‘The Five’ on Colonial Pipeline hack, border crisis

Published May 18, 2021

'The Five' slams Biden for appearing to clear Russia on pipeline hack

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," May 14, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Juan Williams along with Martha MacCallum, Jesse Watters, Kennedy, and Will Cain. It's five o'clock in New York City, and this is THE FIVE.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Did somebody at the Biden or in the Biden administration update this guidance for political reasons?

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No, our NorthStar has been listening to the guidance of our health and medical experts and teams and that's exactly what we're doing in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: The White House playing defense after Republicans claim the announcement on mask wearing was meant to distract from other problems facing President Biden. And the CDC director, she's taking heat over her dramatic turn in messaging after previously warning of impending doom, that was just a few weeks ago. A former top health official taking issue with comments like that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT GIROIR, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TESTING CZAR: But this has been a crazy week. Just last week the CDC said unless we continue everything, masking, social distancing, cases would go up. Wednesday night Dr. Walensky was doubling down on masking. Yesterday morning, Tony Fauci said, yes, we still have to mask in groups outside and of course inside, and then a complete turnaround yesterday afternoon. We got to the right place, but boy, it has been a mess of messaging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: But not everyone is onboard with the new mask rules, many blue states are still evaluating their mandates and some in the media, well, they say it's going to take a while for Americans to adapt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL MADDOW, HOST, MSNBC: I feel like I'm going to have to rewire myself so that when I see somebody out in the world not wearing a mask, I don't instantly think, you are a threat or you are selfish or you are a COVID denier and you definitely haven't been vaccinated. I mean, we're going to have to rewire the way that we look at each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAMS: Will Cain, let me start with you. I think it's been good news coming from the CDC, but here we see Rachel Maddow saying she is going to have to rewire her thinking, what does Will Cain say?

WILL CAIN, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: Well, I can't -- I can't follow you, Juan, on this idea that it's good news. I don't feel like a finish line was crossed. I feel like this is science in the CDC and let me "science" in quotation marks, following common-sense. This is something that every day Americans have known for months, that you can walk around outside and even inside if you are vaccinated without a mask.

Now the White House and CDC have made these reasons for political reasons. And we can debate what those political reasons may be, but I do find it fascinating as you ask me about Rachel Maddow. Because what that reveals to me is even for everyday people walking around, this has been about something more than science.

Rachel Maddow and many were finding their cheap unearned virtue in wearing a mask when someone else did not. They saw themselves as believers in science. Now they've lost their identity, Juan, they have literally been left naked, not at the face, but in the terms of not having an identity anymore. They don't know how to project their supremacy, their virtue over you anyone. It was never about science for them.

WILLIAMS: All right. Well, Jesse, you just heard Will say he thinks it's about politics and virtue signaling. But you know, I notice 70 percent of Americans think that President Biden has done a great job on handling the pandemic, so did he just pass the biggest test of his presidency?

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm just trying to come to terms with Will Cain's Rachel naked analogy. Just give me a minute. I got it.

CAIN: I mean, her identity. Don't take a word I need to go.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: I do know this, Juan. Remember "Slick Willie" -- do you remember "Slick Willie," he was wagging the dog, he was lobbing cruise missiles into the Mideast during the height of the Lewinski scandal. That's all this is. This is P.R. 101. And you know what it was, because that morning this mask announcement wasn't on the Biden White House schedule and he was late for the announcement.

Now Biden has the lightest schedule since Eisenhower. He doesn't do much each day and so when they add to his schedule, it's a really big deal and he was late. And that's because they were scrambling to get this out here.

He doesn't watch cable news, the president. He only reads the newspaper. The other morning, all over every newspaper, especially The Washington Post, big stories about how inflation, the labor shortage and gas prices were all converging to upset his infrastructure deal and upset the recovery.

So, they played this card and Trump did it all the time, so can you blame him? He was a lot better at it, he did it with his fingers or his mouth and sent the press scrambling. So, when Biden does it, not too good at it, so it's a little blatant when he does it.

I did get excited in the beginning when they made the announcement, I thought, great, no masks. And then I realized it was just federal guidance. So, they are saying I cannot wear a mask when I go inside a federal building. When am I ever in a federal building, Juan, when I go to the post office? I never go to the post office.

In New York, De Blasio and Cuomo and all the restaurant owners still make me wear a mask. So, it's status quo, when you're in a red state, probably no mask mandate. Blue state, you still have it. So, unless you are in a post office, it doesn't do much for me.

WILLIAMS: Well, Kennedy, you know, in fact, picking up on Jesse's thought there, Nancy Pelosi said you still have to wear a mask on the House floor. And I think part of her rationale is like the New York Yankees just had an outbreak and they have all been vaccinated. But like eight members of their traveling, I believe one of the players even, still got the virus. What do you -- how do you make sense of this?

LISA KENNEDY MONTGOMERY, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, as an epidemiologist, Juan, I'm really glad you asked me that question with I've got some charts and tape here to outline everything. With Nancy Pelosi, it's really just about control. And she won't listen to science. She has many doctors in the House of Representatives, who could explain to her that natural immunity from people who already have had the virus, plus people who have been vaccinated and have received immunity that way, that's enough people, that if they choose not to wear masks, they shouldn't have to wear masks.

So, this is the government fighting with itself. And we're not talking about a 15-degree shift with some positive numbers about hospitalizations and deaths being down. We are talking about a 180-degree turn in the opposite direction in a number of weeks. Jen Psaki says that the NorthStar is the medical experts and they follow the medical experts.

Well, the medical experts are following the teacher's union, so science is really the last entity in line here that is informing some of these decisions. It is absolutely wagged the dog, but at least the dog is being wag in the right direction, in the direction of freedom and I will take that.

WILLIAMS: That's a good point. So, Martha, I think lots of people on the right, in fact, wanted the CDC and Joe Biden to say, let's -- you don't need to wear the mask if you've been vaccinated. And yet, here we are and people are criticizing them for saying don't wear the mask. So, is this just partisan politics?

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Yes. It's a lot of partisan politics, it's a lot of White House opportunism in terms of timing. Because yes, it's been a really lousy week for the Biden administration. The truth is that across the country, there been a lot of places that have lifted the mask mandates a long time ago. So those folks are wandering what everybody is so excited about.

And as Jesse points out in New York, they are still going to hang on to their masks for a while. But the thing I want to make a point about here, is herd immunity, which was sort of, you know, like a dirty word, you weren't allowed to talk about herd immunity. The fact to the matter is that the reason they were allow -- they were able to make this decision from the CDC is that we have 36 percent of the country vaccinated and Kennedy was just touching on this point.

Not too long ago, Dr. Fauci said you have to get to 70 or 80 percent, he basically pushed back Marty Makary, the doctor that we all talk to a lot on Fox who said that we were getting really close to herd immunity, he said it was probably going to happen in the end of April.

So, what happened is you got about a third of the country fully vaccinated, suddenly you started to see all of the case numbers dropping and the death numbers dropping. The reason for that, is because there are fewer and fewer places for the virus to go, and that's because a lot of people had it who didn't know they had it or they have t-cell immunity.

So all of the theories that Marty Makary has been talking about for quite some time in a very logical straightforward way that were basically mocked by Dr. Fauci have given them this opportunity to get to the point that they got to yesterday and they did it at a moment that they really needed it. But that is the fact, it's difficult to see this any other way.

WILLIAMS: Well, I hope you're comfortable now without the mask, Martha.

MACCALLUM: Absolutely.

WILLIAMS: Are you going to have to change like Rachel Maddow?

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: I was forgetting it all the time.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

MACCALLUM: I'm the person who had to use like the disposable one all the time because I was constantly forgetting to bring it. I will have no problem dropping the mask, I will be thrilled to drop the mask. You know, Rachel Maddow can keep her mask on if she wants to for as long as she likes.

I think it's really sad that she looked at people as her, as a threat, as an anti-vaxxer, as someone who was basically had some sort of evil intention because they were outside and they were walking in the area where she was walking. Guess how many traceable cases there are of COVID transmission outside? Next to none. Next to none. OK?

CAIN: Right now, Martha. Right now.

MACCALLUM: So that whole idea --

WILLIAMS: Well, right.

MACCALLUM: -- that whole idea --

WILLIAMS: OK.

MACCALLUM: -- was a fallacy to begin with and we now know that.

CAIN: She'll find a new way to feel superior, I promise you.

WILLIAMS: Yes, we know that now. All right. Coming up, coming up, folks, Republicans tearing into President Biden's DHS secretary on the border crisis. We've got that story for you next on THE FIVE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAIN: Republicans ripping into the Biden administration's botched handling of the border crisis. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas getting called out for ignoring the facts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): We have the secretary responsible for securing the border and our immigration system who doesn't recognize these charts is bigger problem. I find that extraordinary and extremely damming.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Don't you think you bear any responsibility for the current crisis by telling the world earlier this year that the border was open?

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I've never said that the border is open.

SEN. ROB PORTMAN (R-OH): I'm all for legal immigration. But what we have done instead is just open the doors.

MAYORKAS: We speak of lawful pathways in support of them and yet the prior administration tore those down, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAIN: And while the White House claims there is no crisis, the evidence is clear, like this photo of an unaccompanied eight-year-old girl crossing the Rio Grande River with no contact information for her parents.

Kennedy, rare fire there from Mitt Romney, what do we take away from the Biden administration losing Mitt Romney?

MONTGOMERY: Well, what you are seeing is the GOP is coming together on a very critical issue that is certainly going to help them in the midterms next year because this issue is not going away, for no other reason than naivety and inaction. This administration is not doing enough. They are not working with Congress. They are not taking responsibility.

And the cruelty from the chaos here has real implications, not just for people who are trying to find work in the U.S. and, you know, have a better life because jobs have evaporated in places like el Salvador and Guatemala and Honduras, but they are flooding job markets along the border and they're not going to be able to find work and they do believe the border is open because coyotes are selling that misinformation.

You know, for 5 to $7,000 a pop, they will get you into the country, because they are lying to these poor vulnerable people and this administration is not doing enough about it. It doesn't know what to do in terms of immigration. They are all over the map and it's the kids who are paying the price.

CAIN: Hey, Jesse, Kennedy brought up the jobs situation, the economic environment in Central America in Mexico. Mitt Romney actually made a very interesting point in that exchange with Mayorkas. He said how can we go about solving root problems, we can't solve the world's problems. We have to solve what's happening on our border?

WATTERS: Maybe they want to build back better in Mexico, I don't know what the strategy is. But I know the strategy is just ride this crisis out until the summer months when the migration just stops because it's too hot. And then the numbers naturally go down and you plant the flag and claim victory.

The administration is right now just wrote off two back-to-back 20-year highs for total border crossers and two back-to-back monthly all-time highs for unaccompanied minors. And now the media lost interest because Biden is playing hide and seek with the minors, the press can't find them, so they just forgot about it.

But it's not minors who are really coming over, it's single men that are crossing, ladies, don't get excited. But the number show that single men that make up a large percentage of the border crossers and Biden is not even sending them back of the 180,000 that they caught crossing. He caught and released 40 percent of them.

CAIN: Right.

WATTERS: Forty percent of them, he caught and released. So, there is no plan. The plan is to turn Texas blue and just to pay back donors with cheap labor. And after few generations, you get more Democrat voters, they vote, the Hispanics, 70 to 30 percent for Democrats. If that reversed, Kamala Harris will be right down there in Texas building the wall with her bare hands.

CAIN: I know Jesse loves his numbers. So, not to make this a numbers dump. But Martha, Jesse brought up single adults. I believe the numbers are up 50 percent now of the people crossing the border are single adults, males, as Jesse pointed, and by the way, from Mexico. So, the story is changing. It's not families so much, it's not children, it's not Central Americans. Now the demographics are different, what does that tell us?

MACCALLUM: Well, the administration said not that long ago the vast majority of people who come to the border are turned away, which always baffled me. Because I couldn't understand then why did then candidate Biden during the debate say if you are persecuted, you should come, surge the border. These are words directly out of his mouth as a candidate.

So, they were encouraging people to come to the border and then they are boasting that they are making them all go back home. So, the logic here is completely lost on me. I mean, why would you encourage people to come if your goal is to make them turn around and go back, especially when you know what the danger is at the border.

And this idea the border is closed, I don't know how Secretary Mayorkas can look people in the eye and say the border is closed. Look at the pictures to the left of the screen.

CAIN: Right.

MACCALLUM: It's quite clear that the border is not closed. If he wants to say that the checkpoints have been shut down, that might be an accurate statement. But it is very clear that the border is not closed. And this idea that they're taking care of all these children and that they're all connected to parents, 90 percent of them they say are connected to relatives.

And as Jesse pointed out, we don't -- we don't see the evidence of that. We'd like to see the evidence of that because we see this little girl, Emily Valdez, in this heartbreaking photo, and it is hard to interpret this policy as humane.

CAIN: Juan, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas has said the Biden administration is misleading the public, you heard the senators of the United States grilling Antonio Mayorkas, you hear everybody on this panel that the Biden administration is misleading everyone. What do you think about that?

WILLIAMS: I don't understand it. I think it's pretty clear we have a crisis on the border. And we have the Biden administration is trying to do their best, you know, interceding with Mexico. Mexico has now got troops on their border with Guatemala at the U.S. request. We talk about this picture. We keep showing picture of people crossing the Rio Grande. People have been crossing the Rio Grande for centuries.

I mean, I just -- anyway, look, my concern was with what we saw at the top, Will, I think that Congress right now uses immigration and the border as a political tool to stir people up, to get people angry, worried, fearful of caravans and all of the rest. We've got to stop that. We know you can argue pro or con, is Biden doing a good job or is Biden doing a bad job?

MONTGOMERY: Bad job.

WILLIAMS: But there's no argument that Congress is not doing any kind of job.

CAIN: Well, we know --

WILLIAMS: Congress is just sitting on its thumbs doing selfies and Twitter feeds. The American people right now at this moment, all agree, we should do something with the DREAMers, we should do something about border security, we should do something about the people who are here as our neighbors. And yet Congress can't even do that.

CAIN: Well we know what the polling is on whether or not the Biden administration is doing good job at the border. Not doing a good job is the public's reaction.

And Juan, I'm from Texas, and I'll tell you. It's true people have been crossing that border for centuries, but to Jesse's point, not at these numbers. These are record highs over the last couple of decades. That's not manufactured political crisis, that's a real crisis.

All right. Coming up ahead, major gas shortages continue, but President Biden doesn't seem to want to act. Is he setting the table for it to happen again?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: President Biden refuses to tell Americans key details about the pipeline hack that could lead to it happening again. And those crippling gas shortages are getting worse. In some places, 80 percent of stations are completely out. Then there is Biden refusing to say if he knew about Colonial Pipeline reportedly paying ransom to the hackers. And for years, Democrats blamed Russia for literally everything, but Biden now says Putin, not involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We do not believe the Russian government was involved in this attack, but we do have strong reason to believe that the criminals who did the attack are living in Russia. That's where it came from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: So, Biden -- Biden cleared the Kremlin in a week, Juan. Case closed, FBI took care of it, he's clean. You don't think that is a little strange?

WILLIAMS: Well, first -- well, I want to talk about that.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Now you don't think that's strange?

WILLIAMS: But let me just say -- let me just say this to you, Jesse, this gas thing, this crisis is over. There's no shortage of gas anymore. I mean, right now you might be dealing with distribution issues.

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: Juan, we've seen video all day over gas about people can't get gas.

WILLIAMS: But there's no -- I'm just -- no, I'm just telling you, there is no gas shortage, it might be distribution but there is no shortage of gas. All this alarmist talk has led to --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: OK, semantics.

WILLIAMS: -- stupid panic buying. OK. All right. But as for Biden and this hacking. You know, to me, what you've got is a crime syndicate operating out of Russia and we don't know, our intelligence people are unable to ascertain for sure that it was something done by Putin or at Putin's request.

WATTERS: So why did they clear him?

WILLIAMS: So, to me, I think what -- they didn't clear him, they just said they don't know, they don't know that Putin was responsible at this point. And I think that rather than acting in some rush manner, there is no penalty to thinking strategically, because, you know, Jesse, we said this yesterday. This amount of --

WATTERS: A strategic.

WILLIAMS: -- act of war against us and if we are acting strategically as in war, we've got to anticipate the next step. And so, acting rationally, yes, we're going to just make a show of bravado is foolish.

WATTERS: All right. Well, Martha, after Hillary was embarrassed because a few e-mails came out that she was worried about a bimbo eruption in 2016, Democrats wanted to start World War III with Russians. Now Putin is innocent, no evidence of anything? That's convenient.

MACCALLUM: It is convenient and I think that Juan touched on something about -- you know, we can't fight the last war. You always have to fight the next war. So, whether or not Putin is directly involved, we know that there had to have been sort of tacit approval of this because that's the way things work in the Soviet Union, even if this came at the corporate level.

WATTERS: Yes.

MACCALLUM: But you have to look at how bad actors all around the globe. Look at this event and they know that they can cripple a third of the United States by hacking into our energy systems. So, we have to be ready to fight cyber warfare, even viral warfare. Now, whether or not there was any, you know, malintent on what happened with this virus escaping, look at the impact.

So, that is another thing bad actors watch very closely. Look at direct energy attacks that American officers have suffered in Cuba, in Russia, in China. So, all of these things, we can't squabble over whether or not there was direct link to Putin. We need to understand this is future of warfare and we need to be in front of it. We cannot sit back and say, well, that is over, that was -- you know, that went OK, we're done with that.

WATTERS: Will Cain, it looked to me when he was asked about ransom and he said no comment. That tells me he signed off on ransom to Russian hackers. What kind of president does that said?

CAIN: A bad one. I thought we didn't negotiate with terrorist, we didn't negotiate for hostages, we don't pay ransom. Why? Because it begs more of that same kind of attention. I do like your point, Jesse, by the way. Russia has been guilty of every sin under the sun for more than four years. But all of a sudden now, they are innocent in a couple days' time.

Nothing happens in Russia, this type of thing doesn't happen in Russia without Putin's knowledge. These hackers are often off-duty state actors. And by the way, I want to indulge the semantic battle for just one second.

If child care is infrastructure, if court-packing is infrastructure, if systemic racism is infrastructure, if everything is infrastructure, can we submit that our nation's pipelines that need to be -- need to be protected, that is infrastructure. Maybe we can invest in insuring no more cyber attacks if we just call it infrastructure, which it is.

WATTERS: Kennedy, it was interesting that the FBI with Trump, it was guilty until proven innocent. But with Putin, he is innocent until proven guilty.

MONTGOMERY: Well, and the FBI is still very guilty of many omissions as they were in some of the reports we saw after the Russian collusion special investigation. But he's -- Will is absolutely right because, you know, here we have not only critical infrastructure, which that now needs to be bumped to the top of the list for infrastructure legislation and about 70 percent of it needs to go away that is not actual infrastructure. And now we can use big words like big people and talk about what infrastructure really is.

And it is not just pipelines that have to be protected. We have to protect satellites and power grids and, you know, all the different ways we get and use energy in this country because it's not hard to think how we could be completely paralyzed especially when we are incentivizing this kind of behavior.

So, yes, I don't trust the FBI, I don't trust the federal government. This is why I'm a libertarian because they have wrong priorities and they usually get everything wrong when they try to go big.

WATTERS: Well, I think if Putin had hacked the solar grid, Biden would have been pretty angry about that.

MONTGOMERY: He's going to hack the sun.

WATTERS: Up next, forget what upset parents think. The White House giving critical race theory a stamp of approval.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MONTGOMERY: Parents across the country are fighting back against critical race theory. Loudoun County, Virginia becoming one of the epicenters of this battle with moms and dads speaking out at school board meetings this week. But the White House is brushing aside their concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think we would think we believe that educating the youth and next leaders of -- the future leaders of the country on systemic racism is indoctrination. That's actually responsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MONTGOMERY: So, Martha, if not indoctrination, why is there so much disagreement about this and why is there so much passionate pushback from parents of all races?

MACCALLUM: You know, it all stems from 1619 Project which started in the New York Times, which put out a theory that 1619 is the actual foundation and origination of the United States of America and that it should not be looked at as 1796. And a lot has made way to the White House in terms of grants and the money they give to different educational institutions across the country. They would be more favored if they are teaching this.

So, people started to figure out what is in the documents. I actually spent part of today looking at curriculums that involved critical race theory, which include the idea if you are White and you think or say that you are not racist, it essentially signifies that you are racist, you are just not aware of it.

And, you know, we looked at what happened to Sharon Osbourne, right? That was the classic dressing down that she got. She's not a racist, I've never been a racist. And they said, well, it's just that you don't realize you are.

So, the more people understand this, and doesn't matter if they are Black or White, as we've seen in these school board meetings, they start to intrinsically know that there is actually something wrong with this and that they don't want the future leadership of this country to be taught that we are a racist country.

MONTGOMERY: So, that's what they're teaching them, Jesse, and it amounts to propaganda. The problem is in big cities like New York and Los Angeles and D.C., high schoolers are well below grade level in terms of Math and English proficiency. So, why not teach them actual things that they need to learn in school like how to read and how to do basic math?

WATTERS: I'm all for that, Kennedy. And if you look at what critical race theory is, it tells you that White people are bad and that White people are oppressing Black people. Now, Juan is black. Juan is not oppressed. Anyone that wears cuff links is not oppressed. And every time I see Juan show pictures of his family, everyone looks beautiful, like they are having the time of their lives.

I looked at some of these details too in Shipley School outside of Philly - - nice prep school, very pricey, they are telling parents that they don't want the parents to tell the kids, you have beautiful blue eyes. Because blue eyes raises to a standard of White European beauty and marginalizes brown-eyed people.

Now, you know how I feel about this. I don't think schools should be giving homework to parents at all. We have enough on our plate. In Buffalo, Buffalo is teaching kids that if you are white, you are just participating in systemic racism. That's like saying all people are -- that are White are racists, when we know the real problem in Buffalo are people being Bills' fans.

In Oregon, they are teaching you that Math is racist. Ridiculous, Math is just boring. In Washington D.C., they are telling you that the phrase "hard work is the key to success," is a form of white oppression. You ask any Black athlete, Black entrepreneur, Black artist, they will tell you the key to success is hard work, I think 100 percent.

So, to me it sounds like this critical race theory is a scheme for white liberals to subvert Black achievement. And that is what the real oppression is about. Black parents want their kids to read the classics, to learn Math and absorb American history so they can get into college. And then, once you are in college, you can learn about how everybody is racist, but you got to get into college first.

MONTGOMERY: You do. And with such horrible standards, especially after the pandemic, Juan, what is surprising to me -- and I would never tell you, Juan, about your experience and how race has affected your worldview and your life and your feelings, but I also don't want to hear that from someone else.

I don't want to hear that my immutable characteristics or my children's immutable characteristics somehow make them bad people. I think that is incredibly unfair. And, you know, we've all been raised that equality is the ultimate goal. But now, that's been replaced with equity. And this, as New York Post pointed out is a form of Marxism. Your thoughts.

WILLIAMS: Wow, it is hard to know where to start, Kennedy, but I'll start here. I think talking about race makes lots of people uncomfortable. I think some people think it invites charges of guilt, embarrassment, there's resentment, there's disagreement. All of that is there.

But I don't think that healing on what is a major problem in American society, I don't think healing can begin unless we have the conversation. And if all of you are saying that schoolchildren are such snowflakes, you can't tell them about American history, you can't tell them about slavery, you can't tell them about the rise of the Klan, you can't tell them about Black people being lynched --

MONTGOMERY: Let them read To Kill a Mockingbird.

WATTERS: That's an interesting book.

(CROSSTALK)

MONTGOMERY: No, you absolutely can't. You absolutely can't.

WILLIAMS: That is why they need to have that conversation.

MACCALLUM: Those are all courses of the American school curriculum. We all learned all of those things in school, Juan. That's not what we're talking about here though.

WILLIAMS: No, I'm sorry, but you still have -- hang on a second, Martha, because that's not true. We still have states in the country where they ban textbooks that talk about slavery is the cause for the civil war, where they don't want to hear about ongoing racism in this society. They say, you know what, that's indoctrination.

That is not indoctrination. That's history. That is having young people deal honestly with who we are as Americans. But instead, what you get is, especially from conservative politicians, they say, oh, no, we want our kids to be proud patriots and proud of America.

Yes, well, they can be proud. I'm a very proud American, but I'm also very aware of some of our defects, especially in terms of the original sin of racism and slavery.

MONTGOMERY: I understand that, but don't tell me I'm a bad person because I'm White --

WILLIAMS: I didn't say that.

MONTGOMERY: -- when my mom came over on a boat with one suitcase for five people and were discriminated against actively when she got to the United States. But you know what, she got two advanced degrees and became an engineer and is completely self-made because of the American experience. And I'm proud of her.

So anyway, take us home.

WILLIAMS: You should be. She's great.

MONTGOMERY: I am. She's incredible. Go ahead, Will.

CAIN: You know, I'll just say this. I'm not afraid of the conversation, Juan. I'm open to the conversation. In fact, I welcome the conversation. But I don't think healing can be done until we look at each other as individuals, as individuals who are judged upon merit, character, and their soul, who they are as individuals.

This curriculum asks us to double down on shallow characteristics, who we are on our skin color level. Jesse laid out several things it teaches. This curriculum teaches that individualism itself is a sign of white supremacy. I have a problem with that. If the current teaching is we will not look at each other as individuals, that we have to look at each other as tribes, I consider that poison. Worse than poison, I consider that racism. And I'm welcoming that conversation any time someone wants to have it.

MONTGOMERY: All right, and we will continue that conversation. However, "THE FASTEST" is up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: I don't shine if you don't shine. Welcome back. Time for "THE FASTEST." First up, the masks are off and life is looking a little bit more normal. Americans are ready to make up for lost time. 60 percent say they're going to start summer early. I think this is an excellent idea since last summer was a little bit difficult.

Jesse, when are you starting summer and what do you want to do?

WATTERS: Well, summer starts on Memorial Day weekend. Everybody knows that. And then it ends Labor Day weekend.

MACCALLUM: Absolutely.

WATTERS: That's how you read the calendar. And I'll be in a bathing suit then and I'll be living life with a beer in my hand and some saltwater in my face, Martha.

MACCALLUM: I think that sounds fantastic. Juan, how about you?

WILLIAMS: Oh, I just think this is a great idea, Martha. America is optimistic. We're hopeful and I think Americans have earned a vacation. Go for it, America.

MACCALLUM: Kennedy, what are your plans? What are your margarita bathing suit plans?

MONTGOMERY: Oh, I'm so glad you asked. First of all, I have the island margarita this year that's made with passion fruit juice and fresh limes and lots of tequila, not for my girls. My girls decided last year we had two months of Christmas. So this year, we are starting summer early. We're officially starting summer early.

This week for me is kaftan week. I've got a kaftan posted on Instagram. Anyone can join me. So, I actually have already started because we're expecting temperatures here in the 70s and 80s next. So, I will be in a bikini in about nine minutes.

MACCALLUM: Will, you're going to have like -- an album opened covered in tin foil ready to go?

CAIN: No. You see, I'm still the new guy. My suspicion is I'm not going to get a lot of time off. But I switched jobs last summer to come join you guys. And I had a couple of months off. Here's a quick tip. Take a road trip across the American west, Utah, Wyoming, Montana. Do it. Promise, it's good advice. Go do that. Great American road trip.

MACCALLUM: Yes, I think that's a fabulous idea and I think it's great that Will has just said he's going to work for all of us all summer long.

CAIN: I didn't say that. I didn't say that.

MACCALLUM: So, everybody has got their summer off. Thank you, Will. That's so kind of you. We're so thankful.

CAIN: You bet. I'm just that kind of guy.

MACCALLUM: All right, "ONE MORE THING" is next. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIAMS: Time for Friday fun. Time for "ONE MORE THING." Jesse.

WATTERS: Preakness is tomorrow, Juan. And you know, Scott Sanders, my producer, degenerate gambler, so he was pouring all over the odds all day long. He's a real track rat, you know, trying to hear things down there at the stables.

He does not like Ram that much or Concert Tour. He told me to take Medina Spirit. He likes the odds with Medina Spirit. He says go with the doped-up horse. So, we're going to take Medina Spirit, the doped-up horse this Saturday. He said it's a sure thing so you guys can take that to the bank.

Also a sure thing "WATTERS' WORLD" 8:00 Eastern Saturday night. We have Newt Gingrich. We have Stephen Miller and we have Pete Hegseth. That's what you call fair and balanced.

WILLIAMS: Way to go, Jesse. We'll be watching. All right, a writer once described heaven as an end also bookstore. Well, take a look at a dream come true. Yes, it's a magical bookstore with mirrored ceilings and walls all filled with books and reflections of books.

The architect's goal was creating the allusion of a never-ending palace of books. The architect calls it a visual feast for readers. In truth, it's a huge bookstore located in China Sichuan province and it holds 80,000 books. I'm telling you, a visit to that bookstore would be heavenly, I think, for any reader but especially for me. I just love books.

CAIN: It looks like everything.

WILLIAMS: Martha, you're up.

WATTERS: How I Saved the World is being stocked there, I think.

CAIN: It's like everybody's home library.

WILLIAMS: I think so. That's right.

CAIN: It's like everybody's home library filled with books they don't read.

MACCALLUM: So, what do you do with all your masks --

WILLIAMS: All right --

MACCALLUM: -- all those disposable masks? Take a look. Here's Representative Dusty Johnson of South Dakota. He has some ideas for us. Throw it out, use it as a bookmark, he also uses it to clean his glasses. And then he hops up the stairs, a little sweat on the brow, wipe it off. Oh, you can dust with it. You can also use it as a pocket square which I thought was pretty novel. An then, I like this idea because it's Friday and he wraps it right around his beer.

WATTERS: Oh, Koozie. I like the Koozie.

MACCALLUM: There you go, very resourceful, Dusty. Thank you. Will?

CAIN: Or just put them in the trash -- or just put them in the trash. I have two things to plug.

WILLIAMS: That was great.

CAIN: Two things to plug. First of all, if you want some extended thoughts from me, go to the Will Cain podcast on Fox News podcast. Juan is a big listener. He's been telling me how much he loves it. You will enjoy it, too.

And secondarily, I will be hosting the 7:00 p.m. "FOX NEWS PRIMETIME" all next week Monday through Friday. I really would appreciate it if you would join me.

WILLIAMS: Way to go. Well, we will be watching.

CAIN: Thank you.

WILLIAMS: Kennedy.

MONTGOMERY: I will join you. I will tee up my show by watching that. I'm on the Fox Business Network Monday through Thursday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And when I'm done there, I'm going to head to the biggest Harry Potter store in the world to get butterbeer. It is a nonalcoholic drink. It tastes kind of like butterscotch. It is not only served on tap and in bottles, but also a delicious ice cream.

So, whether you are a squib or a wizard, or a muggle, you can enjoy a cool, frothy butterbeer at Hogsmeade. That is going to be a sexy place. You can see it brewed in those special copper pipes. The bottles float all around you in the bar.

So, if you love Harry Potter as much as I do, and I know Juan does because he and I love books and we read to each other sometimes, then you got to go there. I'll meet at the Butterbeer.

WILLIAMS: You know, Kennedy --

WATTERS: And it's summer.

WILLIAMS: My grandson and I went down to Universal and they served butterbeer at the Harry Potter place. I had no idea what it was.

MONTGOMERY: It's awesome.

WILLIAMS: All right, that's it for us. Have a great weekend, everyone.

MACCALLUM: It's not beer. I thought it was when I was there, but bye, everybody.

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