Gutfeld on Biden’s political plagiarism
President-elect has adopted Trump polices he once criticized; reaction and analysis on 'The Five'
This is a rush transcript from “The Five” December 2, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, everybody. I'm Jesse Watters along
with Dagen McDowell, Juan Williams, Sandra Smith, and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5
o'clock in New York City and this is THE FIVE.
President Trump releasing a brand-new video statement amid new claims of
voter fraud in the 2020 election. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The
constitutional process must be allowed to continue, we are going to defend
the honesty of the vote by ensuring that every legal ballot is counted. And
that no illegal ballot is counted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: The president's new comments, coming as post office
whistleblowers say thousands of mail-in ballots were either tampered with
or thrown out entirely in key swing states. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: All I can tell you, I took 24 pallets, I picked them up in
Bethpage, New York and drove them to Harrisburg, and then from Harrisburg I
drove them to Lancaster.
UNKNOWN: I had no ballots to take on election day, the day after the
election I didn't really think anything of it until the postal service
supervisor asked me if I had forgotten ballots the night before. And I
didn't have any so I was like, that's kind of a weird question, no. And
then he explained to me that 100,000 ballots were supposedly missing in the
state of Wisconsin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS (on camera): And during a hearing in Michigan, GOP poll watchers
claimed they were bullied. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: Any time as a challenger I tried to look at the ballot, two or
three of the poll workers literally screaming at me to get back six feet.
UNKNOWN: These people were like professional agitators whose job it was to
sow discord among GOP workers who were trying to do their job. He said
something to the effect of I will kick your ass or I will kick you out of
here.
UNKNOWN: The ballot had a straight party ticket vote for both the Democrat
and the Republican. The poll worker did said, I think I'm going to give it
to the Democrats, that's absolutely absurd, that is illegal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS (on camera): All right. So, before we get started some very sad
news to announce. Because of her salty language, Dana Perino has been
suspended indefinitely and she will put her entire week's salary in the
square jar. And hopefully she will be back soon.
All right. Hi, Sandra.
SANDRA SMITH, FOX NEWS HOST: Hi.
WATTERS: Greg Gutfeld, you've seen now some of these witness statements
about what they've seen and heard. What are your reactions to that?
GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: Well, first of all, you know some people
are going to believe everything you just said.
WATTERS: I'm kidding.
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: That's what (Inaudible).
GUTFELD: Jesse, just make sure you're going to get a phone call.
WATTERS: No.
GUTFELD: I'm not surprised by this. I look, I watched the eyewitness
testimony and I'm thinking, you know, everybody keeps using the word
baseless. These are baseless accusations, baseless. They go, it's baseball.
It's basement-full.
I mean, think about every violation of civil discourse in civil society
that has occurred this year, has been defended by the Democratic Party, OK?
Riots were recast as mostly peaceful, looting was seen as a legitimate
protest by the Atlantic, mobs targeting restaurants, people at restaurants,
and that was like speaking truth to power, defunding the police was
championed until of course they thought that might cost them elections so
they backed off.
So, voter intimidation fits together in this behavioral pattern, the
Democratic Party will seize power by any means necessary and that means
threat of violence or intimidation and if we don't call them out on this,
which is what we're doing now, it's going to continue.
Why were statues torn down? They knew they could get away with it. Why was
private property destroyed? They knew they could get away with it. They
created the idea that lawlessness was acceptable in the face of alleged
moral evil.
That Trump was such a monster and his supporters were so evil that
anything, it's not just acceptable, it's encouraged to bully and intimidate
people. And this calls into question a lot of these -- a lot of these
cities, if this was happening in these cities we have to look very closely.
This was a four-year moral crusade to make it acceptable to abuse an entire
group of people because they didn't agree with you. So, I think it's -- I
think the idea, you don't even need widespread fraud, all you need is a
little bit of it in these specific cities and you can turn an election.
WATTERS: Well let me ask you, Juan.
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS CO-HOST & POLITICAL ANALYST: No, let me jump in
here.
WATTERS: OK, Juan. Because I have a specific question.
WILLIAMS: No, you should go, go ahead.
WATTERS: OK, fine.
SMITH: That was nice.
WATTERS: We're so nice sometimes. Juan, so, you heard this guy, Jesse
Morgan is his name and he made a pretty specific allegation, he was a
postal service contractor who drove at least 300,000 mail ballots from Long
Island, New York, to Pennsylvania, then was fooled around with and told to
go and park his truck at a place he'd never done before and he wakes up the
next morning and the rig has been stolen.
What is your reaction to something like that? Do you think that's a big
lie? Do you think that guy is lying?
WILLIAMS: I have no idea, Jesse. But I'm saying --
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: But doesn't that --
WILLIAMS: No. Jesse.
WATTERS: -- make you curious? You're not curious about that?
WILLIAMS: Jesse, if there is substance to what he is saying I am certain
that Republican Trump officials will take it to court and let the courts
decide. That's not OK to me.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: Good. OK. I'm glad -- I'm glad you said that.
WILLIAMS: But I want to respond to what Greg was saying, because Greg was
saying this was Democrats and this has to do somehow with things that
happened in the past. I'm thinking to myself, is Bill Barr a Democrat now?
Is he to be treated as not part of the Republican Party?
SMITH: OK. So, what did Bill Barr say, Juan?
WILLIAMS: Bill Barr said there is no evidence of such substance and such
magnitude that it would overturn the election results.
SMITH: As of now.
WILLIAMS: So that's the key point, Sandra.
SMITH: No.
WILLIAMS: No, that's what he said.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: No, that's not what he said, Juan.
SMITH: That's an important --
WILLIAMS: Let me finish.
GUTFELD: That's not what he said.
WILLIAMS: That's exactly what he said. Let me finish.
GUTFELD: I was talking about -- I was talking about (Inaudible).
WILLIAMS: Let me finish, will you, please?
GUTFELD: Nobody is misrepresenting what I said.
WILLIAMS: No, I'm not. You are misrepresenting what you are talking about.
GUTFELD: I'm talking about the observers.
WILLIAMS: This happened in the summer.
GUTFELD: That's how far.
WILLIAMS: Let me tell you, here are Republicans.
GUTFELD: Don't misrepresent me, Juan, please.
WILLIAMS: here are Republican judges, Republican judges throughout every
one of these lawsuits.
GUTFELD: Not what I'm talking about.
WILLIAMS: The Wall Street Journal conservative says Trump is diminishing
his own legacy by alleging fraud that he cannot prove, Republican governors
in Georgia --
GUTFELD: Address what I said.
WILLIAMS: -- and Republican governor in Arizona --
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: Juan, just to be clear -- just to be clear, there's a huge --
WILLIAMS: -- the Republican head of cybersecurity, Chris Krebs, all said
this election was without --
GUTFELD: Address the witnesses.
WILLIAMS: -- massive fraud. And I might add. Here is something else that
really bothers me.
WATTERS: Quickly, Juan.
WILLIAMS: You have a Republican, Republican election official in Georgia,
Dave Sterling with the support of the Georgia secretary of state saying the
President of the United States must stop inspiring people to commit
violence --
WATTERS: Juan?
WILLIAMS: -- people will get hurt.
WATTERS: You are just reading things Republican said in states that we're
not talking about.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Well, because Greg said this was Democrats who were not
acknowledging --
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: All right.
GUTFELD: Yes, I'm talking about Democrats at the polling station.
WILLIAMS: I'm telling you --
GUTFELD: And you completely (Inaudible) what I said.
WATTERS: Dagen?
WILLIAMS: Democrats this, Democrats that.
GUTFELD: They are intimidating the poll observers and you totally avoided
that point because you get it wrong, you cannot deny the witnesses.
WILLIAMS: I cannot deny --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: You can't handle the truth.
WILLIAMS: -- the Wall Street Journal --
WATTERS: All right. Come on, Dagen, jump in, please.
WILLIAMS: This is a dangerous game that you guys are playing.
GUTFELD: Dangerous game.
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX NEWS BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Why shouldn't these
whistle-blowers be listened to? Are we just going to --
GUTFELD: Yes.
WILLIAMS: Fine.
MCDOWELL: What do you mean fine? OK, where is the left-wing media in all
this? They have, there is an aggressive lack of curiosity about what these
whistleblowers have to say. Under the Trump administration, whistleblower
comes out of the works, we've got to book him, we've got to get him on,
they are, the whistleblowers who pointed the finger at the Trump
administration over more than four years, they were sacrosanct whenever
they said was unimpeachable.
But these people are literally putting themselves, their careers on the
line by a coming out and saying, I saw malfeasance or I saw wrongdoing, or
I saw something that just looked bad and it smelled bad. And they are
willing to do it publicly, they are willing to do it, in a form willing to
swear to what they witnessed.
And I just want to know, if this is the kind of new era of mail-in voting
and mail-in balloting, and it's going to happen in this size and volume,
why don't the Democrats want to get to the bottom --
GUTFELD: Yes.
MCDOWELL: -- of isolated cases of intimidation or fraud or mishandling of
ballots? Why don't they want to get to the bottom of it? Because the left
and the Democrats think it's always going to work in their favor.
WILLIAMS: No, but it's --
MCDOWELL: Is that what's going on? Because that's really discussing.
WILLIAMS: Let me ask you something.
WATTERS: Juan?
WILLIAMs: Let me ask you something. Do you think the news division of Fox
News --
WATTERS: Juan?
WILLIAMS: -- isn't interested in every one of these? Do you think that the
Washington Post and New York Times, Wall Street Journal have no interest in
any of these? Of course, they do.
WATTERS: Juan, we didn't actually take some of these hearings.
SMITH: Juan, I think that the --
WATTERS: All right. Go ahead, Sandra.
SMITH: -- important discrepancy when you keep referencing back to Bill
Barr to make in that A.P. interview is, he did not say the investigation is
over.
WILLIAMS: No.
SMITH: Nothing has been concluded yet says the DOJ. It seems that some who
want to believe that the investigation is over believe that but what he's
saying is, and Kayleigh McEnany said that in the briefing today, what is
come over his desk so far, he has not been able to conclude any widespread
fraud.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
SMITH: He makes a really important distinction, though. Dagen, to your
point about systemic allegations versus circumstantial allegations. So how
far do Republicans want the DOJ to dig into some of these individual
allegations, is that what they are therefore?
WATTERS: Well, I mean, that's what they should be there for because there
is a woman in Wayne County who witnessed people in these count rooms for 27
hours xeroxing and re-scanning ballots for Joe Biden over and over and over
again and she said the next day she actually called the FBI, spent 40
minutes on the phone with the FBI person and never got a call back. So
maybe that should be investigated.
WILLIAMS: Yes, like all this nonsense. How many of these cases have been
just abuse as ridiculous?
WATTERS: Hey, Juan, I think after you hear --
WILLIAMS: Ridiculous --
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: -- about three or four dozen --
GUTFELD: When people get in the --
WATTERS: -- witnesses, it's no longer baseless.
WILLIAMS: You know what, this is shameful.
WATTERS: I think Juan sounds nervous.
WILLIAMS: I'm nervous.
WATTERS: If you won, don't be so nervous.
WILLIAMS: Yes, yes.
WATTERS: Coming up, Joe Biden is plagiarizing again and this time he is
copying President Trump's America first policies. Greg has a monologue on
that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: After trashing Donald Trump for his evil America-first stance,
Joe Biden assembled his brain trust and came up with something far better.
America first. Here is Joe from today's time.
Quote, "I want to make sure we are going to fight like hell by investing in
America first. I'm not going to enter any new trade agreements with anybody
until we have made major investments here at home and in our workers."
Well, you know, I'm old enough to remember when joe felt differently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: America first
has made America alone under the Trump administration, our alliances are in
jeopardy, we are more isolated in the world than we've ever been. Our
allies are go it alone. Our, you know, America first has made America
alone.
President Trump has changed the landscape, it's become America first which
is been America alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD (on camera): Yes. I also remember the day after the travel ban in
America first idea when Biden tweeted this. We need to lead the way with
science, not Donald Trump's record of hysteria, xenophobia and
fearmongering. Then what does Joe do? He backs the travel ban three months
late. So, who is leading the way, Joe?
But we get it. If Trump did it it's evil, until Joe slowly realizes it's
not and then steals it. Yes, he doesn't just lit speeches, he'll take the
travel ban, the pro-fracking policy, the vaccines, those tariffs on China.
And also, Joe is preaching unity now, a Trump rallying cry after Joe
himself branded half of America racist and now it's America first.
Joe suffers from the we hate Trump but love his ideas disorder. You'll see
more of it. The Middle East peace plan, higher wages for the working class,
defending law and order. Joe will see what Trump has done and think, I
can't do better and he's right.
So, Joe's first term might in fact be Trump's second and anything the press
condemned the orange Godzilla for will become magically awesome under
mighty Joe Biden. Joe should invent a slogan for this. How about make
America great again, it has a nice ring to it.
So, this is my theory, Jesse. This is going to be, if it happens and Joe
ends up being inaugurated it's just going to be Trump two without the
tweets.
WATTERS: I like it, I like it. He's good at stealing things, Gutfeld.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WATTERS: Slogans, elections, I'm just kidding, Juan.
WILLIAMS: Thank you. My gosh.
WATTERS: You know, he also plagiarized his build back better.
GUTFELD: Right.
WATTERS: He took that from the United Nations. Who knew they had anything
worth stealing? I'm going to be honest, if he steals this, I'm good with
it.
GUTFELD: me too.
WATTERS: And I am going to treat Joe like I treated Trump. Fair and
balanced. When he does something good for the country, I'm going to applaud
him. When he does something detrimental, I'm going to savagely attack him.
And people will marvel about how fair I cover Joe Biden.
SMITH: There you go.
WATTERS: And if they call me a hypocrite if I did something with Trump
that I didn't do with Biden, I will just wiggle my way my way out of it
with some reasonable explanation.
But in all seriousness, this made in America thing that he's got on his web
site which I look at today, I mean, it sounds exactly like Trump's plan, it
sounds great.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WATTERS: They are going to reinvent in manufacturing, they're not going to
do these new lopsided trade deals and they are going to buy America first,
all that stuff so let's see what happens.
GUTFELD: Juan, what are you going to do if he does something that Trump
did? Are you going to actually say that's terrible, or are you going to
suddenly like it?
WILLIAMS: I think that's great, because that's what I was going to make
Jesse's point, that if you guys are really saying, this is terrible, wait a
minute, you like what Trump was doing so maybe you should like what Biden
is doing.
GUTFELD: But he should accept that.
WILLIAMS: No, but in fact, I thought you confuse things. Clearly, what you
heard from Biden was Biden talking about military alliances, our
involvement in NATO, climate deals, the Asia PAC, all of that.
Clearly, Trump pulled back and left the rest of the world, and our allies
left them.
GUTFELD: But that was part of America first.
WILLIAMS: So, my point is, look.
WATTERS: Outside of America.
WILLIAMS: Look, my point is, Biden won the election, Trump lost. The
American people rejected Trump and that's the bottom line here. And if you
really want to think about it I would say that, you know, if you really
think about America first I think it was Trump who didn't follow through
because we saw billions in contracts go overseas during the Trump
administration.
WATTERS: We saw a lot of manufacturing jobs come back because they left.
WILLIAMS: Yes, not enough.
SMITH: And not only that, Juan, we became a net oil exporter --
GUTFELD: Yes, exactly.
SMITH: -- under the Trump administration and one of the first things he
says he's going to address when he rattles off in this New York Times
interview, hos he is going to refute President Trump's policies is energy.
So maybe that's an area where he's going to make some unwanted changes,
when you saw the American worker and the American consumer greatly benefit
from that energy independence.
WILLIAMS: I think what you have to factor in there is the environment and
I think lots of people are and in fact also --
GUTFELD: Environment is great.
SMITH: It remain, Juan.
WILLIAMS: -- in a (Inaudible).
(CROSSTALK)
MCDOWELL: Our emissions -- our emissions per capita in this country are
the lowest they've been since 1950, just broadly speaking they are the
lowest they've been since the early '90s. You know when you don't put
America first? When you rejoin the Paris accord which puts us, it hurts
America and the United States and actually lets China, the biggest CO2
emitter kicked 10 years down the road before they have to do anything.
You know what doesn't put America first? Raising corporate taxes because if
you raise corporate taxes in this country which Joe Biden promised to do
above where the taxes are in China? Guess what, that encourages those
corporations to move those jobs overseas. Or build factories overseas
because there's a lower tax rate there.
They can move their headquarters over there. And you know you really screw
rural Americans who Joe Biden was talking about? You raise their gasoline
prices. You raise their electricity prices and you take away their jobs in
the energy sector.
I just want Joe Biden to say China virus. if he's going to borrow -- borrow
you know what from President Trump, say China plague because that's why
271,000 Americans are dead, that's why a million and a half people around
the world are dead because that virus came from China and they lied about
it and they unleashed a pandemic on the world and he's been blaming Trump.
Shame on him.
GUTFELD: I hate it when she doesn't arrive geared up for the show.
SMITH: Holy, holy.
MCDOWELL: What?
GUTFELD: He came to play. He's going to beat me up in the break. I will
probably enjoy it.
Up next, more Democrats caught breaking COVID rules, plus a bar owner
arrested for defying restrictions.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SMITH (on camera): A bar owner in New York City getting hauled away in
handcuffs after defying COVID rules and declaring his business an
autonomous zone. Danny Presti speaking out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANNY PRESTI, CO-OWNER, MAC'S PUBLIC HOUSE: We followed everything that
their science, everything, the governor, the mayor's orders since March,
just kept going, kept going, we literally stripped down to nothing. Not
just us. These all small businesses, everybody who works in the small
businesses we were crippled down to almost nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH (on camera): And meanwhile, more Democrats accused of hypocrisy over
violating COVID guidelines. San Francisco Mayor London Breed reportedly
attended a dinner party at that upscale restaurant French laundry the day
after California Governor Gavin Newsom was there for a party. Days later,
she banned all indoor dining in San Francisco.
And the mayor of Austin, Texas, just got busted for making this video,
telling people to stay at home while he was vacationing in Mexico.
Juan, why do these stories continue? Politicians flouting their own
guidelines.
WILLIAMS: Yes, these guys are hypocrites and they should be called out for
it, Sandra. I think there's no question about it. You know, these are, to
my mind, this is bad actions by politicians because people follow examples
and so that's not good. But I'd rather have bad acting politicians than bad
policies that hurt people and the policies are the right policies, the
policies are good.
SMITH: Then why don't they follow them?
WILLIAMS: No, I think that they should but you know, I think elites
sometimes they have their own rules. But in terms of what --
SMITH: You know, Jesse --
WILLIAMS: -- we should be doing, this is what we should be doing, the real
person that's hurting people if you want to know politicians whose actions
are actually --
GUTFELD: Trump.
WILLIAMS: -- having an adverse effect is Mitch McConnell right now
blocking, blocking any kind of congressional relief for people who are
unemployed.
SMITH: Hold on. let's not get away from this awesome mayor did, Jesse.
Because this is really something, that Facebook video message, it was
posted November 9th, that was two days after his daughter's wedding. He
said on there, we need to stay home if you can, we need to keep the numbers
down. Now is not the time to relax.
He has since confirmed that he made that video and delivered that message
to Austinites while he was on vacation in Mexico with eight people.
WATTERS: Now is not the time to relax with a rum runner in your hand and
SPF 15 slathered all over your fat chest. This guy is disgusting. He should
stay in Mexico, we shouldn't let them back in.
What I like -- I don't like what I'm seeing out in Staten Island like you
can loot a business but you can't open the business here in New York City,
thanks to Blasio. Remember, this was only supposed to be temporary, these
lockdowns, even the WHO says lockdowns are a bad idea. It was supposed to
buy time to have hospital capacity.
I just looked at the hospital capacity here in Manhattan. We're fine. The
whole city is fine. There's plenty of beds. So, what are they doing? They
are basically shutting down small businesses and then the politicians
aren't sending them the stimulus checks. That's how you destroy a country.
And now you saw the autonomous zone out in Seattle and the other autonomous
zone out here, OK, two liberal cities. One was pro-business, always anti-
police, but they get treated completely different. One gets fester for, I
think 23 days, and then one gets shut down after, what, 24 hours.
And the one they had two, what, murders, they had assaults, they had
businesses being shaken down, they had vandalism. And this one, a couple
people got drunk. I mean, there people got shot, here people just took a
few shots. But all of a sudden, the guy is arrested for that. It's sick.
SMITH: Greg, you really feel for these restaurant owners. I mean, how can
they continue to survive with these restrictions?
GUTFELD: The thing is, we said this at the beginning of this whole -- nine
months ago when it started that our job is to give opinions but we almost -
- we almost have no skin in this game because we're not giving up any --
we're on -- we're on TV.
So, like, we aren't going to give up our salaries and we're not going to
lose our medical insurance and we're not going to move back at home. That's
what's happening to these people who own bars. This is what's happening to
the waitresses and the bartenders and the people in the small businesses.
They aren't going to be bailed out like the looters were after the riots.
You know, you have politicians bailing out looters, but they're not bailing
out these guys. So, it's easy for people to say that these people got to
follow the rules when we're on TV. So, I think that like, it's -- we got to
stop listening to the politicians, we got to start listening to the people.
We have to listen to them and what they believe is right because generally
right now, they've been told a lot of stuff that isn't true and their and
their livelihoods and careers are being destroyed.
SMITH: Dagen?
MCDOWELL: Yes. Why is it OK for people can go in a bar literally a few
streets down from this bar owner in Staten Island? I expect politicians to
be hypocritical, but I really am stunned by their level of idiocy. Because
there is now hopelessness among these bar and restaurant owners and
desperation where you see something like this with this bar in Staten
Island, this man has nothing to lose and everything to lose at the same
time.
I say over and over again, if there's one thing I've repeated all year, I
am grateful to have a job. I am really lucky to have a job. And I can't --
I don't really know what they're going through, but I feel for them.
And to correct you on something, Juan. Mitch McConnell and the Senate
Republicans tried to move forward on a half a trillion-dollar stimulus
package twice. And twice the Democrats in the Senate voted to not even
start debate on it. There is $135 -- $140 billion and leftover money from
the Paycheck Protection Program that just needs to simply be reallocated by
Nancy Pelosi.
WILLIAMS: Let me just say -- let me respond to that.
MCDOWELL: Where's that money?
SMITH: All right, final word.
MCDOWELL: There is -- it is nowhere. There's a half a trillion dollars in
money that is unspent from the spring package that needs to be reallocated.
WILLIAMS: Let me just say -- let's me just --
MCDOWELL: I hope they sleep at night.
WILLIAMS: Well, you know what? You can keep -- you can keep shouting, but
you don't -- you can't refute the idea --
MCDOWELL: That's a fact.
WILLIAMS: -- that the Democrats have acted, have had a bill on the table,
have passed the bill in the House.
MCDOWELL: No, they haven't.
WILLIAMS: We have a bipartisan -- Republican --
SMITH: All right, we got to leave it there.
WILLIAMS: Wait, wait, Republicans and Democrats put forward yesterday a
bipartisan proposal less than what the President proposed, and McConnell
won't act.
SMITH: All right, Juan, we can all agree, there are millions of Americans
who need help right now.
WILLIAMS: We agree on that. I can agree on that 100 percent.
MACCALLUM: Democrats failed the American people over and over again.
SMITH: Coming up next, members of the squad attacking former President
Obama for what he said about defunding the police.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: Welcome back. Former President Obama weighing in on a major rift
in the Democratic Party. But did he just make it worse stop? Democrats say
slogans like defund the police cost them seats, and the former president
seems to agree. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I guess you can use a
snappy slogan like defund the police. But you know you've lost a big
audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that
you're actually going to get the changes you want done.
The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done or do you
want to feel good among the people you already agree with?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: But now, members of the so-called Squad hitting back at Obama
over those comments. Ilhan Omar, the Congresswoman, says defend the police
is not a slogan but a policy demand. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argues
that using polite language doesn't work. The whole point of protesting is
to make people uncomfortable.
So, Jessie, I'm thinking about the whole idea of Democrats in disarray when
Obama is saying that Biden, Bernie Sanders, AOC agree on raising wages for
American workers, taking action on climate change, Obama even said AOC
should have more time speaking at the convention. That doesn't sound like a
disarray.
WATTERS: Nice try trying to patch things up, Williams. How can I let you
get away with that?
WILLIAMS: All right.
WATTERS: I mean, I hope Barack Obama just goes off on Omar on Twitter like
Donald Trump's style and tells her that she married her brother and sit
this one out. I would love to see that kind of thing happen but, you know,
he's too polite.
But think about it, Juan. He watched all summer. People riot, defund the
police, two dozen cities did it. He watched the whole streets get
destroyed, everything was on fire. He didn't say anything until his book
came out. He waited until now to say oh, that defund the police thing,
probably not a good idea.
After like what, the Democrats lost House seat after House seat, businesses
got burned, the whole country was torn to pieces. He waited until then to
sell a book to say it. Thanks, Barack, a little late.
WILLIAMS: Yes, the whole country got torn to pieces. Anyway --
WATTERS: Have you seen the damage, Juan?
WILLIAMS: No, I must have missed it.
WATTERS: Look at Minneapolis. They defunded the police --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: OK, Dagen, Senator Manchin, West Virginia, said today there's not
one Democratic senator who supports this idea of defunding the police. But
isn't it true that a majority of Americans across the political lines agree
police reform is needed?
MCDOWELL: Yes. But there's a difference between reforming a police
department locally and basically withdrawing funds away from a police
department.
WILLIAMS: Well, that hasn't happened anywhere.
WATTERS: Yes, it has, Juan.
MCDOWELL: Yes, it has.
WILLIAMS: Oh, yes --
WATTERS: Two dozen cities had defunded the police, Philadelphia,
Minneapolis, in Portland, Oregon, they're been defunded.
WILLIAMS: No, no, no. You said, they've taken all the money away from the
police.
WATTERS: Millions of dollars have been cut by city councils, slash budgets
millions of dollars.
WILLIAMS: No more -- no more police in Philadelphia. That would be news.
New police in Philadelphia.
WATTERS: Juan, look it up.
WILLIAMS: Yes, OK.
WATTERS: Look it up.
SMITH: Dagen?
MCDOWELL: I think women know that if there is an issue of domestic violence
or somebody breaks into your house, you're not calling a social worker to
come -- like a go after the perp. That being said, House Majority Whip
James Clyburn came out against the slogan. Congressman -- Karen bass also
said it was like one of the worst slogans that she'd ever heard.
I just want somebody in the Democratic Party with some stones to step up
and tell some of these people to just sit down and pipe down and pump their
brakes. I suspect it's a woman. It might not -- President Obama, obviously.
But just to -- you know, there's a difference between a senator and a
congressman. I think maybe people need to like lay that out for this --
SMITH: Juan, isn't former President Obama asking a rather serious question.
Are you putting a slogan like defund the police out there in an effort to
actually get something done or to his point, is this to feel good among
people you already agree with? I think it's a fair question. And he didn't
make any friends. It wasn't just Ilhan Omar and AOC who shot back, incoming
Congresswoman Cory Bush fired back at the former president, this is a
mandate for keeping people alive, doubled down on the message.
But Dagen, to your point, he went further. He took on socialism, another
word that the Squad likes to use and throw around. This is a loaded term.
So, he has a book out, but it might be a bigger message there to the
younger crowd in your party.
WILLIAMS: Well, let's talk about that, Greg, because I think this strikes
me as another example of people on the right elevating the so-called Squad,
a group that actually has very little power, but they like --
MCDOWELL: Tell them that.
WILLIAMS: They like to use them as a target when you have -- you just said,
from Karen Bass to Barack Obama, they'll say this is not about actually
defunding, it's about police reform.
GUTFELD: I think what it is, it's about using language as a device for
camouflage. Barack Obama didn't say that defunding the police was wrong.
He's saying you need a better disguise for it. The left has always been a
master disguising terrible ideas. ObamaCare, for example, was disguised --
you know, you're not going to lose your doctor, your premiums are going to
go down. Both were realized.
So, the left tends to redefine the speech as harmful, right, and actions as
speech. So, to your point then, will somebody ever stand up to this? It's
usually has to be the anti-left that stands up to the left, because the
people in their party are terrified of people in the Squad. So, how would -
- like how does it left know when they've crossed the line in their own
party?
Nobody said anything about the looting in their party. Nobody said anything
about police defunding in their party. Nobody said anything about the mob
tactics. Nobody said anything about the voter intimidation. Only time that
they ever stopped and police themselves is when they're soundly humiliated
by the heroes in the media.
SMITH: Oh, my God.
WILLIAMS: Is that right?
GUTFELD: Yes, thank you.
WILLIAMS: By the way, Sandra, I was going to ask you. It seems to me
Democrats just won the White House; they retain control of the House.
GUTFELD: They barely.
WILLIAMS: They may get control of the Senate. That doesn't sound like a
party in disarray does it?
SMITH: I think it's interesting to hear it former President Barack Obama
offer AOC -- he says, give the new blood -- give her platform.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
SMITH: Keep her happy.
WILLIAMS: That sounds like --
GUTFELD: Keep here busy. Maybe she should go in the kitchen. Wow. How
sexist -- how sexist is he.
WILLIAMS: All right, all right, we're going to stop now.
GUTFELD: My goodness.
WILLIAMS: Up next, comedian Sarah Silverman says she can get away with
offensive jokes because of her liberal politics. Next for you on THE FIVE.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MCDOWELL: Can liberals really say anything? Comedian Sarah Silverman
boasting that she and her fellow lefty comics can get away with offensive
jokes because of their liberal politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH SILVERMAN, COMEDIAN: We are liberal so we can say anything. So, we
could say, you know, the words that are unsayable or whatever. Like, you
know, I don't mean it, so I could say it. Like, there is kind of like a
liberal like (BLEEP) about it, I think, in retrospect, I mean, I don't
know. It's a weird balance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCDOWELL: Greg, this is one of those segments where I just want to hear
what you have to say. So, let it rip.
GUTFELD: Well, I mean, what -- it boils down to this. She could use the N-
word because she's a liberal. She can wear blackface because she's a
liberal. That's what she's saying. She's also saying in a weird way, and
it's -- and it's true that liberals have more freedom of speech than other
people do because you assume their intentions are in the right place.
If her and I were to say the same joke, my intentions would be bad, but her
intentions would be good. So, her solution isn't that everybody has the
same freedom of speech, which is all freedom. Hers is basically let's just
roll it all back because, you know, I realized that I was wrong in the
past, and we should just limit everybody's freedom of speech.
So, I don't know. I think that what would -- I support whatever she says. I
don't care what she says 100 percent. But the thing is, you know, she
should actually -- like, it can't just be her good intentions behind
everything. Everybody tries to have good intentions when they make jokes.
Maybe she should assume that people she doesn't like also have good
intentions and not just assume because they're politically different, they
have evil or dark ideas behind their jokes.
MCDOWELL: In this podcast, Jesse, and I found this astonishing. Name who's
one of the hosts of the podcast currently residing in the Where Are They
Now File? He blames essentially conservatives for them not being able to
make jokes. He says this. What's been going on is things have gotten so
serious because everybody who is not liberal is so serious and so dark and
so real about their negativity or hate or racism, whatever it is, that it's
all taken all of that away. That essentially, he can't make jokes, because
well, conservatives have no sense of humor.
GUTFELD: That's for me.
MCDOWELL: And are racist and whatever you want to say.
WATTERS: Well, I think I'm pretty funny. But half the time, I'm not even
trying to be funny. That's a whole another issue. Greg made a lot of good
points so I'm not going to take up too much time. But humor and ridicule
and mockery politically are very effective.
Remember what Jon Stewart did for so many years, the way he really went
after all these Republican politicians, with the clips and the mockery,
that was really effective. And that turned a lot of people on to that type
of humor. And it made caricatures at some Republicans. If Republicans to
that to Democrats, you can't do that. That's too effective. And that can
really hit home too hard. So, they have to put up a bunch of walls so we
can't say anything.
MCDOWELL: Juan.
WILLIAMS: Well, I think free speech allows people to be offensive, so I
don't -- I mean, I think that's obvious. And the marketplace then gets to
decide what's acceptable or not. Like, if you cut off somebody's head, I
think that was a liberal politician who was punished, right?
So, comedians, I think, are judged on whether or not they are funny, not so
much on whether they are offensive. You got to be funny first and foremost,
in order to really be effective. But you look at I think, comedians across
the line. This is where liberal, and conservatives, politicians, comedians
agree. They don't like politically correct speech. People say they can't go
on the campus and do a comedy routine. So, I think -- I don't think this is
-- this is a political thing.
SMITH: Well, she's apologizing for it, Juan. She says, a lot -- she says,
I've said a lot of problematic things looking back, but such as comedy,
it's not evergreen. I think that speaks for itself.
WILLIAMS: Right, because comedians push the line.
SMITH: I just thought -- and this an op-ed to Dana's episode the other day,
her incident, I should say. But why on the swearing? I mean, she just
dropped how many swears in that one attempted line?
GUTFELD: Are you trying to take Dana's seat now?
SMITH: But I mean --
GUTFELD: You're totally subtweeting Dana, and she's not here.
SMITH: Is that -- like, is it necessary function for a comedian?
GUTFELD: It is for me. I mean, I think -- I think swearing actually takes
the place of like putting your fist through a window. You swear just to
release a little bit. But you don't need to do it all the time.
WILLIAMS: But you can't -- in other words, comedians can do it. I don't
know about commentators.
SMITH: She does it a lot.
GUTFELD: But why do -- why do comedians have more speech than everybody
else? They shouldn't.
WILLIAMS: No, no. But they -- but they push the lines. They're -- part of
their act is pushing the socially acceptable line and language.
WATTERS: Oh, when I push lines, that's not the reaction we get.
WILLIAMS: OK, OK.
MCDOWELL: I've been in this business for 20 years and I've never said
French on the air. Never.
WATTERS: Wait, wait, that's not true.
MCDOWELL: I've never -- I've never said French. No. I shrub it but I want
to end with this. Nothing should be off-limits when it comes to humor. And
I'm grateful for Dave Chappelle what he did in that Netflix special. It
turned it around for everybody. "ONE MORE THING" up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: It's time for "ONE MORE THING." We have Jesse's Engagement News.
Look at that champagne. So, my producer Mike Lamarca finally came to his
senses and proposed to his girlfriend.
GUTFELD: While she's holding a dog?
WATTERS: Liz Harris said yes. There they are in the Poconos by a babbling
brook.
WILLIAMS: Unbelievable.
WATTERS: He did get on his knee and she said yes after a little hesitation.
But she did say yes. So, they've been dating for about a year officially,
but known each other for about six years. And he did this on the
anniversary of their six-year meeting. She's actually a game show producer
working on shows like $100,000 Pyramid and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
I think it's safe to say that marrying Mike won't make you a millionaire,
but it'll make you very happy. So, congratulations.
WILLIAMS: Absolutely.
SMITH: Good luck. Congratulations.
WILLIAMS: Did Michael get wet knees there?
GUTFELD: I can't believe they weren't wearing masks.
WATTERS: Definitely knees.
GUTFELD: They weren't wearing masks through that hallway. I think -- I
think we have to have a meeting tomorrow discuss his future here.
WATTERS: Yes, six feet.
GUTFELD: Yes, six feet. A handshake would have been enough. I don't want
people seeing that kind of lustful activity on THE FIVE. All right, let's
do this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Animals are great. Animals are great. Animals are great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Yes, they are. You're going to love this one. If you're like me, I
get super excited when the mailman comes. I can hardly wait just like this
little fellow here. Check him out.
WATTERS: Oh, my God.
GUTFELD: Explain that to the IRS.
WATTERS: My dog ate my --
MCDOWELL: I love it.
GUTFELD: Anyway --
WATTERS: Those were Trump ballots, I'll tell you that.
WILLIAMS: I'm sure. Call Bill Barr.
WATTERS: Juan.
WILLIAMS: Spotify, the music app announced 2020's most streamed artists
today. Take a look at the winners Bad Bunny, Drake, J Balvin, Juice WRLD,
And The Weekend fill out the top five. So, I got to wondering, what are my
colleagues listening to. Greg's was Housing, Luxury, Energy by King Buzzo
and Trevor Dunn. Jessie's was Someone Loved You, Lewis Capaldi.
WATTERS: That's right.
WILLIAMS: My top five -- my top five included 60s hits It's a Shame by The
Spinners, This Old Heart Of Mine, the Isley Brothers, and Ain't No Mountain
High Enough, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Now, I want you to know. Can
you guess who my top artists of last year was? Of course, the winner was
Sam Cooke.
SMITH: Love it.
WATTERS: Sandra.
SMITH: All right, put the -- put the bride and groom up in the screen. They
got married Rapunzel style. She tested positive for Coronavirus as it goes
2020. She got married from the window, her groom was down below.
Congratulations to Lauren and Patrick Delgado.
WILLIAMS: Beautiful.
WATTERS: Wait --
MCDOWELL: And for you, I have a joey named Timmy in the kangaroo sanctuary
in Alice Springs, Australia taking very first steps. Follow them on
Instagram. You won't regret it.
WILLIAMS: That's so cute.
WATTERS: All right, that's it for us. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next.
Hello, Bret.
END
Content and Programming Copyright 2020 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2020 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials
herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be
reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast
without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may
not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of
the content.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox