Marine vet warns against US military focusing on diversity & inclusion instead of fighting wars
Former Marine officer Josiah Lippincott: If we are serious about confronting China, we need to address the industries that they’ve taken from us
This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," July 28, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham and this is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from a very busy Washington tonight.
A California restaurant owner has decided to ignore Gavin Newsom's new edicts throwing open his eatery to the unvaccinated and maskless. He's here tonight on why he's doing it his own way and why he isn't scared of the repercussions.
Plus, one of the most embarrassing displays you will ever see from a sitting United States congressman. Raymond Arroyo has the cringe-worthy video in seen and unseen. But first, our general discontent. That's the focus of tonight's ANGLE.
Now, toward the end of the show last night, I interviewed a guest you probably had never heard of before. Josiah Lippincott, a marine vet and a student at Hillsdale College, shared a shocking story that I think speaks volumes about the state of today's current Military leadership. Major General Patrick Donahoe, the commanding officer at Fort Benning, Georgia, apparently has so much time on his hands that he decided to take up a fight with Lippincott, who had criticized the military's obsession with getting young healthy service personnel vexxed.
Now, Lippincott, a combat vet, noted that while the DoD had tragically lost 26 service members due to COVID in just the last quarter of 2020, 26 additional service members had taken their own lives compared to the prior year. But the strangely defensive and sensitive general Donahoe accused Josiah of engaging in false equivalency. Then he issued this courageous tweet, "Hey, Hillsdale, come get your boy." In other words, shut him up for me to shut him up.
What an utterly pathetic and predictable eighth-grade girlish response from a person with such influence and stature.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSIAH LIPPINCOTT, MARINE VETERAN: When you hear him spouting MSNBC talking points that shows you the quality and the level of education and thought process that goes across all of the services. Laura, we have 906 admirals and generals in our Military, and it's increasingly a bloated group, and ideologically similar group as well.
These guys spent 20 years in Afghanistan, spent $2.4 trillion of American taxpayer money. We lost 2300 service members. And we left Bagram Air Force Base in the middle of the night. Americans should be angry, they should be demanding answers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: But sadly, the politicized wokification of our Military is becoming institutionalized. And you and I, every taxpaying American, we're funding this nonsense.
Now, last month at a house hearing, this Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley sounded more like a high-ranking BLM officer than an actual Military officer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I want to understand white rage, and I'm white, and I want to understand it. What is wrong with understanding, having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, sensing the political landmines that all of this could trigger, he tried to claim that this was all just some big misunderstanding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LLOYD AUSTIN, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This is not something that the United States Military is embracing and pushing and causing people to subscribe to.
REP. MICHAEL WALTZ (R-FL): Can you agree at least that understanding whiteness and white rage presented an (inaudible) over 100 cadets, probably is something that we shouldn't be teaching our future leaders of the United States Army.
AUSTIN: As you have described it, it certainly sounds like that's something that should not not occur.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, should not occur? Well, you know what should occur? A complete top to bottom review in reform of our armed forces. The depressing truth is that we haven't won a war in decades. We couldn't defeat the Taliban. We didn't bring peace and stability to Iraq. The Military, of course, is filled though with courageous men and women who are basically being abysmally served by the leadership. So our romantic ideal of America's top Military leaders as selfless and heroic, lot of it comes from old movies and riveting history. But a lot of things have changed.
For instance, do we even really know how top commanders are chosen today? Don't you think we should? I think a cursory review of recent history would find that getting promoted through the ranks today has less to do with one's success on and off the battlefield than it does with how well one plays the current political game.
The Pentagon is under the spell of corporate America. And contrary to what Austin said in that hearing, it's gone totally woke. We need a Military led by men and women who stand above the political fray in focus on the mission of defending our national interests. Certainly, not leaders who are more focused on their post Military job prospects more than they are on improving our warfighting capabilities.
We're at a fork in the road for our top Military brass. We've seen what happens to the credibility of other institutions that forget what their original mission is. Just look at the eroding faith in the public health sector with all these idiotic stops and starts on COVID. A few years ago and most Americans would have listened closely to what the head of the CDC had to say about any given health threat. But now a lot of people are just tuning them out.
Fauci, by the way, is no one to blame but himself, ditto for the Capitol Police who testified on Wednesday. Despite the crowds they had known for weeks would show up at the Capitol on January 6, the Capitol Police couldn't hold the Capitol perimeter on that day. That itself is a scandal. And instead of examining why that happened, they turn to blaming President Trump, who they all obviously despise.
This officer who called Trump a hitman in his testimony is so unbiased, so professional, that last year he attacked me personally on Twitter. He deleted it. So brave. But we have it. Again, credibility of another institution gravely harmed. This is all terrible for America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIPPINCOTT: Instead of this January 6 Commission, I suggest we have a commission on the wars in the Middle East. Bring these guys before Congress and make them testify as to what they were doing. And this disconnect from reality has been there for a long time, and it needs to be held to account.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, we have planes that are billions over budget and still can't fly. And we have a Military with leaders like Patrick Donahoe, who probably spent more time last week thinking about how he was going to silence a vet on Twitter, than he was thinking about how maybe the Military would ultimately defeat China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENERAL JOHN HYTEN, VICE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We played it in a war game in October of last year, and without overstating the issue, it failed miserably. An aggressive red team that had been studying the United States for the last 20 years just ran rings around us, and they knew exactly what we're going to do before we did it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: That doesn't send a chill up and down your spine, I don't know what will. Now, if we're going to spend more than 700 billions dollars a year on the Military, then we need a Military that can win a war and stay out of politics.
Taxpayers spend a lot on our national defense. And our recruits sign up because they love this country. Someone who plans to devote years of his or her life to serve the country deserves more than Vaccine bullying and diversity training. And that's THE ANGLE.
Back with me tonight is Josiah Lippincott, marine vet, and contributor to American Mind. Josiah, we had such a huge response to your appearance last night that we kind of had to cut short because of the nature of our breaks that I had to bring you back.
Some of the last bastions of traditionalism in our country, law enforcement, the Military, they're being transformed before our very eyes. What's the end goal here in your mind?
JOSIAH LIPPINCOTT, MARINE VETERAN: Absolutely. That's the perfect question, Laura. Just real quickly, just from the introduction, I am not a combat veteran, though I am a veteran. I served in the Marine Corps for four years. But my experience was with the peacetime Marine Corps that's emerged in the post really serious engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq.
And you ask about what's the end state of what's happening right now, I think, for the Military today, it is to keep the money flowing, without having to confront the reality of the increasing obsolescence of many of our systems that are designed to win wars that America no longer is fighting. Now, insurgency is just a different type of conflict that our Military is not built to defeat.
INGRAHAM: When you heard that disturbingly frank assessment of our ability to respond militarily to China and you think we're spending time with generals, tweeting about how Hillsdale should come and get you, whatever that means, to silence you? Talking about critical race theory, whether we have it, or don't have it in the Military? China's got to be watching this. Are you kidding me? This is who we're up against?
LIPPINCOTT: Absolutely. So one of the difficulties that comes out of this is that our Military - a war with China, another nuclear power is not going to play out the way that our conventional Military is designed to address these kinds of conflicts. China is able to manipulate the United States in wage information warfare in a way that's way more effective than anything they can do conventionally. And I think at some level, our generals know this.
At the beginning of Obama's term, there were 100,000 Chinese students in American universities. By the end of his term, there were 300,000. That's a really serious. If we're serious about confronting China, we need to address the industries that they've taken from us with the assistance of Wall Street, we need to address the fact that we're educating their elite.
Laura, every year 70,000 Americans die of opioid overdose. Those drugs, those fentanyl is made in China, and then it is shipped to Mexico and then smuggled across our border. If our Military is serious about addressing chemical warfare against the American people, then we need to concentrate on building a secure border, on defending our national sovereignty, and on restoring industry back to the United States. And that means Twitter spats with civilians and Veterans is not the way to go about accomplishing that mission.
INGRAHAM: This General Donahoe is a real piece of work. I mean, I got to say this is - it's embarrassing. It's completely embarrassing. Now, the head of the U.S. Central Command made an announcement over the weekend. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENERAL KENNETH MCKENZIE, HEAD OF THE U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: The United States has increased air strikes in the support of Afghan forces over the last several days. And we're prepared to continue this heightened level of support in the coming weeks, if the Taliban continue their attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Josiah, many are wondering whether the Military establishment is going to demand that Joe Biden reverse course on an Afghanistan withdrawal. Is that possibly what's going on here?
LIPPINCOTT: Absolutely. I mean, there's a lot of money involved in these wars, and that's flowing to line the pockets of these defense contractors. When Generals are done, where did they go? Straight to the boards of those firms. And so, again - and look, in - at the end of his term, the Military admitted publicly in the news that they had lied to President Trump about troop levels in Syria.
Our Generals absolutely would do the same thing to Joe Biden. And they probably already have. So what is needed is accountability. Congress has got to get involved, they need to start asking questions. What are these guys doing overseas? And are you telling the truth? Because that cannot be assumed.
INGRAHAM: Well, I think we're having all these committees on this or that issue, January 6, or it's - trying to impeach Trump for the second time. And yet, we've lost war after war, or at least haven't won war after war. And then we're supposed to be just continuing to write these massive checks.
LIPPINCOTT: Absolutely. It's absurd. I mean, Americans have paid a lot of money in taxpayer dollars, we've paid in blood. We need to have accountability on all these fronts. And I would say this to go back to General Donahoe, that's a guy who graduated from Harvard, or has a degree from, or won some kind of fellowship from there. And what I would say is, I am willing to challenge that guy to a debate on policy, on COVID policy, on foreign policy and on the Military budget. And I'll do it. If he wants to come get me, he can come to Hillsdale himself and come get me here.
And I'll extend that invitation to all of our Generals and Admirals. I will debate your budget in public with you any time, any place. I'll go to the War College, I'll go to Annapolis, I'll go to West Point. But it's just time, someone has got to hold these guys accountable. And if Congress isn't going to do it, then it needs to be everyday citizens on social media and in journalism, or in some of these publications, to just hold our leaders to account.
RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Josiah, thank you. Laura is having some power difficulties. We are going to get back in touch with her in a moment. This happens in live television.
But over the course of the civil unrest from May to July of 2020, more than 2000 officers sustained injuries in the line of duty. But of course, those all occurred outside the spotlight of the U.S. Capitol, so they have nowhere to go to get their hearing.
One of those men is my next guest, LAPD officer Anthony Diaz. Now, last summer, he and his partners responded when the George Floyd protests got out of control. He and other officers arrived to the call. It had already been infiltrated by rioters, bottles, rocks and other items were being thrown at the police cars, even as they attempted to secure the area.
As projectiles continued to rain down, Officer Diaz was suddenly struck through the car window. The object hit the side of his head and exited through the back window. After being knocked out, Diaz says he returned to consciousness to see blood everywhere. His fellow officers were able to break away from the rioters and find a metro police car that helped lead him to safety.
Diaz was stitched up from his wound, but later learned the projectile had cracked his skull, resulting in bleeding in his brain. Officer Diaz is miraculously back on the job and is running in the Boston Marathon to raise money for injured officers. We're so pleased to have Officer Anthony Diaz with us now.
Officer, thank you for being here. And thank God you're back on the job. Were you afraid for your life that night?
ANTHONY DIAZ, LAPD OFFICER: Yes. It's lucky to be alive, responding to the riots. I had them last summer. We - many officers were hurt, injured, officers died. And I think very little attention has been given to us and what happened to us, how this could have been prevented. We went out there and we felt like nobody had our backs. I know Chief Moore--
ARROYO: Go ahead.
DIAZ: I know Chief Moore started a safe LA taskforce. He directed Robbery and Homicide Division to conduct criminal investigations on serious crimes that happened in the civil unrest. And I am very confident that RHD will do their job. But like many Angelenos, I don't feel like Gascon will do his job.
ARROYO: Officer Diaz, as I read your story, as I see you tonight, I'm thinking of the hearing we saw on Capitol Hill yesterday, where Capitol Hill police officers were able to tell their stories and bear their wounds, if you will. Are you waiting? Do you think it's time for officers like you who are caught in the melee of these riots? Is it time for you to tell your stories for the country to hear?
DIAZ: Yes, yes. We're out here every day risking our lives for people we don't know. And regardless of all that attention - negative attention we've gotten, we still probably put our uniforms on and go out there and do our job to the best of our capabilities.
ARROYO: Did you - Officer Diaz, did you ever hear from Congressman Schiff, who represents Los Angeles, Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris? She was a senator of your state. Did any of them reach out to you, or to your colleagues about what you endured at the hands of these rioters?
DIAZ: No, never.
ARROYO: Do you feel supported by them?
DIAZ: Not once did I get contact from.
ARROYO: That's unbelievable. Do you feel supported by the local officials there?
DIAZ: No. I mean, I have confidence in my fellow officers and my department. But I don't feel like any of the officials were really there to help us officers do our job and safely get home every day.
ARROYO: Well, Officer Diaz, our prayers are with you in your recovery and with your colleagues there. It's a part of the story we need to hear more of, so we get a complete idea of what officers on the street go through day in and day out and the heroic work you did last year. Good luck in the Boston Marathon. We'll be watching.
DIAZ: Now, why would the vaccine hesitant decide to take the shot after watching fully vaccinated congressman with the best health care in the country now masking up? That question led to a confrontation between my next guest Byron [ph] Douglas, and a democratic congressman. He'll give us the details. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): We have a crisis at our border. And we're playing footsie with mask mandates in the people's house. I mean, it's absolutely absurd what this body is doing, the people's house. It's an embarrassment. It's a mockery. And the American people are fed up. They want to go back to life, they want to go back to business, they want to go back to school that their children being forced to wear masks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: That sentiment from Congressman Chip Roy was pretty universal among the Republicans after Speaker Pelosi renewed the mask mandate in the house today, and she's threatened fines for those who don't comply. She even got help from the media in collecting some of those fines.
As one CNN reporter spent time counting those without masks, tweeting that "She caught 24 maskless Republicans." The horror, adding, "There's a lot of frustration over it". And while she didn't turn to tattletaling, old Nance still found a way to act like a 12-year-old.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I have nothing to say about that except we honor it that's why I have my mask.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leader McCarthy says it's against the science.
PELOSI: He's such a moron.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: He is a moron. Unbelievable. Here's the bottom line. Democrats are doing more than any Facebook, or Robert Kennedy, to kill the Vaccine. When you see these politicians who have access to the best health care in the country wearing masks, they're sending a very clear message to the vaccine hesitant. There is no other side to this pandemic.
Joining us now is Florida Congressman Byron Donalds. Congressman, you actually got into it with one of your colleagues today, who chastised you for not wearing a mask. What happened?
REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): I was actually just trying to get onto the floor to vote, he was going through one of the metal detectors, which by the way is still a dumb thing to have in front of the house floor. But that's another story for another day. He was going through the metal detectors, turned around, saw me, and was basically like you're being selfish for not being vaccinated. That's why we're all having to wear a mask. Stop being selfish. And I looked at him, like, mind your business. Why are you worried about what I'm doing? Worry about yourself. You've been vaccinated. Congratulations. Take care of yourself. Leave me alone. Mind your business. Why are you worried about what I am doing?
But the truth of the matter is that the left has completely gone off the rails. They're not paying attention to the science. They continue to pay attention to political science. And unfortunately, they're in power and elections have consequences.
ARROYO: Yes. No. I think this is a scene we're going to see and are seeing play out across the country. Congressman, Chris Cuomo had you on his show to discuss your decision not to take the vaccine, and this is how it went.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Byron Donalds is not going to take it, because he doesn't care what Biden wants. You think that's a good message for people to hear?
DONALDS: Well, the first thing is my message was never about Joe Biden. The message is about me and my own personal health.
CUOMO: I'm not getting vaccinated because I don't want to--
DONALDS: Hold on, Chris. Let me finish.
CUOMO: Hold on. I want to read your words. I want to read your words. Byron - I know you don't get to cut me off, it's my show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Why do you think he didn't want to hear what you had to say, Congressman? Why the bullying.
DONALDS: Because he's wrong. He was wrong last night. Many of his consistent viewers who, you know, I went to college with called me and let me know that personally. He's wrong, the left is wrong.
Look, even look at what the CDC came out with today. They said that, oh, we have to go back to masking if you're vaccinated. Lo and behold. The study that the CDC is using is a study that failed peer review, is a study out of India that deals with a vaccine that is not available in the United States.
So they are playing politics over there at the White House instead of giving the information to the American people. And when the information comes out to the American people, people can make decisions for themselves. People like Chris Cuomo, the member of Congress, whatever his name is, that I got into it with today, they are just in this warped view that everybody has to follow their lead. Everybody has to follow their protocol in order to get through COVID-19.
But the truth of the matter is, we're mostly through it now. People need to govern their own health care, make personal decisions for themselves, and actually learn how to live life while making sure we manage the pandemic like we've been doing for the past several months.
ARROYO: Now, I'm going to throw you to Laura Ingraham, who I think is back online. Laura, you there?
INGRAHAM: Raymond, I think we should just do this together at this point. There's a wicked thunderstorm.
All right, Congressman, there's a wicked thunderstorm in DC. And so stuff's going on and off. And this is live television. And Raymond did a great job filling in. But I have to point out this. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, ok, he's from George Washington University. He is sounded off on the CDC mass guidance issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN REINER, DIRECTOR, CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION LABORATORY AT THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Do you really think that CDC has changed mask guidance for vaccinated adults to use Dr. Walensky's words because of rarely a vaccinated person may transmit virus to an unvaccinated person? No, they changed guidance to do the right thing which was to force basically unvaccinated people to be vaccinated and to mask up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: So congressman, even their allies are complaining, and it sounds like they're making decisions then. Not based on science? I mean who can follow this?
DONALDS: The only science the left cares about is political science. They have a problem. They have weaponized the media to just count gross cases, while ignoring actual statistical data, which is what is the amount of hospitalizations per capita? What are the deaths per capita? What does that look like in a post vaccine world? The media still reporting on. This is if we're still back in last summer, not understanding the fact that the metrics have completely changed.
And so this White House is trapped in this because they put out these arbitrary goalposts just to make Joe Biden look good. People didn't comply with what Joe Biden wanted to do, and now they are scrambling. The reality is this -- hospitalization rates per capita are still very manageable. Deaths per capita are actually down compared to the amount of cases that we are seeing go up because the people who are getting affected mostly are unvaccinated people who are not in the vulnerable age areas of being plus 65 or having other health abnormalities. That's where we are.
What CDC and the White House should be doing is collecting more information, releasing that to the public with guidance for the American people, not mandates, not authoritarianism like they are doing right now.
INGRAHAM: Congressman, great to see you tonight.
And we are just weeks before the September 14th election in the California recall, and a new shock poll has team Newsom a bit scared. Voters who plan to cast a ballot are now evenly divided when it comes to the question of whether Governor Newsom should be removed from office. But lucky for Gavin, he has some deep-pocketed friends. Where could they be? Silicon Valley perhaps? And of course, the entertainment industry, where Netflix's Reed Hastings has given him a whopping $3 million.
But there is a new intern in the influence peddling race, the teachers' unions. Thankful for their year-and-a-half out of the classroom which Newsom granted them, they are now opening their checkbooks. In the past two days alone the teachers' unions have dropped a whopping $2 million into the Newsom's coffers.
Here now is a keen observer of California politics, Harmeet Dhillon, attorney and CEO of the Center for American Liberty, which has had a huge wins recently against Newsom and these draconian orders of his. Harmeet, now, this isn't just the teachers' union paying Newsom back for all of his help, it's a down payment on what could be another year out of the classroom, no?
HARMEET DHILLON, CEO, CENTER FOR AMERICAN LIBERTY: Absolutely. The kind of rhetoric that you've been hearing out of the teachers' union and you've been hearing is that it's never going to be safe to go back into the classroom until COVID is over and eradicated. And epidemiologists who are being honest will tell that that may never occur. We have to simply learn to reduce the risks now to an acceptable amount.
And so this payment, as you say, it may be for the next year of special accommodations and letting these teachers effectively not do their jobs for another year, which is really contrary to the interest and the health interests, specifically, of California's children. And so you mentioned court victories, we won a court victory last week in court for private school kids. And so unfortunately the public school kids are still at the mercy of the teachers union, so that $2 million contribution is definitely significant and forbodes more the same.
INGRAHAM: And to your point, Harmeet, Randi Weingarten is already tipping her hand on this issue of what's going to come down the road for the school year. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: Vaccination is the number one gold standard that we need to bring back our masks for schools. So the bottom line is, we are going to keep kids safe, we're going to keep our members safe, and we're going to try to open up schools.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: OK, Harmeet, try to open up schools, and by the way, Gavin, here's your money. What a scam. There should be people put in jail for this.
DHILLON: Absolutely. That was a word salad of every press release that they've had over the past year. We need vaccination, we need masks. Those of us who are vaccinated are scratching our heads now because we are also being required to wear masks, and I think this is a very dicey proposition. It's very scary for young people, particularly women and concerns about reproductive effects of these vaccines. And so I think you are going to have to pay in California, Gavin Newsom, if the schools do not open again for public school children in the coming year.
INGRAHAM: And Harmeet, I should say also the prison union also gave money to help fight the recall.
DHILLON: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
INGRAHAM: They shelled out the money.
DHILLON: They are big donors as well. But there is a mixed record. The SEIU, the largest union of public-sector employees in California, has sent a letter to the governor saying that this demand to wear a mask and be tested and be vaccinated is in violation of their collective bargaining agreement. So it's hard to figure out who to cheer for here, but the union is standing up to the state.
INGRAHAM: All right, Harmeet, good to see you tonight.
And Simone Biles pulled out of the Olympics, and the devil has made it NBC bring "The Exorcist" back to theaters, but why? Raymond Arroyo is back with us in moments. "Seen and Unseen," and maybe some lightning, 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, who saved us during a thunderstorm. Raymond, Simone Biles, the six-time U.S. Olympic medalist, pulled out of the competition. We all know that. That was big news this week. She explained her decision this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMONE BILES, U.S. OLYMPIC GYMNAST: It's OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself. No injury, thankfully, and that's why I took a step back, because I didn't want to do something silly out there and get injured. So I thought it was best if these girls took over and did the rest of the job.
I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a backseat, work on my mindfulness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Laura, I have a slightly schizophrenic reaction to all of this. Look, on the one hand, I get it. She had a bad performance. She was lost midair in a flip. She probably feared breaking her neck or permanently injuring herself. There is also the traumatic sex abuse that she endured at the hands of that evil Dr. Nassar.
But the time to work through all of that was before the Olympic trials, not during the Olympic Games. You're part of a team now. And if you can physically perform, your job is to get into that headspace where you can overcome your fears and your jitters, and stick the landing.
Here's how one of her teammates, Jordan Chiles, reacted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORDAN CHILES, U.S. OLYMPIC GYMNAST: I did try to tell her, like, look, you know how to do everything. This is you. This is your moment. It's all up to you.
At that moment in time, she was telling herself she didn't want to harm herself. And so, I was happy that -- we all understood what she was going through. We all understood everything that was happening, and we just support her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Wow, you had to feel pretty bad for the teammates, because they obviously want to be very supportive of her, and they love her. But they work their butts off, too, and they still got the silver in that. But it's a tough deal. I have such admiration for the athletes to be able to compete at that level.
ARROYO: All of them. And look, Simone Biles has been an incredible champion, but I do think she succumbed to a lot of the media pressure, and pressure and expectations, Laura, that she placed on herself. She wore that leotard with the goat during some of the trials. So she started embracing this idea that she was the greatest of all time. That gets in your head. And I think some of that may have played against her when her body started doing other things during the competition here.
But Laura, we move from the goat to the groan. There is nothing worse than a congressman straining for relevance. In this case Democratic Representative Sean Casten decided to reference this Fergie song.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fergalicious, definition make them boys go loco. My body stay vicious. I be up in the gym just working on my fitness
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: And here is Congressman Casten's tragic takeoff, trying to call attention to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. SEAN CASTEN (D-IL): I rise to continue our celebration of hot Ferg summer. As climate activist Fergie would certainly say -- the Fergalicious definition is to make our planet cooler. So listen up you all, because this is it. So the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, better known as the F to the E to the R to the C, having a well air conditioned home when it's hot, hot, that's Fergalicious.
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I yield back so I can now go work on my fitness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Oh, good Lord. The people of the Chicago suburbs he represents must be so proud, Laura. He's a G to the O to the O to the F. This guy, if you're going to be relevant --
INGRAHAM: I have a question.
ARROYO: -- don't reference a song from 2006. Let's start there.
INGRAHAM: Could he yield back forever after that performance? Just yield back and that's it. Never come back. What else?
ARROYO: Finally, Laura, one of the most terrifying movies of all time is returning to the big screen, sort of.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mother!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody expected it. Nobody believed it. And nothing could stop it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARROYO: Yes, they're right. NBC and their Peacock Streaming Service just paid $400 million for the rights to William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist." They're going to make three sequels, Laura, to the 1973 William Friedkin classic.
INGRAHAM: Good luck.
ARROYO: Good luck with that. They've tried to reboot this property multiple times. A FOX T.V. series was based on it. A prequel in 2004. None of them, none of them came close to the Friedkin original. There's a reason people are still terrified of that 73 classic.
INGRAHAM: No. And Raymond, you and I were so blessed to have known Bill Blatty, an incredible writer and man.
ARROYO: Great man.
INGRAHAM: But are there any new ideas in Hollywood, or are we just going to keep going with old TVs shows, old cartoons, old comic books?
ARROYO: No.
INGRAHAM: None of it.
ARROYO: They are going to do just that. They are going to use these old wrappers without the substance that made it something great. "The Exorcist" was about a trial of faith, people struggling with faith. And of course Friedkin's directorial brilliance, you can't replicate that. Good luck guys.
INGRAHAM: No, no, no.
ARROYO: God bless you.
(LAUGHTER)
INGRAHAM: Thank you. Thank you. That first clip looked like what Pelosi would do to anyone on the Hill without a mask. They're tackling and exorcist.
You heard a lot about vaccine mandates now hitting restaurants and bars, but what if someone decided to take on the tyrants in the bluest of blue states by doing the opposite of what is requested? A California restaurant owner says he's ready to go to battle against the little dictators waging war on American liberty, and he's here next to tell us about it. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY ROMAN, CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT OWNER: I have always felt blessed to have had the opportunity to go into battle against the little dictators of the lockdowns. The enemies of freedom and their legions of mini-Gestapo, here they come with new mask mandates and more proof of vaccination requirements. So this time we have no time for the faint of heart in this battle. The enemies of liberty and freedom only respect and fear strength, so we must fight with the indomitable patriot spirit of 1776.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: That's my guest, Tony Roman, owner of Basilico's Pasta e Vino in California. In a slap in the face of Governor Gavin Newsom, he takes a stand. His restaurant is now requiring proof of being unvaccinated to eat there. Tony joins me now. Tony, what's the reaction been so far? What has your reaction been?
TONY ROMAN, CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT OWNER: All you have to do is watch the last interview that I did with little Chris Cuomo on CNN, and you will see him bailout as soon as it got heated, like the coward that he is, right. They come on the attack, they come swinging at us. We've got the hate raining down on us. And it's clear, all that does is help us expose who the enemy is. I tell people, read the post, read the sign, read between the lines, and if you can't figure it out because you're so blinded by your hate and your rage, maybe we should post a sign that says, you are too stupid to come into the restaurant.
INGRAHAM: Cuomo called you an idiot and a moron, I guess, tonight.
ROMAN: That's a badge of honor. That's a badge of honor for me. Yes, I appreciated it. And when I swung back, he bailed, of course. So it's OK. You'll see for yourself.
INGRAHAM: Your governor's take on mandates, here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, (D) CALIFORNIA: We are exhausted, respectfully, exhausted by the ideological prism that too many Americans are living under. We are exhausted by the politization of this pandemic, and that includes a mask wearing.
You don't have a choice to go out and drink and drive and put everybody else's lives at risk. That's the equivalent of this moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Tony, he's exhausted by people like you who put your so-called freedom interests ahead of the community's health concerns. Your reaction to that?
ROMAN: Look. My reaction is he's exhausted by trying to evade us sneaking around and breaking his own mandate, that's what he is exhausted from. His own kid I think just got taken out of day school or camp or whatever because he was caught breaking the rules that his parents encouraged him to.
So for us, we take a lot of joy in delivering every smackdown possible. I have publicly challenged who I call the tiny tyrant Gavin-Pelosi, every chance that I got. They had a criminal case against us. I dared them to file the charges officially. That case expired. We had ABC, which is Alcohol and Beverage Control, that's under his direction and power, they have come out as hard. We've basically driven them back and challenged them for the court date, because I won't give them any authority over me where I feel they don't have any. So I think right now the only way --
INGRAHAM: Tony, Tony, I have a question. Tony, I have a quick question.
ROMAN: Go ahead, yes.
INGRAHAM: So when you say I require proof that you are unvaccinated, you are kind of joking, right? You can't really have proof that you are unvaccinated.
ROMAN: Exactly. You can't prove a negative, right?
INGRAHAM: No one has a sense of humor. Tony, we loved the smackdown with Cuomo. Great to see you tonight. Good luck out here.
When we come back, another Biden biographical flub? The Last Bite.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Yesterday we caught two instances where Joe Biden forgot his own biography. Today, he's improving. It was only once.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Back in 2009, during the so-called great recession, the president asked me to be in charge of managing that piece, then President Trump -- excuse me, Freudian slip. That was the last president. He caused -- anyway, President Obama, when I was vice president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Anyway, Gutfeld next.
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