to where she is because of her husband.

And for her to then talk like she is the sort of Joan of Arc of women's accomplishment and then turn around and denigrate all of these strong independent women who voted for Donald Trump it's just -- it's sort of, it's kind of hard to wrap your brain around and you know, she really is sort of more the face of entitlement than she is.

JONES: That's right.

PIRRO: Indeed.

HURT: Strong, successful powerful woman.

PIRRO: Indeed. Great conversation. Thank you all.

JONES: Thanks, judge.

PIRRO: And coming up, the left is proved wrong yet again on Russia. We will tell you why relations between the Trump administration and Moscow got even worse today. Stay with us as this special edition of Hannity continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO: Welcome back to this special edition of Hannity.

Ever since Trump took office, the left has tried to attack the president as being soft on Russia. But this week the president showed great strength against Vladimir Putin when the U.S. expelled 60 Russian diplomats and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle.

President Trump's tough action was in response to Russia's suspected poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in Great Britain earlier this month. Today, the Telegraph is reporting that the spy's daughter is, quote, "conscious and talking."

Yesterday, in retaliation Moscow ordered the expulsion of 60 U.S. diplomats and the closing of the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg. And today Russia has expelled diplomats from an additional 23 countries.

This tension comes as Russia's defense ministry released a video supposedly showing the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile named Satan 2 by NATO.

Joining us now with reaction is Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist, Deroy Murdock, and the author of "Direct Fire" former Brigadier General Tony Tata. All right. General, I'm going to ask you since we are talking about that video that supposedly shows an intercontinental ballistic missile that they say Florida in the background.

Now, aside from their ability to do this and what do they have that, are we entering a new phase of a Cold War?

TONY TATA, AUTHOR, "DIRECT FIRE": You know, I think we might be, judge. I would just like to back up and say that I think President Trump, just as he unleashed us to defeat ISIS has done more to attack and defend against Russia than President Obama ever did.

And then as we look at the missile that, you know, President Putin supposedly showed the launch of, that is, you know, attacking the concept of mutual assured destruction and what he wants to do is to make sure that we feel uneasy about our ability to defend against the weapons that Russia has. And so we launched off a submarine an intercontinental ballistic missile this week in the Pacific Ocean. So Russia launches--

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: You don't hear about that as much.

TATA: Right. Exactly.

PIRRO: Interesting. But it sounds like a tit-for-tat again.

TATA: Well, it's very much. And this is very much the almost like a war by proxy that we had in the Cold War as you mentioned at the beginning of the segment. And this is through the elements, power diplomatic information. Military, economic. You see spies being fired. You see information wars.
That's an information piece.

PIRRO: They call it a spy spat--

TATA: Right.

PIRRO: -- as I was reading. Deroy, you know, all this talk about the left and how the president has colluded although after, what, 14, 15 months, nobody has one iota of evidence. Is this going to hurt the left in terms of the midterms with the president being so tough on Russia?

And not only that, Deroy, he's got 23 countries, NATO, they are all backing the president. I mean, when Obama used to talk about it, there was no one behind him. Now there is.

DEROY MURDOCK, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the left has been preaching this gospel for the last year and a half or so. That President Trump is a puppet of Putin and he does whatever Putin says. And yet, you have you seen, as you said, organizing this diplomatic effort to remove these diplomats around the world.

Just yesterday I think it was Poland announced it was going to purchase $5 billion in antimissile systems from the United States pointed at Russia, I'm sure Trump has provided offensive weapons to Ukraine. I think a month or so ago there was an attack on a hundred mercenaries in Syria and they are now dead. So, if is he is a puppet of Putin he is not a very well behaved one.

PIRRO: Well, that's very well said.

(CROSSTALK)

MURDOCK: They think he's a puppet.

PIRRO: You know, there was talk today about two of our astronauts are on a vessel -- on a Russian vessel that has gone into, I guess outer space, Soviet Soyuz. I mean, so, is this all talk given that, you know, everybody knows we have Americans on this Russian vessel or whatever it's called.

TATA: You know, that's what I was saying earlier judge, this is information warfare. This is two countries posturing for power in the power vacuum that was left by the Obama administration before, you know.

Now President Trump and his national security strategy talks very much about peer competitors, China and Russia. As I said, he has done more to compete now against China, Russia, and North Korea than the previous administration and we have got a trillion dollars' worth of 30 years of modernization of the nuclear weapon arsenal that we have got, that President Trump has laid out. So, he has taken this seriously and he is standing up to Russia.

PIRRO: Right. And he's got -- he's got some force behind his words. But you know, Deroy, Russia is acting like they are the victims in this whole thing, you know, that they didn't deserve to be booted out.

But, you know, the deadly nerve agent that was used, that no one could really, you know, I guess prove beyond the reasonable doubt. The daughter is now talking. She can, I imagine, tell us how the nerve agent was delivered, who may have delivered it, who the last person was that she saw. Things aren't looking good for the Russians if indeed it is as everyone is suggesting the Russians who did this.

MURDOCK: Yes. I mean, we had somebody who I guess Russian may wanted to be a corpse who's now turns out to be a witness. And she may be able to speak up and give this exact kind of evidence you are talking about.

I think it's also fascinating that this case and other cases where people have been basically assassinated by Moscow that they don't just use, you know, rat poison or put a pillow over somebody's face.

They are using the kinds of agents that are tied back to Moscow, it's that as if they want to leave their fingerprints behind. I wonder if that's something they deliberately want to do. Maybe sending a message to others rather than just eliminating somebody who they find inconvenient.

PIRRO: All right. Deroy Murdock, General Tata, thanks for being with us.

TATA: Thank you, judge.

PIRRO: And coming up, the hit sitcom reboot of Roseanne has already been picked up for a second season. Some in the mainstream media finally realizing that the power of the forgotten men and women of this country matters.

Joe Concha and Charlie Kirk will weigh in next as this special edition of Hannity, President Trump versus the oblivious left continues. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Live from America's news headquarters, I'm Trace Gallagher.

An emergency meeting at the U.N. tonight on the deadly clashes in Gaza. More than two dozen people were killed Friday as Palestinians marched to Gaza's border with Israel. It was the most violent day in Gaza since the cross border conflict between Israel and Hamas four years ago.

Israeli military forces say Palestinians threw stones and rolled burning tires at troops. Hamas is planning six weeks of protests against a border blockade.

Also happening tonight, a federal judge temporarily blocking a move by the Trump administration to ban immigrant teens from getting abortions. The judge ruling that the policy violated the teen's constitutional rights to have a procedure.

The judge also allowing the lawsuit brought by the ACLU to proceed as a class action. No word yet if the government plans to appeal. If news breaks out, we'll break in.

In I'm Trace Gallagher. Now back to Hannity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even look at Roseanne, I called her yesterday. Look at her ratings. Look at her ratings.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: I got a call from Mark Burnett. He did the Apprentice. He's a great guy. He said Donald, I called just to say hello and to tell you did you see Roseanne's ratings? I said, Mark, how big were they? They were unbelievable. Over 18 million people and it was about us.

(APPLAUSE)

They haven't figured it out. The fake news hasn't quite figured it out yet. They have not figured it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PIRRO: That was President Trump yesterday in Ohio touting the huge ratings of the Roseanne reboot. All while taking a shot at the media for not understanding the power of the forgotten men and women in this country.

The president is right. And now after ignoring Middle America for decades, Hollywood may finally be starting to catch on. According to the New York Times, quote, "Roseanne reboots sprang from ABC's heartland strategy after Trump's victory."

And just hours ago, ABC announced that it is picking up Roseanne for a second season.

Joining us now with reaction, from The Hill, Joe Concha, and founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk. All right, guys, I will start with you, Joe, you know, Hollywood is so shocked, it just -- it shocks me that they still don't understand how out of touch they are.

JOE CONCHA, REPORTER, THE HILL MEDIA: You know, it seems like ABC found a starving niche audience, Jeanine, and that is half the country, right? I mean, even Democrats and independents, they have to be sick of what they are hearing on Colbert and Kimmel and Meyers and the Daily Show and Will and Grace and other comedies where the same target is Trump and its political commentary dressed up as comedy.

And I think it was very smart of ABC to go with Roseanne an established brand, it was on the air for nine years. One critic put it best, he said it felt familiar but new. But when you dig into the numbers it's fascinating. Yes, 18 million people highest in four years. But after people watched this on their DVRs over the weekend we're talking 25 million. That nearly as many as the Oscars, that's six million more than the Golden Globes.

Then you break it down even more. In state where Trump won handily like in Oklahoma, 65 percent of the votes he got there was number one there. But in New York it didn't even break the top 20.

PIRRO: Yes.

CONCHA: In Los Angeles not even the top 30. That tells you everywhere where we are right now in this country in terms of polarization and the cities not embracing or thinking along the same lines as the rest of the country.

PIRRO: And you know, Charlie, what's interesting about this 18 million or 18.2 million are the demographics. A lot of young people watching. And you know, a lot of them weren't even, you know, born when Roseanne was last on, so what do we attribute the entry of that huge demographic, the youth who seem to be so kind of targeted as being all millennials who aren't interested in Trump or his agenda?

CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: Well, look, Joe hit it out of the park. You know, you have an audience here that actually wants to see this kind of dynamics that they know exist in the real world. Look at all these other shows in Hollywood. It's just virtue signaling, sanctimonious leftist dogma of how horrible President Trump.

Now mind you, the Roseanne show this wasn't like a pro-Trump commercial as some people in the media are trying to portray it at. There is one character who was very anti-Trump and Roseanne obviously who played as someone who voted for Trump that may have real conversations that that's actually happening in the country.

And the one point I want to make is you look at the coverage of this from the Washington Post and the New York Times. They portray it as if like, wow, you can actually tell what a real Trump supporter looks like, some of like caged animal in a different country that they never met once so you could watch this show to go see how the real Trump supporters look.

This show just how out of touch, you know, the real elites are on both coasts. But look, this goes to show that there is two Americas. There is the America that goes to work every single day that stands for the Pledge of Allegiance that are patriots and those on the coast that says wait a second, there are people that actually support this president still and can you see the success in this show and it really is amazing.

PIRRO: And you know, Joe, one of things that this mimics of course is the election itself, the election of Donald Trump. That just as Hollywood doesn't get it. And you know, Roseanne is now set for a second season. I mean, the pollsters didn't get it in the election of 2016. They are so out of touch on so many levels.

And yet, there is a tweet by a former Amazon studio exec Matthew Ball, he went on a tweet storm saying how little the success of Roseanne had to do with the president. What do you say?

CONCHA: Well, I think that this was a replay of the 2016 elections from a media perspective. I remember right after the election I heard a lot about soul searching and maybe we need to get out to the middle of the country more to get the true pulse of the people because we miss a lot of warning signs here as far as what people actually cared about as opposed to what they were told they should care about from the Ivory Towers media centers of like New York and Washington.

And you know what's happened since then as far as most of our media, they still don't get it. They still do the pontificating on their shows every day from New York, from Washington, from the major cities and I don't see a lot of reporting.

There are exceptions, of course, from the Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsins of the world that Henry did a report, I know, talking about how job creation there is happening faster than the rest of the country. Maybe we want to report on that a little bit more and a little less on Stormy Daniels and Russia which are stories about there are degrees on everything. And the degrees on those are five times higher than they should be.

PIRRO: And Charlie, very quickly because we are coming up against a break. You know, the whole idea of Roseanne, the protagonist being pro-Trump and then the other character, you know, being the opposite. I mean, do you think that there is a possibility of a show like this teaching Americans to start talking to each again about politics?

KIRK: Yes, civil discourse, dialogues, disagreement, not just having everyone think exactly the same which what Hollywood has become. There is no intellectual diversity there or political diversity at all. That's why people enjoyed the show and why it did so well. Like can I relate to this, it's real authentic, it's true, and I've lived it myself. So it's really amazing to see.

PIRRO: All right. Charlie Kirk and Joe Concha, thanks so much for being with us.

And coming up, more of this special edition of "Hannity," right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PIRRO: Welcome back to the special edition of "Hannity." President Trump versus the oblivious left. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have left this evening. Thanks for joining us. And don't forget to tune in to "Justice" every Saturday night at 9 p.m. Eastern. And you can follow me on Twitter at Judge Jeanine and on Instagram at Judge Jeanine.

We hope you have a great night. Laura Ingraham is live next.

END

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