Mark Meadows: Democrats are siding with 'leftist activists' on police reform

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," April 26, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight. Why are the CDC and the blue states pushing for the masking of two-year-old? My medicine cabinet breaks down what is ongoing child abuse, plus Biden's anti-American presidency at 100 days. Victor Davis Hanson, Mollie Hemingway, on what his real standing with the public is.

And as Sean mentioned, what is really going on behind the Oscars record low rating, as Raymond Arroyo will unpack it all in Seen and Unseen. But first, less policing, more crime. That's the focus of tonight's ANGLE.

I feel like it's deja vu all over again. Like 50 years ago, liberal big city mayors are presiding once again, over a major crime search. And Democrat leaders not only seem like they don't care. In fact, their responses to the surge are making things more dangerous in America.

Now, last summer, we warned you and we were just adamant about this, that this increasingly anti-police sentiment that was being allowed to build and fester that it was filled and fueled by lies about systemic racism fed by these city leaders who were coddling rioters and looters instead of prosecuting them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNY DURKAN (D) SEATTLE MAYOR: I want to assure the president; the Seattle is fine.

TED WHEELER (D) MAYOR OF PORTLAND, OREGON: We have dozens, if not hundreds of federal troops descending upon our city. It's not helping the situation at all. They're not wanted here.

LORI LIGHFOOT (D) CHICAGO MAYOR: Mr. President, bring those kinds of troops to our city and try to take off and that's not going to happen in Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump and his minions are the architects of chaos in this country right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I forgot the BLM painting by de Blasio. That was classic. So now, almost a year later, with Biden in the White House, of course, things are getting worse and more violent by the day, not more peaceful as he promised. So, rather than recognizing this crisis that is brewing, Biden's party is turning on those who keep us safe, law enforcement.

Now last week, it was Minneapolis. This week, it's Louisville, and the Biden DOJ is going to war with policing in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MERRICK GARLAND, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department has opened a civil investigation to determine whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing.

The Justice Department is opening as opening a civil investigation into the Louisville Jefferson County Metro government and the Louisville Metro Police Department. It will determine whether LMPD engages in unconstitutional stops, searches and seizures, as well as whether the department unlawfully execute search warrants on private homes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now recognize the choreography involved in this move. Democrats hope it gets them one dance step closer to passing the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, which did pass the House that's currently sitting in the Senate. Now if that becomes law, it would ban various police practices and then give Far Left activist groups input into writing all the new guidelines that police will have to abide by and most devastating of all, it would eliminate police officers qualified immunity from lawsuits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KAREN BASS (D-CA): We have to find a way to hold officers accountable, so they will stop shooting people. They spend very little time, a few hours on de-escalation, but an awful lot of time on of course how to protect yourself, but when you shoot that you shoot to kill. So, qualified immunity is one way for officers to be accountable, civically accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I have an idea, why don't we take their legislative immunity away from them, if you're going to do it with the police, take their immunity when they're in Congress spouting off.

Now of course, this will do nothing except make our country more dangerous and policing as a profession, just much less desirable. Already, I know we've talked about this, but it's worse every day. Thousands of officers are leaving the force nationwide. It's a 75 percent increase year-over-year in New York City alone. And by the way, the police exodus is not just happening in big cities either, but also in the suburbs.

In fact, in very wealthy Fairfax County, Virginia, they're hemorrhaging cops. The department was down 188 officers as of April 11th, dozens of recruits have been leaving and leaving each academy session and some new officers contemplate leaving before serving their five-year minimum, to be vested in their pensions, violence is way up in Fairfax County lately, with more firearms seized already this year than in the last decade combined, my God.

Now, why would anyone, if you ask yourself this, why would anyone sign up today for the abuse that police officers go through every time they have to make a good faith split second life or death decision? Now, think about it. There are - of course, they're bad cops out there, there always will be, there are bad people in every profession. But even the most conscientious, the most compassionate and the most experienced officers, they can't guarantee that they're going to get past the woke, cop hating Left's ever- changing training rules.

So, to be a police officer on patrol today, you are kind of damned if you do, you're damned if you don't. If you save a black teenager from getting stabbed, and a billionaire basketball player makes you an instant target. But if you let her get stabbed, you're accused of letting a black girl die.

The media are the ultimate co-conspirators in all of this, in the continuing defamation of our police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Protesters gathering to remember 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant was shot by a Columbus Police officer on Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shots fired by Columbus Police officer Nicholas Reardon now reigniting a national debate about what constitutes reasonable force from police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have another black man who has been shot and killed by police and now a family that wants answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to relive this unending and unyielding nightmare of police shootings of unarmed African Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, I should know that police officers, many of whom signed up to make a positive difference in their communities make on average about $67,000 a year. Now at that pay level, the risk of making a mistake just might not be worth it to a heck of a lot of them. So, in Joe Biden's America, the criminals who resist arrest, always get the benefit of the doubt. But police rarely do.

Plaintiff's lawyers are getting very rich off of this alleged misconduct, they move from tragedy-to-tragedy claiming abuse before full investigations are even conducted, hoping for the next big payout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CRUMP, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: If we go see the video to know what they're trying to hide from only (ph) because the truth came half ever in a lie cannot live forever.

Can we go just one week without the police killing a black person unjustifiably. They don't shoot white men in the back. But shooting black man in the back is almost like a cliche.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: How much money has that guy made in the past five years when Minneapolis awarded the Floyd family, what was a $27 million? Did he get a cut? How much did he pocket from the $12 million settlement from Louisville in the Breonna Taylor case? Now, this has become its own hot franchise operation. Everyone seems to want in on the action.

CNN Analyst Bakari Sellers suddenly showed up in North Carolina today to condemn the police in another case pouring on the dramatic effect as if you needed it and sporting an accent that maybe I missed something, but I never heard him use on TV before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAKARI SELLERS, ATTORNEY FOR ANDREW BROWN JR'S FAMILY: I will say that Mr. Cox told me a grown black man that he was not going to be bullied. So, I walked out, but let's not focus just on the disrespect shown to me. Let's focus on the disrespect shown to this family. As we say in South Carolina, I know we in North Carolina to the county attorney and everybody else, bless his heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Unfortunately for all of us, crime is rising across America. But in some cities, the violence is close to outpacing what we saw during the peak years in the early 1990s. If you can believe it.

Now, will liberals ignore the ugly truth about the reasons for this? The rest of us can see what's going on. Researcher Rafael Mangual from the Manhattan Institute notes that it stands to reason that a significant decline in the sizes of the nation's police forces could have helped set the stage for the violent crime uptick. There's also reason to believe that in part because of the anti-police sentiments that characterize last summer's protests, the cops we have left became less proactive.

It's not that complicated, or at least it shouldn't be to anyone over the age of what about 50. The hideous crime wave that began in the 1960s also left liberal stammering for answers. New York's murder rates soared above 10 per 100,000 for a sustained period, it hitting a frightening 30.1 in 1990. So, the public was hungry for Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who ran on a return to law and order. Things began improving after 1996. But the city needlessly suffered greatly for years and years.

Millions just gave up on urban America across the country and moved to the suburbs. And those who stayed were basically the super-rich who have doormen and the very poor in government housing, and of course, the drug dealers and the homeless folks. And of course, let's not forget the prostitutes. But the Left did not seem to care about what happened to the cities.

So, if today's anti-police furor is allowed to grow, what happened decades ago to our great cities in America will happen again. The cities will empty out. And when enough good people get sick of seeing their country turn into a sewer run by criminals, the responsible politicians will be thrown out of office. And then strong crime fighters will be elected at every level of government. Then slowly but surely, cities will again see a renaissance.

So, earth the Democrats hating law and order and coddling criminals is not a winning platform. And that's THE ANGLE.

All right. Joining me now is North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. Lieutenant Governor, there's obviously a lot of heat in your state tonight after police involved shooting in Elizabeth City. Now, the response from activists is that police in the country are just systemically racist. So, they're hiding the whole videotape. They're just executing a man for no reason - he has his hands on the wheel. They're just deciding to execute in one day when they wake up. What can you tell us tonight? And do you believe in any of that?

MARK ROBINSON (R) NORTH CAROLINA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: First of all, thank you for having me here. Absolutely not. I do not believe all that. What I would say those activists is pump your brakes, slow down. Let the justice system take this course. Let's take a look at this and find out what's happened.

What they should be focused on is the seven-year-old who was murdered in Hickory, right here in North Carolina. What they should be focused on is the seven-year-old who was murdered in Chicago last week. We are seeing murders take place of the most incident across this nation at an alarming pace. And these activists and our politicians at our highest level are turning an absolute blind eye.

One of the most disgusting things that is happening in this nation right now is that we see of the poorest of the poor being murdered with impunity in neighborhoods across this nation, and nobody cares because they're too focused on these exact (ph) issues of injustice that they are being highlighted.

INGRAHAM: Mr. Lieutenant Governor, how concerned are you about what I addressed in THE ANGLE tonight that we keep this up, we're going to drive every good cop off the force and young recruits are going to quit mid- training session. They're not going to want to go through this either or the split-second decision they might have to make someday, heaven forbid.

ROBINSON: You know what folks don't understand is this. We certainly want to keep police brutality at bay, we want to eliminate police brutality, but the way you do that is by partnering with the police to remove those bad actors from their ranks. You don't do it by the erasing (ph) the whole bunch of officers and degenerating policing altogether.

If we continue to do this, I can guarantee you, we're going to reach a day when we are going to sorely miss the friendly police officer, his badge, his knife stick (ph) and his gun. And we're going to wish for those that we had those days back because as we see right now, crime is skyrocketing. Criminals are watching these policemen; they know that their hands are tied behind their back. And because of that they're committed these egregious crimes that we see against children, against innocent victims on the streets every day, we've got to change course, when it comes to this.

INGRAHAM: When can we expect the full video tape of Mr. Brown's death to be released?

ROBINSON: I'm going to be completely honest with you, I have no idea when we can expect that tape. And quite honestly, I'm looking for that tape. It is not my purview as Lieutenant Governor to be in the position to adjudicate that matter. We have proper authorities in that municipality who I have full confidence, will handle that. And we'll make sure that if something was done wrong, justice will be served.

What we need to be focused on, what I need to be focused on is the death of these innocent children and the death of innocent victims across our state and around this nation. It's high time we start doing something about the criminals and start focusing on these few cops.

INGRAHAM: And really quickly, the voter ID laws are also something you're very fired up about. Those have also been called racist and part of systemic racism in the country. You take sharp issue with that, Mr. Lieutenant Governor?

ROBINSON: Absolutely. I take sharp issue with that. And I take sharp issue with Democrats when it comes to racism. Tonight, we had the state address right here in North Carolina. Our Democratic governor Roy Cooper had the unmitigated gall to talk about how systemic racism flows throughout this state and talk about how black people are afraid to walk the streets, and then they can't walk the streets without being shot by police officers.

And he failed to mention the success that we've seen in this state, one of the greatest successes that we've seen in this day, in his history. The first black man, the first black person to be elected Lieutenant Governor was standing right behind him and he did not even acknowledge me. It points to the--

INGRAHAM: Wow.

ROBINSON: For them, it's not about color. It's not about race. It's not about justice. It is about an agenda. And it is sickening.

INGRAHAM: That is shocking, what you just - it is just - it took my breath away. Mr. Lieutenant Governor, thank you tonight for being here. Unbelievable. Now, when anti-cop vitriol swept the country last summer, the Trump White House stood by our men and women in uniform. But as police once again come under attack, Team Biden seems intent on doing everything they can to demoralize and demonize law enforcement.

Joining me now Mark Meadows, former Trump White House Chief of Staff. Mark, what's going on here, Biden used to be Mr. law and order, and now he's just like any garden variety, woke activists on the street?

MARK MEADOWS, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, Laura, it took Joe Biden 90 days, almost three months last summer to condemn the violence in Minneapolis and Wisconsin. And what we're seeing is, it's taken him 100 days to show his true colors, that he's against law enforcement, he's not willing to stand up for the men and women in blue, he's all about lurching to the Left, moderate Joe Biden is gone, lurching to the Left to make sure that what happens is, is that he puts forth an agenda that supports the Congresswoman to leave - the Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Maxine Waters in their radical Leftist agenda.

INGRAHAM: Well, speaking of, she doesn't think her inciting a violence had the Chauvin trial, Mark is going to matter at all, if the case is appealed. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA): The judge was all off track. And he knows that this is not the cause of an appeal, most of the time and you have a case like this, they're going to appeal it anyway. But to say that I'm going to cause an appeal really is not credible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Mark, if you were still in Congress, you would have gotten away with that kind of response. Right? If you had said something similar?

MEADOWS: Well, no, no rational person would get away with it. And I can tell you, with her comments about being more confrontational, when she goes to rioters and say, be more confrontational. But it actually aligns with Kamala Harris, who says, you know, she was encouraging them to not let up over the summer and to stay there and bail out some of these protesters.

Let me let me tell you, the Left is real focused on making sure that everybody keeps their COVID mask on, regardless of their age, regardless if they've had a vaccine, but they've taken the mask off. They are not with law enforcement. And we cannot standby. The American people need to judge for themselves, but we cannot stand by and let this continue.

What we need to make sure of is in any bill that comes forward that the Democrats don't side with trial attorneys at the expense of law enforcement.

INGRAHAM: I'm not sure why we should work with them at all on this. I don't know why we're falling all over ourselves to work with people who think we have a horrible, awful, racist country. I don't see what good comes from this.

MEADOWS: President Trump brought in community leaders, law enforcement together last summer. It was a beautiful thing. I was there in the room when he brought these folks together and say, we can actually get police reform done. But what happened is, the Democrats started making it a lot more, not only politically important to their side, they started siding with the less Leftist activists.

Here's the interesting thing. I was with a law enforcement officer earlier today. 29 years of experience, his dad had 31 - 60 years of experience, and they're going to end up retiring because of this nonsense that's going on in America.

INGRAHAM: It's back to the 1970's style urban America. It's going to be urban warfare. And people you voted for this. You're getting it. So, it's time to turn it around. Mark, thank you.

And as Joe Biden hits 100 days, Mollie Hemingway, Victor Davis Hanson tell us why the anti-Americanism that's been an animating feature of his presidency is start to weighing - start to weighing on voters. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: OK, have you seen this new NBC poll? It has Biden's approval at 53 percent. But I was thinking given all the propping up he's gotten from the media on every issue, I don't think it's that impressive. Now that's maybe explaining why Chuck Todd tried this little sleight of hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK TODD, MSNBC HOST: He's riding the momentum, in some ways of a recovering economy and the escalation of the vaccinations. Things look like they weren't going to go well, he took over and things seem to smooth out. And anytime you're over 50 in this polarized environment, that's really solid. It's sort of the new 60 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: What? With me now is Mollie Hemingway, Senior Editor at the Federalist, Fox News Contributor, and Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Institution Senior Fellow. OK, Victor, the 50 is the new 60. And then I guess Operation Warp Speed and the Trump economy and all the red states opening had nothing to do with the great economy we have right now. Unbelievable.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, HOOVER INSTITUTION SENIOR FELLOW: Well, they had everything that was all there is. I mean, he did hibernate during the campaign. People thought he couldn't during his administration, he's done that. The media is still obsequious. But the problem is, he's going to have a Waterloo very soon because every issue Laura, open borders, voter ID, counseling energy, you name it, they don't poll 51 percent and people are getting tired, and that's why it's not 55 and not 60, and some honeymoons.

And then we have this - all of this pent-up demand. But you should be encouraging production, lower taxes, less regulations, more energy, but he's doing - he's sending the opposite signals and the productive capacity is not going to keep up with this demand in this funny $4 trillion, we've printed.

Out here in California gas, housing, food, lumber, everything is sky high, it's up at an annual rate of about 7 percent nationwide. I guess he's going to have to go back to Jerry Ford win button or a malaise speech by Jimmy Carter, but he's going to have to address inflation pretty soon.

INGRAHAM: Yes, Mollie, I mean, Victor just nailed it. What is voter ID polling at 77 percent or something, some obscene level of support for the comments and stuff. He's on the wrong side of all of those issues. So, Kamala is in control, but she's never there.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, THE FEDERALIST: The media are propping up Joe Biden with the same zeal and fervor that they tore down Donald Trump. You think through back four years ago, what was happening that first 100 days, it was absolute hysteria, the negative coverage, I think it was like 95 percent negative coverage. They were alleging that the new president was a Russian agent who had stolen the election. Now you have Biden and it couldn't be more sycophantic and favorable.

But I also think it's important that people hold pollsters accountable. I saw the Washington Post poll that claimed that Biden had 52 percent support. I also remember that that same media outlet claimed that Biden would win Wisconsin by 17 points. They said that right before the election.

He actually won it by 0.7 percent. So, I think a fair amount to cut off from what they're saying now would be about 16 points, which would put Biden at 36 percent approval. And I think people need to remember to hold those pollsters accountable for what they did during the last campaign in terms of putting out fake numbers that were completely ludicrous and indefensible. And their current polling should be looked at, in the same way.

INGRAHAM: Total propaganda.

HEMINGWAY: I think people are not happy with the Biden Administration because of how divisive it is. Yes.

INGRAHAM: Right. And then the race stuff, I think people are just, it's really now I think wearing on everyone at every turn.

Victor, you're in California, and for the first time in history California has lost a House seat in apportionment after the Census comes out. California gained seven seats after two terms of Reagan, and now California is on the down swing and it's probably going to follow New York for years to come. What do we take from this?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, HOOVER INSTITUTE SENIOR FELLOW: We take that we have the highest basket of income, sales tax in the country, and gasoline tax, and we have the highest energy costs both gasoline and electricity, and we have almost the worst schools in the nation, about 48. We have the worst infrastructure according to some polls. And the crime rate is soaring. So people say, you know what, if they are going to trash the middle-class and make fun of me and say that I am useless and it's all Silicon Valley, illegal immigration, and I'm paying all these taxes and I get nothing for it, the beaches aren't worth it. I'm going to go to Texas or Florida or Nevada.

And these are not conservative people. They've already left. These are liberal people. Everybody I know that leaving, it's not the low hanging fruit conservatives. These are guys that are pretty liberal, and they can't take it anymore.

INGRAHAM: So all the red states, we have a big special coming up on Thursday, a big town hall on the red states trailblazers, Mollie. All these Republican governors are just pulling in big numbers for their states. This is huge. And this should give conservatives a real boost in the way they think about the future given what we are seeing in these census numbers.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST": Absolutely. And with Republicans not controlling anything in D.C. I think they are looking for leadership at these states. You see how Republican governors are drawing people into their states, incentivizing them through deregulation. There is a real creative and cultural awakening. Florida is easily the most exciting place to be in the country right now. And it's a direct result of policies supporting freedom, whether that's limited government, economic deregulation, or also are fighting the hostility of these big tech oligarchs and other large corporations that are really destroying that American spirit.

INGRAHAM: The free state of Florida. Mollie and Victor, thanks so much.

In 2014, nearly 45 million people watched the Oscars, if you can believe it. How about last night? Fewer than 10 million. Raymond Arroyo explains the reasons why in "Seen and Unseen" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for our "Seen and Unseen" segment where we unpack the big cultural stories of the day. And for that we turn to FOX News contributor Raymond Arroyo. All right, Raymond, I promised everybody this was going to be really good. OK, Oscars, really low ratings, lowest in history. But last week you said that the ratings would be at an all-time low. But it was even worse, if possible, than you predicted.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Laura, to put this in context, last year 23 million people watched the Academy Awards. This year just over 9 million tuned in. Here's why this matters, OK. Whether you're a sports team or in news or in entertainment, you have to serve the audience. That means giving them what they want, not what you'd like them to want. So last night director Steven Soderbergh, who produced this thing, and the Academy, knew politics was scaring their audience off, it has been for years. And they still opened their show this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If things had gone differently this past week in Minneapolis, I may have traded in my heels for marching boots.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, I know a lot of you people at home want to reach for your remote when you feel like Hollywood is preaching to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Yes, and that's what happened. People reached for their remote and turned it off. Look, people tune into movies to escape reality, to be entertained, or to focus on what it means to be human, Laura. But they don't come for political lectures, particularly when it takes place in a train station that looks like a cut rate lounge filled with people they've never heard of talking about movies they haven't seen. But whether it was accepting awards or introing them, the politics kept coming all night long.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whether it's a full-length feature film or a cellphone video taken by a young woman in Minneapolis by the name of Darnella Frazier that became the catalyst for change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On average the police in America every day kill three people, which amounts to about 1,000 people a year. And those people happen to be disproportionately black people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, that filmmaker won for a short film called "Two Distant Strangers." It's about a guy in a "Groundhog Day" like plot. But he wakes up every morning, he's a black man, and a white cop kills him. This is not where America is and it's not what they want for a date night.

INGRAHAM: How is that different from watching any given hour of MSNBC? That's just like what people are seeing and that's their opinion is all the time.

Raymond, there seemed to be very view recognizable stars at this thing.

ARROYO: Yes, the commercials had more star power, Laura. It was like of the Oscars was at war with itself. Iconic actors were trotted out mostly to make fools of themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here is a note, some editorial suggestions that were prepared after the screening of the -- of a movie I was in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He sounds drugged.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were they all on drugs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see you do it. Let's see it.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, that was Glenn Close, by the way. Can you imagine Betty Davis or Audrey Hepburn have to tweak, or twerk to try to be relevant, or tweak at this point, to try to be relevant in this atmosphere? This was like a Tony Awards. It was so irrelevant, and it was in some hotel lobby. It was a disaster. There was only one redeeming moment in this boring parade of grievance, and it's when Tyler Perry accepted his Oscar for his philanthropy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYLER PERRY, ACTOR: I refuse to hate someone because they are Mexican, or because black or white or LBGTQ.

(APPLAUSE)

PERRY: I refuse to hate someone because they are a police officer. I refuse to hate someone because they are Asian.

That where change happens. It happens in the middle. So anyone who wants to meet me in the middle to refuse hate, to refuse blanket judgment, and to help lift someone's feet off the ground, this one is for you too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: It was a great moment, Laura.

INGRAHAM: Again, if the Oscars keep up the politics, by next year there will be four people in that train station that was watching.

ARROYO: I'll give them a lot of credit, though. They wanted the boycott in all of Georgia. Tyler Perry's studio is there. He stayed open.

INGRAHAM: Raymond, you believe a couple of performances should have been nominated, quickly. If you were giving out an Arroyo award, an Arroyo award, what would it get?

ARROYO: Well, I would certainly give a Ray-my for this CNN interview for best supporting actress in an extremely social distanced setting. The winner is Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to lift half of America's children out of poverty, Dana. How about that? How about that? Think about that. That's good stuff. That's really good stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, that's good stuff. And Laura, for best original song in an urban setting, the Ray-me goes to Senator Chuck Schumer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Save the stages. Yeah, we're going to save the stages. Yeah, we're going to save the stages.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, what you just saw is more entertaining than the entire hours of the Academy Awards. I'm sorry.

INGRAHAM: Let me just say, I thought you were introducing "Cocoon 3." What was that? I was like, that is scary.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Raymond, thank you.

And the anti-science crowd is at it again. The state of Oregon forcing athletes playing outdoors to wear masks. We're going to tell you what happened to one runner. Plus, wait until you hear what the CDC moms and dads are doing for summer camp guidance for kids over two years old. Our medicine cabinet in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: The evidence of mounting mask mandates aren't just ineffective. In some cases they are harming people. Just days ago Oregon's insane mandate put the life of a high school track star, Maggie Williams, at risk. She collapsed during the final steps of her 800 meter race. The incident left her coach fuming over the state's absurd rules. You get a kid running the 800 with a mask on, it's actually dangerous when they don't get the oxygen that they need.

But of course, undeterred, Michigan governor witless Whitmer is now forcing toddlers to mask up. People, this is insane. Starting today the state mask mandate will apply to kids two to four years of age. Not to be outdone, though, the CDC has issued new guidelines for children at summer camp. Their message, all people in camp facilities should wears masks at all times. Sports and athletic activity should be done outdoors wearing a mask, except if you're swimming or eating, apparently.

Here now, Dr. Harvey Risch, Yale School of Public Health, Epidemiology professor, Dr. Knut Wittkowski, former head of biostatistics and Epidemiology at Rockefeller U. Dr. Wittkowski, why this continued aversion to the science on masking, especially outdoors, and now with children as young as two?

DR. KNUT WITTKOWSKI, ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY FORMER BIOSTATS HEAD: It doesn't make any sense.

INGRAHAM: Why are they doing it?

WITTKOWSKI: I don't know. You have to ask them. There is no evidence that children are infecting adults, and children themselves have very mild phenotypes if anything. And they actually need not only educational and social but also immunological challenges to develop into fully functioning adults.

INGRAHAM: And Dr. Risch, when I saw that story, I was surprised we haven't had more athletes just passing out. When I see young girls in Maryland and Virginia playing lacrosse and they're running at full speed and they have these heavy black masks on -- I played three sports in high school I don't think I could have done it, honestly. I don't think I could have, or maybe would have, I don't know.

DR. HARVEY RISCH, YALE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I think the whole point of sports is to push your physical ability to the limit. And if you are cutting your oxygen, you can't push to the limit, and it just cuts the ability to perform.

INGRAHAM: So when you have individuals, Dr. Wittkowski, who are demanding that these little children on planes and camps and nursery schools wearing masks, what about the psychological issue that could be developing with children as well? I see little kids becoming hypochondriacs, afraid, and not able to see social cues?

WITTKOWSKI: Well, I am not a psychologist or sociologist, but as an epidemiologist, I can say it does not make any sense to have children wearing masks. In fact, it doesn't make much sense for people other than those who are vulnerable to wear masks.

INGRAHAM: Dr. Fauci is once again trying to rewrite the history on masks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. VIN GUPTA, MSNBC MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I don't know how we get to herd immunity unless we normalize the framework around vaccine certification. The carrot and stick of you get the vaccine, you will be able to participate in travel, restaurants, you name it, because that's, frankly, easier for small businesses to adhere to. They need to be able to transition to a paradigm where they're just checking people's verification status at the windows that they can get 100 percent capacity in their indoor dining, or you name it.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, BIDEN CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER: The one thing for sure is the thing that's on a lot of people's minds is what about outdoors? It's common sense to know that the risks when you are outdoors which we have been saying all along is extremely low, and if you are vaccinated it's even lower. So you're going to be hearing about those kinds of recommendations soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK, Dr. Risch, we played the vaccine certificate first from Vin Gupta. But this is the ongoing lie. It's like the rules keep changing, the goalposts keep moving. But the public is supposed to just nod and go along and say yes, we are waiting for our next order. None of this is making any sense.

RISCH: I think that when you have a policy that doesn't work well, you dig in. I think that's all they are doing is they are digging in because they can't admit that they need to switch the policy to something that has more evidence for it.

INGRAHAM: Dr. Wittkowski, when we saw the mandates being dropped in states like Texas, obviously in Florida as well, or you had a big Super Bowl party, again, as an epidemiologist, we didn't see the spread that was predicted. There was fearmongering on the super-spreader events. Never saw it, nothing.

WITTKOWSKI: There was no evidence for spread caused by people not wearing masks.

INGRAHAM: But there is never any follow-up. Again, these are the trusted experts who have been branded in the public's eye as the be all and end-all authority on this. And you two are two of the most prominent epidemiologists, certainly that I know of in the whole country. So why are we not applying basic immunology and science to what see in the statistics, Dr. Risch?

RISCH: Well, as I've said many times, you have to follow the motivations. If the motivations are to sell vaccines, then you make policies that maintain fear and motivation for people to demand the vaccines, even if they are not necessary for everyone, even if they are counterproductive for some.

INGRAHAM: Even if there's early intervention medicines that people can take as well, like Ivermectin and others. Gentlemen, thank you very much tonight.

A big announcement about Thursday's show and the future of the country. Stay there, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Thursday night we have a huge show for you. THE INGRAHAM ANGLE town hall "Red State Trailblazers" for the entire hour. I'm going to be joined by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts. So why they chose liberty over lockdowns, plus get their first reactions to President Biden's address to Congress. It's going to be a doozy. Big audience as well.

Greg Gutfeld takes it all from here.

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