Are Trump's economic policies helping the African American community?

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Are Trump's economic policies helping the African American community?

Harvard philosophy professor Dr. Cornel West debates Blexit Movement founder Candace Owens on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," May 22, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: Oh! My God. That's hilarious. I'm Laura Ingraham, this is “The Ingraham Angle” from Washington tonight. Now something I promise you will not see anywhere else. Founder of the Blexit Movement, Candace Owens and famed political activist Cornel West. They're here for an exclusive debate on whether President Trump can truly make inroads with African American voters.

Plus, Raymond Arroyo brings us tonight's Reboot. You will not want to miss this of a pair of two of my favorite television shows of all time. 70's TV shows. They're remaking - of course they did. All in The Family and The Jeffersons, it ran tonight with new casts. You can't miss this. This is going to be rich.

And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is here on the damage Nancy Pelosi did to the institution today by basically calling the President, a criminal. But first, the party that won't govern. That's the focus of tonight's “Angle.”

Today, Democrat leaders and the President were set for a long-scheduled meeting at the White House to discuss an infrastructure bill. But in an obvious move of preemptive sabotage, Nancy Pelosi attacked the President before hopping in the car

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: And we believe that no one is above the law including the President of the United States. And we believe that the President of the United States is engaged in a cover up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Second time. That move naturally infuriated the President and it revealed once and for all that the Democrats are uninterested in actually working with the President to solve problems. Their sole goal to stall his agenda through 2020. The people be damned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I told Senator Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, I want to do infrastructure, but you know what you can't do it under these circumstances. So, get these phony investigations over with instead of walking in happily into a meeting. I walk into look at people that are just said that I was doing a cover up. I don't do cover ups.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But the Democrats do, which is why they tried mightily to tar Attorney General Bill Barr and why? Well, because he's on the road to uncovering just how high up the corruption went at the Obama DOJ. And since Barr appointed Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham to conduct this investigation, Democrats have been turning themselves inside and out on the issue of impeachment. And after the dust up with Trump today, Pelosi ramped up the accusations against Trump throwing acid on the open wound that is their relationship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: This President is obstructing justice and he's engaged in a cover up. And that could be an impeachable offense. Ignoring the subpoenas of Congress was Article III of the Nixon impeachment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: $35 million, two years, thousands of hours of interviews, a million pages or so of documents and no collusion and no obstruction. And yet Speaker Pelosi today is catering to her ever-radical caucus by dangling the red meat of impeachment in front of them.

Now, I still remember maybe some of you do as well when Democrats actually cared about issues like the abuse of government authority. The overreach of the surveillance state. The presumption of innocence. But all of that went out the window. All of those principles when key figures in the Obama DOJ became obsessed to their core, every fiber of their being with taking out Trump. I am now convinced that these are just totally unserious people upon Capitol Hill. They're more interested in grandstanding in the Democrat Party than doing almost anything constructive for the people who put them there. No office. Think though about Trump, despite everything that he's been through. I mean the investigations, all the accusations, he was a trader, he was working with Putin, all these ridiculous charges.

He pushed through policies that have revved up this economy, that have resulted in increased wages, stoking manufacturing jobs, consumer confidence way up. And meanwhile what has Pelosi actually accomplished. What had she done, except complain, threaten? And think about this like the USMCA. Remember that was supposed to replace NAFTA. That took more than a year of serious good faith negotiations. United States, Canada, Mexico. And yet Pelosi, she won't even bring it up for a vote nor is she going to do what's necessary to address the crisis at the border, which is beyond disturbing.

No asylum reform from her. No additional money for judges to fast track hearings. No money for beds or of any place to put unaccompanied minors or family unit, so they're spilling out of Border Patrol facilities that are never intended to house them. But what does her caucus do? Well, what they do is what she taught them. Finger point and then accuse members of Trump's cabinet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LAUREN UNDERWOOD, D-ILL: At this point with five kids that have died. 5000 separated from their families. I feel like and the evidence is really clear that this is intentional. It's intentional, it's a policy choice being made on purpose by this administration and it's cruel and inhumane.

KEVIN MCALEENAN, ACTING SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: That's an appalling accusation down in our men and women fight hard to protect people in our custody every single day. We've asked for this resource three weeks ago and hasn't been responded to by Congress.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You refuse to listen to them. That's not the point. You said he intentionally supported policies that caused the death of children. That is wrong. Your words need to be taken down, Mr. Chairman.

UNDERWOOD: Mr. Ranking Member, this happened this week yesterday another child died under his leadership.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we can't get the resources to help them. That's what he's here trying to get is the money to stop this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Congresswoman Underwood's incendiary charge, defamatory charge, disgusting charge was eventually stricken from the record, but big deal. She should be censured for what she just said. But my friends, this is the way they play the game. They bemoan the human crisis that their lack of action created. And then the good that gets even better, they spew poison and lash Trump officials who are operating under the law that they refuse to change or reform.

And disabuse you of this notion that the Democrats actually really to their core care about what happens to these kids. If they did, they would allocate the money without question for beds and facilities to take care of these children, who came no fault of their own. But just like they don't care about really working with the President in good faith on infrastructure. They don't really care about those kids. Instead what do they do. They pour on that false piety and we have the market cornered on compassion and tolerance as they do impromptu psycho analysis of the President like Pelosi did twice after the aborted meeting today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: For some reason maybe, it was lack of confidence on his part that he really couldn't come match the greatness of that challenge that we have. So, I pray for him and I pray for the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: What a complete phony. She should save some of those prayers for herself and her caucus, because voters in this country are not as gullible and they're not as stupid as Democrats think they are. They're watching. And that's “The Angle.”

Joining me now Jim Jordan, Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee. Congressman, I've got to tell you, I've been around here longer than you have for a long time in this city, I've seen a lot. This was one of the most disgusting displays and in both instances, I want to get your reaction. This is beyond, beyond.

REP. JIM JORDAN, R-OH: You had it exactly right when your entire focus is on attacking and stopping the President. You can't do what's best for the country. Yet in spite of that, this is the amazing thing and you had this in your “Angle.” In spite of that, the President's record in two and a half years of achieving good things for the country is unbelievable. I mean I was, go down the list, regulations reduced, taxes cut.

INGRAHAM: Judges.

JORDAN: An amazing rate. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh on the court and a lot of other judges confirm. We're out of the Iran deal. The embassies in Jerusalem, hostages' home from North Korea. NAFTA, the new NAFTA, the USMCA ready to go.

INGRAHAM: But Congressman, they not only won't work with Trump. Their entire modus operandi right now is to slash at him up to 2020. So, we're going to get into this crisis at the border which has now reached epic proportions.

JORDAN: Yes, it had.

INGRAHAM: But I want to play this for you just for chuckles. MSNBC Chuck Todd says that the Republican Party tonight is in danger, because they only have really accomplished one thing. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK TODD, REPORTER, MSNBC: Everybody else is going along with us like do you - I mean careful catching this car. It seems like you're playing with matches near a gas. Republicans at some point do they want to sit here and have their only accomplishment be protecting Trump?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JORDAN: Well, like you said, we got Gorsuch and Kavanaugh on the court. We're out of the Iran deal, the embassies in Jerusalem, hostage to come on from North Korea. The economy is growing at 3.2 percent. Lowest unemployment in 50 years. I think that's a pretty good--

INGRAHAM: That's a pretty good thing to protect that agenda.

JORDAN: Taxes, regulations reduce. I think it's a pretty good record to run on. I think the bigger question is what you raised. The only thing the Democrats are going to have to run on is attacking the President who is responsible for all those good things and they are so focused on attacking. They actually have these secret memorandums of understanding where the various key chairman, the Oversight Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Financial Services, the Ways and Means and of course the Intel Committee with Chairmanship, they have these - a basic contract saying here's how we're going to coordinate our attacks on the President because our singular focus is going after the guy who has helped the - the two and a half years of all the great things that have happened in the country.

INGRAHAM: Could the President have gone forward with the meeting and I'm reading some of the Republican criticism. You know it's all Bush people sorry but gone through with the meeting and worked out some deal with them and shown that he's the bigger person, would that have been smarter for him.

JORDAN: That's the President's call. I will tell you what though. I think you put any American, any human being in that situation where they are criticizing a couple hours before come into the meeting where they got this memorandum of understanding, coordinated attack on you, every angle you can think of asking for eight years of your business records, eight years of your banking records, asking for your tax records. I mean that's all we have.

INGRAHAM: Dental, you forgot dental.

JORDAN: That's what we have. So, Ways and Means Committee. I want is tax record. I want that as tax return. Oversight Committee give me eight years of his business.

INGRAHAM: But they say it's legitimate oversight.

JORDAN: Maxine Waters, eight years of his banking records. Before he was even a candidate for office. So, the other thing, I think. I think they're nervous about the real investigation. The real investigation is the one that Bill Barr--

INGRAHAM: That's the cover up. See, they're doing the cover up. They want to cover up the page and--

JORDAN: Remember, we talked about this last week, we never forget what Bill Barr said, said there was a crisis of leadership at the upper echelon of the FBI. We know that was the case. He said spying did occur. He said, third, there is a basis for my concern about the spying that took place. And then fourth, he used two terms that should frighten every one of you as every single American. He used the term unauthorized surveillance and political surveillance. And Bill Barr and John Durham and his team are committed to finding out how this crazy thing started, and all the evidence is seeming to point to the FBI was out to get the President and he's going to get to the bottom. That's the investigation that counts and that's the one that I think scares all these people and that's why they're--

INGRAHAM: That's why they have to double down like--

JORDAN: Exactly.

INGRAHAM: I love this obstruction in plain sight. This is like a new lingo, obstruction in plain sight. She repeated that several times in the last couple of days. OK. Speaking of your pal Adam Schiff, he was wrestling with the impeachment question today. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.: I do think that that has to be weighed though against the other concern which is what does an acquittal say. Because then you have an adjudication that this conduct is not an impeachable offense. And that is the dilemma that we are stuck between. Both are equally unpalatable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Think about this. They're not going to try to impeach. No way. Because if we did Senate might not be - in other words, again no collusion, no obstruction.

JORDAN: Yes.

INGRAHAM: So, the Senate would come to the same conclusion as Mueller and Barr.

JORDAN: Yes. And let's be honest, they're already doing impeachment. They just won't formally call it that. They won't take the vote and say--

INGRAHAM: Character.

JORDAN: They're basically doing it. And the thing that I come back to is the guy who has been on the Oversight Committee for a long time. This is not legitimate. When we were in control and it was President Obama, we did legitimate oversight. We actually looked into when the IRS targeted people for their political beliefs. We looked into the scandal that was fast and furious where there was gunrunning and an agent, a border agent lost his life because of that.

We looked into the fact that when the tragedy in Benghazi happened and they tried to say well, it was the catalyst for that was some crazy video, we looked into that. And of course, we are currently looking into it most importantly Bill Barr is looking into how the FBI can use one party's opposition research document as the basis to go spy on the Trump campaign. So, that's legitimate oversight. What they're doing is just an attack.

INGRAHAM: But don't you think a lot of this is just dangling the - it's like red meat to dogs that haven't been fan for - they're dangling it out there. They have to keep it out there for their base which is they're angry. I've never seen angrier people. They say Trump is angry. Trump's actually is in a pretty good mood; I mean you've talked to him. I mean he gets mad like anyone else, but the anger and the fury and the seething rage is on the left.

JORDAN: Yes. And you know that's funny you say that Laura because one thing I tell the folks back home in our district. I wish every single American could spend some time around the President, because when you're around him, the energy, the charisma, the love he has for our country, for our law enforcement, for our military, it comes through every single time. He's not mad, but they're all mad about him.

INGRAHAM: I like the fact that he's never satisfied. Well, we have 4.2 percent unemployment. We want it lower. I like that. You want a President who is never satisfied even with a phenomenal - he wants to make it better.

JORDAN: He wants to keep winning.

INGRAHAM: More manufacturing jobs for your home state. Congressman Jordan, thank you so much. And up next, a can't miss debate. Candace Owens and Cornel West on President Trump's relationship with the black community and the 2020 Dems obsession with reparations and identity politics. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZERLINA MAXWELL, MSNBC POLICY ANALYST: It's not just that Donald Trump is saying and doing racist things. He's also implementing policies that are hurting and impacting negatively communities of color.

SARAH LONGWELL, REPUBLICAN ANALYST: I don't think Donald Trump is doing an awful lot to appeal to African American voters.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS, D-N.Y.: Policy didn't put forward has been anti-people of color.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, we hear those lines all the time but here are the facts. Since President Trump took office, black unemployment has hit an historic low and currently sits at about 6.7 percent. And by the way, he's not satisfied with that. He wants it a lot lower but still pretty great. The number of African Americans employed is up more than 4 percent. And the most stunning of all African American wages. This is my favorite are up more than 9 percent. Here now in a truly special debate, I'm so happy about this. Candace Owens, Blexit Movement Founder, a conservative commentator and Cornel West, Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University and Professor Emeritus at Princeton. Dr. West, I also want to tell you, I really appreciate you coming on the show, you're an old style liberal, I don't mean old and old, but you like debate and conversation and I think that's just awesome. So, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

CORNEL WEST, PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY, HARVARD: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

INGRAHAM: Absolutely. And I want to begin with a simple question Dr. West, are the President's policies, let's just focus now on his economic policies, are they helping the African American community in your view. WEST: I think that the statistics certainly look good through a narrow lens. So, I give him credit in that regard. But we have to keep in mind that on the one hand you still have grotesque wealth, inequality, you have job insecurity, so many people who are working or working more than one job. We know many people who have withdrawn from the labor force are not counting at all.

But I think the problem is though my dear sister is that the President has a language that creates an atmosphere that is so xenophobic against black folk, Mexican, Muslims. He rarely wants to stay in contact with their humanity. So, when you look at the statistics that's one thing. But when you create an atmosphere, an ambience of xenophobia, it reinforces the polarization and therefore many black folk wouldn't even be able to connect the statistics that look good with the language, the atmosphere that feels so bad in that cold hearted mean spiritedness, it's something that cuts very, very deep in the spirit of people, including myself.

INGRAHAM: Have you met him Dr. West? Ever met the President?

WEST: No, I've never had a conversation with my right wing. But I mean you know I've called him a gangster and a pro-fascist, in terms of separation. But he is a human being. He is a human being. And I you know--

INGRAHAM: I'm just saying this because look you and I don't agree on a lot. But I actually really like you, I just like the fact that you're out there and you're advocating. I have no problem with it. And I wouldn't call you mean spirited. We disagree, but I think if you actually were with the President, you might find that you could accomplish a lot together and you could do a lot together. I really believe that. He'll work with pretty much anybody and that's what I found in my experience. So, I'm just throwing that out there. Candace. But there is this tonality issue that people seize on with the President and let's go back to Charlottesville. They always go back to this SL countries. Those are the two things that really seize upon the travel ban. Those three things probably for some just wipe out any other accomplishment. Your reaction.

CANDACE OWENS, FOUNDER, BLEXIT MOVEMENT: Well, look I think the President is doing something different definitely his tone is different, because he tells the truth. He doesn't pander to black America. He hasn't offered us hot sauce; he's offered us jobs. That makes many people uncomfortable because they're from an era where race hustling is a business. They're used to telling black Americans that they're victims, writing books about victimhood and that is no longer selling in America.

And I just wanted to comment back on saying that xenophobia is something that black Americans are afraid of. Xenophobia means that you have a fear, Mr. West of foreigners. Black Americans are not foreigners in this country. We are a piece of the American dream. We've earned a piece of this American dream. And we're getting tired people telling us that we are somehow separate of it. I mean that's really what I have to say. We're doing tremendous under this presidency. There is no candidate that is offering anything on the left to counter what Trump has offered. They're just offering more rhetoric, more fearmongering and unfortunately, time is up on this narrative. We are ready to move on and embrace our futures.

INGRAHAM: Well, Dr. West, go ahead.

WEST: If I can come straight, first, xenophobia in the generic sense means the fear of other and black folk have been other than Jim Crow, Jane Crow and so forth. And their understanding - but it's the other those who have been otherized, those who have been marginalized in this. But think of the - when you call my dear sister Maxine Waters low IQ.

OWENS: She does have a low IQ.

WEST: That's vicious.

OWENS: That's a fact.

WEST: You said what?

OWENS: That is a fact. If she took an IQ exam, you would find out that Maxine Waters had a very low IQ. And I will push that challenge. It may not be nice, but it is true.

WEST: She's a brilliant human being. When you called Brother Collin a son a son of a [EXPLETIVE.] You see this kind of language.

OWENS: I never used that language.

WEST: This kind of language is ridiculous.

OWENS: I never used that language.

INGRAHAM: Not you.

WEST: No, I'm talking about the President. I'm not talking about you my sister. I'm talking about the President. The President called Brother Collin a son of a [EXPLETIVE.]

INGRAHAM: OK. But what I think--

WEST: I think that's a fact.

INGRAHAM: I think the nasty language, it's on both sides. I mean if they call him a gangster, traitor. I mean - but I do want to--

WEST: You've got language on both.

INGRAHAM: I want to get to this. The prevailing wisdom I think Dr. West highlighted this, is that race relations have deteriorated almost under this President. That's a thought that Obama was the great racial healer yet in a new study by a pair of sociologists at UPEN, this is not some conservative outlet. They found that "anti-black prejudice declined by statistically and significant decree between 2012 and 2016. But then after 2016, it took a sharp dive. There was also a general fall in anti-Hispanic prejudice too.

So, Professor West to what do you attribute these findings. So, prejudice is on the downswing, not on the upswing at least in these first few years of Trump.

WEST: Well, based on this particular study, I'd have to examine how they gather their evidence and so forth. But anti-Jewish attacks, anti-Muslim attacks, anti-Mexican attacks and not just anti-Black attacks, but also the Police Departments, they're militarizing the Police Departments withdrawal of the investigation when police do in fact shoot fellow citizens, whatever color they are but disproportionately--

INGRAHAM: But that was happening under Obama.

WEST: Oh! Absolutely. That's true. I'm just talking about continuities. I'm talking about continuities.

INGRAHAM: Right. I do want to share this. This was a moment that I think again going back to what Candace has worked on and spoken about. And what Dr. West, I think you too could actually be happy about together. Happened at the White House, I think it was last month and it was an event commemorating the first step act. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I really thank you for signing that deal. When you all pass this, I'll kind of fail them to flow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm an example of a woman who has been given a second chance in life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an experience that I'll never forget.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two months ago, I was in a prison cell, and I'm in the White House. That's continuing to Make America Great Again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, Dr. West I mean, I don't think there were feelings xenophobia or mean spirit in this. I think they actually found a President who was willing to work with people who really didn't even like him and didn't think he was probably going to accomplish much. And it got almost no coverage. We played it on our show. Maybe few other places, but it didn't get any coverage. What's your reaction seeing that?

WEST: No, I think that's very important attempt to zero in on this vicious policy in the last 40 years of massive incarceration, punitive attitudes toward those engaged in various kinds of crime. I've been blessed to teach in prison for 37 years of step program of just Norfolk. It's something that has impact on the ground, and I give the President credit for that is not as if he has nothing to offer. It just that the dominant orientation is still tied to what I'm critical of both parties, because identity politics for me is milk toast, liberal politics that don't talk about corporate, don't talk about poverty and talk about militarism.

But the Republicans still strike me as so cold hearted, mean spirited and they're still tied to corporate power and Wall Street and won't hit poverty head on, but when it comes to prison, when it comes to statistics, I give the President credit for that.

INGRAHAM: OK.

WEST: But it's still small relative to what I'm looking for. I'd say neither both parties other than Brother Bernie Sanders, but that's another dialogue.

OWENS: Bernie Sanders.

WEST: We won't go into that, right.

INGRAHAM: No, we will go to that. But I have to - again, I have to go back to this idea of race relations under Obama which I almost fell out of my chair of the CNN story that came out on October of 2016. They got worse. 54 percent of America and so they got worse. Only 16 percent said they got better. This was at the end of the Obama Administration. So, as Cornel West said, you had Ferguson, you had Freddie Grey (ph) in Baltimore, you had all the stuff bursting out on the streets of America with the first African American President in the White House and that healing didn't seem to take place.

OWENS: Right. Look, at that point, I was on the left. So, Barack Obama first went into office, I was a liberal and I changed my mind due to exactly what you are saying. He drove this nation apart. President Trump is bringing this nation together because what he is talking about is patriotism. Patriotism knows sex, it knows no color, it knows no creed. The liberal media can ignore all the work that he is doing in Black America all they want. Every statistic in the world shows you right now that black support for Donald Trump has doubled and that is meaningful.

And I'm telling you that by 2020, he is going to be the first president to crack the black vote to the detriment of the Democrats.

INGRAHAM: Professor West, I want to -- do you still work in prison? Do you still do it?

WEST: Absolutely. Absolutely.

INGRAHAM: Can I come with you? Can I come with you on one of your visits?

WEST: You can come any time you like. We are going to keep track of the humanity and rich imagination and intelligence of our brothers and sisters who are incarcerated to make sure they have a better chance and make sure that they can unleash their potential.

But I say to sister Candace that I like her independence of mind. I think she is wrong most of the time, but I fight for her right to be wrong in that regard.

OWENS: I'll fight for your right to be wrong, too, Mr. West.

WEST: Absolutely, but I would have wished you would have moved further to the left, because when you have a black lives movement under a black president, it is not going to be a matter of then moving to the right --

OWENS: Socialism has already been tried in our community. It has been tried by a welfare policies and it has completely crippled the black community. It has completely crippled the black family. The other welfare policies, you know that. So I had to creep all the way to the right. And I have to tell you, I'm happy here.

WEST: That's not socialism. Socialism is power-sharing. Socialism is not giving and becoming people dependent on programs. It's power sharing.

OWENS: Black liberals go conservative. Black conservatives never go liberal. Mr. West, I appreciate your time, but you know black liberals go conservatives, but black conservatives never go liberal, and there's a reason for that.

INGRAHAM: I would just add that Wall Street --

WEST: I don't know. Black people are complicated. Black people are complicated. We go back and forth, but I wish we had more black leftists.

INGRAHAM: All right, guys, we've got to go. But this is a fascinating conversation. We have to have you both back. Thank you very much.

OWENS: Bye, sir.

INGRAHAM: And up next, how did tonight's "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" reboots compared to the originals? What does it say about Hollywood? Raymond Arroyo has it all in "Seen and Unseen" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for our "Seen and Unseen" segment, where we explore some of the big cultural stories of the day.

Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel rebooted two classic TV series with mixed results. Tonight's "Seen and Unseen" with Raymond Arroyo, Fox News contributor, "New York Times" bestselling author of the "Will Wilder" series. Raymond, these are shows you can't remake. Tell us what we need to know.

RAYMOND ARROYO, CONTRIBUTOR: Look, in short, we didn't need to remake these. But Jimmy Kimmel thought it would be a good idea, he convinced Norman Lear, who created these series, that they would make a great live television event. Well, they did it on ABC. Remember, Lear had five of the top 10 most watched shows in the mid-70s. And "The Jeffersons" spun out of "All in the Family," so it made sense to bring them together, to reboot them. However, tonight on ABC, Marisa Tomei and Woody Harrelson stood in for Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton. These were not the days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boy the way Glen Miller played.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Songs that made the hit parade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys like us we had it made.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those were the days

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: This is really. This was so painful. They're playing the actors, not characters, but these actors that actually played them.

INGRAHAM: So Woody Harrelson playing Carroll O'Connor playing Archie Bunker.

ARROYO: But he played him poorly.

You knew, I interviewed Carroll O'Connor, I knew him. He talked about how he borrowed a little of Jackie Gleason and a little of James Cagney, who was a friend of his, and that became Archie Bunker. But he never looked down at that character. For comparison's sake, I want you to watch. This is the original episode as it aired in the '70s and what we saw tonight. See if you get the political inference, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You, meathead, turn off the garbage on that radio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I thought you'd be interested in hearing what King Richard was up to today.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And shut that hole in the middle of your face, too.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wise guy, trying to insult the president by calling him a king.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not? Nixon acts like one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You, meathead, turn off the garbage on that radio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I thought you'd be interested in hearing what King Richard was up to today.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And shut that hole in the middle of your face, too.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wise guy, trying to insult the president by calling him a king.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not? Nixon acts like one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: It just didn't work, Laura. There was something of summer stock about this or a school play, kids dressing up. They lacked the gravitas. You know why? They didn't really believe these characters. Like the rest of us, they like the actors we saw, but they couldn't replicate or find anything new.

INGRAHAM: First of all, it makes me cry to see the original because it was just my growing up in the '70s. This was what we watched on Sunday night. Sunday night used to be the destination television, and Saturday night, too, but destination TV.

ARROYO: And it was edgy for the time as well.

The highlight of the evening was Jennifer Hudson singing the old Jeffersons song.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're moving on up to the East Side. We finally got a piece of the pie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: She was really good.

Now, Jamie Foxx played George Jefferson in this reboot. Wanda Sykes was his Louise. And the acting was kind of lousy. We've got a quick scene. Just look at this real fast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought you was a maid, like me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maid. You a maid?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. What difference does that make?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Plenty. Why aren't you out maiding someplace?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't mind him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: This was like the karaoke of sitcoms, OK.

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: It's where you get actors coming in and interchangeably playing the parts. It just didn't work. These characters and these sitcoms were confined to a time, Laura. I wish Norman Lear spent his time mentoring a new generation to show them how to talk to the American family today and take on these issues, the issues we are dealing with now in the way they did then. At least Norman Lear and Kimmel had a good time. They were sort of a newfangled Waldorf and Statler, sitting in a box seat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: The center of this show is the relationship between Archie Bunker, who is a bigot who doesn't necessarily know he is a bigot, and his ultraliberal, unemployed son-in-law, Mike, who he calls "meathead." "Meathead" is something your dad called you.

NORMAN LEAR, PRODUCER: My dad called me "meathead," dead from the neck up, Norman.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: It was like the old time, they had to quantify it and classify it. Marla Gibbs was the highlight, 88-years-old, returning in the role of Florence. She wiped the floor. She's the original.

INGRAHAM: She's a huge talent.

ARROYO: She knew how to do it.

INGRAHAM: You can't remake a classic, really. I'm sorry, you cannot remake it.

ARROYO: I'm going to go watch them on YouTube, and you should, too.

INGRAHAM: All right, because of her sabotage Nancy Pelosi might have stood in the way of a bipartisan agreement that could have helped millions of Americans. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is here in moments to tell us about what else she damaged.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Democrats favorite contention in the age of President Trump is that he is upsetting every Washington norm imaginable. I wonder what they think about the Speaker of the House charging the president, not with just a crime, but of a cover up without any evidence to either charge.

We're joined now by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Where does leadership's relationship with Democrats go now that Pelosi has leveled these accusations against the president? What about this?

KEVIN MCCARTHY, R-CALIF., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Think about it. It's not just Speaker Pelosi. Adam Schiff has done this for two years, lied to the American public. Chairman Nadler, people ought to look at this, when he ran for chairman of the committee, he went to his Democrat friends to say why to vote for him. Because he was the best person to be in place to impeach the president. That was in his campaign material to the Democratic conference why to vote for him for chairman.

Now watch what they're doing on the floor. In Energy and Commerce, we had some prescription drug bills where both sides agreed, we're able to lower the price and give more options. We pass it out of committee before it comes to the floor. They put a poison pill in there. They put the Affordable Care Act options --

INGRAHAM: Pun intended. So they wanted to -- it had 100 percent support, they drop in a provision that they know the Republicans can't support to kill the bill. That's an interesting approach to governing coming from the Democrats. Wow.

MCCARTHY: Now tomorrow on the floor, this is important for all of America to know. We just had the Secure Act pass Ways and Means, all Republicans, all Democrats. You know what the leadership does before it comes to the floor? They change the bill. They take out the 529 accounts.

INGRAHAM: The 529 to pay for your kids' college.

MCCARTHY: So maybe you have a child who is disabled.

INGRAHAM: Put money every year in.

MCCARTHY: Maybe you want to put money into it and your child's being homeschooled to pay for the books. NEA complained, special interest unions. The leadership, Nancy Pelosi, took it out of the bill.

INGRAHAM: Buckled to the NEA.

MCCARTHY: After the committee passed it unanimously.

INGRAHAM: So this is why we can't get anything done. But do you think the president should have played nice with Nancy today even though she smashed him in the face before getting in the car to go over to the White House?

MCCARTHY: OK, take the president, I'll take anybody. Before you are walking down to try to work on something bipartisan and infrastructure --

INGRAHAM: There's always a poison pill. You are saying what she did was premeditated.

MCCARTHY: Premeditated -- she scheduled a meeting right before, and it came out in an email to all Democrat members, special meeting from the speaker. You have to come to talk about impeachment. Then walks out and tries to claim the president is covering up, when this all started with the Democrats? Then is going to walk down and try to have a negotiation with him? That's absurd. She knows better than that. But she knows better than that because it is exactly what she wanted.

INGRAHAM: Pelosi is out there saying today that Republicans don't really believe in the Constitution. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE SPEAKER: We take an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Democrats take that oath seriously, and we are committed to honoring our oath of office. I'm not sure that our Republican colleagues share that commitment. And I'm not sure that the president of the United States does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: That's offensive. That is beyond offensive. I'm going to tell you what, when we took the majority in 2010, you know the first and we did on the floor, we read the Constitution. You know what the Democrats did? They didn't read the Constitution, but you know what they did last week? They read the Mueller report. Each one came and read a page.

INGRAHAM: That's still going on right now. It's like bedtime stories with Maxine Waters.

MCCARTHY: Right there says a lot about what somebody wants. Look, I may philosophically disagree with Nancy Pelosi, but I'm not going to claim whether she is --

INGRAHAM: Trump will work with anybody. I just said this to Cornell West. I like Cornell West. He's a nice guy. We don't agree on everything, but I like the fact he is out there fighting for what he believes in. But I said if you want to work for the president, call him up.

MCCARTHY: He'll take your call.

INGRAHAM: Right, he'll take your call.

MCCARTHY: I wish they let the cameras follow that president for a day. When they see how he treats everyone, when they see how he wants to work with everyone. I was in the Oval Office when we signed the bill, talking about criminal justice reform. Van Jones was sitting in that room. He said, look, I disagree with the president a lot, but he got this done. Nobody else did.

INGRAHAM: Not many Democrats want to give him any credit for that.

MCCARTHY: No.

INGRAHAM: Congressman McCarthy, thank you for being here. Always great to see. Have a meaningful Memorial Day weekend.

MCCARTHY: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: And words matter. And the ones the left have chosen lately are resonating with our next guest, though not for the reasons the Democrats might hope. Frank Luntz will explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Have you noticed the Democrats are kind of using all the same phrases lately, ones they obviously believe are worth repeating? But how did these actually play with the voters? Here now is media guru, pollster Frank Luntz. Frank, I want to start with a phrase Nancy Pelosi made famous today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The cover-up by this administration.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE SPEAKER: -- is engaged in a cover-up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In an effort to cover up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His invention to cover up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I feel cold. I need a cover up.

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: I'm not surprised, because their whole focus, and it doesn't make sense to me politically, is to try to bash Donald Trump in the morning, to bacs him in the afternoon and the evening. There is a Broadway show with that musical in mind. It's not going to work. They expect the Democrats to solve health care. They expect the Republicans to solve immigration. Do something. Solve something. And all they're just doing is more politics. That will not work.

INGRAHAM: OK, let's move toward next choice, the word "dictator."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERROLD NADLER, D-N.Y., HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: We have a situation where the president becomes a king or a dictator.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president has in many respects become a dictator.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are at a brink of importance between democracy and dictatorship.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thumping his chest and acting like he is the dictator that I think he wants to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUNTZ: So clearly someone wrote that for them, because that is not by accident that all four of them have said it within a few hours of each other. Here's the problem, it doesn't resonate. The public may disagree, they do. They disagree with Trump on some areas. But nobody thinks he is a dictator, not even the leftwing of the Democratic Party. So it has no credibility.

INGRAHAM: But they do send out a memo? Is that what they do? They sit around, I will say dictator at 9:00 a.m. and you say it at 1:00 p.m., and you say it on this network?

LUNTZ: You actually get a bonus. You get extra green stamps.

INGRAHAM: Green stamps? We're really dating ourselves.

LUNTZ: We're playing to them.

INGRAHAM: And finally, fringe Dems have long been troubled by the status of democracy in the age of Trump, but now the Democrat frontrunner is saying something.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you asked me a few years ago if our democracy was at stake, I would have smiled and laughed a little bit. No more. No more. The threat to this nation, to our democracy Is real. It's clear and it's present.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Threat to democracy, does that work?

LUNTZ: I'm not going to criticize him on that. It actually might work. There is a segment of American society who believes that our democracy is in jeopardy. And many of them believe that because of the Democratic attacks, not because of what the president has done.

INGRAHAM: I've got to say, I don't usually disagree with you, but I think people are voting their pocketbooks. They're not going to give their money for some fantasy on the left that Trump is either a dictator or that democracy will end if Donald Trump is reelected. But we are out of time. Save it for next time, Frank Luntz. We will be right back. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Last night we told you about how celebs were using late night to make themselves feel better. So are the 2020 Dems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": Donald Trump said he won't work with Dems until all investigations end.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-CALIF.: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oh, my God. So exciting. It is love soaking that left the applause. That's all the time we have tonight. Don't forget to check out my new podcast. Go to my podcastone.com.

Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" have all the other angles covered from here.

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