Ingraham: Our top military leaders act like second-rate political hacks
Frauds and Generals: Military leaders cloak failure with the bravery of our troops
This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on September 1, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Let not your hearts be troubled. Laura Ingraham. How are you? Big show tonight.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Good message. No America left behind. And this time we really mean it. Sean, excellent message to end the program and start this one.
HANNITY: Thanks, Laura.
INGRAHAM: And I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight. The Biden administration was just forced to admit that not only were the vast majority of people flown out of Afghanistan, the ones who didn't help us, many may not even be Afghans at all. This is unbelievable.
Ken Cuccinelli. He served as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under President Trump. He says the man he fired for altering documents is now in charge of vetting the refugees. Great. Cuccinelli is here to tell us more.
But first, frauds and generals. That's the focus of tonight's "Angle".
Less than 24 hours after Biden's tone deaf and hectoring speech about the Afghan withdrawal, his top military leaders decided to further squander what's left of their credibility. Today, they came off like junior members of the White House comms team, saying anything to prop up the commander-in- chief who didn't fire them. Well, they bombed. But not in the way we want the military to bomb.
We have 13 American troops dead, hundreds of our fellow citizens stuck in enemy territory, and an emboldened Taliban in other terrorists. Any rational person knows this was a humiliating failure. And the honorable thing, the honorable thing to have done was to admit you didn't measure up and tender your resignation. But instead, like clockwork, Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman Mark Milley were desperately trying to hang on to their jobs by mouthing whatever would please Biden's political team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LLOYD AUSTIN, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We have just concluded the largest air evacuation of civilians in American history. It was heroic. It was historic. And I hope that all Americans will unite to thank our service members for their courage and their compassion.
GENERAL MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Their talent, their efforts have carried this fight, day and night. I am certain of for any soldier, sailor, airman and marine and their family, your service mattered. And it was not in vain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, instead of giving us a detailed military analysis of what occurred, they regurgitated the same pablum that the White House comms team has been giving us for days. As if anyone, anyone ever doubted the heroism of our troops, far from it. So how odious to use the bravery of America's servicemen as a shield against blame and accountability for themselves. For them, it's never the right time to level with the American people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUSTIN: There hasn't been a single operation that I've ever been involved in, where we didn't discover that there's something that we could have done better or more efficiently or more effectively. But I want to take the time to do it the right way. And so we'll do that in the days ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, it's always, we'll do it later. Oh, to truly value the sacrifice of our troops, we must demand the truth from our government officials. The families of the fallen deserve nothing less than a full accounting.
Last night, Paula Knauss, whose son Ryan was one of the 13 killed at the Kabul airport last Thursday, had a message for President Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL KNAUSS, MOTHER OF FALLEN ARMY STAFF SGT. RYAN KNAUSS: Ryan, and all the men and women in uniform and they take orders and they do their responsibility and they face the consequences of (inaudible) where in Congress, where in our nation's capitol who will stand up and say, I messed up, I am responsible? Who will do that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Imagine if this scenario were playing out under President Trump.
The Democrats and the media would be tag teaming the administration at every turn. Instead, they circle the wagons and come across this fan boys and girls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, CNN'S PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: What do you see in the country, with troops, with veterans that makes you feel - it's a rare thing that makes you feel these messages must continue? General Milley, I was very struck. You used the words pain and anger. Can you help people understand that where does your pain and anger come from? If you could both answer your views on this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Is she kidding me? And reporters let Milley get away with reframing the entire objective of the war in Afghanistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILLEY: Those soldiers, sailors and marines gave their lives so that others may live free. They literally gave their tomorrows for the tomorrows of people they never knew. Those 124,000, they will now live in freedom, because of the American blood shed on their behalf.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now, try putting that in the military recruiting pamphlets. Join the army so you can die for other people's freedom when we've lost a war.
The fact is, our troops don't sign up for that at all. They signed up to defend their homeland, defend their family, defend their friends, defend our freedom. Not to pass out water bottles when terrorists were mixing in with the crowd.
They're in competent military leadership let them be sitting ducks, when officials knew an attack on that airport was imminent. They needed real military leaders to protect them. But instead, they got the equivalent of second rate political hacks.
Remember, it was just a few months ago that our commander-in-chief and his top military brass were focused on really important stuff like white rage and climate change, when they should have been gaming out all possible Afghanistan scenarios. And as if to throw acid on an open sore, these same foolish men have moved on to rewriting our immigration laws, specifically on the refugee question and who deserves Special Immigrant Visas.
Now, remember, Trump had smartly reduced the number of refugees, allowed into the country. Well, now defense secretary Austin wants to blow that all up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUSTIN: The SIV program is obviously not designed to accommodate what we just did in evacuating over 100,000 people. And so perhaps, this program should be looked at going forward.
Secretary Blinken and the State Department worked hard early on to shorten the timeline that it takes to work your way through that process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: OK. Here's an idea. We need a different type of general. We want generals who can actually win wars, not want who mislead Congress for years about the fitness of the Afghan army and the likelihood of victory. How dare they try to lecture us about how many Afghans or non Afghans that the taxpayers here should have to support when they couldn't support the armed forces who depended on them? The same guys who cut corners in our hasty withdrawal, now argue that we should essentially cut corners again. This time to speed up the resettlement and vetting of Afghans?
How do we know who helped there do what? And how do we know who's telling the truth here, because some NGO vouches for some person that - you see where this is going? There are literally millions of people in Afghanistan who could be considered at risk. Should they all come? You think maybe Congress should get involved here, or we should just let Austin make all the decisions?
This is an administration after all that believes the Taliban will actually help us, or that China cares about stuff like climate change, or that Europe is going to help us with China. They're naive dupes and have been wrong about everything and we have zero reason to believe that they can adequately and efficiently vet anyone.
Remember, when the left used to care about a president, by the way, politicizing the military? I do?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): I think the military leadership has to make really clear that they're not there to be politicized by this or any other president.
GUY SNODGRASS, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The optics are incredibly poor that the military is somehow turning against the American public.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole idea of federal agents being able to act with integrity is undercut by any suggestion that you're going to politicize them in this way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Who is politicizing the military now? What's really tragic here is that the U.S. is in danger from terrorism and a rapacious and aggressive China. And now more than any time, I think, since the Cold War, we need competent and committed military leaders who can help protect us and our freedom from our enemies.
Biden tells us that the decision to handle withdrawal was unanimous. All his military advisers agreed. Well, if that's the case, really that's the case? China believe, they all need to be fired.
I see zero reason to believe, given what we've seen in these last few months, that our military is currently constituted, led by these men, can defeat China anywhere at any time.
And I was thinking about this today, do we really think like General MacArthur or Bradley or Marshall or Eisenhower would have put up for a second with the ineptitude of Milley, Austin and CENTCOM commander McKenzie? Of course, not.
I think if Austin had been in charge of the Incheon Landing, North Korea would have control of the entire Korean peninsula at this point. And I think if Reagan had asked Milley to save Granada, well, Granada would have
- Grenada would have been in Cuban hands today. You know, Putin is thinking, ok, if these clowns had been in charge of the Cold War, well, he'd be running the whole world by now.
The point here isn't just about Afghanistan. We need and our troops deserve a functional military led by competent men and women to take on the biggest threats we face. China's committing genocide, threatening our military dominance everywhere. And if Milley and Austin can't figure out how to secure an airport, how on earth are they going to secure Taiwan? And that's the "Angle".
Joining me now is Afghanistan veteran; retired Brigadier General Don Bolduc was one of the 90 former flag officers calling on Austin and Milley to resign. General, your call for them to step down came before they showed up at that podium today. Did anything that either of them said make you regret signing that letter?
DON BOLDUC (RET), SERVED IN AFGHANISTAN: No, absolutely not. Actually, it reinforced the fact that I did sign it and the reasons I signed it. To make one point, to add to your very good points is that (inaudible) antiquity.
We have been warned about lions being led by lambs. And it has plagued militaries from time to time. And this is what we're seeing in the United States military today. And it's unfortunate.
INGRAHAM: Well, what I'm stunned about here is that we face real problems.
I mean, Afghanistan, obviously, is our real problem. But we have John Kerry going over to talk to China about climate change. And I'm fully anticipating a gradual surrender of U.S. sovereignty to China over the next few years. And no one in his or her right mind thinks Kerry is positioned to be tough on China. So what does this handling of their withdrawal in Afghanistan say to our most serious adversary on the global stage today?
BOLDUC: Well, it says that they can bully us around. I mean, what Secretary Austin and General Milley and General McKenzie did was weaken us. Our geopolitical position has been weakened. This isn't just about Afghanistan, this is now about a region that has nuclear concerns with Pakistan and India. It has stability concerns up in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan out west with Iran.
This is a very dangerous neighborhood that it's not just about Afghanistan.
And then you extend it to the rest of the world and you see that we are weak. I've been told by members - military that I served with that they are on the ground and other places like Africa and other places that their partners are telling them, we can't trust America. And our guys, in many cases, put their lives on the line and require the support of our partners.
And when they don't trust us and they don't think we're going to be there for them, this really makes it dangerous.
And Austin and Milley had been architects of a failed war policy since they were one-star generals. Austin was in charge of it as the CENTCOM commander. So if they failed predominantly during the last 20 years as general officers, then how in God's name can we think that they were going to get the withdrawal right? They just--
INGRAHAM: I mean, if they were college basketball coaches with their record, they would have been fired after one season. But somehow in the military, you can fail upward and upward and keep going. This whole thing has to be reformed. And General, thank you. Yes. Thank you for the - we will have you back. We have so much to get to here.
After spending months vilifying fellow Americans as domestic extremists, Defense Secretary Austin is now welcoming the latest [ph] crop of refugees with open arms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUSTIN: Some of those brave Afghans will be coming to make new lives with their families in America, after careful screening and security vetting run by our interagency partners. We're temporarily sheltering some of these evacuees at military facilities here at home. Welcoming these Afghans isn't just about what they've done, it's about who we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Do we need him to lecture us about who we are? I asked this because today a senior state department official admitted to the Wall Street Journal that the "U.S. still doesn't have reliable data on who was actually evacuated from Afghanistan."
More than 120,000 people of all nationalities were evacuated from the Kabul airport, as the U.S. military withdrew. But initial figures suggest that only about 8500 of those who left were Afghans. So, as we've been asking now for two, three weeks, who is really coming here?
Joining me now is Ken Cuccinelli, former acting Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary. Ken, I am stunned when I watched these Republicans, these senators on TV like Joni Ernst, on CNN earlier today.
Oh, we welcome the refugees with open arms. And I guess it makes everyone feel better to say that. But shouldn't we be concerned that same people screwed up with withdrawal are trying to assure us about the interagency process in all?
KEN CUCCINELLI, FORMER ACTING DHS DEPUTY SECRETARY: Yes. We've been vetting about 750 of the SIVs. These are the folks who helped Americans over there in Afghanistan, about 750 a year for 15 years. And now all of a sudden, we're going to do 18,000 of them and their families in, what, weeks or months. That is just - that is not realistic.
The vetting process done correctly is about a 14-step process, typically taking 18 months to two years. Now, if you pour enough resources in anything, you can accelerate that. But that sort of assumes you can gather the information you need to even determine who's in front of you.
And as you noted, Laura, in your comments, only a small minority of the Afghans that have been evacuated out of Afghanistan are even alleged to have worked with us over in Afghanistan. I mean, this is a miniscule portion of the overall population. And I am not excited about large scale Afghan refugee movement over here, pew. And you know, maybe your listeners don't.
So left wing foundation did a survey in Afghanistan eight years or so ago and found that 99 percent of them want to live under Sharia law. That is just not compatible with assimilating to the United States of America.
INGRAHAM: Tell us about this person that you fired, who's now involved in the vetting process?
CUCCINELLI: Yes. So John Lafferty was trying to sort of run his own program. He would - after we finalized materials, he changed some of them.
And so I removed him from his position. And this is before I was deputy secretary. It was when I was leading the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS. And they are one of the key DHS agencies in doing the vetting such as it is, and handling the visas for these incoming folks for the Department of Homeland Security. And now he has been put in charge of this, as I understand it, for USCIS.
And I saw it today in one of these crazy press conferences, and maybe it was yesterday. One of the folks for DHS said that someone from FEMA is in charge of the DHS operation, which tells me that they're just treating this as a logistical effort to house lots of people quickly, not a vetting effort of some people with three deadly terrorist groups over there, Taliban, ISIS, and Al Qaeda. All of them in this population. And we have to screen for all of them without proper cooperation on the Afghanistan--
INGRAHAM: We don't even know, Ken, Ken. Ken, we don't even know who's crossed our southern border. We have 1.5 million who've crossed our southern border. There are various bases, centers, family centers.
We're sending billions of dollars to get veterans on the street in the United States. And now we have thousands, 50,000, Jen Psaki said, Get ready for the military bases and then probably double that amount, or triple that amount. Unbelievable. It's worth asking these questions. Ken, thank you.
And two senior FDA officials have resigned over Biden's vaccine booster plan. So what's the story there? The report in moments. Plus, the COVID crusaders are touting a new study, of course, to push their favorite religious symbol, the mask. But, of course, it's full of holes. Not the mask, but the study.
Dr. Scott Atlas is back. He joins us next to expose it all. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: First, the administration said that you need a booster shot eight months after getting the COVID vaccine, then it was six. Then Biden said it was five. OK. Now, according to Dr. Fauci, it's back up to eight. You confused yet? But we have to trust the experts even though they can't seem to get their numbers straight.
And on top of all that, two FDA officials are reportedly stepping down over the rushed booster edict or policy.
Fox's own Trace Gallagher has all the details for us tonight. Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Laura, the big headline is the Biden administration is pushing ahead with vaccine booster shots before the FDA's top scientists ever have a chance to weigh in. So while the White House likes to say it's following the science, instead it appears to be administering political pressure. And now Marion Gruber and Philip Krause, two of the FDA's top vaccine regulators have resigned.
And according to Politico, this could lead to an even bigger mutiny, because staff members feel like they've been cut out of key decisions. And because the plan to offer booster shots to adults is, "premature and unnecessary". And yet the administration has set a September 20 deadline to begin giving most adults booster shots.
One expert says, it was "the administration's booster plan; it wasn't the FDA's booster plan". And remember, Pfizer just completed its booster shot application to the FDA five days ago. It's anybody's guess when Pfizer will actually get approval. And we also don't know when Moderna or Johnson & Johnson will submit their initial applications.
Then, as you mentioned, there's the confusion started by the President himself. Last week, Biden said booster shots could be given five months after the initial vaccine, but the Biden administration says, it's eight months. So despite no FDA approval, the CDC says more than a million people in the U.S. have already gotten boosters, an indication that health care providers are taking guidance from the White House.
Here's Jen Psaki. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Our responsibility and our objective is to save more lives, protect more people, and as soon as this data, the science made clear that boosters would help do that. We wanted to put that information out to the public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: But Dr. Marty Makary says, that's not accurate and the White House should stop undermining the FDA. Watch it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTY MAKARY, JOHNS HOPKINS HEALTH POLICY EXPERT: The data are not out, showing that people - a regular everyday American public needs a booster there's no evidence right now that the vaccinated immunity is waning and preventing hospitalizations and death, which are the key outcomes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: President Biden promised that scientists would lead these decisions not the White House. But that again, that was seven months ago.
Laura.
INGRAHAM: Wow! Trace, thank you.
And the blue checkmarks on Twitter were going gaga today, over a new study purporting to bolster the case for mask mandates. Now, the study based on data from villages in Bangladesh, claims that roughly 29 percent increase in mask use resulted in a roughly 9 percent, 9 percent decrease in symptomatic COVID infections. So this is settled science, well, far from it?
Here now is Dr. Scott Atlas, former COVID adviser to President Trump and author of the upcoming book, "A Plague Upon Our House". You can order it now on Amazon.
Dr. Atlas, you say this study suffers from some significant shortcomings.
What are they?
SCOTT ATLAS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COVID ADVISOR: OK. Thanks for having me, Laura. First, just to say. This is the second randomized prospective study, which is a good study. This is a study in Bangladesh. As you've mentioned, the randomized villages were - some villages were assigned or taught to wear masks and others were not. So the first study that we have that's randomized is important. That's the Denmark study, which already showed that people wearing masks, individuals wearing masks do not have a lower of infection testing for virus than people wearing masks. Those are high- quality surgical masks.
That was a randomized study. So that's known, and that's very good evidence. Masks do not protect somebody from getting infection. This is a different type of study. This test to see if people get in a village symptomatic COVID if the villagers wear masks versus other villages that they don't wear masks as much. And what this showed was - so it's a good study because it's prospective and randomized. What it showed, there's two results, one, in people defining COVID as symptoms plus antibodies, there is no evidence that cloth masks have any impact. No significant impact with cloth mask for people who have COVID as defined by COVID symptoms with antibody documentation. So, cloth masks are worthless according to this study.
The second part is the surgical mask study. And the surgical mask study shows that there is from my reading here, about 11 percent decrease in individuals having symptomatic COVID with antibodies, 11 percent. And so - and basically only older people. And so, what this shows you after all is said and done is it confirms that cloth masks are worthless.
It shows a very - if you take the data at face value, a very minimal impact
11 percent decrease symptomatic cases in mask usage by the village. And so of all the clamoring for something desperately to show that masks work.
This is what I would call extremely weak tea. In fact, it confirms the reason why we have seen all over the world and in the United States that mask usage by the population does not significantly stop the spread of the virus.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: So not a significant --
ATLAS: This a confirmatory study. It's being oversold. But people are so desperate to find some pebble somewhere that shows masks work.
INGRAHAM: There's a new BMJ study as well about the hospitalization rates, Dr. Atlas, among Scottish teachers and their families. I just want to read it really quickly. "Teachers and their household members were not found to be at an increased risk of hospital admission with COVID and were found to be at a lower risk of severe COVID-19. These finding should reassure those who are engaged in face-to-face teaching." It's a preprint. There will be peer review there. But really quickly, your thought?
ATLAS: I haven't seen the study, but I can tell you that there's data from all over the world, and this sounds confirmatory, that teachers do not have a higher risk for COVID, that people that use in-person schools don't have higher risk of COVID for the teachers in those. Sweden had 1.8 million children, no masks, no social distancing, and no increased risk of COVID for anybody, including the teachers. So that's all confirmatory.
INGRAHAM: We've been saying this for, I don't know, Dr. Atlas, a year-and- a-half? But as people get along --
ATLAS: A year-and-a-half.
INGRAHAM: Yes, this is like repeat, rinse and repeat. Dr. Atlas, thank you. Good to see you tonight.
And the media ignoring another major Biden scandal. Raymond Arroyo is here with all the gory details, and it is gory. "Seen and Unseen," that's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: It's time for our "Seen and Unseen" segment where we expose the big cultural stories of the day. And for that we turn to FOX News contributor Raymond Arroyo. Raymond, you are an Ida refugee. You evacuated your home in New Orleans. You've been following the hurricane recovery efforts. How are things now?
RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Not good, Laura, especially for those in Grand Isle and Houma who were devastated by this storm, and we pray for all of them. New Orleans fared a little better, and I'll tell you why in a moment. But immediately following this storm, Mayor LaToya Cantrell restated the obvious. See if you can pick out the word of the day, Laura.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS: We have now lost power. The plant that provides power to New Orleans was compromised. We rely on this plant to ensure that we have power. It's very dangerous in addition to the storm also without electricity. But this is citywide. It's unsafe. Chief?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without power, that creates opportunity for some. And we will not tolerate that. We will implement our anti-looting deployment to ensure the safety of our citizens. Because it is dark, because we're without power, we need to be vigilant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Apparently, the word of the day is "power." But there are a million people in New Orleans, Laura, and the surrounding areas who have no electrical power. And that could go on for weeks. These local leaders, they should have buried the lines years ago and strengthened the real infrastructure. The people of New Orleans are suffering from that today. We can't go home because of that. And as for the anti-looting deployment, the looting was apparently underway when they made that announcement.
INGRAHAM: How many people, though, have been arrested, Raymond, for looting.
ARROYO: New Orleans leaders refuse to release the numbers. It would make the city look bad, they say.
INGRAHAM: Yes.
ARROYO: We have potholes you can lose a Taliban tank in, and they're worried about making the city look bad. But fear not, Mayor Cantrell is keeping her people informed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS: We must absolutely address all of our challenges, and we will. And we did. And we do have some. More information to come. Again, more to come. I believe this time is going to be best for us to pivot to those assets in neighborhoods. But again, more to come.
We're planning this out now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: More to come, Laura. I love how she is claiming victory, we did it. The American taxpayer did it. They spent $14 billion to upgrade those levees which kept the city from being swamped by water. They did it. And what about the power, safety to our gas lines in the city? She did it all right.
INGRAHAM: And what else, Raymond?
ARROYO: There's the bloody scandal we teased earlier at the Biden White House that has gotten virtually no coverage. Judicial Watch, Laura, just released Secret Service indicating that Biden's dog Major is using the agents like chew toys. During one recent encounter, or after a recent encounter, agent David Cho, head of the presidential protective divisions exchange with agents sounds like a who's on first sketch. He writes "Was it Major? Doesn't sound like it," an agent answers. Another agent responds "Minor. Did break skin. Sorry. Meant it was Major, the name of the younger German shepherd. He's been an issue lately. Dog major, injury minor."
(LAUGHTER)
INGRAHAM: Raymond, this gets better, though, because an advisory warns agents to stand your ground and protect your hands and fingers by placing them in your pockets or behind your back? I thought it was just a nip. It wasn't anything serious. Isn't that what we were told?
ARROYO: Apparently it was multiple bitings. It goes on and on. But Secret Service and White House employees should not have to put up with this, Laura. They are not Major's emotional support treats. The Bidens should have to move that dog off to Delaware or let Hunter watch it. But maybe Major is biting people because when he does have human interaction with his master, it goes this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What happened was I got out of the shower. I got a dog. And anybody who has been around my house knows the little pup dropped a ball in front of me. I grabbed the ball like this, and he ran, and I was joking running after him to grab his tail. And what happened was that he slid on a throw rug, and I tripped on the rug he slid on. That's what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Raymond, I wish we had more time. Minor, Major League problem.
ARROYO: Next time.
INGRAHAM: All right, Raymond.
In moments, my trip to California culminated in a ride-along with a specialized LAPD unit. We'll have that footage when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: In neighborhoods plagued by gang violence, how does law enforcement start to turn things around. To answer that, I met up with a special unit of the LAPD that's working hard to do just that.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SGT. RONALD KINGI, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: A couple years ago, this park was overrun by black and Hispanic gangs. Since we've been here in 2019, it has changed significantly.
INGRAHAM: Sergeant Ron Kingi, a 27-year LAPD veteran, is part of a community safety partnership that aims to reduce tensions between residents and police.
KINGI: In one year we reduced crime just in this park 68 percent. That's a huge amount. The primary purpose of CSP is to lower crime in this area by building those relationships with everyone.
INGRAHAM: Sergeant Kingi grew up in this area, and he understands that kids right now need role models, especially if they don't have one at home.
It's one of the main reasons he chose policing.
KINGI: I grew up where there's a lot of poverty, a lot of gang crime. And I want it to be a symbol of structure for the children, because that's where I see where it's messed up from the beginning. Parenting at home, the children at home, they have nothing to do, so they join gangs. I want to stop that the best I can, and to make people feel safe.
INGRAHAM: We toured an area grand the Grand Corridor, which is a hotspot for violent crime. Sadly, community policing isn't really having much of an impact here.
KINGI: I really feel sorry for the people that live in these houses.
INGRAHAM: Oh, my gosh.
KINGI: Because we have multiple shootings, robberies, stabbings, drug use, prostitution, everything along these streets. And we come here to clean it up, but they literally come right back.
INGRAHAM: Anti-police sentiment has grown in this area since the killing of George Floyd, but Sergeant Kingi is making it a point to improve things.
He brought us to see Marilyn Green, who at first wasn't thrilled about the idea of LAPD being in the neighborhood.
MARILYN GREEN, SOUTH PARK LOS ANGELES RESIDENT: My grandbaby, now I let out the house, send them across the street without me being there because I know the police is there, so I don't have to worry. A lot has got done, believe me. Sergeant Kingi and them is not just LAPD. They came in, it took a while, but it's like we family. It's not like I don't look at them as being the police.
INGRAHAM: How important is that?
GREEN: Real important to me, because I didn't like the police.
INGRAHAM: Tell us why.
GREEN: Why? Because they -- they -- But these police is here, they made me understand their job. They job is just as hard as my job. If it wasn't for Sergeant Kingi and them helping out, my job would be harder than what it is. Sergeant Kingi and them helps a lot.
INGRAHAM: The kids are not running from the police?
GREEN: No.
INGRAHAM: Stereotyping.
GREEN: No. My grandson used to run from the police.
INGRAHAM: And now?
GREEN: He don't. He will go and hang out with them, talk with them, do whatever. If they call them, he is going to go see what they want. He is not going to disrespect them at all.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
INGRAHAM: With crime raging and businesses fleeing, what exactly does California Governor Gavin Newsom have to run on? Well, nothing, except pathetic attempts to frame his black opponent, Larry Elder, as a race traitor, which Elder is confronting head on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY ELDER, (R) CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I've also been called the black face of white supremacy. I've been called an uncle tom for 30 years, uncle tom, bug-eyed uncle tom, Oreo, coconut, the anti-Christ. You name it, I've been called that.
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INGRAHAM: Well, my next guest is hitting back against those ugly attacks in a new op-ed. Elder is breaking the taboos about black crime in an effort to save black lives. Joining me now, one of our favorites, Heather Mac Donald, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and author of "The War on Cops." Heather, you predicted much of this, but it's clear here that Elder is perceived as a problem for the left. Whether he is successful against spending that is seven times what he has by the Democrats, but they're worried about him. Why?
HEATHER MAC DONALD, AUTHOR, "THE WAR ON COPS": He's a threat to the Democratic hold on California, and he's also a threat to the perceived monopoly of leftwing ideology on black leaders and voters. And so they are unleashing their biggest weapon, the media is, to take him down, which is the race card. They're accusing him of being a white supremacist or a shill for white supremacists. In fact, so white is Larry Elder that no one has mentioned the historic nature of his candidacy, that he would be the first black governor of the biggest state in the country.
Imagine if he were a Democrat, Laura. It's all we would be hearing about, breaking glass ceilings, diversifying the politicians. And instead all they can talk about is that he would reinstate Jim Crow.
INGRAHAM: And Heather, as you point out in your piece, Elder has the temerity to actually state facts on who the victims of this crime really are and who the perpetrators proportionally are. And that drives the left completely crazy. They can't really dispute the facts. But they say somehow by reporting the facts, he's a racist as a black man. How does that make any sense?
MAC DONALD: It's a complete taboo. You are not allowed to talk about the facts that blacks die of homicide between the ages of 10 and 43 at 13 times the rate of whites. That is a civil rights problem. The problem in the community is not the police. It's criminals. That's what Larry Elder is saying. He's warning us that when you demonize the cops as racists, they back off of lawful proactive enforcement. The result is hundreds, thousands more black lives taken. Black children gunned down on a regular basis in their beds and their front yards. Elder is confronting that fact. Nobody else wants to talk about it.
If he gets into the governorship, we will have the police once again reactivated, able to do their jobs, and one would hope blacks in communities able to go about free from fear, go to work, go to school without worrying about these insane drive-by shootings.
INGRAHAM: In South Park that our piece just discussed where I spent that time with the special unit to combat crime violence, I found the folks there just -- they just want what everybody else wants. They want safety.
They want to be respected. And when you ask basic questions of what kind of life they want to lead, ask them are you happy the way things are. No. Why not make a change? A lot of them say yes, maybe we should. So again, if we had a media that was fair and didn't have million-dollar donations going to Newsom to shield him from criticism, who knows what might happen.
MAC DONALD: Yes, break that monopoly. Try something different. And I have to say as well, Laura, the narrative that the cops are on this vendetta to gun down black -- innocent blacks is completely false. I crunched some numbers for this piece and found that this year a police officer is 370 times more likely to be killed by a black criminal than an unarmed black is to be killed by a police officer. Larry Elder understands that this narrative is not just false, it's dangerous.
INGRAHAM: Heather, phenomenal writing, as usual. Thank you.
And coming up, how do you prank a school board meeting? The Last Bite explains.
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INGRAHAM: Do you remember how Bart Simpson would call Moe's Tavern and ask for Seymore Butts or I.P. Freely, or Hugh Jazz. Well, now it looks like he has made his way into Virginia's school board meeting.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ophelia McHawk, Ophelia McHawk. Eileen Dover. Eileen Dover.
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INGRAHAM: OK, that went on and on and on. It got a lot better, but the kids will do the darndest things.
That's it for us tonight. Thank you for watching. Remember, it's America now and forever. Gutfeld is next.
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