New fears Biden will make history
Newt Gingrich: Biden could potentially get us in the kind of trouble that would shatter the next 20 or 30 years.
This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on January 20, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight. We're going to get right to it. He goes low and we go high. That's the focus of tonight's Angle. Now, when we were kids, we all played that game hot potato. So, someone throws you the ball and you have to get rid of it as fast as possible. The last one holding the ball loses. Now, it's really funny to watch kids play it maybe third second grade during recess, but it's pathetic to watch an American president play the grown-up equivalent. I call it, when asked tough questions, throw the question to the other guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This afternoon, the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the midterm elections are going to be a report card. How do you think that report card looks right now?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think that this the fundamental question is, what's Mitch for? What are they? I wonder what would be the Republican platform right now. What do you think? I mean, I just - I honestly, God, don't know what they're for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Honest to God. Is this really the game he wants to play? Now, what's scary is that some staffer who is getting paid tax dollars to work every week actually thought, wow, this line will show America that Joe is really on top of his game. But, what Republicans most support here are Trump's pre-pandemic policies. You just heard him recount some of them with Hannity. Why is Trump still talking about them? Well, they delivered record unemployment, rising wages, a tight border, better trade deals, strong investor optimism and consumer confidence. And, even Joe in his adult state, he knows all this. So, his rhetorical question about the GOP was just another exercise in deflection and distraction. But, none of this is landing with the voters.
Two new polls out just today tell the bleak story for Joe Biden. His approval rating has dropped 10 points since April in the new NBC survey and the AP tracks closely with just 43 percent approving. But, what should be most alarming for the DNC and Biden is that a staggering 70 percent of Americans said they did not want Biden to run for reelection. Now, contrast this to how things are booming for Republican governors. They're gaining population in most states for a reason. People like their policies, the policies of lower taxes, lower crime rates, freedom from stupid COVID rules and keeping kids in school. Now, this isn't rocket science. It's common sense.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY MCMASTER, GOVERNOR, SOUTH CAROLINA: We must maintain a robust law enforcement presence and properly fund the police.
GLENN YOUNGKIN, GOVERNOR, VIRGINIA: I will continue to oppose President Biden's COVID vaccine mandate for health workers.
PETE RICKETTS, GOVERNOR, NEBRASKA: Hatchery that puts this money back into the pocket of the people.
RON DESANTIS, GOVERNOR, FLORIDA: We reject the notion that parents shouldn't have a say in what their kids are learning in school.
KRISTI NOEM, GOVERNOR, SOUTH DAKOTA: We are focused on expanding opportunities and liberty, not regulating it away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now, the four states with the lowest unemployment rates are all led by Republican governors and they also have GOP controlled legislatures. The four states with the highest unemployment rates are all led you guessed it, by Democrats. Now, back in the early summer of 2020, the Angle predicted that states that drag their feet on reopening, that refuse to reopen quickly and prolong their lockdowns, would fall behind and end up inflicting terrible damage on their people. Well, we were right. Sadly, now the blue states are struggling to revive their economies and also even to get their schools back on track. It could be years before any of them get back to normal, if they ever get back to normal.
So, as we look back on the past two years, we should never forget how journalists failed in their proper roles to question the proclaimed orthodoxy of the lochdowners. Rather than questioning those who were so quick to rob us of our freedom, they jumped into bed with them. Meanwhile, prominent media figures launched relentless attacks on the courageous leaders like governors DeSantis, Abbott, and Noem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Governor Kristi Noem trying to rewrite the history of COVID in her state, a state with one of the 10 worst mortality rates.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abbott addressing large maskless crowd at a Republican club outside Dallas. The news about Abbott comes as Texas is seeing a surge in COVID cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: --to believe be pro-COVID too. He is doing everything he can to help the virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I don't even know who that person is. Without facts on their side, Democrats and their press pals only had insults and ultimately censorship of critics to fall back on. Doctors who found success with therapeutics were villainized, governors who questioned school closures were menaces to public health. Politicians who didn't want to ditch the filibuster, well, they're racist. People who were then 1,000 yards at the Capitol on January 6, they are insurrectionists. What we're seeing is a far left carousel of false accusations and it's all breaking down. But, the Democrats cling to these hollow tactics whether on COVID or any of these other issues because it's all they have. There are no successes to crow about. There is only disappointment, high prices and empty shelves.
On foreign policy, the White House just stumbles from one crisis to the next. It's embarrassing. At this point, the nation is just eager to return to some semblance of clarity and pragmatism. They know that Trump conservatives in office, while not perfect, are far better at avoiding economic turmoil and foreign wars. First and foremost, they stand for America. Democrats seem eager for a radical change away from the American system of government to one that supports a new international order. Now, most of us know by now that that's just a recipe for less prosperity and less freedom for the average person. And, you know what we say to that? No, thanks. So, as you go low, we're going to go high. And, that's the Angle.
All right, joining me now is former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich and Fox News contributor. Newt, it's great to see you tonight. It has been reported that you're working with some members of the GOP on what is perhaps a new Contract with America. Can you tell us about it?
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER & FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean, first of all, I want to say I think everything you just said was powerful and accurate and one of the best openings I've ever seen you give. So, I want to commend you for that.
INGRAHAM: Thank you.
GINGRICH: What a historic turning point. And, the truth is, Biden set us up for an easy victory. He said, gee, I don't know what they stand for. Kevin McCarthy this morning, the next Speaker of the House, promptly issued a list of things we stand for. I am working with a lot of different people, including Kevin, on what we could do. There is huge potential for a Republican contract this year, much like we had in 1994. I have not particularly been in favor of one in the recent past. But, I think this is the year where we ought to come out and say here are 10 big things we'll do. This is what you can count on. And frankly, a number of them can be done no matter what Biden does. So, you can design it in a way that it has a huge impact.
I do think we have to run a positive alternative. It's not enough just to be anti-Biden. That's why my most recent book was called Beyond Biden, because I think the country is worried. The biggest thing I would bring to bear particularly after this last press conference by President Biden is this is not just political. This is historic. We have the weakest president in modern times who openly said it was OK for the Russians to take a piece of Ukraine and then had to spend the next 24 hours backtracking. He tells lies and what I think is troubling is - and he may actually believe his own lies. He may live in a world where he makes things up and then he believes whatever he makes up which - and the President United States is really dangerous.
So, I think we as Republicans have an obligation not just to reach out to our base but to broaden that base dramatically by offering solutions. You just showed a picture of Glenn Youngkin, the new Governor of Virginia, who is doing a great job of reaching out to Independents, to Democrats, to minorities, to creating a vision of a better Virginia that brings people together. All those governors you showed who are doing great jobs, same thing, they're positive, they're solution oriented and as a result not only are their states doing better but the governors are doing pretty darn well.
INGRAHAM: Yes. It's a hopeful message, Newt. And I think that people are desperate for what Obama said. Remember, he was all about hope and change and it was a new beginning and it was a brighter day in America, but they've kind of ditched all that, and now, it's all about America, the racist founders and the racist documents. It's so dark in so - it's so dour that I think most people are just like that's not - I love this country. Like, we are incredibly blessed to live here. And, into that point, Newt, at DNC Town Hall tonight, Biden found a new deflection tactic for his many failures. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDNE: I got to ask the question, I used to get asked for, you promised. No, I proposed. I like - I know how things have changed. If you say someone to campaign, it's a promise to get it done. I - we have basically 50 presidents in the United States Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Newt, I never heard of President of the United States say we have 50 presidents in the Senate ever.
GINGRICH: Well, look, I thought Biden did a remarkable job yesterday of talking for almost two hours. And, while a lot of what he said was baloney, nonetheless, he seemed pretty coherent. Tonight, you saw a return to the Biden that is frightening. If you have a president who is cognitively confused on a regular basis, who refers to Kamala Harris as President Harris, who, as you just pointed out, referred tonight, to the presidents in the Senate, again and again, you have to wonder, how weak is he in terms of his grip on reality and how dangerous is it? Remember, our system has a Commander in Chief as President where we require somebody who is strong, coherent, capable. You can like or dislike Donald Trump but he certainly was a strong person. He knew what he was saying and he was not confused about whether or not Senators were presidents.
INGRAHAM: Yes.
GINGRICH: I think that when I watched Biden, my fear frankly is not political. It's historic that he could potentially get us in the kind of trouble that would shatter the next 20 or 30 years. And, I think that's really, really sobering.
INGRAHAM: Well, Newt, we are heartened by your involvement with what might be a new blueprint for the conservative movement going forward with all the successes that we already can point to. Thank you. It's great to hear it tonight. And, joining me now is Molly Hemingway, Senior Editor at The Federalist, Fox News contributor, and Tom Bevin, co-Founder and President of RealClearPolitics. Tom, I mentioned this in the Angle, but how alarming is it that Biden has only 48 percent of Democrats who want him to run again in 2024 and a lot of those were probably just being polite, let's face it?
TOM BEVAN, CO-FOUNDER, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Yes. Look, the numbers are pretty grim and it's hard for the administration to spend them in any sort of positive way. I think probably the most alarming numbers for Joe Biden right now, his approval rating is down. It's a new low in the RealClearPolitics average of under 41 percent, 40.9 percent. And, it's been trending down. But, the most frightening numbers for Democrats should be that he is under 30 percent, 25 percent in one poll with independents, and his support among Hispanic voters is less than 30 percent. Those are the kinds of numbers that lead to wipe out, the midterm wipe outs, and Biden needs to energize his base but he can't do it at the expense of alienating moderates, independents and other minority voters.
INGRAHAM: And, speaking of spin, Molly, the White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain tried a new one out today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON KLAIN, CHIEF OF STAFF, WHITE HOUSE: The president is right in the middle of where the country as you look at what's in our Build Back Better plan. I think that's an all-American mainstream proposal. Somehow Republicans are opposing them. What we're trying to do is find the fastest way to pass it because Americans need this help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: So, Molly, federalizing elections, that's moderate apparently.
MOLLY HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, THE FEDERALIST & FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: This administration keeps acting as if claiming to be moderate is the same thing as actually being moderate. Now, it's true that the Democratic Party is almost entirely behind Biden when it comes to the House supporting what he wants in the Senate. Almost everybody is supporting what he wants. So, he is in the mainstream, I guess, of the Democrat party, but those horrible numbers that you're seeing in terms of what people think about how he is handling everything from the economy to COVID to foreign policy, show that he is not in the mainstream of where most Americans are and no matter how much media, corporate media, types claim that he is a moderate or claim that he is uniter. The reality is that the country just no longer believes that spin at all.
INGRAHAM: Tom, I have to touch on Kamala Harris because I think they're in a real pickle with her because I think they had some great hopes that she would be really persuasive and powerful number two. But, the more they send her out, the more trouble she seems to be for them. And, this is from Democrats. This is from off-the-record Democrat comments and other news sources. And so, they started to reintroduce her to the public in recent days and this was her appearance this morning on NBC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is he really concerned that we may not have fair and free elections?
KAMALA HARRIS, 49TH U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The president has been consistent on this issue and the issue at hand is that there are two bills that have been the solution that has been offered to address the fact that around our country, states have put in place laws that are purposely making it more difficult for the American people to vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Is this working, Tom? I mean, already spinning the next election which they know they're going to lose badly as essentially illegitimate, not the will of the voters, which is what they complained about Trump doing and now they're doing it and the election hasn't even happened yet.
BEVAN: Right. It's fairly rich in irony and hypocrisy. But look, Kamala Harris, her problem is that she is just not a very good politician. And, this is not surprising. I mean, this was evident during the campaign where she was - had to drop out before the first vote was even taken. And, the idea that she would somehow generate the political chops to be a vice president that could handle the kind of media scrutiny that she is getting and the kind of issues that have been put on her plate just wasn't going to happen. And so, I think she finds herself in a very difficult spot. She has tried to reboot her image. It hasn't worked. And, it certainly is a problem within the Democratic Party especially as they look forward to who might be the leader of the party beyond Joe Biden.
INGRAHAM: And, Molly, very quickly, a young Congressman spoke on the floor after the filibuster went down in flames. His name is Congressman Mondaire Jones, and his comments about the opposition to doing away with the filibuster were quite stunning. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MONDAIRE JONES (D-NY): Yesterday, on the Senate floor, white nationalists used the Jim Crow filibuster to block voting rights legislation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Molly, they went from calling Republicans greedy in the 1980s to dysfunctional in the 1990s and now it's just white nationalists.
HEMINGWAY: They're saying that if you have any regard for the security or integrity of elections, that you're racist. Obviously, this message isn't working because the vast, vast majority of the country wants basic security provisions like having voter ID and no matter how much they use these slurs, it's not going to change the fact that we do need to be able to trust our elections in order to have a country going forward. But, in general, this use of race baiting and trying to incite racial hatred in order to achieve political goals, I think is having a less of a good effect for Democrats than it had in previous decades. It's just not working as the Republican Party becomes so much more multiracial working class. It just doesn't work.
INGRAHAM: I have more on the race game and the race baiting coming up next segment, but, Molly and Tom, great to see both of you tonight. Thank you. And, one of the most alarming aspects of yesterday's press conference was the saber rattling over Russia from the D.C. press corps. Why do they seem so intent on making Biden a wartime President? Glenn Greenwald has some thoughts on that. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do have a number of domestic policy issues but on Russia very quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another question on Ukraine. Ukraine borders for NATO member countries, how concerned are you--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And, I wanted to follow up on your answer there about Russia and Ukraine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hasn't the U.S. and the West lost nearly all of its leverage over Vladimir Putin and given how ineffective sanctions have been in deterring Putin in the past?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now, during yesterday's press conference, Russia was mentioned 34 times and Ukraine 23 times. Now, compare that to China, that only got about seven mentions, emigration got two neither of which were actually in a question and crime was mentioned zero times. So, given this obsession over a potential conflict in Ukraine, would it be too much to assume that the D.C. media wants Joe Biden to become a wartime president? And, given the president's bizarre invitation of a minor incursion from Russia, would it be wrong of us to assume the same of Biden?
Here now is Pulitzer Prize winning independent journalist, Glenn Greenwald. Glenn, nice to see you tonight. Today, the members of Congress from both parties are telling Fox that they believe Russia is likely to invade Ukraine and I do get the sense that the D.C. beltway inside the beltway crowd is desperate for another U.S. military engagement. What are your thoughts?
GLENN GREENWALD, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: Yes. I mean, I think there is often the assumption that the media is leftist or liberal and maybe they are but when it comes to war, they are consistently on the side of militarism, imperialism and more conflict, going all the way back to 2003 when they like nothing about George Bush or Dick Cheney, but overwhelmingly the New York Times NBC News were behind the invasion of Iraq. They love the NATO involvement in Libya. They love the regime change operation in Syria. They were angry at Biden, for withdrawing from Afghanistan. The cynical motive is obviously it is big ratings and they get to be really important.
But, I think it's really ideological these people spend all their time and days talking to the CIA, the Pentagon. They kind of love this liberal internationalism. Obviously, going to war over Ukraine, even as a proxy war won't do anything for the American people, the American worker, but it kind of elevates the U.S. on this global stage and I think that's the ideology of the American media.
INGRAHAM: Now, I was one of those who was lured into the naive ideas about Iraq and even nation building. I finally saw the light. Thank goodness. But, your favorite Tom Friedman, Glenn, was on CNN talking about Ukraine tonight, and I thought made a very strange comparison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FRIEDMAN, COLUMNIST, THE NEW YORK TIMES: If you think and listen to the stories we've covered, think of Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. At the time, there is whole issue of Glaspie. Did we make all stupid statements before? Did we encourage him? And then, Saddam went in and lo and behold, America got its act together. I mean, we can be slow and messy and knuckleheaded.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Glenn, what does America "getting its act together" mean here? What does that actually mean in a military conflict with the former Soviet Union?
GREENWALD: So, leave aside the debate over the first goal for. The obvious interest the U.S. had in Kuwait was that that is a region filled with oil on which we were dependent. What is the U.S. interest in Ukraine? Why do Americans care at least enough to spend huge sums of money, unlimited money, in order to go to war with Russia or even by proxy to defend the territorial boundaries of Ukraine?
Tom Friedman, and all of these neo-cons, Laura, who used to be with George Bush and Dick Cheney during war are now with the Democratic Party. They're on MSNBC, Bill Kristol, David Frum, all of those people, the Lincoln project people, they're still doing the same thing which is cheering every word, Tom Friedman being one of those sociopathic, but they went to the Democratic Party because they know that's where the war lies. And, this comparison, the question every American should be asking is why do I care about the borders of Ukraine enough to risk American treasure when we have so many problems at home?
INGRAHAM: Glenn, I'm don't - I think if you did a national poll, I'd be like one percent. I mean, if that actually wanted to spend American treasure and potentially lives in Ukraine as much as we might love the Ukrainian people. This is Europeans' - Europe's conflict if they want to fight. Now, I want to get to something you wrote today. You said Congress's January 6 Committee plotted with JPMorgan and its lawyer, former Obama AG, Loretta Lynch, to obtain a citizen's financial records with no possibility of judicial review. Glenn, what is that all about? What do we need to know?
GREENWALD: I think that the incredibly abusive behavior of the congressional 1/6 Committee is getting woefully inadequate attention. They're embracing really radical theories or that say basically there is no limits on their own power. They targeted a private citizen, someone who never worked for the government, who worked for the Trump campaign. They wanted to get his bank records. They went to JPMorgan Chase. Usually, the bank has to notify the customer that someone has served a subpoena.
But, knowing that they had Loretta Lynch as their counsel, they said don't tell him until the very last second. They worked it out on purpose so that the bank agreed to give the Committee his banking records on December 24, Christmas Eve when all the courts were closed. They notified him two days before, refused to change the date. They gave him - they gave the Committee the records and he had no judicial review possible. He was only able to go after the fact and Obama appointed judge said sorry, you're too late. They already gave them. This Committee needs a lot of attention, Laura. They are exceeding so many of their boundaries.
INGRAHAM: Wow. It's complete abuse of government authority and we've seen this act before we know how it ends. Glenn, thank you for that reporting.
And now, every night on THE INGRAHAM ANGLE, what do we do? Well, we aim to inform and entertain you. And, I'm a populist conservative. I don't pull any punches. That's my style. So, over the years, I've developed a pretty thick skin, it's a job qualification for anyone in the public eye but especially a strong female conservative. Although I rarely respond to pot shots from haters, tonight I make an exception because this particular smear is the noxious byproduct of today's floundering Democrats.
In a Q&A with a media website, the occasional CNN pundit Bakari Sellers in discussing the cable landscape, called me an unabashed racist who sells racism. This of course, is a despicable, disgusting lie, and defamatory. Yes, sadly, it's the no go-to tactic of the modern left, and it's being fed by Joe, Jim Crow 2.0, Biden.
The fact is today's hardcore leftists believe much of America is racist. The 74 million Trump voters, the Constitution, the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star-Spangled Banner, it's all pretty much racist. Anyone who believes in voter I.D., racist. Anyone who refused to play their woke games, racist. Anyone who believes in colorblind hiring and school admissions, racist. Anyone who thinks we need to get tough on crime, you bet they're racist. And anyone who believes in building more statues, not tearing down old ones, yes, racist. Any parent who opposes racial politics in schools, racist.
In other words, disagree with the Democrats, and you're not just mistaken or ill-informed. You're racist. Of course, this reeks of the modern left desperation and utter weakness. Calling someone a racist is the surefire way to end a debate. And when everything is racist, real racism gets a free pass. Asian Americans have been discriminated against for a while now in college admissions, and no one on the left really cares. Why?
And given the horrific polls for Biden and dismal ratings for CNN, one would think that they'd start to listen to, not insult the millions of Americans who have already begun to tune them out.
Now, coming up, why are medical agencies controlling our return to normalcy? And how are they manipulating language to do it? We explain with my medicine cabinet next.
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INGRAHAM: Given how wrong they've been consistently about COVID, public health experts have a lot to answer for. So why are so many people still listening to them? There is a new documentary called "Planet Lockdown" that highlights the role language played in perpetrating this mask fraud.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLFGANG WODARG, GERMAN PHYSICIAN AND EPIDEMIOLOGIST: The pharmaceutical industry pressed WHO to change the pandemic, the definition of "pandemic," and they just wiped out that there should be many severe cases and many deaths. You can change a definition and you can change the world. And we had this change of a definition, and with this change of a definition, it was the tool, how the fear was driven.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: What's interesting, that WHO definition of pandemic has always been kind of elusive and never really clearly defined, so the question is why. Joining me now is Dr. Peter McCullough, epidemiologist and cardiologist in Dallas, Texas, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Stanford Medical School professor. Dr. McCullough, why don't they set clear parameters, clear endpoints for what constitutes a pandemic and that what constitutes a virus being endemic, so we can say sayonara to all these restrictions?
DR. PETER MCCULLOUGH, MD, MPH, INTERNIST AND CARDIOLOGIST: We're clearly on a continuum, and boy, does America need Senator Ron Johnson's Monday January 24th panel. It's called a second opinion for America and really for the world. The nation's experts will be in Washington to help guide America on where to go from here. It's clear that the pandemic is involving a virus that will become endemic. We're on the backend of our Omicron curve right now. We only about probably about 10 more days of the Omicron curve. We'll have to see with coming next. So far no variants are emerging, so that's good news.
INGRAHAM: Dr. Bhattacharya, not even the WHO at this point is buying the idea that everyone needs a booster jab. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, CHIEF SCIENTIST, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: The aim is to protect the most vulnerable, to protect those at highest risk of severe disease and dying. Those are our elderly populations, immunocompromised, people with underlying conditions, but also healthcare workers, because a lot of healthcare workers get infected, as we see now, they can be out sick, and we don't want them getting severely ill. So to reserve boosters for that population.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Dr. Bhattacharya, why are our leaders so far behind on this? We seem to be coming to the conclusions that you and McCulloch and so many others came to almost a year ago about how this was all going to play out.
DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA, STANFORD UNIVERSITY EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Right now, what you just heard was the Great Barrington Declaration strategy, protect the vulnerable. Use the vaccines to protect the vulnerable against severe disease because they face such a higher risk of mortality from it than the young. Don't use the vaccines as a mechanism of social control. Don't use the vaccines with mandates to divide society and get people laid off work.
I think our political leaders, our epidemiological leaders, have labored under this illusion they can stop the virus from spreading. Through the whole pandemic they've thought this. And that strategy has obviously and clearly failed. The best we can do is protect the vulnerable. As the pandemic ends, it's not actually a biological question, it's a political question, when have we reached a point where we say enough is enough. We no longer need all these restrictions. They're not accomplishing much and they're actually harming many people. Instead let's just use the resources we have to protect the vulnerable. That's how we reduce the harm from this disease.
INGRAHAM: We've had severe reactions to the vaccine, Dr. McCullough, that have been documented, have been discussed. Yet we are about to interview a young University of Chicago football player who is being threatened with separation from the school because he has not been vaccinated, does not want to be vaccinated, already had COVID, probably had Omicron as well, has tons of immunity. And the University of Chicago is through threatening basically to throw this kid out. I can't wait to talk to him, but that's what we're facing in American universities today. How insane is that?
MCCULLOUGH: That young man has made the right medical decision for himself. The FDA warns against the risks of myocarditis. We have multiple analyses showing increased risk of someone who takes a vaccine who has already recovered from COVID-19. So we should never penalize a young person for making a correct medical decision. He weighed out the risks and benefits and he came out with the correct decision that is no vaccination.
INGRAHAM: And Dr. Bhattacharya, the U.K.'s decision to say, as you said, enough is enough, people say it's political because Boris Johnson is in political trouble. Whatever. Mask mandates are going, vax passports are going, most other restrictions, social distancing, all out the window. Why is this significant?
BHATTACHARYA: It felt a little like what I imagine someone sitting in the Soviet Union felt like when a regular person watching the Berlin Wall fall. We've seen the end of this COVID regime in the U.K., and in England especially, and it's starting to spread. That movement will spread worldwide. And I hope someday it comes to California so we can be free of these lockdown related policies. They've done so much harm, and they haven't really protected us against COVID.
INGRAHAM: Gentlemen, you've been voices of reason throughout, and January 26, the big meeting in Washington, D.C. Dr. McCullough, Dr. Bhattacharya, thank you.
I just mentioned this, but the University of Chicago used to be considered a real enlightened place. Now it's has divulged into bastion of COVID tyranny against unvaxxed students and staff. In moments, you'll hear from one of those students who is fighting back.
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INGRAHAM: The latest in our college COVID war series, this from the once sensible University of Chicago which instituted a campus-wide vaccine mandate last summer. A December e-mail from the university's provost to students and staff bragged that 98 percent of employees and 97 percent of students are compliant with the school's vax requirement. Like many other schools, the University of Chicago participates in the COVID theater of regular testing for the unvaccinated and universal mask wearing.
But it actually gets worse. They also joined the ignorant herds by announcing a booster requirement as well, because we know that work so well against Omicron. The deadline is January 31st. While we're sure most of the students and staff will blindly comply despite Omicron's evasion of vaccines and boosters, one student, an unvaccinated football player, has stood his ground.
He was initially granted a vaccine exemption, but suddenly UChicago has told them that they will no longer recognize it. But here is the truly disturbing part. That student says the school forced him to move into a single room last fall because he hadn't gotten the jab. And when he didn't immediately do so, this happened. He wrote that "I was awakened by three exceeding officious university housing officials pounding on my dorm door, screaming my name. I groggily opened the door, and each of the three berated my in turn for sleeping in an unauthorized bed." That's when he realized he was being surveilled by the school. And he calls these tactics authoritarian and has a warning tonight to students and parents across America.
We welcome University of Chicago sophomore Arthur Long. Arthur, it's good to see you tonight. First, you already had COVID, I believe, and you are a positive for SARS-CoV-2 t cells, and the school did grant you an exemption last summer. So what the heck changed?
ARTHUR LONG, UNVAXXED UCHICAGO ATHLETE: Hi, Laura, thanks for having me on tonight. And that's correct, I received a medical exemption back in June of last year. And then when I showed up to football camp in August, I was rudely awakened by three university officials who banged on my door and said that I was sleeping and an unauthorized bed and forced me to move to a single, which is what all unvaccinated kids need to do now at the UChicago.
This was the first of three shocking events that happened to me at the university. During midterms I received an unsigned e-mail from Student Wellness saying that I was not in compliance with the university's mandates. And it told me that my wi-fi, access to university buildings, and my dorm room where I sleep were about to be terminated.
And then during final exams, I received an e-mail from the director of Student Wellness saying yet again that I was not in compliance with the mandate. He cited a bunch of anonymous experts and no facts, and tried to override the advice of my own personal physician.
INGRAHAM: Now, Arthur, I can't believe this because all I ever hear about the University of Chicago, and I've visited a few times over the years, it's such a wonderful place, great professors, incredible institution of higher learning. But this sounds Orwellian. Apparently, just going back to August for a second, when those school officials pounded on your door, what happened, one of your friends heard what they were saying and the hallway?
LONG: Yes. So after this happens, one of my teammates came up to me and he overheard them in the hall chuckling to themselves in saying let's get this unvaccinated kid. He's here.
INGRAHAM: So what's next for you? Is there a January 31st deadline, that booster deadline that now all the students have to comply with even though it doesn't work against Omicron, obviously? So they have to comply. So where does that leave you? School begins again for the semester on Monday, I understand.
LONG: That's correct. We resume in person classes next Monday, but the thing is, Laura, I'm not going to get the vaccine. I'm certainly not going to be coerced by a bunch of anonymous bureaucrats and so-called experts who think they can make my own personal public health -- my own personal health decisions for me. I know this is a fight that's going on across America, and it's sad that it's come to the UChicago which is known as a bastion of intellectual freedom and open, rigorous debate. But the only people who don't want to debate this are the university administration.
INGRAHAM: What's the reaction of some of your classmates, your teammates. Most of them did comply. I think a lot of people say I'll just take the jab, it's not any big deal. And that's fine, that's what they want to deal. But what do they say do you? Are they resentful, angry, supportive?
LONG: The support so far since the publication of my piece at "The Chicago Thinker" has been overwhelming. Lots of my teammates and friends were, in fact, coerced to take this shot. They did not want to do it, but with the university threatening all these authoritarian measures, they have nowhere else to go. That's why it's important for us to all to stand up as students and tell the university that this is not going to stand.
INGRAHAM: Countries are dropping their vaccine requirements like the U.K. and others. So University of Chicago stands firm in the ignorant approach. Arthur, we wish you the best. We'll be following this case if you end filing one against the university. But I hope for their sake they relent. Thanks so much, Arthur.
LONG: Thanks, Laura. God bless.
INGRAHAM: Coming up, one woman's emotional breakdown reveals the devastating fallout of the COVID insanity and all those rules. The Last Bite is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: After U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the end of most COVID restrictions, one young political commentator could not hold back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOPHIE CORCORAN, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This makes me so angry. They literally ruined our lives, and nobody spoke about it at all. And the commentators, they had union reps come on and say this is what the school should have been paid, and they didn't care about it. And this is the first time I've spoken about it on TV because I knew I would cry about it. But I literally watched and felt like my entire life is falling apart because of what this government did to young people. And nobody cares. Not one person has cared about children in this pandemic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: The children were collateral damage indeed. It's unforgivable what the COVID control freaks did, especially to the children. There must be a reckoning.
That is it for us tonight. Finally, never forget to show that you understand what's at stake by wearing your USA made Freedom Matters gear now more than ever. All the proceeds this month go to the Center for American Liberty founded by Harmeet Dhillon, doing all the great litigation for those seeking freedom from onerous government restrictions.
And Greg Gutfeld and all the fun is next.
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