New reality: Changing of the guard at the Republican Party?
Is Donald Trump now the titular leader of the GOP? The debate continues on 'The Five'
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," May 12, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone I'm Eric Bolling, along
with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Juan Williams, Melissa Francis and Greg Gutfeld.
It's 5 o'clock in New York City and this is "The Five."
Well, it's over and
it sounds like it went very well for Donald Trump and the Republican Party
today in Washington. The presumptive GOP nominee met with republican
leaders earlier on Capitol Hill, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who is
chairing his party's convention this summer, but has yet to endorse the
candidate. Ryan and RNC Chair Reince Priebus had lots of positive things to
say about the meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL RYAN, UNITED STATES HOUSE SPEAKER: The question is, what is it that we
need to do to unify the Republican Party and all strains of conservative
wings in the party? We had a very good and encouraging productive
conversation on just how to do that. It was important that we discussed our
differences that we have, but it was also important that we discussed the
core principles that tie us all together. I was very encouraged with what I
heard from Donald Trump today.
REINCE PRIEBUS, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: As I say productive
and there was a feeling of, I think even unity in the room that we want to,
we want to get to a unified party so let's roll up our sleeves and figure
out how to get it done. And it was 100 percent positive. I think it's safe
for me to say that there's a heck of a lot more agreement than any
disagreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: So will all of this now lead to an endorsement from Paul Ryan?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RYAN: Yeah, I think this is going in a positive direction and I think this
is the first very encouraging meeting. But again, in 45 minutes, you don't
litigate all the processes and all the issues and the principles that we --
that we are talking about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: As for Trump, he put out a tweet about the meeting saying it was a
quote, "Great day in D.C. with Speaker Ryan and republican leadership.
Things are working out really well." So like it or not folks, Donald Trump,
right now is titular leader of the GOP. And I think when he accepts the
nomination at the RNC convention in July you can remove titular from that
title and start comfortably calling him the leader of the GOP. KG, last
night we looked forward it at -- towards this meeting today, and we thought
it was gonna come out all right. It seems to be -- that was accurate.
KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Yeah. It seems like it worked out
really well. And I think it's for the good of everybody, for the good of
the party. Because again, all I keep seeing in my face is like an x over
the HRC, continuation of Obama legacy. So when you think about the Supreme
Court, see the faces, see the people who should be there, conservative
justices, because you know what's coming if she gets in. This was an
important moment because people do respect Paul Ryan. He's, you know, he's
respected, he's well-liked. I think Trump likes him genuinely and I think
he was kind of heard upset that, you know, he didn't -- he made those
comments initially. But today looks like it went well, you can you tell
from Reince, you can tell from the comments of Paul Ryan. So I think it's a
step forward in the right direction, which is to sit down at a table and
listen to people and hear what they have to say.
BOLLING: OK, Greg. Paul Ryan said that he went into the meeting and talked
about -- discussed core principles, and that's 64,000-foot idea.
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Yeah.
BOLLING: He didn't drill down into specifics, but maybe that's what they
need to have unity.
GUTFELD: I think, I think it's, it's not necessarily the first step towards
unity, more like reconciliation, because I think there's a key distinction
here. There's a lot of raw emotion to pretend that you can paper over a
rift that has basically been contemptuous of principles and conservatism
and has said that's not as important, you know, it's more about inside and
outside, and it has insulted so many people that are conservatives, to be
told that they really don't matter. And now suddenly, you do matter. I
would -- what I was interested was, right his tweet which he said, "The
meeting was great."
MELISSA FRANCIS, GUEST CO-HOST: Yeah.
GUTFELD: "It was a very positive step toward party unity." I mean, it felt
like he blinked that, although I had that persuasiveness of a fortune
cookie message. To me, this whole meeting was like two girls in high school
who gossiped all year about each other and now they're sharing a class
project and they have to work together. I think what, what Ryan did was
actually really brave. He didn't come out and endorse him, because he knows
there are people like me who still have legitimate concerns and Ryan is
there to represent those people. If he jumped in the sack right away, with
Trump, if he said yes right away, people would have said --
FRANCIS: That horrible image.
GUTFELD: Yeah, that horrible image.
BOLLING: Also --
GUILFOYLE: Oh.
GUTFELD: It could be wrong
BOLLING: So he has to lead him on? He has teased him a little?
GUTFELD: No, he's got to play hard to get. He actually had to do the work
that I try to do, to try to get Trump to understand what it's like to be
conservative. Why principles matter over politics?
BOLLING: Can I ask you? Can I push .
GUTFELD: Yeah.
BOLLING: . here a little bit, so youth --
GUTFELD: Yeah.
BOLLING: Are you saying that there's a group of people who think Trump
needs to change .
GUTFELD: Yes.
BOLLING: . in order to get your vote.
GUTFELD: Absolutely. You cannot make deals on principles. You can make
deals on specific items, but not on principles of self-government. For
example, Trump does not believe in small government. He believes in great
government. That's quite a distinction for a conservative, because we
believe great government predicates on the notion that it is smaller, more
efficient. That has never come out of Trump's mouth.
BOLLING: OK. Juan --
GUILFOYLE: Did you just take a five-hour energy drink?
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Did this solidify the idea that Donald Trump is running the party
today at post meeting?
JUAN WILLIAMS, CO-HOST: No, because he didn't endorse him, but
it did solidify in so many other ways. I think I read a piece today that
described it as Paul Ryan being boxed in. And you think .
GUTFELD: No.
WILLIAMS: . boxed in by the fact that you have Senate leader McConnell, now
endorsing Trump. You have the former speaker John Boehner, now endorsing
Trump. You have the leaders, the heads of seven different congressional
panels -- house panels endorsing Trump. So the question then becomes, who
is sticking out here as a member of the party? Who is the one that's not
lining up? Oh, it's Paul Ryan. And again, the pressure then comes and we
had this discussion yesterday, Eric, where you're saying, hey, Paul Ryan,
get in line. Got to do it, Trump has the votes of the -- most of the
republicans who voted in the primary. It's time for Paul Ryan to get in
line. But I got to go back to what Greg was saying. I think on some level
people are saying, you know, what's the difference? Is it just a matter of
you lining up because you were told to line up?
BOLLING: No, here is the difference, because you're an option. It's not 17
people or 15 people or 12, it's one. You've got Trump or you've got a
democrat.
FRANCIS: Yeah. I mean, I totally disagree with you, Juan. I don't think
that Paul Ryan is being boxed in at all. I would take your mean girl
analogy in a little different direction and say, I think it's more like
it's the nerd from the math club, and he's been trash-talked by the captain
of football team for awhile. And they're getting together and they're
trying to put their heads together and come up with something. I think Paul
Ryan is totally reasonable. I don't think he would go along if he didn't
believe it. But I think what unites these guys is that they can both do
math, and they do both understand business, and they understand that the
middle class cannot afford another Obama administration.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
FRANCIS: You look at median income has fallen. The divide between rich and
poor has gotten so much worse under President Obama, and you look at GDP
right now, slowing down economic growth. I mean the middle class can't
afford to have another Obama administration. They cannot have Hillary
Clinton in there, and that's what unites these guys. That's where they have
the common ground for people --
GUTFELD: I don't think they unite on trade.
WILLIAMS: I know.
GUTFELD: I don't think that they do.
FRANCIS: OK. The trade thing --
GUILFOYLE: Jobs, economy.
GUTFELD: They know.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: If you have -- if Trump's advice, which is to bring jobs back,
that will all prices will go up.
FRANCIS: OK.
GUTFELD: Let's admit that. If you put tariffs on goods, which is apparently
our attack on China, all prices will go up, correct?
FRANCIS: No. Here's what --
GUTFELD: No?
FRANCIS: What he, get that --
GUTFELD: Tariffs --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Our taxes.
FRANCIS: When he did the speech on foreign policy, explained that his
position on China, was about bringing North Korea to heel. And that China
has the power over them. The only power we have over China is economic. The
whole thing on trade isn't actually about trade. It's the opening salvo and
trying to --
GUTFELD: So the tariffs aren't really going to happen?
FRANCIS: I don't think so.
BOLLING: No -- OK.
FRANCIS: I think it's an opening salvo.
(CROSSTALK)
FRANCIS: What you are saying --
BOLLING: When you could also deal with the tariffs --
(CROSSTALK)
FRANCIS: We're going to use money to lever China.
BOLLING: The tariffs could disincentivize companies from doing business
overseas, bring jobs back here. Maybe bring manufacturing back here.
(CROSSTALK)
FRANCIS: I think it's about national security.
GUTFELD: Still not conservative.
FRANCIS: I think it's about national security.
WILLIAMS: And as such --
FRANCIS: About national security.
WILLIAMS: And what you just heard from Melissa is -- I don't really think
Trump is going to do what he says he's going to do.
FRANCIS: No, no, no. That's not true.
WILLIAMS: Therefore I'll support. But this is --
FRANCIS: That's not true.
WILLIAMS: It's not only --
FRANCIS: That's not true. It's foreign policy.
WILLIAMS: It's not only trade. It's the size of government. It's social
security and Medicare which Paul Ryan has said, he wants to cut.
FRANCIS: Juan, if you bothered to listen to his foreign policy speech, he
explained in clear detail that his policy on Chinese trade had to do with
pressuring them over what's going on in North Korea. That's the only way to
bring China to (inaudible) to put pressure on North Korea.
GUILFOYLE: And he's very specific about that.
FRANCIS: That makes sense.
WILLIAMS: No. That's not the point.
FRANCIS: It finally made sense.
WILLIAMS: That's not the point. And I will say something --
FRANCIS: It is the point.
WILLIAMS: It's not just that you have Ryan being boxed in at this point;
you still have outliers like Mitt Romney, who is criticizing Trump over his
tax return.
GUILFOYLE: That's what you were about.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Mitt Romney --
WILLIAMS: Bring in --
BOLLING: Mitt Romney has become irrelevant in this process.
WILLIAMS: Oh, is that right?
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Everyone who was republican --
BOLLING: Nice guy, great guy, well loved, but he is --
WILLIAMS: Nobody, nobody but Trump is a republican, nobody but Trump. The
only republican --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: But going also --
GUILFOYLE: By the way, people are getting quite upset that supported the
campaigns and worked for to help him to elect as President Mitt Romney.
They're upset now, because of what's going on. Because at a certain point
enough, already. Like if you're, you know, you have to kind of try to like
deal with it and don't completely be an obstructionist to go again. I get
the problem Paul Ryan has, Jack Kemp on one side, the legacy, the memory
and Mitt Romney, because he was his running mate. So I get it, but --
BOLLING: There are a lot of conservatives who didn't like Mitt Romney. A
few at this table who did just -- but we said, you know, Mitt Romney was a
better option than four more years of Barack Obama and everybody stood in
line and do what they had to do to try to elect Mitt Romney. Now there's --
and the one chose on the republican side, maybe not as conservative as you
like.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
BOLLING: . but certainly better choice than Hillary or Bernie. Get in line,
take the medicine, vote for the guy that's going to be better than the --
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
BOLLING: . the other evil.
WILLIAMS: Well, take, you know take the big loss, that's up to you guys.
BOLLING: I see.
GUILFOYLE: All right. Let's see about that.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Can I give you a very quick anecdotal story, very quick. Last
week, I went out to dinner with some very good friends, diehard democrats
would never ever vote republican in their entire life. A couple of months
ago he said, you know, I'm kind of like what Trump is saying; I'm just
liking it. He stopped. He voted for Donald Trump, now Jay wants to vote --
he wants to work for Donald Trump. Last night out to dinner with a guy
whose son was a big political democrat operative in New Jersey; out to
dinner with him. He says to me last night. He said, you know, I'm watching
the show, I agree with Jon Stewart. I don't know what Hillary Clinton
stands for. I can't vote for her, I'm going to vote for Donald Trump, too.
WILLIAMS: I think a lot --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: I mean you're seeing a lot of democrats coming over.
WILLIAMS: I just -- I see. You've said this to me before. And I think in, I
think your -- the basis of your position was West Virginia. Where I think
it was 30, 40 percent.
BOLLING: Forty-four percent, forty-four percent.
WILLIAMS: Of the people who voted --
BOLLING: And Bernie.
GUILFOYLE: And you said that was an outlier.
WILLIAMS: And people who voted for Bernie said they would switch and vote
for Trump. And I said to you, that is not a reflective of a national
pattern. We still don't see any state where, in fact, Trump is able to flip
a state from blue to red.
FRANCIS: But Juan, I think that his argument about people going over is
true. Only it's to support Greg's point that maybe Donald Trump is --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Oh it's not.
FRANCIS: Democrats take over -- you're saying they're supportive. It seems
like --
GUTFELD: That's the elephant in this room. That is the elephant in this
room is that you know what, you're talking. What we have argued for four
years, which is we don't like squishes and rhinos. Suddenly, we're bending
over for one.
BOLLING: Hang on. This is a very important one.
(CROSSTALK)
FRANCIS: That's a terrible image.
(LAUGHTER)
FRANCIS: That's a terrible image.
GUILFOYLE: You easy.
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: You easy.
BOLLING: There are some very good tapes. Donald Trump just spoke to Sean
Hannity moments ago about today's meeting. We've got the first clip. Here
it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I thought it was a great meeting.
We had a -- we discussed a lot of things, a lot of very important things.
And I thought it was really a very, very good meeting. I think Paul felt
the same way and everybody else did, also. I don't mind going through a
little bit of a slow process. It's a very big subject. I think we have a
lot of things. And I think for the most part we agree on a lot of different
items and we're getting there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLLING: All right, that full interview is going to air tonight at 10:00
p.m. eastern. But let's talk a little about -- so both sides think it was a
good meeting.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah. I mean, where was the down side? Try to spin that as a
negative. There was nothing that came out of it --
GUTFELD: I saw orange smoke coming from the chimney.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: Orange?
BOLLING: What does that mean?
GUILFOYLE: Oh my, God.
BOLLING: The pope thing?
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WILLIAMS: No, no, no. The orange part was the good part.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: It's white smoke --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: The orange part is like --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: Was it like when the pope dies --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: No. It's when they choose the pope, right?
FRANCIS: Right, right, right.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Right. And they have a pope.
FRANCIS: Something like that, yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
FRANCIS: I'm catholic. So I don't know.
GUILFOYLE: Bolling, you are at St. Patrick's every day.
GUTFELD: You should know this.
BOLLING: I've should have known that.
GUTFELD: You should know this.
GUILFOYLE: Bad catholic, you didn't get the pope joke.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: Anyone else? You're good? Want to go?
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: All right. Let's take the (inaudible), yeah.
FRANCIS: OK.
BOLLING: Make sure you catch Trump on Hannity tonight at 10:00 p.m.
eastern, and maybe KG and I as well, will probably show up. That will be
tomorrow night.
GUILFOYLE: (inaudible) special.
BOLLING: Right. Next, the "Washington Post."
(LAUGHTER)
BOLLING: . launched a massive investigation into Donald Trump, but not the
candidate who is actually under investigation by the FBI. We investigate
that one when "The Five" returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: You are the only person --
GUILFOYLE: That lacks the outfit?
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: Yes, the only person.
GUILFOYLE: Sometimes --
GUTFELD: They ripped off men at work.
GUILFOYLE: Sometimes love from one person is enough.
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: All right, a mainstream media bias alert for you now. They're
not even trying to hide it. "The Washington Post" Associate Editor Bob
Woodward of Watergate fame openly revealed that his paper assembled an army
of employees to dig up whatever dirt they can on Donald Trump. He was
caught telling a group of relatives yesterday, there's a lot we don't know.
We have 20 people working on Trump; we're going to do a book, we're doing
articles about every phase of his life. So what about Hillary? Woodward
said "The Post" is trying to get to the essence of the likely democratic
nominee. But he doesn't think anyone feels there was, quote, "intent on her
part to distribute classified information in a way that was illegal or
jeopardized security." "The Five" reached out to the paper and asked them
if they're committing the same amount of resources to Hillary as they are
to Trump. They refused to directly answer the question. Is this any
surprise, Eric?
BOLLING: No. No surprise or what sort.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: (inaudible) we know I would rather them do, rather than looking
into Hillary's e-mail scandal.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah --
BOLLING: . because I think the FBI has got that locked down and sure
they're going to find whatever they find. I wish "The Washington Post"
would start digging into the Clinton Foundation, all, all the accusations
that the Clinton cash book made that was so -- there were specific
allegations in the book, and if -- and Clinton is denying all of that. I
wish "The Washington Post" would go ahead and do some investigative
journalist -- journalism into that. I bet you they would find stuff that --
couldn't catch, didn't find.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
BOLLING: That's why I really -- I think that's where the corruption is. And
I just want -- I want to know more about that.
GUILFOYLE: And also like news flash, because they don't, clearly don't
understand what's going on here with the Hillary e-mail story because
they're talking about their loss, they've lost their heads about intent,
and that isn't even required as part of the element of the crime. But
anyway --
FRANCIS: So that's --
GUILFOYLE: So there's that.
WILLIAMS: I think that's what it's about.
GUILFOYLE: It's not --
WILLIAMS: OK. I'm just telling.
BOLLING: Not required.
WILLIAMS: It is required --
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: No, it's not.
WILLIAMS: It is.
GUILFOYLE: You keep, just to keep --
WILLIAMS: Anyway --
GUILFOYLE: You keep saying it Juan .
WILLIAMS: Let me just tell you, I think on --
GUILFOYLE: . it doesn't make it true.
WILLIAMS: On the media bias front, this is so curious to me, because you
talk about media just opening the door to any, and every time Donald Trump
wants to speak, he can even call in by phone. Oh yes, Mr. Trump, please
come right ahead. Hillary Clinton's response to this by the way is to say,
how come you guys don't ask follow-up questions? Oh, how are you going to
get all these immigrants out? How are you going to end trade --
international trade without collapsing our economy? Those questions are
never asked of Trump.
BOLLING: How about Hillary Clinton come on this network, then?
WILLIAMS: I think she should.
BOLLING: How did that -- we have a chair, right?
WILLIAMS: I've been encouraging --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: There's no question.
BOLLING: Will there be -- what are the odds of that?
WILLIAMS: But let me just tell you something.
BOLLING: No chance in hell.
WILLIAMS: But do you think that we are critical -- harshly critical of
democrats? Do you think that's why Obama, Clinton, don't come on the
network?
BOLLING: So what?
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: In other networks are harshly critical of republicans and they
still show up on MSNBC.
WILLIAMS: Aha. Well, let me just ask you something. And you know, I'm part
of this, but I was pushing for democrats to have a debate on Fox News. I
think it would appeal to the audience and help them, but they are so gun-
shy about Fox.
FRANCIS: Yeah, they are, because they have some questions. You talk about
the follow-up questions? Do you not think Megyn Kelly asked follow-up
questions of Donald Trump? And we -- isn't that what started the whole
kerfuffle?
WILLIAMS: No.
FRANCIS: I mean there are many.
WILLIAMS: That's not.
FRANCIS: . many, many follow-up questions, as for "The Washington Post" and
the 20 reporters, I mean, I don't think there's anything wrong biased about
that. I do think they should send an army after Donald Trump. I mean,
that's what happens when you have a presidential candidate. I think that's
perfectly fair. I think they've sent a ton of people after Hillary Clinton,
and I think that Hilary Clinton, I mean, "The New York Times" did turn up a
lot of stuff about the foundation. I agree with you. I think there is paper
play and that's where all the .
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
FRANCIS: . legal activity is in the foundation. But I've read a lot about
in "The New York Times" and still people don't care. So I think you can dig
up stuff, and that the average person out there are already made up their
mind --
WILLIAMS: But Melissa, who dug up the e-mail stuff, "The New York Times."
FRANCIS: Yes. No, I agree. I mean, I think a lot of it is out there and go
after all of them equally.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah. Greg?
GUTFELD: I don't think it matters, because Trump has neutralized the media
through -- and it is -- I have to say something nice about Donald because
he's mad that I haven't. So I'm going to say this, he's a genius at using
reciprocity. For decades, he's done favors for producers and hosts, calling
them in. And now in 2016, he's calling in the chits. He's like the guy who
like to shows up and says, remember when I helped you move? Well, now I'm
running for president. It's like those free samples you get at the
supermarket of cheese and sausage. That's Trump calling into morning shows,
that, you know, or offering you a hotel room or letting you, letting you
get on his plane. That creates the pressure of reciprocation from the
people who received the favor. It's a human need basically saying, he was
nice to you, now you be nice to him. And if you don't you feel like you've
welched on a deal or you are scrowned. It's a sales tactic that he's
brilliantly applied to the media and to politics, and we ate it up, because
we feel bad, because he's been so good to us. He has been great to us
ratings-wise.
BOLLING: Yeah, yeah --
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
BOLLING: And add something to that too, not only that but he's from the
beginning -- he's been unapologetic. He said what he feels, he's just
throwing it out there and it's so unpolitical. It's politically incorrect
that people now, no matter what these 20 investigative journalists find,
they don't have -- find something that he said to someone.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
BOLLING: . in 10 years ago, and we all go, oh yeah, OK. So he said, I've
heard that before.
GUTFELD: Yeah. The stuff on his stern, like the stuff --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: But the point being that if he's --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: But the honesty and the forthcomingness (ph) -- forthrightness is
refreshing. People are buying into it.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
BOLLING: It actually works in his favor.
GUTFELD: It's like when President Obama admitted to doing drugs in his
book. That made the question, do you do drugs --
BOLLING: For everyone.
GUTFELD: Irrelevant, for everyone -- yeah.
BOLLING: For everyone that came after him. Agree?
GUTFELD: Including me.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah, exactly.
(LAUGHTER)
GUILFOYLE: And good for him.
GUTFELD: Yes.
GUILFOYLE: That he went on Howard Stern, what it's like -- that to me is
just so desperate like grasping at straws, because he said he had a sex
talk on Howard Stern, I mean --
GUTFELD: Who hasn't it, right?
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: Who hasn't it?
GUILFOYLE: Relate.
GUTFELD: We had a sex talk about you and you're not even on.
GUILFOYLE: People enjoy themselves. All right, not only with the press do
their jobs (inaudible) Hillary, but Clinton also has an obligation to talk
to the press and not just the outlets that give her a pass. Like come on,
Fox. Here's Bill O'Reilly on that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY, "THE O'REILLY FACTOR" HOST: In order to beat Donald Trump,
Mrs. Clinton is going to have to come out of the left-wing precincts and
appeal to independent voters. Therefore, she will have to talk to people
like me and answer responsible questions. Trump talks to everybody. He's on
MSNBC all the time. But Hillary Clinton is very cautious granting
interviews. At this point she might want to rethink that strategy. If she
truly believes that she's the right person to run this country, then
Hillary Clinton should talk to all Americans, not just ideological soul-
mates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: We couldn't have said it better ourselves, which is why we
played that SOT, right?
GUTFELD: I could have said it better.
GUILFOYLE: No, not again.
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: But Bill would even admit that. He would say if only I could match
Greg's expertise.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WILLIAMS: But let me just say, before we end the segment.
GUILFOYLE: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: That there's one study that I saw in our research packet today
that really surprised me, it said, in fact, there have been more negative
stories about Mrs. Clinton than there have been about Trump or Bernie
Sanders, and fewer positive stories about Hillary Clinton than there had
been about Trump or Sanders. Sanders gets ignored a little bit because
nobody expected him to do this well. But the idea that Hillary Clinton is
not subject to media scrutiny, I don't think that's true.
FRANCIS: I mean, she would be a fool to go on with O'Reilly, because he
would just grill her and she have to answer --
WILLIAMS: I think she would be smart. I think she would be smart to come on
Fox.
GUTFELD: It would be like Benihana (ph).
FRANCIS: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: Yeah, but that's the problem. If people think --
FRANCIS: All right.
WILLIAMS: They're going to get chopped up --
FRANCIS: Yeah.
GUTFELD: Yeah.
WILLIAMS: They don't come.
GUILFOYLE: I'm taking heavy traffic in the ear here. All right, President
Obama, Harry Reid and other democrats have blamed republicans for the rise
of Donald Trump, but not Jon Stewart. He blames his fellow liberals and
you're gonna hear why, next. Don't move.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: In a recent podcast the Progressive Pope Jon Stewart blamed Donald
Trump's rise on the left for not making government awesome:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, FORMER "THE DAILY SHOW" HOST: And I'll lay the blame then with
the Democrats. The door is open to an (beep) like Donald Trump, because the
Democrats haven't done enough to show to people that government that can be
effective for people, can be efficient for people. And if you can't do that, then you've lost the right to make that change, and someone's going to come in and demagogue you.
DAVID AXELROD, FORMER OBAMA STRATEGIST: Yeah.
STEWART: And that's what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: I think they bleeped out "amazing guy." Anyway --
(LAUGHTER)
GUTFELD: Then he went after Donald's motto.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: When was America great? When was -- what is this time that he
speaks of, '81-'82? Like, what are we talking about? And who took your
country away from you?
AXELROD: Those, those --
STEWART: Think of the argument with the Founders. Take it up with the Age
of Reason. That's the, you know, all men are created equal. That's (beep)
the whole thing up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Now Jon is right about blaming liberals for Trump, but for the wrong
reason. It's not because of their failed attempts at governance, it's the
left's inmate anti-Americanism as reflected in Stewart's mockery, just
there, of our country's previous greatness.
Perhaps if Stewart would have been less insulting about the country that
made him beyond rich, there would have been no need for that "Make America
Great Again" hat at all. Maybe America wouldn't have been so drained by
the ceaseless teachers' lounge assumption from Stewart and his imitators
that love for one's country is the stuff of rubes with missing teeth.
True, Jon was dearly loved by the media. Just witness the convulsions of
excitement over this brief sighting. But it's in that interview that he
revealed how out of step he really is. It's never been about immigration or assimilation. It's been the sense that the country has lost the will to sell itself to the people who come
here. We could never tell new arrivals that America was great, for that violated the liberal decree that Stewart himself championed.
By mocking our country's goodness, he repeats the blunder that made Trump something no one had ever expected: the new Jon Stewart for an angry, anxious world.
You know, just a superficial question, Melissa. So why is it that when
everybody leaves media, whether it's Letterman, when Conan did, Colbert,
they all grow big beards?
FRANCIS: They do. They instantly look homeless. I mean, it looked like
he had been living on a street corner. Or they look like Santa Claus, as
in Dave Letterman.
GUTFELD: Yes.
FRANCIS: You know, he's got the big beard.
He's right. I mean, it is, in part, the fault of the Democrats of not
making government seem fantastic, because the government is not fantastic.
GUTFELD: Yes.
FRANCIS: I mean, that's what he's like they didn't sell big government as
being a gift from God. You're right, because it's not. It's inherently
awful. So he is right about that.
I mean, this -- it's just -- it's classic. He comes out. He wishes he had
the microphone back where it was before. I guess he shouldn't have given
it up, because he liked telling people what to think.
GUTFELD: What do you think of my theory, Eric, that because Trump is
basically the first entertainment candidate, that he actually is the Jon
Stewart replacement?
BOLLING: OK, I'll take it. Fair enough. But is Jon Stewart comes back,
he's going to take his crown back. The guy's brilliant.
But here's the -- OK, "Make America great again." We know where that
originally came from, right?
GUTFELD: Me.
BOLLING: Ronald Reagan did it in post-Carter years when there was the
malaise. America was -- remember it's morning again in America again?
WILLIAMS: I remember.
BOLLING: That was after years of Carter's horrible economy. Donald Trump
wisely said, "You know what? Carter/Obama. I'm going to juxtapose the two
of them by saying make America great again. Because under Obama, we've had
eight years of stagnant wages. We've had unemployment. If you add back in
the people who have totally given up looking for jobs. Unemployment is
still elevated."
WILLIAMS: Oh, yes.
BOLLING: And growth is still sub-par.
WILLIAMS: This is making me nuts.
BOLLING: It's a crappy economy.
GUILFOYLE: Why?
WILLIAMS: I'll tell you why in a minute. First Melissa and then -- just a
second. Let me just take a moment here and say we have had a terrible
recession. We've had, I think it's 70 or 80 months of continual growth in
our GDP. We have a country that has -- you talk about unemployment. We
have 5 -- wait, wait, wait, let me finish -- we have 5 percent
unemployment.
BOLLING: Just don't make numbers up, please.
WILLIAMS: But we have the lowest unemployment since, I think, the '80s or
something. And then on top of that...
BOLLING: Eight or nine?
GUILFOYLE: What?
WILLIAMS: No, since the '80s, I think. That's 5 percent unemployment.
BOLLING: Juan, if you put the 95 million people who have given up looking
for work back into the workforce...
WILLIAMS: This is another fallacy.
FRANCIS: Median wages have fallen.
WILLIAMS: Guess what?
FRANCIS: Worst recovery in the history...
WILLIAMS: We have come back from the deep...
FRANCIS: ... of time, since they have started keeping numbers. This is
the Federal Reserve saying this. Math, math, math.
WILLIAMS: This is the deep hole -- it's the truth, truth, truth that hurts
you, because the truth is our economy is doing so much better than anyone
could have anticipated after the '08 recession.
GUILFOYLE: You know what? Your team won. Barack Obama, his failed
economic policies.
WILLIAMS: What failure?
GUILFOYLE: ... called on the free market, on...
WILLIAMS: If it was failure -- I see. If it was failure, Wall Street
would not be where Wall Street is doing so well today.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my God.
OK. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted.
WILLIAMS: By who?
GUILFOYLE: By you.
WILLIAMS: Me?
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
WILLIAMS: I thought it was Greg.
GUILFOYLE: No. President Barack Obama and his policies literally --
literally squeezed the middle class almost into extinction.
WILLIAMS: Oh, I get it.
GUILFOYLE: And that's why it resonates when Donald Trump talks about that.
WILLIAMS: I see. Our middle class is not invested in Wall Street. No,
no, no.
BOLLING: Can you just do us all a favor? Wall Street is doing well.
Exceptionally well.
WILLIAMS: Thank you.
BOLLING: But that's it.
WILLIAMS: Oh, that's it? I see.
BOLLING: No one else is participating in that.
WILLIAMS: So unemployment doesn't matter.
GUTFELD: We're turning into a crazy show, people yelling, and I -- it's
giving me a headache.
All right. Ahead, some fast food workers are about to feel the consequence
of the fight for 15. As we've warned, their wage hikes will soon cost them
their jobs. Next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GREG JARRETT, FOX NEWS: I'm Greg Jarrett in New York with some developing
news. And some good news: the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation just now
confirming they have found the missing girl -- there's her picture --
Carlie Trench. She's safe, and her accused kidnapper, which is her uncle,
Gary Simpson, now reported in custody.
Police had said Simpson took the child out of school about eight days ago
without authority. Investigators couldn't figure out where he took her.
Earlier today, they said they had information that Carlie was in imminent
danger. But minutes ago, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tweeted out
these words, "It's confirmed Carlie Trent is safe. Gary Simpson is in
custody."
Apparently, one or more private citizens found them safe and, presumably,
headed now for a reunion with their relieved family. We don't know yet
exactly the circumstances surrounding the discovery of Carlie Trent, but
she is safe and that is certainly good news. Let's send it back to "The
Five."
WILLIAMS: That was good news. We've had a lot of debates recently about
raising the minimum wage at this very table. And we're about to have
another one.
PERINO: Oh joy.
WILLIAMS: This week Wendy's, one of America's largest fast food chains,
announced it raised its prices due to an increase in wages across the
nation.
And the wage hikes aren't only going to affect the paying customer. Some
employees are going to be replaced by machines, because Wendy's is now
rolling out self-service kiosks in more than 6,000 of its restaurants,
again, due to the minimum wage hikes, they say. McDonald's is also testing
out self-serve kiosks.
So Gregory, is this the robots taking over?
GUTFELD: It is. Forget -- minimum wage, that's secondary. If a robot can
do your job, it will.
But what -- the good news is it's going to create a truly organic movement.
And by organic, I mean human-made. People will start going into
restaurants and going, "Is my waiter going to be human? Is the bartender
going to have hands? I want my music made by a real band and not by a
machine."
Robots will actually increase the value of human interaction and contact.
I made a list. If people are always going to want to have human chefs,
human entertainment, actors. Therapy and massage. Sales and sex work.
GUILFOYLE: Well, thank God we're all recession proof at this table.
GUTFELD: Well, that's the thing. We need to focus on that.
BOLLING: I agree with most of that.
GUTFELD: Politicians (ph) need to focus on that.
WILLIAMS: Melissa.
GUILFOYLE: Massage therapist, sex worker?
WILLIAMS: Yes, yes.
GUTFELD: Nobody wants a massage from a robot.
GUILFOYLE: It depends.
GUTFELD: Too hard.
GUILFOYLE: If they have good hands.
WILLIAMS: All right. So Kimberly...
GUILFOYLE: What?
FRANCIS: Wait.
WILLIAMS: Kimberly, I want -- I just feel like...
FRANCIS: What happened to me?
GUILFOYLE: He's trying to make up.
WILLIAMS: I always make up with you. I try.
GUILFOYLE: ... special.
WILLIAMS: So the reality is the Democrats, both Sanders and Clinton, are
saying we need to get above 10 -- and I think Sanders is up to $15, right?
But -- so is this, in fact, a consequence of raising the minimum wage? Or
do you think Wendy's and these other people are just saying, "Hey, we can
make more money by having a kiosk"?
GUILFOYLE: I think it's precipitated by the discussions, you know, of
raising the minimum wage. But also there's innovation, right, in terms of
what we've been seeing now with robots and Greg's obsession with artificial
intelligence. It's the wave of the future.
Now remember, it wasn't so long ago that we were going through McDonald's
drive-through, and there would be a call center from India. Now robots.
GUTFELD: Robots.
WILLIAMS: When you went through McDonald's, it was a call center from
India?
GUILFOYLE: Yes. When you go through and you're like, "Oh, give me -- or
Burger King, give me the hat, give me the fries, give me this, whatever."
They're like -- somebody taking the call...
WILLIAMS: You mean it wasn't the kid inside the window?
BOLLING: No.
GUILFOYLE: No, sorry to break this to you, Juan.
WILLIAMS: I didn't know.
BOLLING: It's both. It's both. It's what Greg -- automation, innovation.
And it's also at the same time, these people are demanding a higher wage.
GUILFOYLE: You agree with me.
BOLLING: Both. What do you think is going to happen? You're going
replace all those human workers at $15 an hour for a free worker, whatever
it is, the cost.
Can I give you a little talking point next time you get into this argument
with the conservatives?
WILLIAMS: Yes. Help me.
BOLLING: So this 95 million people who are -- who have given up looking
for work, it's not all because the economy is that bad. A lot of it is.
But some of it is actually automation. People -- people who did menial
labor are being replaced by robotics.
WILLIAMS: Well, let me go -- let me go to the pro here, the business
expert.
FRANCIS: OK.
BOLLING: I just gave you a gift, and you didn't say thank you.
WILLIAMS: Of course I said thank you. Always helping me out. But I was -
- but Melissa, I was going to you, because when I was looking at the
numbers, it said less than 4 percent of the hourly workforce earns the
$7.25 minimum wage. So it's not a significant number of people.
FRANCIS: No, it's not. But if you raise it you have to raise it for
everybody above them. And so I talked to one of the senior V.P.s at White
Castle. He said that their profit margin is 1 percent. So you talk about,
like, these big profits the owners are making. They're very, very slim.
Labor is their largest cost. So of course, they're going to want to try
and cut back on that. If you make them expand it, they're going to do
things like automating.
And you know who owns these? Wendy's, less than 10 percent of the Wendy's
out there are actually owned by Wendy's, by the corporation. The rest of
them, more than 90 percent, are small business owners. They're franchise
owners. So this is like the little guy on the corner, who has this one
restaurant, maybe two, who's trying to make a living, and you're raising
the wages on him? So of course they're going to offer him an automated way
to cut down on labor, he's going to do it.
It's the same thing at McDonald's. I was at our McDonald's, near us, over
the weekend. The guy behind the counter, nice clothes, 7 a.m. in the
morning. Turns out he's the owner. I mean, he's getting squeezed. He's
there trying to watch the business himself.
These aren't rich fat cats that are, you know, trying to squeeze the
worker.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
FRANCIS: They're not making a lot of money. So if you raise the wage,
yes, they're going to replace those people with robots.
GUTFELD: I love White Castle.
FRANCIS: Do you? I find it a little too...
GUTFELD: Those sliders literally are sliders.
WILLIAMS: Eww! All right. That's enough. There are all kinds of...
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Those are all kinds of incredible things happening, plus games
in Florida where wounded warriors have been competing this week. Wait
until you hear why this swimmer gave her gold medal back. It's a story you
won't want to miss, and you can see it right here on "The Five."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FRANCIS: All right. We just got word from The Washington Post.
Apparently, they are watching the program. And they came back with their
response about having those 20 reporters that were going to be on Donald
Trump to dig up all the dirt. And we had asked them all day long, what
about Hillary Clinton? Do you have the same number? Kimberly, what did
they say?
GUILFOYLE: Yes. Sean O'Rourke (ph), our segment producer...
GUTFELD: Boo.
GUILFOYLE: Stop. Asked them multiple times today, and they were sort of,
you know, avoiding the question, answering different questions, talking
about Jeff Bezos.
Finally, then, after we talked about this on the show, they came back and
said that, in fact, they do have the same number of reporters assigned to
Hillary Clinton as they do to the Donald Trump story and investigating his
background.
But let's see if, in fact -- we'll hold them to that, to see if, in fact,
there are stories coming out about Hillary Clinton. And perhaps even, like
they said, Bob Woodward said books, articles, all kinds of things about
Trump. Let's see if the same will hold true for Hillary.
WILLIAMS: Well, I think they said they're not doing a book about Hillary.
They're doing a book about Trump.
GUILFOYLE: Right.
WILLIAMS: I think they got a deal for a book about Trump.
The part about Bezos is interesting, in that, you know, he's the owner of
the Post. He's the owner of Amazon. Right? And apparently, he was
saying, "I want my reporters, I want The Washington Post to do a better job
of explaining Donald Trump."
And then you get Marty Barron, the editor of the paper, saying, "Yes, we're
putting all these resources into tailing Trump." Now I must say, it's not
just The Washington Post. I've heard the same about the "New York Times.
FRANCIS: Yes.
BOLLING: You know what's strange, though? Look, if you are a great
Washington Post, fantastic, love it. We'll love to read all the
information you have. But why give us a hard time all day? Why not just
say -- all day.
WILLIAMS: Hey, hey...
GUTFELD: They could pick up the phone.
FRANCIS: They're watching, they responded.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
FRANCIS: Can we not give them a hard time?
WILLIAMS: That's what I was saying. I was going to give you some advice.
FRANCIS: Give them credit for watching and responding and coming out...
WILLIAMS: Yes.
FRANCIS: ... and saying this. By the way, I mean Jeff Bezos, he said we
want the American people to know who they're voting for.
BOLLING: You're saying it's OK that we called all day, and they couldn't
give a straight answer?
WILLIAMS: No, no, that was fine. But I'm saying give him credit.
FRANCIS: Give them credit.
WILLIAMS: They're paying attention.
GUTFELD: Amazon.
BOLLING: I did give him credit. That's the first thing I said. I'm glad,
I want to read it. I'm sorry.
GUTFELD: But Amazon, you have to do that...
GUILFOYLE: Amazon Prime.
GUTFELD: Amazon, didn't even need Prime, they would have gotten back to
you.
GUILFOYLE: You can get same-day delivery.
BOLLING: You can get a pair of socks faster than we can get an answer
about the 20 reporters.
GUILFOYLE: There's someone at the door delivering them right now. But
thanks for getting back to us.
I mean, yes, we're glad they got back, but we were asking. It was a very
straightforward question. Do you have the same number of reporters
committed to Hillary Clinton as you do to Donald Trump? Calls for a yes-
or-no answer.
FRANCIS: But can we be fair here? I mean, people have been reporting on
Hillary Clinton forever. I mean, there have been reporters...
GUTFELD: She's boring compared to Trump. Let's face it.
FRANCIS: ... on her for the past, you know, 30 years or whatever. Trump,
you know, he was the hot topic, and then he wasn't. And now, you know,
he's in the press. I mean, it kind of makes sense that they would have
more people digging. Are you looking at...
(CROSSTALK)
GUILFOYLE: Oh no, he was always hot.
GUTFELD: Please, Kimberly. Calm down.
GUILFOYLE: Oh, stop.
GUTFELD: He's married.
GUILFOYLE: I know. As if.
GUTFELD: I know. That never stops you.
GUILFOYLE: Please.
FRANCIS: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.
GUILFOYLE: Take that back.
BOLLING: How do you know, Greg?
GUILFOYLE: Then Greg, don't send me pictures of yourself.
GUTFELD: With the shorty robe.
WILLIAMS: So much for this discussion.
GUTFELD: The leopard skin shorty robe and you asked for it.
WILLIAMS: Oh, my God.
GUTFELD: She did.
WILLIAMS: Listen, let's get back.
FRANCIS: The producer is telling me to wrap. Is my earpiece still
working? All right. Let's go, let's go. "One More Thing" is coming up
next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLLING: "One More Thing." Greg.
GUTFELD: It is time for...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Greg's Robot News.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUILFOYLE: Oh, my gosh.
GUTFELD: I know, Kimberly. It's getting worse.
GUILFOYLE: Yes. It is.
GUTFELD: It is. It's going to get really bad.
GUILFOYLE: I can't wait. Admit it, it is going to be the delight of my
life.
GUTFELD: Siri, which is the artificial intelligence element of your
iPhone, now has an assistant named Viv. So that means this artificial
intelligence thing has gotten so smart it can now hire somebody to do work
for it.
This is very scary. And it's going to get worse. I would say by 2015
human -- A.I. will be the farmers and we will be the farm animals.
WILLIAMS: 2015.
GUTFELD: 2050.
FRANCIS: Siri has gotten lazy? Is that basically it?
GUTFELD: You know what? Now they can hire.
GUILFOYLE: How interesting. So you see yourself as a sheep?
GUTFELD: Maybe.
I see you as a sheep herder.
GUILFOYLE: Charming.
WILLIAMS: On and on.
FRANCIS: What's happening?
GUILFOYLE: Thank God there's a real show after us. Because this is -- you
want to be saved by "Special Report."
WILLIAMS: OK. Let's move on.
GUILFOYLE: All right. And in very serious news here, something very
special and important happened today, because as you know on the show, we
really do appreciate the sacrifice of our American military, the men and
women that serve. And recently, we brought you the story about Charles
Keating IV, the U.S. Navy SEAL who was shot and killed by ISIS militants in
Iraq on May 3. He is being promoted posthumously to the rank of chief
petty officer.
Also, this just in. He has been given now the Silver Star and the Purple
Heart for his valor that are he showed. So we want to again say our
thoughts and prayers are with his family and thank him for his service and
the rest that served with him.
BOLLING: Absolutely.
FRANCIS: OK.
BOLLING: You're up, Melissa.
FRANCIS: All week wounded warriors from across the globe have been
competing at the Invictus Games down in Florida. Closing ceremonies are
tonight, as you may know.
Everyone is talking about a 25-year-old swimmer from team USA who was
injured in the war in Iraq. She won her fourth gold medal yesterday.
Britain's Prince Harry presented it to Sergeant Elizabeth Marks. But then
she did something that took him by surprise. She took it off her neck and
asked him to please take it back with him to England. She wanted him to
give it to the hospital that saved her life after she developed a near
fatal lung infection while in the U.K. for the 2014 games. The prince
initially hedged, but when Marks asked him again, he accepted. A great
story.
BOLLING: Really, really good story. Really good story.
So very quickly. This won't take long. Donald Trump stepped away from
"Celebrity Apprentice," the "Apprentice" series to go run for president.
Now Arnold Schwarzenegger was named to replace him. They have a whole list
of celebrities that are coming. Nobody knows when it's going to happen.
But there is the first poster for the trailer.
OK. Let's put this up.
GUTFELD: Isn't it funny?
BOLLING: Schwarzenegger is a big fan of this show. We'll just leave it at
that.
GUILFOYLE: I love him.
BOLLING: And good luck to Arnold on taking over for Donald Trump.
GUTFELD: So he's going into TV, and Trump went into politics. Remember?
He went from politics to TV.
GUILFOYLE: It's like "Wife Swap."
FRANCIS: Wow.
WILLIAMS: There's a feud between a few of these guys today.
All right, all right. OK, so today is May the 12th, and it is National
Limerick Day. So to celebrate limericks...
FRANCIS: No.
WILLIAMS: ... five-line poems with a funny intent, and to entertain my
colleagues, I decided I would read two limericks. Here we go. This was
"The Man from Nantucket."
There once was a man from Nantucket.
FRANCIS: Oh, no.
WILLIAMS: Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
But his daughter named Nan
ran away with a man,
and as for the bucket, Nantucket.
Now, Greg doesn't agree with that, but yes...
GUTFELD: When I heard "Nantucket," I thought you were going in a different
direction.
WILLIAMS: Let me give you one more. Here's one more.
GUTFELD: Oh, no.
WILLIAMS: Here's one more limerick for you.
A wonderful bird is a pelican.
His bill can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
enough food for a week,
but I'm damned if I see how the hell he can.
Yes, so Greg, that's pretty straight. And it was clean, Greg.
GUTFELD: I'm offended by the swearing.
WILLIAMS: Is that right? You better check with Kimberly.
GUILFOYLE: Yes. You're on probation, my little friend.
GUTFELD: I love probation.
GUILFOYLE: Yes.
BOLLING: A real show comes up right next?
GUILFOYLE: You know it? Real show, baby. Save us!
BOLLING: Set your DVR. You know the rest. Bye.
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