Ingraham: Democrats racing to the left
Disrupters create political opportunities for both sides, but their unexpected victories carry warnings for those who attempt to conduct business as usual.
This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," June 27, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: And we'll have the latest, and the latest in the battle, the left demonizes all things Conservative especially the president's Supreme Court pick, whoever it ends up being. Let not your heart be troubled, there's Laura, you made it just on time.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hannity, why don't you and go and sit at the house and we can sneak in a little Jiffy Pops, do they still make those? Some Jiffy Pop Popcorn--
HANNITY: Oh you mean and watch the hearings tomorrow?
INGRAHAM: Yeah, wouldn't that be fun?
HANNITY: I haven't heard Jiffy Pop, Ingraham, in ages but something called the microwave, there's been a new invention.
INGRAHAM: Well, what can I say? Jiffy Pop tastes better than a microwave.
HANNITY: Jiffy Pops were awesome. You'd watch the thing, put it on the stove, shake it up and all of a sudden it was a big bag, it was great.
INGRAHAM: You were rich, we couldn't afford Jiffy Pops, we couldn't afford that, we had to get the off brand kind that always burns.
HANNITY: Jiffy Pop Popcorn, sponsoring the Laura Ingraham and Hannity programs on the Fox News Channel.
INGRAHAM: All right, we're really dating ourselves Sean.
HANNITY: Yeah we really are. Have a good shore.
INGRAHAM: Fantastic show. Good evening from Washington, I'm Laura Ingraham and this is 'The Ingraham Angle.' I keep saying this but this was an unbelievable day, an earthquake at the Supreme Court that could change the direction of the nation. The retirement of the Supreme Court Justice, Anthony M. Kennedy, the court's key swing vote will have enormous consequences. It gives President Trump the opportunity to reshape the court for decades.
We're also going to look at how this dramatically affects the midterm election prospects, but first, we begin Democrats racing to the left, that the focus of tonight's Angle. The Democratic Party experienced a seismic shock last night when in the New York City outer boroughs, a 28 year old political novice, primaried and defeated a member of the Democratic leadership. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ended the 20 year run of Congressman Joe Crowley who many thought would succeed Pelosi as the Democratic leader.
So he raised three million dollars in the race, Ocasio-Cortez about three hundred thousand. By now you may have heard some of the bullet points here, she a member of the Democrat Socialist of America, who isn't? She supports publicly funded trade schools and universities. Well she worked for Ted
Kennedy and Bernie Sanders. She's called for the abolishment of immigration customs enforcement, otherwise known as ICE. Now Ocasio-Cortez even went down to the border a few days ago to protest the Trump immigration policies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D, NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Free the children, free the children, free the children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: In an interview today the I-word came up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OCASIO-CORTEZ: I would support impeachment. I think that we have the grounds to do it.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: On what ground should the President be impeached?
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well I think there are serious grounds and violations of the Emoluments clause from day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Ooh, the Emoluments clause, should we go to Wikipedia for that? Well look, come on that's a typical left move on .org blather. Well, here's what you need to know, Ocasio-Cortez is a disrupter from far left wing of the Democratic Party. I'm mean she's attractive, she went all win and you've got to give her credit for what she did. And this is what happens when a political establishment fails to deliver results and refuses to listen to its people, its base, election after election. Now, remember when the Democratic elite, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC Head and Hillary Clinton conspired to keep Bernie Sanders from winning the nomination?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All you have to do is take a look at WikiLeaks and see what they said about Bernie Sanders and see what Debra Wasserman Schultz had in mind. Because Bernie Sanders, between super delegates and Debra Wasserman Schultz, he never had a chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Oh it was so smart of Trump to bring that up. Now, let's not forget, all the energy during 2016, it was with Sanders. He filled more stadiums, he was more passionate, was always about the working class and he excited more young people than Hillary Clinton ever could. But then he stood up the Democratic base, the establishment? They put him down. Well you can only do that for so long until your voters rebel which is what they did against Crowley last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, D—VERMONT: I think what it should tell the American people is that when you have candidates like Alexandria who have the guts to talk about the real issues impacting people's lives. She campaigned on healthcare as a right, not a privilege. Their win in New York City, they won in Maryland, we're seeing this all across the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Okay this upset in New York last night was a liberal party faithful acting out against the Democratic leadership for their ineffectiveness. It's also a not so quiet admission that Trump, let's face it, he's winning against every front and he's been able to steam the Democrats on key issues. The Republican Party, let's not forget though, they experienced its own wakeup call back in 2014. Now Eric Canter, remember he was ousted by that barely known econ professor named Dave Brat and then speaker John Boehner was ushered into retirement not long thereafter. Well, now the bell is tolling for Nancy Pelosi, former speaker for the Democrats, who was questioned about last night's stunning upset.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Democratic Party is increasingly younger, more females, more (liberals), more progressive. Should the Democratic House leadership look that way?
NANCY PELOSI, DEMOCRAT MINORITY LEADER: Well I'm female, I'm progressive, two out of three ain't bad then.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Republicans say that one of the things that the system shows is that Democrat socialism is descendant in your party, are they right about that?
PELOSI: No, they're not. It's descendant in that district perhaps.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Other Democratic stalwarts like Maryland gubernatorial candidate former NAACP chair Ben Jealous were also pressed today about a possible seat change in the party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPAHNIE RUHLE, MSNBC HOST: What is your thought on Nancy Pelosi sitting at the helm of your party?
BEN JEALOUS, D, CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND: Again, the way that we pull people--
RUHLE: You're not answering our questions Ben.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Wait were there two beats with that pause? I love it that moment. Well look, unlike Democrats, Republicans were not at a loss for words but cheered the route for the left.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL, R—KENTUCKY: It was a stunning development. The energy in the Democratic Party is self about socialist, open borders, we even had incredible potential candidate for President for 2020 suggest that we get rid of ICE, the border enforcement agency. I think the Democrats are going hard left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well when I said cheering, that's Mitch McConnell style cheering. Before Republicans don't stop popping the corks, there's a lesson here for them as well. Think about it this way if Republicans start walking back from the Trump agenda, walking away from it. If they get wobbly or try to diffuse the key Trump policies that Trump won on, that he ran on, danger lies ahead. Republicans today failed to pass another immigration bill and this after they rejected the Congressman Goodlatte bill, that was the most faithful and the best, as far as the original Trump agenda went. It's really stupid.
Meanwhile the White House backed off threats to strictly limit the Chinese investment in U.S. tech companies. Another disappointment. Although at least Beijing and Wall Street were happy. And despite preliminary data indicating a downturn in arrests at the border this month, the government has reverted, at least for the time being, and they had to disregard Judge Pushden to do so, they've had to revert to this Catch and Release Policy for illegal immigrants who enter the country with children. So that's frustrating. I'd be very careful. If the voters start believing that you're abandoning the core policies that they elected you to advance, they'll remove you from office. No matter how much they initially liked you and no matter how much seniority you have.
And when the Democrats stir up young voters as Ocasio-Cortez did last night, promising them the moon, a host of freebies? How are Republicans going to respond? How do they message the conservative populist agenda that's so smart, so right for younger voters? Disruptors create political opportunities for both sides. But their unexpected victories also carry warnings for those who attempt to conduct business as usual. Trump so far isn't doing that but on the few issues, we have to keep a very close watch. And that's the Angle.
Let's get reaction to this leftward turn from my first guest tonight Reagan administration member, what was it, you were Associate White House political director, I'm sorry Jeff, I should have known that off the top of my head. Former Senator Schumer aide, Chris Hahn and former secret service agent Dan Bongino on NRATV. All right let's go right to you Chris, this was a big big night for the Democrats last night. Republicans experienced their own seat change in 2014, but last night we had this young upstart, if you were a Democrat, she's kind of cool. I mean she's young, she's hip, she's using social media, she's out there at the border screaming how ICE is committing human rights violations. But does that win elections nationally?
CHRIS HAHN, FORMER AIDE TO SCHUMER: I don't know about nationally but all politics is local Laura. And she put the focus on local issues and pointed out that her opponent, while he'd been in Congress for 20 years, had really gone native to Washington and wasn't even really living in the district anymore. So she really played on that's. She did a very good job and remember these are very low turnout elections and there had never been June primary in that district. She got her people out and by the time Crowley noticed that she was nipping at his heels, in fact, beating him, it was way too late. He spent a lot of money in the end but he never had that grassroots which you need in these June primaries which are new to New York.
INGRAHAM: I'm going to get to how she dealt with the Nancy Pelosi leadership question in a second but Dan Bongino, this was a wild few days for the Democrats because you had Maxine Waters going totally off the rails over the weekend, basically coming close to inciting violence against public officials in public places and so forth. Chuck Schumer saw that as problem and he got in the center floor and said basically, "Whoa, that's not American to threaten people". Well listen to some of the blow back he got from some of the most prominent Democratic activists, let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA SARSOUR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MPOWER CHANGE: Dr. Martin Luther King warned us about people like Chuck Schumer. He said it wasn't the Ku Klux Klan or the white citizen counsellors who were the obstacles towards justice, it was the people calling for "civility"
ANGELA RYE, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL BLCAK CAUCUS: My point is very simple, I demand that people stop requiring Congressman Waters to behave in one way while everybody else can do something else. Nancy Pelosi says, "Let's make America beautiful again". Who's America is she talking about? The fact that Chuck Schumer called what a black woman said un-American is problematic and this is a reason why Democrats have a hard time reuniting the debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Dan Bongino. Well that's the party of Linda Sarsour and Maxine Waters.
DAN BONGINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: Yeah Laura, that same commentator there accused Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi of being racist. Now, listen, I am certainly no fan of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi's politics, but she insinuated that they were acting out of some malice based on race by calling Maxine Waters' comments non-American, that's utterly absurd. But it points out the cliff you're walking off Laura, with identity politics. Sooner or later when you start painting white versus black, immigrant versus nonimmigrant, union versus union, you eventually start this cannibalistic tendency and it's happening now.
And if I can just comment on one this Chris said too, he's not wrong, all politics is local in a House of Representatives race. But the problem with the Democratic Party, Laura is local politics aren't national. This is why the Democrat Party, because of Maxine Waters, Ocasio Cortez, Keith Ellison and his border shirt he had on, this is why the Democrats would win a governorship in California, New Yoke and can't win and probably won't win a national election in 2020.
INGRAHAM: Jeffrey Lord, hold on one second, there is poll that came out today, the Hill did a big piece on it, about the way Americans are looking at the tenure of politics today. And check this out, there's a Rasmussen Poll about violence against Trump supporters, 59 percent of Americans are concerned that the anti-Trump protesters are going to resort to violence. And a separate poll, 59 percent said that they were concerned that America perhaps would experience a second Civil War, it's actually 31 percent said that would experience a second Civil War, that's almost a third of Americans. A civil war? A third of Americans think that's how bad its' gotten?
JEFFREY LORD, FORMER REAGAN AIDE: Well I must say I think the media has played this up. The media on the left has really gone after President Trump and needless to say they did this all through the campaign and he won. You would think that they would finally get the message on this. But you can't continually do this and not think that you are going to bear some consequences for this and stir things up. I'm very concerned of tis business of going after Trump appointees in Mexican restaurants or putting out wanted posters and all this. This is not what America is about, this is not what the Senate is about but this is out there and it's going to tie in at some point, I imagine, to this whole Supreme Court controversy. It's just not good.
INGRAHAM: Well you wrote a piece today and Chris I want you to respond here. Jeff wrote a piece today that this is what we see now about the getting in people's faces, the call to harassment people. That was bubbling under the surface. You saw some of it with the anti-WTO protests. You saw it with some of the ANTIFA stuff on campuses, some of it with the occupy Wall Street movement. But now, it's kind of mainstream, the little bit, with someone who's such a folk hero on the left and that's Maxine Waters. We got a Congressional Black Caucus Chair, Cedric Richman, he's not backing off on this at all. In fat, they're criticizing Schumer et cetera who'd tell her to back down.
HAHN: Well look, I don't like calls for incivility. I don't like calls to get into people's faces but we must all admit that President Trump is one of the most uncivil presidents that we've probably ever had. I mean he's talked it up Second Amendment folks solving a Hillary problem at one point, he gives people vile nick names. He tell people that he will pay their legal bills if they punch a protester at his rallies.
INGRAHAM: Okay you guys can trot up that same example, that's doesn't rise to the level of a congresswoman who does not back down on what she said. She said later, "Oh I'm not resorting to violence" but she said harass, push back on them and make it uncomfortable for them, drive them out, basically, of public places. Dan you were shaking your head there--
HAHN: And the vast majority of Americans, and the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans, both agree that that has no place in our civil discourse. We should be able to disagree by being agreeable like we're doing right now.
INGRAHAM: Right, well absolutely but Dan you were shaking your head earlier. I think the Ocasio Cortez who won last night, she doesn't seem to be of that mindset, surround people, scream at them. But when you're saying to outlaw ICE, which is now becoming mainstream in the Democrat Party, didn't Cory Booker say that the other day? Kamala Harris, they think basically say it should be abolished. Where does that take our country? Now we are not going to able to enforce our borders, we're not going to be able to deport anybody? We're not going to be able to check the cargo coming into ports, Dan?
BONGINO: It will lead to the utter destruction of the Democrat party as you know it right now. The problem now Laura, is due to a lot of gerrymandering in hyper partisan districts. These leftists are appealing to this radical leftist secular base that almost no emergency brake on their behavior at all. These calls for Medicare for all, basically government run medicine, no borders. Eric Swalwell, Congressman from California, writing an op-ed about gun confiscation, how we'll basically send the police to your house if you don't comply. These are radical positions that appeal only to coastal states.
HAHN: Are you criticizing gerrymandering but for gerrymandering there'd be no Republican Congress. There'd be none.
BONGINO: I'm not criticizing gerrymandering, I'm suggesting that the Conservative positions, there's nothing radical about keeping their money, keeping their healthcare and keeping their kids' education free. There is something radical about stealing people's guns and making over the health care system.
LORD: They should put some money in their healthcare.
INGRAHAM: Jeff Lord has the last word guys. Speaking of civil, Jeff Lord gets the last word, Jeff.
LORD: Look, we've got a problem in this country, let me just say it flat out, fascism and fascists. This is what's going on and all these people who are pointing out fingers and sending people into hoods to smash windows, to show up people. I mean this is not good and this is not the kind of thing that we should be injecting into our politics, now or ever.
INGRAHAM: All right guys, thank you so much, fantastic panel as always. Now, this is simply one of the biggest days in Trump's presidency, no doubt about it. The president's next Supreme Court nominee could solidify a conservative majority at the curt, for a generation or maybe a generation or two. Our experts examine the implications in just a moment.
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: With the retirement of Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the last of Ronald Reagan's appointees to the Supreme Court, President Trump has a spectacular opportunity before him. By nominating a jurist with the tradition of Scalier or Thomas, Trump can insure the court, the court majority for another generational, adheres to the proper Article three role that are framers intended.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIN SCALIA, FORMER SUPREME COURT JUDGE: You don't sit here to make the law, to decide who ought to win. We decide who wins under the law that the people have adopted and very often, if you're a good judge, you don't really like the result you're reaching. You'd rather that the other side had won and it seems you a foolish law. But in this job it's garbage in, garbage out. If it's a foolish law, you are bound by oath to produce foolish result, because it's not your job to decide what is foolish, it's the people across the street.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Oh makes me sad, I miss him. For too long, of course, the court has in key cases, strayed from simple statutory and constitutional interpretation in order to advance a liberal social agenda. So what do they do when they do that? Well they usurp the role of people's duly elected representatives. Well this violates the idea of self-government. Self-government with a purpose when Ronald Reagan called it, is a goal ultimately, is to preserve individual liberty.
Consider that 45 years ago, Row versus Wade, where the court found this mythical right to abortion in the constitution, the debate about abortion in America today, all those years later is as intense as ever. It is interesting that in Kennedy's last term on the court, he voted for the majority in the 5-4 cases in all of those 19 instances. And in fact, I can't think of a more reassuring Supreme Court term in recent memory. The court reaffirmed religious liberty rights, and the First Amendment right. Not to be strong armed by unions to fund causes to offend core values, and the majority upheld the president's statutory authority to control immigration for national security in the travel ban case.
Yes, these were all wins for the administration, but more importantly they were wins for liberty and sovereignty, the constitution. So this is not the time for the administration to play it safe, to nominate someone who's considered a judicial moderate or to allow concerns about gender or ethnicity over ride pure merit and fidelity to the Constitution. So use this opportunity to nominate another stellar figure to the highest court of the land who respects the limits to the judiciary and respects the Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
Let's discuss all of this with my guests, Texas Lister General, Scott Keller who clerked for Justice Kennedy, Ed Whalen, President of the Justice Policy Center and President of the American Conservative Union, Matt Schlapp. Okay guys, this is like such a dream day, I mean, it's sad because it's the last of Ronald Reagan's nominees, obviously Justice Kennedy was controversial in some cases but he was an amazing justice in so many other ways. Scott you clerked for Justice Kennedy and I think when Justice Thomas, for whom I clerked retires, it's a wistful moment. What are your thoughts to that?
SCOTT KELLER, CLERK FOR JUSTICE KENNEDY: Yeah it's the end of an era on the Supreme Court and to imagine the Supreme Court without Justice Anthony Kennedy up there. I mean this was a justice who when he was nominated and confirmed under President Reagan throughout the years and seen all sorts of various issues, even up to this current day with the travel ban case. He voted against all of ObamaCare. He obviously had the abortion cases he did, but he also voted to uphold the federal partial birth abortion ban. So Justice Kennedy, while he was controversial at times in some circles, was truly a Reagan Republican.
INGRAHAM: Ed, of course we've got Kennedy as, when I went into the court, my year was right after Webster so it was nicknamed Flipper because he flipped his vote, it was a big deal. But nevertheless that era is over and we're moving into a new era. Are you confident that those who are being mentioned, and we're going to go through some of them, all of them are in the vein of a Scalia, Thomas or a Gorsuch?
EDWARD WHELAN, PRESIDENT OF THE JUSTICE POLICY CENTER: Well I think President Trump has a great list with lots of candidates on it, obviously there's going to be a winnowing process and I'm confident that we'll end up someone who's outstanding.
INGRAHAM: Brett Kavanaugh, let's go through one with you. Brett Kavanaugh, DC circuit clerk for the chief.
KELLER: No he clerked for Justice Kennedy.
INGRAHAM: Kennedy, okay. I always forget.
WHELAN: Brett has distinguished himself, Judge Kavanaugh has distinguished himself on the DC circuit. Has written brilliant opinions on a broad range of questions so I think he clearly meets the mark.
INGRAHAM: Matt Schlapp, we have a lot of other people on the list.
MATT SCHLAPP, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: Can I just say
I worked with Brett for four years. He'd be a, excellent pick.
INGRAHAM: You can already hear from the left, he's another white male guy from the Georgetown Prep. You can already hear the left, they check of the box, "Oh, you can't nominate another white man, we need a diverse court". They look at, again, it's the jelly bean approach to--
SCHLAPP: Let me bring up two things. We just need 50 votes. And these Democrats running in these red states Laura, they have got to support this Supreme Court nominee or they are in big political trouble.
INGRAHAM: Speaking of which Scott, Kamala Harris went into total fear mongering mode today, let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D—CALIF.: We're looking at destruction of the Constitution of the United States as far as I can tell based on all the posts that he's been appointing for lifetime appointments. This has got to be, and we all need to understand this, to be one of the most serious fights that we have yet to have had with this president and we cannot relent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Scott, they really turned up the volume today on cable. I mean they were basically saying they were going to everything except lay our bodies down in front of the judiciary committee to stop basically, whoever, anyone on this list apparently, will go through the other candidates, are not acceptable.
KELLER: Well and we dot even have a nominee yet.
INGRAHAM: And they're already this, this is wild.
KELLER: And this also goes to the point that this administration has hit home run after home run with their nominations to the federal bench. And I don't think it's going to let up now when they get to appoint second Supreme Court justice in just two years.
INGRAHAM: Has this ever happened where we've gotten two nominees in just a year and half, has that ever happened? You would know that.
WHELAN: Well it happened in the first two years of Obama's term and also the first two years of Clinton's term. Nixon had them very quickly too.
INGRAHAM: Wasn't the first that quick. Okay, I didn't realize it was that bad.
WHELAN: Look, what the left is saying now, have in mind that they tried to filibuster Neil Gorsuch, someone who was widely acclaimed and in the process, of course, they triggered the abolition of the Supreme Court filibuster. So they have no ammunition left except make lots of noise.
INGRAHAM: Let's go to another possible nominee and then we'll get to Matt on the politics aspect. Tom Hardiman, Third Circuit General Court of Appeals. He's very well liked, he has a very interesting personal story, has a blue collar background. He seems like the kind of guy that Trump would like personally, like he would get along. Not that he wouldn't get along with Brett, Judge Kavanaugh, sorry. We know these people so it's hard to not call them by their first name but, of course, they're all brilliant. But Trump has a feeler for people, it's kind of a little bit of a personality thing, which I guess can be a little dangerous, but what about Hardiman?
WHELAN: I have very very high regard for Judge Hardiman. He's less known in DC circles than some other candidates and I think that have hurt him
ast time around but he has an outstanding record as well.
INGRAHAM: He was close last time around, correct?
WHELAN: He was thought to have been one of the top three last round, yes.
INGRAHAM: Top three. Matt I understand from sources that the president is probably going to meet with at least four people this time around. It's winnowed down already, there's a very long list but it's not really that long. But the Democrats have already turned up the volume so hot on this, they're going to use it do what I think, this Ocasio-Cortez did last night, smartly kind of gen up their base. Abortion is going to outlawed in the United States. It's going to be horrible. This is a number of media figures speaking today about this. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RACHEL MADDOW, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think a lot of the Democratic base right now is going to expect them to all but lay their bodies on the line to stop the Senate rather than allow any nominee to go forward.
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC: If he gets replaced by hardline social conservative, the Democratic leadership will have hell to pay, they cannot let this happen.
DONNA EDWARDS: It's time for Democrats to throw down. We need to play by street rules.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Play by street rules.
SCHLAPP: Do it. I would love it
INGRAHAM: All right Schlapp. Doesn't this look like a panel that's going to play but street rules, com eon. They're all buttoned up.
SCHLAPP: One thing we know in the Supreme Court is that Democrats are going to do everything they can. They're going to play dirty, they're going to do everything they can to disparage the person. What the president needs to do is not overthink it. Don't overplay to the liberal women in the Republican conference. These Democrats who are running in these red states, they're in a terrible position vis a vis the Supreme Court nominee if they listen to some of those wackos that we just heard in that tape. He just needs to pick a solid case and let's get it on.
INGRAHAM: Amy Coney Barrett, she had nine children. She's also a federal court judge, Ed. She's another person who they are looking at so carefully, another incredible record as a federal appellate court judge. Thoughts?
WHELAN: Outstanding professor at Notre Dame, a former law clerk for Justice Scalia. She has shown in her confirmation process last year that she was the victim of a lot of antireligious, anti-Catholic dignity.
INGRAHAM: She has nine children. That's immediately suspect.
WHELAN: She goes to mass.
INGRAHAM: She goes to mass, oh, terrible. I prayed the rosary today. I must be in real trouble.
WHELAN: Including two adopted kids. So she's an extraordinary person and has an extraordinary legal mind.
INGRAHAM: One other who I really like, Kevin Newsom from the 11th Circuit,
Alabama guy. Scott, you know anything about Kevin? He was appointed by Trump in 2017, another incredible -- again, just so people understand, these are real people too, incredible personal story. Cared for his disabled sister who recently passed away. Amazing man kind of in the mold of CT, Justice Thomas. Again, this is an incredible list of people but Newsom I also think is the kind of guy that Trump would like. They would personally get along really well. I expect him to be in the Oval Office.
SCOTT KELLER, SOLICITOR GENERAL OF TEXAS: And he is a fellow state solicitor general.
INGRAHAM: Yes. OK, got it, got it.
KELLER: We appreciate the federalism aspect. We can get our state plugs in when we can.
INGRAHAM: By the way, I think you would be a good person to respond to this. This is another comment by Jeffrey Toobin today about what's at stake with this particular nomination. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Let's talk facts. Let's talk about what America is going to be like that's different. You are going to see 20 states pass laws banning abortion outright. Roe V. Wade is doomed. It is gone because Donald Trump won the election and because he's going to have the chance to appoint two Supreme Court justices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Scott, that will be in your state I imagine. Texas is one of the most prolife states out there, Dan Patrick and of course the governor, Greg Abbott, very prolife. They basically all say this is all about abortion.
KELLER: This is continued scaremongering. This all sounds like Senator Ted Kennedy's infamous speech about Robert Bork. And if this is the play that they are going to run, I agree, they're going to have a hard time, because this list of nominees, this list of potential nominees that the administration has put forward have excellent credentials, and if they're going to really try to run the Bork play again, it's going to fail.
INGRAHAM: Matt, wouldn't this list be a list that Jeb Bush or a Marco Rubio, let's say they got the nomination. All these guys would've been candidates for them, too.
SCHLAPP: That could very well be. I think the big question on abortion, Laura, is you look at the pro-life sentiment in the country, 1988 around the Webster time and today, this country is more prolife. If they want to pick the prolife fight, we are going to win it.
INGRAHAM: How about the fact that it's not in the Constitution? Other than that, they tried. Didn't Ruth Bader Ginsburg say something about that years ago? Fantastic. I could spend the whole hour with you guys.
Up next, "Seen and Unseen," Raymond Arroyo.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: It's time now for our "Seen and Unseen" segment where we expose what's behind the big cultural stories of the day.
The late-night talk show hosts for the first time have banned together to roast President Trump. For more and what they are doing and why, we are joined by Fox News contributor, "New York Times" bestselling author of the "Will Wilder" series, Raymond Arroyo. Raymond, I saw the triple boxes of Conan and the others. And I was thoroughly not interested. But apparently everybody else is.
RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: This is important. Let me tell you how this started. Jimmy Fallon came up to the "Hollywood Reporter" and said, he kind of backtracked and apologized for having Donald Trump on. He's been hazed for this. He came on during the campaign. They said it humanized the president. Then the president addressed it in South Carolina. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jimmy Fallon, the guy screws up my hair. He apologized for humanizing me. The poor guy, because now he's going to lose all of us. If somebody would open a talk show at night, because the guy on CBS is, what a lowlife. What a lowlife. I mean, honestly, are these people funny? There's no talent. They are not, like, talented people. Johnny Carson was talented.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: First of all, Trump would be a great late-night host. He's really funny.
ARROYO: He's off the cuff. But I'm going to take a slightly view, the devil's advocate. I don't think the president should have elevated them by attacking them like this. Now the late-night industrial complex came together and they created this, a trifecta of attack on the president. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: Did you see Trump's rally last night?
STEPHEN COLBERT, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
FALLON: Me neither. Heard he said some pretty bad stuff about us.
COLBERT: Really? Doesn't sound like him.
FALLON: I heard he said we're all no-talent, lowlife, lost souls.
COLBERT: That's not right. That's Conan. I'll get him.
(LAUGHTER)
CONAN O'BRIEN, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: He guys, what's up?
(APPLAUSE)
O'BRIEN: President who?
COLBERT: Trump. Donald Trump.
O'BRIEN: The real estate guy who sells steaks, he's president?
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Wow. How is he doing?
COLBERT: Not so good.
FALLON: Are we still up for lunch?
COLBERT: Yes. Where do you want to eat?
FALLON: Red Hen.
COLBERT: Red Hen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: You know what the problem is.
INGRAHAM: It's so unfunny.
ARROYO: It's not funny. And there's something else really sad here. We need as Americas a place that we can unify, and laughter, comedy was that place. Jimmy Fallon was the last holdout in late night they kept politics on the backburner. He had fun, he had games, he was silly, goofy. That's gone now. I have a friend who has watched every night since he premiered. She just told me I took them off my DVR. And what is so crushing about this, he was that last bastion for people, and only a year ago, last year, he said this to his colleague Willie Geist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: It's just not what I do. I think it would be weird for me to start doing it now. I don't really even care that much about politics. I've got to be honest. I love pop culture more than I love politics. I'm just not that brain.
WILLIE GEIST, MSNBC: Do you ever feel pressure to talk about Donald Trump or go political? Do you hear that noise?
FALLON: I think the other guys are doing very well. When it's organic, I'll dip into it as well, but I've always made jokes about the president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Fallon was really smart there. Why cut your audience in half? Why do that?
ARROYO: I'll tell you why he is doing it now and doing these mea culpas. Colbert was beating him in the ratings, 3.8 million people tuning in. So I went and I dug up the man we heard about earlier, Johnny Carson, who talked to Barbara Walters about politics and why he stayed away from it in his show. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNY CARSON, FORMER LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: I think one of the dangers if you are a comedian, which basically I am, if you start to take yourself too seriously and start to comment on social issues, your sense of humor suffers somewhere. "The Tonight Show" basically is to amuse people, to make them laugh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: This is why he presided over the most-watched talk show of all time for more than 40 years.
INGRAHAM: No one will ever touch Carson because that era is over. Could they go a week without Trump? They should go on a Trump diet, not mention him for a week, try to be funny.
ARROYO: Think about Carol Burnett who was his contemporary. She also kept politics out of her show. She could've done Nixon sketches, never did. She was doing Mrs. Wiggins and "Mama's Family" which 40 and 50 years later, people are still buying the DVD.
INGRAHAM: By the way, Tyler Perry when he does our favorite, Madea, he stays away from -- I love Madea. I love all Madea.
ARROYO: Everybody can laugh together around that. We need unifying comedy, not divisive comedy. Carson's right. The humor suffers, and we don't need that anymore.
INGRAHAM: The worst offense, it's not funny.
ARROYO: That is a problem.
INGRAHAM: Conan was the most funny in that. But Raymond, Seinfeld is speaking this week about the "Roseanne" reboot. So what is he saying?
ARROYO: Remember when I told you the show, when everyone was hailing it, oh, this is great, we all love it. And I said she is a loose cannon. She's a little crazy. And ABC had to let her go. Now Seinfeld is saying no, they shouldn't have done that. They should have recast the role of Roseanne Connor with another actress, and then he added this controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN: I didn't see why it was necessary to fire her. Why would you murder someone who is committing suicide? But I never saw somebody end their entire career with one button push. That was fresh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: I think what he was saying there, it was a little tongue-in-cheek, was that the audience should have decided what to do with Roseanne. Maybe give her another chance, I don't know. But Seinfeld has always been unkind of the outside of comedy. He hates the PC culture and he doesn't speak on college campuses.
INGRAHAM: He said that.
ARROYO: We have the bite but I don't know if we have time.
INGRAHAM: I want to play this again. It dovetails back to what Carson was saying about how you circumscribe unifying humor by getting really political. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN COWHERD, SPORTS BROADCASTER: Does the climate where you know? I have talked to Chris Rock and Larry the Cable Guy. They don't even want to do college campuses anymore.
JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN: I hear that all the time. I don't play colleges, but I hear a lot of people tell me don't go near colleges. They are so PC. They just want to use these words. That's racist. That's sexist. That's prejudice. They don't even know what they're talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: He is old school in that. And what I love, Jerry Seinfeld is doing a new season of his "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." Jerry Lewis in one of his last interviews is in the car with Seinfeld. Cannot wait to see that. I promise you it will not be PC and it probably won't be political.
INGRAHAM: Jerry Lewis smashed Obama pretty hard in your interview.
ARROYO: But that was not in his comedy act. That was in an interview. And I asked him about refugees and he said how he felt about them.
INGRAHAM: They are not funny when all it is is Trump, Trump, Trump. It's not funny. It's boring.
ARROYO: They become a political activist and nobody wants to see that. they want to laugh.
INGRAHAM: They're on the other networks that nobody watches. All right, Raymond, awesome, thank you so much.
And something special for you next. Two prominent Democrats give us the inside scoop on what's a simmering civil war in their own party. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: The win last night by little-known Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez last night was a stunning upset over a member of the Democrats' House leadership team. Some are calling Ocasio the new torchbearer for the far left of the Democratic Party. And as we noted earlier, she supports the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE.
So let's look at the party's future with a sitting Democratic Congressmen who also shares that view, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin. Congressman, first of all, I want to thank you for coming on this show. We invite a lot of your colleagues in the Democratic Party and most of them say no. We really respect you for coming on tonight. So thanks so much.
REP. MARK POCAN, D—WISC.: Very glad to be her.
INGRAHAM: So your thoughts on the win last night.
POCAN: I think what we saw, not just that win but other wins around the country, a lot of people are progressive, especially in the Democratic primaries. But I would argue a lot of those issues resonate in competitive districts. So we actually did a poll for the progressive caucus, 30 competitive swing districts. The issues that progressive supported mirrored the issues that people in the swing districts supported. So again, I think if you talk in an honest and authentic like Bernie Sanders did when he ran, I think you can do really well with the voters.
INGRAHAM: This is what Ocasio-Cortez said when she was asked today about whether she would support Nancy Pelosi as speaker. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: I think ICE is right there as a part of it. It's extrajudicial nature is baked into the structure of the agency, and that's why they are able to get away with black sites on our border, with the separation of children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: So that was her talking about Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. You also agree with her that ICE should be abolished, correct?
POCAN: Yes. So I was down at the border a couple weeks ago and just watching the buildup of how ICE has been misused from its original focus I think after 9/11. And I just think that it's impossible for ICE to still do its functions. Now when people see an ICE jacket, instead of being able to go into community and get information to get someone who might be a bad figure, everyone's afraid and they run from it. You're not going to be able to accomplish the goal. So we think there are plenty of functions that have to continue to happen. You can put those back in other agencies, but the way ICE currently is operating especially under President Trump makes it impossible.
INGRAHAM: Again, they are operating that way because we have a fairly big crush from Central America, not as much from Mexico, but from Central America across the border. We've had tens of thousands of people come over the last several months. You've got to do something with them, and ICE is charged with figuring out why people are coming into the country. If you're not coming through a normal port of entry, they have to be dealt with. You wouldn't submit that they just walk into the country and not be greeted by anybody, correct?
POCAN: So here is one of the problems that I found when I went to the Hidalgo Bridge, a legal point of entry where you can claim asylum. They are doing everything possible to make it almost possible for someone to come there to claim asylum. So then you either go back into Mexico where you can be kidnapped by a cartel and held hostage.
INGRAHAM: Why is Mexico not getting people asylum? They gave like 14,000 people asylum.
POCAN: I don't work for the Mexican government, so I couldn't tell you. But what happens is people get forced into that risk of a cartel or they come in illegally and then they wind up in the system. So really part of our problem is how we are taking enforcement at those legal points of entry.
INGRAHAM: This is what she said, Ocasio-Cortez, about the Nancy Pelosi issue. I think we have it now. Apparently we have trouble. But she said she wouldn't support her. That's an interesting position your party is in. The Republicans have gone through their own fits and starts, and they elected Donald Trump. They really hit leadership. John Boehner is out. Eric Cantor is out. Donald Trump is president. Are you going to see that in the Democrat Party? Is she more like you, more like the Bernie Sanders wing, is that the vibrant future where you can get blue-collar workers, maybe white working-class workers, to look toward the party?
POCAN: I think, again, what we are trying to do is if we appeal on an economic message, I think the one thing we can all agree on is Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump ran on actually a pretty similar message about the system being rigged against them, and it resonated. And so I think what we've seen in some of these primaries around the country when people talk about the fact that unfortunately in this town the special interests have way too much sway. People really feel that. Drain the swamp was a brilliant line.
INGRAHAM: Why did Wisconsin go for Trump?
POCAN: Actually because of trade. Donald Trump on the 30,000 foot level addressed it correctly. I think he's fumbled it completely since he's become president.
INGRAHAM: We're getting all these jobs back including in Wisconsin.
POCAN: Harley-Davidson is one of the biggest employers in Wisconsin.
INGRAHAM: Harley-Davidson had already, as you know, I love Harley-Davidson but they had already started to transition to some extent into bicycles. Now they're making bicycles because they couldn't figure out a way to market the big, what do they call them, the hogs. Are you a hog driver?
POCAN: Our governor is.
INGRAHAM: So they had a little trouble with that. But I don't think we should attack Harley-Davidson. All I'm saying is there's a lot of manufacturing coming back into the United States. We see a resurgence with steel. And you can say what you want about Trump fumbled it, but he's actually disrupting the old way, which had to be disrupted, for Wisconsin, for Ohio, for Pennsylvania.
POCAN: We actually are seeing a lot of job loss. I'm not against targeted tariffs. Actually in the Democratic Party I'm one of the people who said Donald Trump --
INGRAHAM: Come on. Become a Republican. Forget the Democrats.
POCAN: The problem is he doesn't have a philosophy around trade. He is just throwing tariffs via tweet. A lot of Democrats and Republicans --
INGRAHAM: Have you spent any time with Bob Lighthizer, the U.S. trade rep?
POCAN: I am tomorrow.
INGRAHAM: You are tomorrow. One of the smartest people. I think you and he will have an interesting conversation.
POCAN: I think he has a philosophy around trade. I'm not sure the president does.
INGRAHAM: He is super smart.
POCAN: I've heard that from many people.
INGRAHAM: Trump wants to bring manufacturing and strength back to key American sectors where other countries are cheating. The only way to do that is to shake up the system. He's doing that.
POCAN: I think if he listens to Lighthizer more, he might be better off.
INGRAHAM: Thank you for coming on.
POCAN: Yes, of course.
INGRAHAM: Was it that scary?
POCAN: No, not at all.
INGRAHAM: Everyone probably wants me to beat you up more, but we can find --
POCAN: I look forward to my next invite.
INGRAHAM: All right, thanks so much.
And now let's get a take from Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. So Doug, is the rise of the far left, come on. The congressman is very affable. He wants to abolish ICE, but I guess who doesn't today.
DOUG SCHOEN, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: I don't.
(LAUGHTER)
INGRAHAM: I know you don't. But is this good for the party where you are embracing people or having people shouted down in public, and the Congressional Black Caucus is now mad at Chuck Schumer because Schumer criticized Maxine Waters. It's wild.
SCHOEN: It is wild. I'm a centrist. I believe there's about 40, 50 percent of America who rejects the politics of the far right and the far left. And what you try to do in the elections, at least what I tried to do, is to build consensus, not try to take narrow ideological points and principles and impose them on the electorate. I believe in civility and compromise, and of all things, decency. And this is just, for a general election --
INGRAHAM: Doug, hold that thought. We're going to keep you for another block. We have so much to ask you. Stay right there. A lot more. Who is to blame for separations at the border?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: The recent border crisis may not be the winning issue the left hoped it would be. According to a new Rasmussen poll, most Americans do not blame President Trump for separating children from parents who cross the border illegally. This survey found that 54 percent of likely voters blame the parents. Who would have thunk it? Only 35 percent blame the federal government for actually enforcing the law.
Here now Hans Von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, expert in this, and we welcome back Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. Doug, we have to finish this point. Hans has got to come in on this immigration issue, so key.
SCHOEN: Sure.
INGRAHAM: But we have now president Trump at 47 percent in the new Harvard-Harris poll. That came out late today. The Democrats I think are, their heads are spinning. Is it 53 percent. Yes, 53 percent. It's 47 percent, excuse me, 47 percent. Not bad. I guess it was 53 percent back in May. But 47 percent given all the negative media coverage, separating families at the border, everyone blaming him for that in the media, that's not bad. So I'm not sure the immigration issue is going to be the gold that Democrats thought it would be.
SCHOEN: Look, people don't like the images of families being separated. Let's be clear. But what they want is comprehensive immigration reform, not the endless political battles. And to have the Democrats basically saying get rid of ICE or they are fascistic or whatever rather than proposing concrete solutions like build the wall, secure the borders, and have a pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers, that's logical and rational and what swing voters want, not just this rhetoric and this extreme behavior that Democrats appear in some way to be encouraging, Laura.
INGRAHAM: Yes, we have some video of what happened at ICE headquarters today. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Blank your borders, basically, Hans. This has gotten wild.
HANS VON SPAKOVSKY, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Yes, but this doesn't help the Democratic Party. You talk to the American voters, one of the reasons that Trump got elected was because American voters said we finally want to see our immigration laws enforced. And this latest polling showing that common sense, they blame the illegal parents for bringing their kids across the border with them. That makes complete sense and that shows you why I think the Democrats with these protests, they are not actually doing themselves any favors.
INGRAHAM: Doug, the congressman we just had on from Wisconsin, he seems quite reasonable. He's very nice, affable. But he wants to abolish ICE too. That becomes the mainstream of the Democratic Party. They do so much work, such important work for the country. Now they are being blamed for people coming into the country because if you have a child, you can never be deported. And now that's ICE's fault?
SCHOEN: No, of course it isn't. The congressman was indeed affable, very likable. But I am not for Medicare for all. I'm not for a guaranteed job, guaranteed college. I am for rational economic policies with a social safety net and securing the borders. What is so terrible about that?
INGRAHAM: Hans, final thoughts, very quickly.
VON SPAKOVSKY: The other thing that has come out that has hurt the left is that information finally comes out that this happened under prior presidents. Obama, Bush, and Clinton. In fact, Clinton is responsible.
INGRAHAM: They were all struggling with this. We need a real immigration enforcement bill. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Tomorrow we have a huge day because we have got Rod Rosenstein testifying on Capitol Hill. We have FBI director Chris Wray testifying on Capitol Hill, all before the Judiciary Committee. Do you think I should bring the jiffy pop? Do they still make that? I will get Hannity to fly down. We'll sit there together. It will be fun. We'll live tweet the whole deal. I always love to read your comments on Twitter, most of the time. Some of them are not so nice, but we like those too. It's a big country. You've got to make your views heard, just keep it respectful. Let's hand it off to Shannon Bream and the fantastic "Fox News @ Night" team.
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