Mollie Hemingway: It's time for the Biden administration to open up the economy
'Special Report' All-Star panel weigh in on COVID delta variant and the Biden administration falling short of vaccine goal
This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," July 6, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our administration is going to devote the remainder of the summer to a special focus on five ways to make gains in getting those of you who are unvaccinated vaccinated.
We need to go to community by community, neighborhood by neighborhood, and oftentimes door to door, literally knocking on doors, to get help to the remaining people protected from the virus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: That door-to-door reference made some folks nervous on social media today, but a very serious issue, getting folks vaccinated with COVID variants still coming forward.
Let's bring in our panel, Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at "The Federalist," Leslie Marshall, Democratic strategist, and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. Welcome to all of you. Mollie, are they stuck right now in terms of getting folks to get the vaccinations?
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST": Well, it's worth taking a step back and thinking about what's been accomplished in the last year. Operation Warp Speed was an amazing success, a Manhattan Project level success where you had this big task getting the vaccine developed, making sure there were enough doses, figuring out a distribution plan, and implementing that distribution plan so that by the time President Biden took office we were doing a million doses a day. This is all an amazing achievement. And I talked to people in Operation Warp Speed, and they think President Biden has done a good job of continuing the plan that they put forth.
But it is free country. People have been able to take the vaccine since May. If they don't want to take it, you can try and persuade them. But anyone who wants it, can take it. And I think it's time that the Biden administration really focused on moving past this global pandemic, reopening the economy, and understanding that we have had great success with this vaccination project.
EMANUEL: Among the concerns right now, variants. Let's play this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SPENCER COX, (R) UTAH: We're certainly seeing the Delta variant rise in our state, which is concerning. Hospitalizations are rising again.
GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON, (R) ARKANSAS: It is our younger adults that is now getting hit with the Delta variant, which is more contagious, has more severe consequences.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Early data suggests that the vaccines continue to work against the variants, including this variant, and that's why we have been focusing so much on increasing vaccinations.
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: We now have about 55 percent of the population with at least one dose of vaccine in them. So it leaves a lot of people who are going to be vulnerable to this infection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
EMANUEL: A variety of voices there. Leslie, does that convince folks to go get the vaccine?
LESLIE MARSHALL, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, it doesn't. And it's really sad, because we're seeing that in a lot of rural communities and red states, people that just don't want to get the vaccine. The numbers that I saw this morning was 47.9 percent fully vaccinated. Either way you look at it, you have approximately half of our population. That's not good enough. I know they say heard immunity is antiquated, but the reality is if you have a virus in two-thirds of the population are vaccinated, it really doesn't have as many people to bounce off of, and it can die out and die out quicker.
With regard to the variants, we have now seen in approximately half the state the Delta variant and the numbers picking up in this country. And, of course, now there is concern about the Lambda variant coming out of Peru, and the concern there is that the vaccination might not be enough. So getting vaccinated is key.
And I know everybody wants the economy to open and COVID to be in our rearview mirror. I'm one of the most impatient people alive. I get it. But we want to do this safely. And Secretary Blinken has been meeting with European officials. They are talking about reopening the country. They are talking about when to do that, the right way to do that, and seeking medical advice in order to do that properly so we don't overburden, as we did last year, our healthcare system and our healthcare workers and providers.
EMANUEL: Ari, you have been in your share of senior staff meetings at the White House, and also been at that podium. Any advice for the people who are currently in those jobs on getting folks vaccinated?
ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, first, I'd start with what's good and what's working. The fact of the matter is the credit goes to the American people. Two-thirds of all Americans over 18 have gotten one shot, 58 percent, almost 60 percent, have gotten two. And let's go to senior citizens, the most vulnerable group. When it comes to getting shots, for seniors, almost 90 percent of seniors 65 and up have gotten one shot, and 78.6 percent of seniors have gotten two shots. So there's a lot of good going on. And when you get your shots, you are immune. And if you're immune, you can act like you're immune.
And that's the message I would give to the people who aren't getting their shots. If you want to do the things that the other people in society are doing, not wearing masks, traveling at your will, going to crowded ballgames, get your shots. There are groups that are lagging, and it includes a racial component to it, too. The group that's getting their shots at the highest percentage in America are Asians, followed by whites, followed by Hispanics, followed by African Americans. I don't know if it's traditional distrust of government, of doctors, but these are the groups now -- and if it means going door to door, go door to door. Go do whatever you have to do, wherever you have to go, everybody benefits when more people are getting their shots.
EMANUEL: OK, another hot topic, a very violent Independence Day weekend in some of America's largest cities. We have some numbers to show you nationwide -- 244 shooting incidents reported, 69 in the city of Chicago, 29 in New York City. Mollie, what do we do?
HEMINGWAY: We have a violent crime surge that is hitting cities nationwide, and we already kind of know what to do about crime. It requires policing. It requires putting police in neighborhoods where crime is being committed. Unfortunately, for the last year-and-a-half elites have pushed a defund the police narrative, have basically tried to wage war against policing in America, and the repercussions of this, the result of this are that people are dying, being killed, are being victims of other violent crimes.
And it's also going to be a huge political issue going forward. The Democratic Party tied itself to this anti-police movement, this idea that America is systemically racist and that policing is part of this. And so people are really going to react strongly in the coming midterm elections, and so you might see Democrats start to pullback a little bit from some of their rhetoric.
EMANUEL: Leslie, your thoughts?
MARSHALL: Well, I and others, the majority of my party and the voters and the elected officials who are Democrats who are centrists and moderates, like the president, we do not believe in defund the police. When that mantra first came out, I said what, that's not a good idea. And certainly, politically it will be beneficial for some Republicans, Mollie is right on that.
But we also have to look at the statistics. Let's take Chicago. I lived there for four years. Great city. But they have always had a problem with crime, and specifically gun crimes on the south and west side. And that's the areas that we're seeing these numbers and this crime escalate. Not to the numbers we saw in the 1970s when we had a heavy police force there. So it's not just about police or defund the police, because we are seeing high numbers in cities across the board in our country, specifically homicides. Same in New York. We see areas within Brooklyn and the Bronx where we have had higher number of crimes with guns prior to COVID and the years past.
So it's not just about putting more police on the street or an attitude toward police. It also has to do with guns on the street, and it has to do with people in poorer communities who were hit hardest after this pandemic with loss of job, loss of home, and loss of money.
EMANUEL: Ari, we're up against the clock, but I want to get your thoughts?
FLEISCHER: It is about attitude toward police. When you send the police the message you are all a bunch of racists who kill people and then you get a video, police are going to pull back. They are not going to do their jobs, and that endangers everybody. So what you need to do if you are a mayor, if you're a governor, you say to the police if you're Derek Chauvin, we will never have your back. If you're not, we will. And we have your back. That's the message.
EMANUEL: All right, panelists, when we come back, tomorrow's headlines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
EMANUEL: Finally tonight, a look at tomorrow's headlines. Mollie, lead us off.
HEMINGWAY: Yes. As U.S. corporations reward athletes for anti-American sentiment, the U.S. Olympic team will be evenly divided between those athletes who love and those who hate the country they are blessed to represent.
EMANUEL: Leslie, you're up next.
LIASSON: Mollie and I didn't confer about Olympics. Anyway, China and Russia see a surge in supports for their Olympic athletes after watching the United States turn its back on players who turned their back on the American flag. Russia can't play their national anthem or carry their flag at the Olympics do to drug sanctions.
EMANUEL: All right, Ari bring us home.
FLEISCHER: Democrats begin to realize they don't have the votes. I think when the Democrats come back, they are going to realize they don't have the votes, Joe Biden doesn't, to pass a massive new deal progressive spending plan. There's no mandate for it when you have a 50-50 Senate and only a four-vote majority in the House. It's not going to happen.
EMANUEL: Ari has been counting votes. Panelists, thank you so much.
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