Eric Trump rejects 'fluffy messages' of Democratic National Convention: There was no specificity
Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, joins Laura Ingraham to respond to first night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," August 17, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham, and this is “The Ingraham Angle” with a full accounting of what you just saw on night one of the Democratic National Convention.
Now tonight, you're going to get exclusive reaction from Eric Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, Victor Davis Hanson, Sara Carter, Raymond Arroyo, Dinesh D'Souza, and more.
Now, the Democrats build tonight as a program to promote unity. But we're going to show you, and you're not going to see this anywhere else, that this was nothing but a series of bromides and cliches and it turned out to be an empty buzzword.
Now, to discuss racial equality, they trotted out Mayor Muriel Bowser, who cares more about a BLM mural in her city than the fact that homicides are up in her majority black city nearly 20 percent over last year.
Now, to discuss COVID, they brought on Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York. Now, he oversaw some of the highest death tolls in the nation. And his nursing home policy was a lone responsible for the deaths of more than 10,000 New Yorkers.
To discuss how Democrats are the party of the working man, they tried it out Bernie Sanders to rail against Wall Street and corporate interests? This on the night that they filled their program with lobbyists. And on a day that it was just revealed that they're getting more money from Wall Street, this cycle, than they have in a decade. I wonder why, China. Sorry.
And as you can see, it was a more of a night of contradictions, of course, than unity. And we'll bring you more of this throughout the hour.
But first, here to weigh in on the first night of the DNC, Steve Cortes, Trump 2020 campaign senior advisor for strategy. And Ed Rendell, former Pennsylvania governor, DNC chair and longtime Biden friend.
All right, gentlemen, I want to give everyone a taste of how Democrats tried to woo Middle America tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORI LIGHTFOOT, MAYOR OF CHICAGO: We're also challenging, you know, all kinds of institutions. Think about what they can do better to end systemic racism.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, D-NY: The divisions have been growing deeper, the anti- Semitism, the anti-Latino, the anti-immigrant, fervor, the racism in Charlottesville.
BETO O'ROURKE, FORMER CONGRESSMAN OF TEXAS: The most destructive, hateful, racist president in the history of this country.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, D-VT: Authoritarianism has taken root in our country.
MURIEL BOWSER, MAYOR OF WASHINGTON D.C.: Together, we can turn this reckoning into a reimagining of a nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now, Steve, I'm thinking of the people I spent last week with in Minnesota. You know, I was down there on East Lake Street that was flattened by the riots at the end of May, and then all over the state. And I'm thinking, how does this play to the average Minnesotan?
All right. I was flabbergasted at the very negative and depressing presentation tonight. And at times, even the first lady who, of course, gave a great speech because she's a -- she's a very powerful speaker. I'm - - never take that away from her and she's a global celebrity, but is this really connecting with that Middle American voter who still believes that, you know, pre-COVID life should be attainable?
STEVE CORTES, DONALD TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISOR FOR STRATEGY: Right. No, it certainly will not connect. It was clear that this was for a crowd in Brooklyn, New York, rather than in places like Beloit, Wisconsin, this was catering to Hollywood, rather than the Heartland.
And it was not a celebration of America, it was an indictment of America. And I will tell you as a proud American, I didn't even recognize the country that they were describing in this -- in this ridiculous long commercial that they put on tonight. They were describing some sort of dystopian, racist hellscape.
And I would give you just as a couple points to push back against that, number one, this is the greatest country on Earth in which to be a racial or ethnic minority, and I say that as an Hispanic.
I would also tell you this, if we were the country that the Democrats described tonight, why would tens, if not hundreds of millions of people around the world who are definitively not white skinned? Why would they so yearn to come to this country? They must be fools, according to the Democratic Party to want to come to a country that is systemically racist as the Democrats are trying to get us to believe.
INGRAHAM: Governor Rendell, I've always loved having you on the show and you're, you know -- you're -- to me, you're more like a classic Democrat. And to me, the classic Democrats of your -- when I say your, I mean, I don't know, five minutes ago, five years ago, maybe.
This party is kind of unrecognizable, Ed. I mean, you didn't hear many policies. You heard a lot of invective, Trump's bad, Trump bad man, Trump not empathetic, Trump's terrible, America's rotten, racist systemic.
But I heard almost nothing about how the Democrats are going to make our lives better. Why is that?
RENDELL: Well, first of all, Laura, you have to understand, both conventions, the Democrats and Republicans, will be taken in their entirety. You'll hear a lot more about specific economic proposals as the week goes on.
This can get -- this night had three purposes. One, to have Senator Sanders persuade his supporters -- well, all of his supporters to vote for Joe Biden, and I think he did a good job achieving that goal.
Secondly, to get people like two former Republican presidential candidates, John Kasich and Meg Whitman, to endorse Joe Biden, to get one of the greatest governors in the history of this country, Christine Todd Whitman, to endorse Joe Biden, to give suburban women and suburban men the comfort level of switching and voting Democrat for this election, and I think they accomplished that in a big way.
And then thirdly, to have Michelle Obama fire up the base, and she did an absolutely spectacular job. So you can coral with the content of this one night, but take the convention as a four-night story and see if there's more of need on subsequent proposals as we go on, but those were the three things we have to accomplish. Right? And we accomplished them big time.
INGRAHAM: OK. Well, Steve, on that point, there was a moment where Bernie Sanders rattled off a few quickies. And then he also said this. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Our movement continues and is getting stronger every day. Many of the ideas we fought for, that just a few years ago, were considered radical on now mainstream.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I love how he beats out every word radical, now, he admits it's radical. He's saying it's radical.
CORTES: Right.
INGRAHAM: The radicals have won and the Democrat Party. It is not Ed Rendell's party anymore. That party was gone and buried and I don't know if it's ever going to come back again. Steve.
CORTES: No, Laura, you're exactly right. This is not your parents' or your grandparents' Democratic Party. And he is right, the positions that just as recently as a few years ago, were considered extremist and fringe leftist radical views are now considered orthodoxy and really unassailable within the Democratic Party.
And to be specific, what do I mean? Things like effectively open borders, they don't use that phrase, of course. But if you decriminalize border crossing, if you offer generous benefits to illegal aliens who don't belong in this country, and Joe Biden has promised, and even more than that full citizenship in this country, to reward them for breaking and entering into our land, these kinds of policies are now unfortunately within the Democratic Party, the norm, but they are not mainstream policies within America.
And therein lies the rub. And that's it's our job on the Trump campaign to make sure that we effectively communicate just how radical the 2020 Biden- Harris Democratic Party is.
And again, I think that -- they did us a favor tonight, by showcasing their cynicism, their skepticism of this country. Again, this was an indictment that we saw tonight and also the people they put forward. OK.
INGRAHAM: Yes. Let's move on from that point, though, because I want to just -- for a moment, Ed, touch back to Kasich and Meg Whitman and Christine Todd Whitman, just for a moment, because I'm thinking the last, even CNN poll, 91 percent of Republicans, and I think another poll show that 95 percent of Republicans, 96 even on one poll, supported the president of Republicans.
So, I mean, John Kasich and Meg Whitman, what is their constituency in the United States of America? I mean, God bless them. I guess they're nice people. But that that to me, is just a waste of airtime. I don't see how that gives comfort to anyone that Joe Biden is going to have the plan for magically stopping COVID other than shutting down the whole country through, I don't know, next year.
RENDELL: Well, the thing is a lot of the Republicans that they're talking to, left the Republican Party and become independent, but they still have to be persuaded to vote for Joe Biden. And they're still Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs.
For example, in the Cleveland suburbs, there are still registered Republicans who, you know, you say nine percent, percent. Well, that -- you persuade two thirds of that 10 percent, there goes Michigan, there goes Wisconsin, there goes Pennsylvania. So, you can minimize in an election that will probably be as close as 16 was percentages so the small percentages can make the difference. And that's who they're talking to.
That's pretty shocking when you have two presidential candidates from not way in the past, but from four years ago...
INGRAHAM: Ed, I don't mean to interrupt, but I would say John Kasich, in 2016, couldn't persuade Ohioans, not to vote for Trump, but somehow, he comes back in 2020 and he's like a miracle worker. I just -- forgive me, but I do not understand the idea that he is persuasive. I don't think he changes one vote. I mean that's just my view about John Kasich.
But you're right, it's going to be a close election, it's going to be a close election. Gentlemen, thank you. And, Ed, it was great to see you as always.
All right. In praise of Joe Biden's accomplishments and talents in tonight's DNC, well, in the speeches, it seemed a little bit forced, a little bit consider this. A new NBC Wall Street Journal poll found that 58 percent of Biden's supporters said they're not voting for the former VP, as much as they're voting against Trump.
In fact, only 36 percent of them said they're casting their vote for Biden, a number that's a lot lower than the 49 percent who said they were voting for Hillary Clinton, ahead of the 2016 election.
Well, what does that mean for this election? And how is the Trump team responding?
Joining me now exclusively is Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization.
Eric, the speeches didn't seem like they were in support of Joe so much as really, they hate your dad, and they think your dad is not empathetic. He doesn't care. He doesn't hug. He doesn't ride Amtrak. I mean, it kind of all that combined. But what was your takeaway from just that aspect of it?
ERIC TRUMP, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Listen, Laura, I thought they were generic. I mean, here they are saying we'd like to heal the soul of our nation, yet., Kamala Harris is going out there and effectively comparing ICE agents to KKK.
I mean, there's no specificity to anything. I mean, how about talking about, you know, after the Democrats signed NAFTA, that we lost 70,000 factories in this country, and our jobs all went overseas.
I mean, why don't they ever talk about that? Why don't they talk about the $150 billion that Joe Biden gave Iran they told he build weapons to use against our country? What about, you know, Michelle Obama comes out and he's the one to rebuild this economy?
Well, under Biden-Obama, the Dow Jones went up 4,000 points in eight years, yet, under my father and three and a half years, the Dow Jones has gone up 12,000 points.
I mean, he's not the guy to rebuild the economy. I mean, they had 0.9 percent GDP growth under certain years in the Obama administration under Obama. They don't know the first thing. Joe Biden can't spell the economy, so it's all these little fluffy messages.
I think he said, you know, best with Kasich before, I mean, washed up Republicans that got zero percent of the vote back in 2016 that, quite frankly, are still bitter that my father beat them so badly, but there is no specificity or anything.
Our military was rundown, our educational system was broken. We weren't growing, our economy was an absolute mess. Illegal immigration in this country was absolutely rampant. We're being used and abused by China. We're being used and abused by Mexico; we're being ripped off by the entire world. NATO was taking us to the absolute bank, the European Union was -- I won't even tell you what they're -- you know, they were doing to us.
I mean, I could go on and on, Laura, and there was none of that -- it's, you know, he's not a nice guy, and, you know, the soul of our nation is quote unquote, broken. Yet, there's sparking divisiveness every single day. They're painting Black Lives Matter in front of Trump Tower in big yellow letters every single day while shootings are going on in the streets of New York and Chicago, and Minneapolis and Seattle, in Portland.
INGRAHAM: Eric, I want to get to New York for a moment because Governor Cuomo and his remarks at the DNC tonight. Check it out.
E. TRUMP: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: The European virus infected the Northeast while the White House was still fixated on China, the failed federal government that watched New York get ambushed by their negligence and then watched New York suffer. But all through it learned absolutely nothing.
For all the pain and all the tears, our way worked, and it was beautiful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: It was beautiful. Well, this is what he said about your father's response back in April.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: The President brought in the Army Corps of Engineers, they built 2,500 beds at Javits. These were just extraordinary efforts and acts of mobilization, and the federal government stepped up and was a great partner, and I'm the first one to say it. We needed help and they were there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: We needed help, and they were there. He was basically playing phone a friend with your dad during the entire pandemic, Eric, now, he gets up there in the virtual DNC and, suddenly, Donald Trump doesn't know how to handle COVID? Are you kidding me? It was -- it was pathetic.
I'm sorry. All these people are giving glowing reviews of this convention. I thought that was one of the most pathetic performances by a political figure, given the calamity that so many people are dealing with right now in New York and did during pandemic. Sorry, I'm acting as a guest on my own show, but I'm pretty torqued about him.
E. TRUMP: Laura, they're phoneys. I mean, they're nice, right? I mean, when that comfort sailed past the Statue of Liberty, everybody was cheering including the governor and the world was working together. Right? But that's the phoniness of politicians. That's why people love my father because he's just deadly real.
Look at Kamala. I mean, two months ago, Kamala was calling Joe Biden a racist. She was saying that she believed he's sex accusers, right? And now all of a sudden, he's a wonderful man who has done wonderful things for this country over the last 45 years. I mean, which is it? You can only be one or the other. My father either did a phenomenal job for New York or he didn't, you can't just change your mind midstream.
And the reason, quite frankly, Cuomo is, is because he killed 11,000 people in nursing homes based on his horrible, horrible policies. And so, we have to shift the blame to somebody else and it's tragic.
My mother has done a greater job in the last three and a half years in any present history. The way he turned around the country, the way he turned around the military, the way he turned around immigration, the way we're no longer being used by every country around the world. He's done a phenomenal job and they can't point with single quantifiable measure that they've done better than Donald Trump, it's just fluff and roses.
INGRAHAM: Well, I want to -- I want to give context specifics on this. We want to deal in facts tonight about Cuomo's handling of COVID in New York, remember, 32,435 have lost their lives. That's a death rate of 167 per 100,000 residents, Eric.
Now, let's compare that to red states that he likes to criticize, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Texas. Well, taken together, those states have lost 29,219 people, it's very tragic. But that's the death rate four times lower than New York's at just 42 per 100,000.
E. TRUMP: And, Laura, the difference -- the difference is those states didn't shut down their entire governments, they didn't shut down their cities, they don't have people leaving their states and their cities by the thousands, right? They still have functional economies whereas New York doesn't right now, whereas -- I mean, that's the difference.
Not only did they do it better, not only did they lose less people, but the states are actually alive and float and not defunct.
INGRAHAM: And he has the gall to say it was beautiful or even use the word beautiful. It's beautiful that health care workers showed up every day and essential workers show up every day and do their darn best. That's beautiful. It's not beautiful what he's done to try to pass blame on the White House for his failures, that's what's not beautiful.
And, Eric, I'm so glad you joined us tonight. I know your brother was on "HANNITY," but I'm glad you were on with us. Thank you. Thanks so much.
E. TRUMP: I like your show more.
INGRAHAM: All right.
E. TRUMP: Thanks.
INGRAHAM: And we mentioned this earlier, the former GOP luminaries speaking out against President Trump, should we even bother with this? Well, tonight here's a sampler.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE WHITMAN, FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: It's about a person. A person decent enough, stable enough, strong enough to get our economy back on track. Donald Trump isn't that person, Joe Biden is.
MEG WHITMAN, FORMER CEO OF HEWLETT PACKARD: Joe Biden, on the other hand, has a plan that will strengthen our economy for working people and small business owners.
SUSAN MOLANARI, FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSWOMAN: He's a really good man. And he's exactly what this nation needs at this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Is that really the new base of the Democrat Party lobbyists and billionaires? But those so-called Republicans were merely a warm up act for the most insufferable of the never Trump genre.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KASICH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF OHIO: America is at a crossroads. Sometimes elections represent a real choice. And I know that Joe Biden, with his experience and his wisdom and his decency, can bring us together to help us find that better way.
They fear Joe may turn sharp left and leave them behind. I don't believe that, because I know the measure of the man. It's reasonable, faithful, respectful and, you know, no one pushes Joe around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Didn't that remind you of the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz like this?
I don't even know where it's at. His response is, Texas Senator, Ted Cruz. Senator, there's so much to say and so little time, but your response to John Kasich. Go.
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TX: Well, look, he's been an angry denial for four years. I think what we saw tonight was the beginning of the collapse of Joe Biden's basement strategy. Joe Biden has been hiding in his basement since he won the nomination.
But tonight was Bernie Sanders his night tonight. So, john Kasich is promising voters don't pay attention to all the craziness on the Democratic side, Joe isn't that crazy. Well, you know who didn't believe John Kasich? Bernie Sanders didn't believe John Kasich because Bernie Sanders stood up there and said, our radical, socialist agenda has won. We've taken over the Democratic Party and Joe Biden is ours.
And that really underscores the stakes of this election. If the Democrats win, you are looking at Bernie in ascension, you're looking at AOC, you're looking at, mark my words, Elizabeth Warren as treasury secretary.
Bernie might be Secretary of State. These are radicals and that's where the Democratic Party is. And I don't think that's where the the American people are.
INGRAHAM: Ted, when -- Senator, excuse me, I've known him for a long time. Senator, the Midwest, think of Midwest states, so I just spent last week in the Midwest, I'm not getting this strategy. I'm just not getting America is a horrible, awful racist country. We're terrible. Trump's rotten. Statues are coming down and we don't care. Notice the rioting wasn't mentioned at all, the damage done by the rioting, that was not mentioned. How does this appeal, really appeal in John Kasich, Ohio, in Pennsylvania and in places like Minnesota, Wisconsin, does this really appeal, this stuff?
CRUZ: Well, it doesn't, and the Democrats today are the party of the rich. They're the party of coastal elites. They're the party of Manhattan and San Francisco. Kamala Harris was a bold move to lock down the vote in San Francisco. And that's who they're trying to appeal to is, is the radical left. When it comes to working men and women, when it comes to union members, when it comes to the Ohio steel worker, they were nowhere to be found. They -- the Democrats don't have a message for, for, for teamsters. The Democrats don't have a message for, for, for right now.
Antifa mobs are burning police union halls. It used to be that unions, the union leaders would stand together but the Democrats have said we care more about the woke mob than we do about standing with cops or firefighters or working men and women and to go tonight without saying a meaningful word about the riots, about the police officer being murdered. It's an example of how the Democratic Party, they're getting more and more extreme and it's all because they hate Donald Trump. That, that's what they stand for is radical leftism and hating Trump. I don't think that's the majority vision in America.
INGRAHAM: And they go for a Hollywood celebrity to be the emcee tonight. I guess they hope everybody watching is "The Desperate Housewife," Senator Cruz that there is going to throw in with the Democrats. Hell, we're going to lose the free market, we'll lose police in the suburbs, but we really think this is a fun ride to be on. Again, I don't get it. I don't think it plays. Democrats, though, also use the night to spread and I have to get your take on this, Senator Cruz. This post office conspiracy to rig the election, election. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. Postal Service. It is central to so much of our lives. Veterans count on the post office to get their prescriptions. Social Security beneficiaries count on the post office to get their checks.
SEN. CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, D-NV: Because putting the lives of Nevada's seniors at risk by trying to defund the post office.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, D-MN: The President may hate the post office, but he's still going to have to send them a change of address card come January.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I note to miss Longoria and friends, they stopped sending Social Security checks through the mail and, oh, 2013 under President Obama. Senator Cruz, first it was Russia, then it was Ukraine, and now, it's the Post Office -- a new hoax for every time and every moment.
CRUZ: And this one is bizarre. It is impressive to see the democratic talking points that when they decided to message, every single Democrat across the country repeats it word for word. But, but you know, the Post Office, I'm willing to bet that not a single person there speaking has bought a stamp in the last five years. They have no idea what's going on with the Post Office. But look, we also know what this is all about, which is the Democrats are desperate to beat Donald Trump.
And so, they're pushing for this scheme that they call universal mail-in voting because they want everyone to vote by mail, and the reason they want it is that mail-in voting is particularly susceptible to voter fraud. They want to enable what they've done in California what's called voter harvesting. You know, in Texas, we have, we have tough rules to protect against voter fraud in Texas and some of the history of them. They were actually adopted by democratic legislators in Texas, because there was a long history in South Texas, of voter fraud in democratic primaries were unscrupulous political operatives.
For example, they'd go to a nursing home, they go to each person and say, here, fill out your ballot here and here, honey, let me help you. Just check Joe Biden right here, fill in that dot, and they collect them all. And then magically, all the Joe Biden ones get mailed and you know, if someone was stubborn enough to vote Trump, well, they just kind of happened to throw that ballot in the mail and the Democrats in the trash rather the Democrats, they want to be able to enable voter fraud. That's what this whole post office nonsense is about. Is because they're trying to be in a position to steal the election. It's about their hatred for Donald Trump.
INGRAHAM: Senator Cruz, really quickly, I also believe there's a very cynical undercurrent involved in all of this, that almost wants to see a building movement toward more civil unrest. If things don't go their way, because then they'll say, Oh, you took it from the mailboxes? You, you stole the mailboxes? You it seems like I find this to be a very dangerous tactic. They're playing with fire here with these types of lies. And are you worried about that real quick?
Well, listen, you're exactly right. And we've seen whether it's representative Presley or earlier, Maxine Waters, who urged people to engage in civil unrest essentially encourage the rioters you had in Minneapolis, when Antifa, when mobs, where firebombing, stores, and police cars, yet the Attorney General of Minnesota holding up the Antifa handbook and his son, the Minneapolis city councilman saying I stand with Antifa.
The Democratic Party, when given a choice between the safety and security of the men and women in this country versus the radical mob, they've said, we side with the mob. And I got to say, I feel for the residents of places like Seattle and Portland, where the mob has taken over and the Democratic politicians have said, to hell with you, to the men and women that they're responsible to protect, because we're not willing to stand up to the radicals who are burning our cities down. That's sadly who the Democratic Party is listening to right now.
INGRAHAM: Senator, thank you so much for joining us tonight late on the INGRAHAM ANGLE, we appreciate it. And we just mentioned this, that the speakers of this virtual DNC tonight, they all failed to mention one of the biggest threats facing our country right now, in some of our most beautiful cities, the extreme levels of violence, criminality, mayhem, that are just destroying neighborhoods. I saw it firsthand last week in Minneapolis.
The President went there today met with business owners, who have their entire lives destroyed. Minorities, and people from all walks of life seeing their lives destroyed. And these cities are run by Democrats; they've been run by Democrats for decades. And things are getting more depraved and more dangerous by the day, but to watch this thing tonight, it's like it never happened. That's unbelievable. Now, important last night, peaceful protesters they chased a truck driver is after he crashed. They dragged him into the street. And they did this and I have to warn you. I've only been able to watch this video for about five seconds. It was this shocking. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I just get in a rage, right? Like, white, black, whatever your skin color, no one should be treated that way. It shocks the conscience. Not even -- these things weren't even mentioned tonight. Now, on Saturday, protesters marched down to the Minneapolis Police Federation president's house, and that's where an actual candidate for the Minnesota House endorsed by the Democrat Governor Tim Walz, one of the worst governors in the country, by the way, and Ilhan Omar, who won her primary last week did this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're coming. We're for everything that you (BLEEP) took for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: We're coming for everything that you took for us, I believe he said. There are a bunch of teenage girls out front. I guess they're big threats. Joining me now is Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, Sarah Carter, Fox News Contributor hosted the Sarah Carter show Podcast, also is Vince Ellison with us, Author of the book, "The Iron Triangle." Victor, why should we expect the media to cover this? I mean, I think a lot of people, if they don't watch Fox, if they're not on certain Web sites, if they're not on Twitter and following the right people, they wouldn't even have known that any of this has been happening.
They wouldn't know it at all. They wouldn't know what I saw in East Lake Street last week, because nobody's showing it nobody's talking to these minority business people. So, we're operating in a, in a information deficit. Unless you watch this show, others on Fox, or follow read you, read -- or listen to Sarah Vince's great books. I mean, people would never even know about it. That's how bad it is right now.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, HOOVER INSTITUTION SENIOR FELLOW: Yes, I think though people are learning about it because it's ubiquitous. It's in their own lives. They see it when they drive around. They see it in New York, they see it in the suburbs and what this unity message is -- and think about it, they're saying, we want unity and the subtext of that is, we won't have anybody trying to burn the police alive when we're there.
And we're not going to loot the million-dollar-mile and we're not going to destroy Seattle and New York's going to -- because we're going to tell them to stop, because their message is what we embold -- that what we represent, and they can get it through us so there'll be no need. So, that in a weird way, they're holding the nation hostage because there's -- the subtext is, this all, this is Donald Trump disunity but it's not, they've whipped it up and they can stop it if they get what they want -- and that's the, the bargain of the election.
The other thing is they're talking about these April-May issues as if they're in a time warp. I felt like they were back in May, you know, in May. George Floyd is never mentioned in these demonstrations anymore. This has gone way beyond him. We're in the, the ultimate phase of the revolution. This is about destruction, and Antifa and anarchy and they still talk about George Floyd. And then they still talk about this virus. Well, the virus is here, but for 30 days daily, it's gone down. It's a very fluid situation. It's changing.
And the lockdown, the lockdown is defined by one point. Now, 50 million children are suffering some dramatically so because it can't go to school, when there's less risk than facing influenza. We can take care of teachers that are vulnerable. That's the issue. And that's a losing issue for them. They keep -- they don't understand that this is August and Trump's polls are going up because they're talking about things in April and May and they have no solutions or alternate policies for this and the final thing is, whatever this, I have an empathy for them with the virtual world we live in, but this is a bad infomercial doesn't work and I hope that Republicans can find some way to tweak it or get actual live, people talking, or interviews, or a candidate parking lot, you know, impromptu.
INGRAHAM: Yes, we're going to get into this with to that aspects of --
HANSON: Just one speech after and --
INGRAHAM: Yes. All right. We got to get into the other two guests. Vince, I want to go to you. I think of what has happened to the poorest neighborhoods in the United States. OK. The poorest neighborhoods ravaged by crime. Lockdowns are terrible for the most at risk kids. As Victor said, no school terrible for the most at risk kids. And that's like none of that's happening. It's Donald Trump's a bad man. Vince, quick.
VINCE ELLISON, AUTHOR: Well, I understood the Democratic Party for a very long time. I mean, when my father told me a story about how they use the Ku Klux Klan and run them off of the cotton plantation they were on when he was a very young man. And he -- they didn't want him to vote, they threatened to kill him. The Democratic Party has always done that, that's been their stick for, for, for the whole life: violence, murder, assassination.
They don't care about people; they care about power. And that's all they're going to do, and they will kill black people, they'll kill anyone to get it. So, this violence in the street is something that they're used to, something they've always done, and they always will do it, and I hope that America will wake up and understand that they will not have any freedom until these Democrats are gone.
INGRAHAM: Sarah, President Trump was actually in Minneapolis today also Mankato, Minnesota. In Minneapolis, he met with the victims of the riots. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Democrat-controlled cities have shown that Democrats plan and what they plan for America. In Minneapolis, 700 buildings were burned, damaged or destroyed, costing more than $1 billion that just left incredible people, their businesses were burned down, gone. And they don't know what they're going to do, but we're going to try helping them to get them rebuilt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Sarah, contrast that with Biden, he's hiding out in the basement doing these, these little infomercials that are so heavily edited. You wonder what the outtakes look like. And Kamala is not even mentioning the shocking violence that we're seeing.
SARAH CARTER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: No, they're gaslighting everyone. I call it the virtual Gaslighting Convention Day One, with the Democratic National Party. You know, this is how they operate, and this is such a radical agenda. Laura, you know, Bernie may not have won the nomination, but his radical agenda did and they -- and he did it through Biden with their manifesto that they signed in early July.
And for the American people, and particularly for people in urban communities, like we see what President Trump speaking directly to business owners, in cities that have now been just emaciated the, chaos that has been sown, and the failure of democratic leadership to actually unify their cities to protect their citizens. To, to, basically, they want to defund the police instead of protecting the, the businesses in their community.
What we're seeing now is that, that exacerbation of what's happened in the United States, and I think that the voters realize this, I think they understand this. And President Trump and the campaign, I have to agree with Eric Trump here and I have to agree with, with Senator Cruz, they have to reach the American people and show them with this radical agenda will do. It we'll destroy the inner cities. We've already seen what the Democrats have done there, and that will spread across the country like wildfire.
We can't afford for this to happen. We can afford for this country to be more divided. Come November, there's going to be one choice, it's going to be a you know, Marxist agenda, a progressive agenda that's radical, or freedom and principles that our nation is going to stand on. And that's what the American people are voting about.
INGRAHAM: How about we're not going to be a nation of snitches on each other. We're not going to be snitching on each other. And we're not going to be, you know, condemning our country at every turn when we've given so much to each other, the world invention. I mean, it's like America, as we know her, doesn't even exist at all in the way they were painting her all night long.
Victor, I want to get into what NPR reported on, which is the Wall Street opening up its wallets to, to Biden and Harris. "Deep-pocketed donors from the halls of finance are giving more money to Democrats than Republicans. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Biden is known is a known commodity on Wall Street and is widely seen as a more centrist acceptable alternative to more liberal democrats who ran for president."
I have one word to say to that, Victor, and I want you to weigh in on the other side, which is China. How much is that China wants Joe Biden to win and Wall Street makes an enormous amount of money in China in keeping wages low here.
HANSON: Well, remember what they did. When Biden was out of the picture, it looked like Bernie was going to get it. They backed Michael Bloomberg because he was such a pro-Chinese business person. He was heavily invested in leveraging capital for Chinese interests. And when he imploded, and it looked like Sanders might come and then they resurrected Biden, so that was that was one of the issues that they're most concerned and they get it in 2016. They outraged and outspent Trump.
I don't think that's going to matter, though, this year. I don't think the people are on their side. I want to say one thing very quickly: I agree that Michelle Obama delivered an eloquent speech. It was scripted, but it was elegant, but it was completely disingenuous. When she said we go high, her husband just hijacked a funeral for John Lewis. And what did he do? He brought in things like the filibuster and Puerto Rican statehood, Bull Connor.
And her husband, and that administration weaponized the CIA, the DOJ, the FBI, they tried to destroy a political opponent, a transition, a presidency. And as she's saying that, we have a federal prosecutor who's already indicted and has a confession that an employee of that administration tried to erode the sanctity of a FISA court. So, that was a little bit a lot to stomach. Did they go high? These are the -- that was most corrupt administration. And remember, they tried to destroy a campaign, a transition, and the presidency.
INGRAHAM: Yes.
HANSON: We don't even know the full extent of it. That was hard to take. I mean, it's really unethical --
INGRAHAM: I mean, this is what I still wish I had three hours of radio every day because there were lots of lies that day, and that presentation. Vince, just really quickly. When they go low, she was like, well, they go low -- when they go low, we go FISA. I was thinking we go to FISA court. I mean, this is just ridiculous. These have been -- these have been the most hateful people on the left to vilify Trump from day one. Victor's right giving style points to Michelle Obama tonight is not exactly, you know, difficult to do. What's difficult to do is rattle off what he just did, and educate the American public. Vince, real quick.
ELLISON: Well, like they say, the problem what they've done to America, Joe Biden said he's proud of what he's done to black America. I mean, the worst schools, the city's on fire, the family's been destroyed. I mean, you're looking at an American Cold War right now, where you see conservatism and you see the, the communists on the other side and conservatism wins. They're angry. They're deflecting, they're saying it's us, no, it's them. We're watching right now in real time, a contest between who's right and who's wrong.
And we're right, you don't see us rioting, you'll see conservatives rioting, and burning about neighborhoods that destroying our schools, our property, shooting and killing one another. The left is cannibalizing itself, as evil always does. And if you want to understand who's right, you look at us, and because, because Kamala Harris and Joe Biden said they're proud of their record. It's coming to a city near you, and it's coming to your city. If they get elected, this is what they're going to do to America.
INGRAHAM: How's that? As that council candidate Minneapolis said, we're coming to the suburbs. See, he made that clear. Other way, he decided to take his message right to a small, small neighborhood so they, they want -- they aim to, to move into the suburbs. That's for sure. Panel, great to see all of you tonight. Thank you so much.
And the theme again, for the DNC is "Uniting America," which sounds so nice, until you realize as long as you deal with actually bringing people together. They're not interested in seeking common ground. There's no way. They're sure as hell not interested in reaching across the aisle Obama never did. So, what does it really mean? Here to tell us, Raymond Arroyo Fox News Contributor and Dinesh D'Souza, Conservative Author and Filmmaker. Dinesh, what do Democrats want to do in uniting America against something or for something?
DINESH D'SOUZA, CONSERVATIVE AUTHOR: Yes, they have a politics of unity. But it also includes a concealed disunity. They have a politics of inclusion, but not everybody is included. So, they don't make any effort to find genuine middle ground either in policy or in rhetoric. I mean, if they wanted to find a middle ground in rhetoric, for example, you -- they would say things like: Well, you know, we know there are all these riots going on in the streets, and of course, we don't approve of that, and we support law and order, but in this particular case, you know, they would, in other words, attempt to address the reality in front of us.
Instead, what they're doing is trying to create, economics call it an alternative reality, an alternative universe to get us to live in that. And in that alternative universe, all their forces are unified against us, against Trump, against the people who support Trump. Notice there's no effort to reach out to them. Notice there's no effort to ever find middle ground with them. There's an effort to stigmatize them and demonize them, and all the talk of unity cannot hide the fact that these are actually very vitriolic, hateful people.
INGRAHAM: Yes, and they hate most, most people in Middle America, they hate most people in the suburbs, they hate the fact that they drive big cars, have big families, don't want them to go to church on Sunday, but you can go out and protest and burn things down, no problem.
Raymond, you notice something and they build up. Like, it's like the early red carpet at the Oscars. You know, we had Eva Longoria there. So, it's like the early red carpet. And you notice that it was messaging to radicals. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being politically correct, is probably not going to get it done. We have got to turn the system upside down.
REP. AYANNA PRESSLEY, D-MA: Communities from Boston to Portland and everywhere in between are rising up to demand accountability and divestment from broken systems.
FREDERICK HAYNES, PASTOR: Do you have the nerve to build a wall? America, if you don't want get your act together, you can, you may well go to hell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Raymond?
RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Laura, that was the feel-good part of a program, OK. That was the -- these were, these were the caucus meetings before the DNC. And tonight, I have to tell you as I watched this, I kept thinking, this is like a modeling MDA telephone after they fired Jerry Lewis. Remember, they used to have the pre-taped segments and they raised no money, that's what we saw tonight. This was like a string of those State of the Union response videos that nobody pays attention to.
It was very hard to watch a dark maudlin vision of America really promoting fear, politicizing death, and it, and it, it was a frightening evening in some ways. Despite Michelle Obama and her speech, and Bernie's, you know, energetic talk there, between the cracks of this, the imaging, the pictures, was of a very dark and dreary America with no solutions offered other than Joe Biden is a decent guy.
INGRAHAM: No. He, Joe Biden, rides Amtrak and is nice to the engineers on Amtrak, which is lovely, I love that. But that doesn't mean you have the competency to be President of the United States, Dinesh. And one point, Dinesh, Joe Biden was with that Gwen (INAUDIBLE) and doing a little interview, interstitial, highly edited. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What do you think the next thing we have to do, Gwen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a big uprising, but then it settled down. We can't let things settle down.
BIDEN: I think people are ready. We just got to keep pushing. We can't let up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, that's a lot of substance there, Dinesh, keep pushing, can't let up. What? What does that mean?
D'SOUZA: Well, this is, this is reminiscent of Peter Sellers in the movie "Being There." I don't mean to be trespassing here on Raymond's Hollywood territory, but the guy would utter a complete bromides that meant absolutely nothing but people around him would (INAUDIBLE) applause, admire his genius, and that's what we have with Biden and embarrassing spectacle. But I think for the rest of us, it's more like the emperor has no clothes, and no amount of decoration can conceal that obvious fact.
INGRAHAM: Raymond, ratings for this, YouTube I think was going down as it went down. You watch the YouTube numbers. What are your thoughts on how this is going to play?
ARROYO: My guess is things will plummet. Look, any that the audience doesn't want to be bored and frightened out of its mind. So, OK, this is not what we need in the midst of COVID, that's what the democratic committee tonight offered up. We'll see what tomorrow holds. But the most interesting thing to me is they're trying to depict and frame Joe Biden as a decent man, a good man, a moral man, a good man, a decent, respectful, normal man. Yet this is the guy who did one interview today. He did it with Cardi B., who has --
(CROSSTALK)
INGRAHAM: We got it. We got it. Let me play it. Let me play it. Let play it. Go ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joe Biden is a decent man with a long history of public service to America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He will bring decency and dignity back to the White House.
OBAMA: He is a profoundly decent man guided by faith.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: And, and then, and then he was chatting with this woman, Raymond.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARDI B., RAPPER: I just want Trump out. You know what I'm saying? I just go like his mouth gets us in trouble so much.
BIDEN: The rest of the world's always look to us, why have they looked at us? Not because we're so powerful, but the power of our example. Look what you're seeing now with this president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: But why is he going like this into the camera? I'm not clear why he's leaning into -- he should really consider though this example.
ARROYO: Well, with the multiple edits. I love the edits, and there are like four edits in one answer. It's unbelievable.
INGRAHAM: But Cardi B., is it -- I think she's making a good point because she is very empowering for young girls with her latest video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARDI B.: Seven days a week. (BLEEP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: That's very empowering. I mean, Raymond, what's, what is that? What is meeting with Cardi B.?
ARROYO: Lauran, remember, when the world leaning down, Biden goes high. But the -- I can't even, I can't even describe to you the title of Cardi B.'s song. It's so filthy and vile. The opening of the video reads: "There's some whores in this house." I'll stop there. I can't say anything up. It is the filthiest video. So, he's attached himself in a vain quest, I guess, for African American votes and young voters. He is attaching himself to someone who definitely does go low, admittedly, and probably one of the purveyors of a debased culture. If I had to name two or three people, she would be on that list. It's amazing that a presidential candidate would elevate Cardi B. like this.
INGRAHAM: Yes, I mean, Dinesh, it's really bad like an old people try to be cool by kind of interacting with the young people. I mean, setting aside her filthy lyrics and all that, that's just what she does, and that's, that's her thing. She makes a lot of money doing it. It's like a business. But it's kind of like the old people. Like if I ever -- you both have permission to smother me with a pillow, if I, you know, at age 73 and trying to interview rappers, OK. It's just not going to work whoever is popular at that time. But I think it just accentuates Dinesh, the fact that he's so, sorry, seemingly out of it. He can't handle that.
D'SOUZA: I literally predicted before the convention Biden will be in a sense, guided off the stage and Kamala Harris will replace them giving people the clear idea that this is basically a Trump-Harris race. Now, what makes I think this particularly fascinating is that the left has been going around the country yanking down George Washington statues because the man own slaves. And here's Kamala Harris, a product of identity politics descended from a Jamaican slave owner who owned five plantations and more than 200 slaves. So, there's at the very least a stunning irony here that the Democrats will need to have some explaining to do.
INGRAHAM: All right, gentlemen, it was so great to see both tonight and don't take the pillow smothering thing, literally, OK. All right, before we go, we have to play this moment after Bernie Sanders was done explaining how his radical agenda is taking over the Democrat Party. There was a big pause for applause. Well, that's when things got a little bit awkward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I mean, it's hard to do these virtual things, but you just have to find laughter wherever you can find it. That was one of the moments for me tonight. I'm sorry. All right, Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team have all the important developments and analysis and they will take it from here.
END
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