This is a rush transcript from "The Five," June 2, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, everyone. I am Juan Williams, along with Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, and Dagen McDowell. It is 5:00 in New York City, and this is THE FIVE. We are now on day seven of civil unrest in America. You're looking live once again, as protests get underway to honor the memory of George Floyd.
But it comes after more exploitation of the situation last night, riots, looting, taking place on American streets, rocking places cities like New York City and St. Louis. New York's Mayor, Bill De Blasio, activating a citywide curfew for the remainder of the week that will extend from 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m.
And President Trump is under fire for threatening to deploy the military on rioters, as well as using extreme tactics to disperse White House protesters just moments before walking to a photo-op at a nearby church, top Democrats accusing the president of fanning the flames of discord.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY PELOSI, HOUSE SPEAKER: We would hope that the president of the United States would follow the lead of so many other presidents before him to be a healer-in-chiefs and not a fanner of the flame.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump has combined the worst of George Wallace with Richard Nixon.
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Using teargas and flash grenades in order to stage a photo-op, a photo-op of one of the most historic churches in the country or at least in Washington, D.C. We can be forgiven for believing the president is more interested in power than in principle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: Dana, let me start with you and just deal with this controversy. Do you think it is good -- or what's good for the president to order people to use teargas, rubber bullets, to move peaceful American demonstrators out of Lafayette Park for the photo-op?
DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, I think let's be clear on the question of the teargas. The park police have issued a statement earlier today and then just now before we became on air. They said teargas was not used. And they want to be clear about that. Now, there were many people there with cameras that filmed everything.
Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner wrote a firsthand account of everything that happened. I feel like the idea to go to the church was a good one. But a good idea that is not well executed can then turn into the story. And I think that it was a little bit more time and a little bit more care they could've cleared the area in a way that did not make people feel like they were being shoved out of the way before the curfew.
They were there at 7:00 p.m. That was one of your loved ones you would be upset by it. And the Australian ambassador has reached out to the White House, asking to speak to the president about how the reporters from Australia were treated and what they went through. But teargas was not used. And there will probably be hearings about this. Capitol Hill is already doing that.
Nancy Pelosi, you know, she complained that the president used a bible in a photo-op, and then she used a bible in a photo-op at the exact same time. And I think people that read the bible, believe in the bible, rely on it for spiritual sustenance, nobody wants it used as a photo-op. I don't think that people intended to use it as a photo-op.
I think believe that the president was trying to show resilience that America is not going to be taken over by people who would actually set fire to St. John's. But again, I think that it is a great idea to go to the church, but not executed well. The fact -- the execution of all of that became the story today when we should really -- and I know we will talk about the actual horrible destruction of America's great cities, especially New York City.
WILLIAMS: Jesse, you know, just picking up on what Dana was talking about with the bible and the churches. The president is not a regular churchgoer, as he spends many Sundays playing golf. But in the last two days, he has gone to St. John's, an Episcopalian church and then to the shrine, a Catholic church, both here in Washington last two days, two trips to churches. What is he trying to do? What do you think he is trying to show?
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Maybe he found God all of a sudden, Juan. But I know if President Barack Obama had cleared a block of Tea Party protesters who just set fire to a church a block from the White House the night before and held the bible up, the mainstream media would have cancelled the election and crowned him king.
The media is sour now because they were forced to shoot a photo-op of the president of the United States demonstrating that he is not going to be intimidated by criminals. It was a very powerful moment for the country. And they are bitter that they had to film it, because it deals a big blow to their lawless side.
I think De Blasio should do the exact same photo-op every single block of Manhattan and clear out all of these criminals block by block and have the media shoot it. That's what everybody wants. That's what the country wants. Now, you are saying these were peaceful protesters. You mean the same protesters that lit the church on fire last night?
The same protesters that smashed all these windows all over Washington, the same protesters that threw a bottle at the attorney general an hour before? Dana mentioned the park police commish just came out. He said they found stashed baseball bats and glass bottles. And they warned them three times to disperse because curfew was just around the corner.
They didn't. They continued to throw bottles. So they threw some smoke bombs out and pushed them back, wow, Armageddon, really? This is what we are talking about. This is a church next to the White House that needs to be protected. It is sacred ground. If the people had not been pushed back one block, they would have been throwing bottles at the president of the United States.
Is that what everybody wants? You trust this mob, Juan? You trust this mob that's burned the whole country down, that has eluded the whole country, that a night before set fire to a church? You trust them to be within a block of the president? I don't. I don't trust these people at all. At this point, they have shown no ability to be trusted at this point.
Killing cops now, punching people in the face for no reason. They are trying to protest violence against an innocent man. And yet, they're committing violence on innocent men and women. It's disgusting. This country has had enough of it. And this fake scandal is just another frame job of the president, while the rest of the country agrees with everything he did.
WILLIAMS: Greg, the president is also being criticized for saying that he would deploy the military against some of the protesters and possibly some of the violent protesters that Jesse is referring to. But I just think, gosh, the Founding Fathers were quite clear. The Bill of Rights is quite clear about using the military in a domestic function, a domestic capacity.
You can see that in the Bill of Rights. I was wondering what you, as a libertarian, think about this?
GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, when the government and the local government advocates their responsibility of protecting their citizens, you either have the military or the citizens with the Second Amendment will have to do it themselves. And that's what we are getting towards. You know, what is ironic about this whole situation is that this is the virus. It was never COVID.
Think about it. It is everywhere. The government can't stop it. It is infecting minds. And it's created a crazed state of violent, violent ecstasy. There is this myth that anger is driving this. There was no anger on the faces of the looters in my neighborhood on Sunday night. They were having a blast. And the unspoken truth about all of this is that it is fun.
You are going out in an organized fashion. You're beating the crap out of people. You are taking stuff. This is not about George Floyd. This is about 28 days later. This is about to the Dawn of the Dead. This reminds me of an amazing game show. I would call it Loot. You unleash a mob into a city, and they can just grab as much as they want as possible.
And as long as you don't see the victims because of the conventional news media will not showing you the victims, then you think it is a great idea. They are just taking free stuff. And what Cuomo and De Blasio were doing is the preserving these games by pretending the victims don't exist, and then it is just a bunch of protesters being teargassed.
And saying no to the National Guard, well, we are done. De Blasio embracing a curfew without some kind of military force, it does not mean anything. They are laughing at him. Lastly, this is never going to end, and I'm going to tell you why. If the other cops aren't charged, another round of riots, if they are arrested and let off, another round of riots.
If the bad cop gets charged and only gets a couple of years, another round of riots, if these let up, another round of riots. The system is now designed to accept the purge. We are stuck in a dystopian deja vu. We are stuck on repeat of just repulsive, reprehensible activity. And we can't do this, because it is no longer a means to the end. We are actually at the end. We are at the end.
America is being red-pilled, right? This is the literal coup that we are watching. And nobody, Cuomo, De Blasio, they can't do jack because they are on the same side.
WILLIAMS: Dagen, Tim Scott, Senator, a Republican was critical. Ben Sasse, really Republican Nebraska Senator. He said the president's language should be about trying to lower the temperature. And he thought the use of some of these troops, et cetera, the threat of them was raising the temperature. What do you think?
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX NEWS HOST: It is a threat of troops coming. And to Greg's point, if these local leaders, the mayors and governors don't get a handle on this violence, and that's what it is. It is looting. It is theft. It is destruction. If they don't get their hands around it and stop it tonight, the people of this country will demand federal intervention.
They will demand, because in New York, you can't defend yourself. I can defend myself from a virus by keeping away from people and staying in my apartment and wearing a mask, maybe washing my hands. But when I go in the street at 3:00 in the morning to come to work, I have no way of defending myself. And they will demand government intervention, the people of this country, if this is not stopped.
And in terms of Governor Cuomo and De Blasio being on the same side, Governor Cuomo threw the mayor under the bus threatening to remove him as the mayor and blaming him and the police of New York for not stopping this. So -- and just one more thing. The next time the senator from New York, the senior Senator Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi or any of the liberal left open their mouths.
I went to hear a loud, unwavering, vociferous condemnation of these people who are robbing small businesses and destroying jobs and decimating this economy. I want to hear condemnation from everybody rather than oh, look at Trump, because that's all you get.
WILLIAMS: All right. Coming up next, hear Greg's take. It is one of a kind on the coverage of the looting and the riots, next on THE FIVE.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: Another night of looting, and what is the media's priority?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He called them thugs. Who is the thug here? Hiding in a bunker? Hiding behind a suit?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are teetering on a dictatorship? Is the president declaring war on Americans? What is happening here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president had been saying incendiary things, certainly if you had been listening with any kind of open-mindedness, certainly not helpful things.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's all but calling on authorities to crack skulls at these protests. It's just not something you see in the United States of America. It's something that you see in more authoritarian countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Amazing. Meanwhile, the New York Times headline reads America's protests won't stop until police brutality does, meaning this could go on forever. One of their scribes chides Mayor De Blasio for being too pro- police. Meanwhile, the city burns and stores are looted, cops are beaten, and people are beaten too.
The New York media by sticking to their narrative that we deserve the punishment reject protecting our citizens. They mock the need for military intervention. People have families and relatives and they have spouses who work at night. When our leaders believe this mayhem is inevitable and perhaps even necessary, then who protects us now?
Still, others blame Trump. Now, I watch the streets of my home destroyed. It was not Trump. It was criminals who knew that the light touch of impotent leaders allows for ruin. And how is it Trump's fault that a cop killed a defenseless man at a liberal town held by liberal politicians. It's not, but the media says the opposite.
It's wild when you say everyone is in agreement over Mr. Floyd, including Trump. They respond that that is not enough, which tells you again they want no end to the violence. They want to burn it all down. They being radicals on the street in faculty lounges in the government, and the minority shopkeepers are praying the price.
The minority owners of restaurants are paying the price. Minorities general always pay the price. The only people who are not paying any price are the media. They wax poetic and they rake it in. They hope if they feed the crocodile enough, as Churchill once said, it will eat them last. It will, and then it will get food poisoning.
So Dana, I don't know where to start. I'm so depressed. I honestly can't even focus anymore on this. They were throwing hammers at my residential windows because they can't steal anything anymore. And yet, we have -- we have leaders who are more upset -- we have -- the media is more upset about Trump's tweets than the fact that people are getting beaten. I don't get it.
PERINO: Well, I fee like the media also in many ways reflecting the local and state officials in some places. So for example, in New York, it is hard to imagine that they seem to be more concerned about the lawless and -- then for the people who actually obey the law, the taxpayers. Think of all the people that work really hard and try to do the right thing.
That's the majority of people. That's the majority of people. Then they did the lockdown. They lost their businesses. They lost their livelihoods. They probably -- many of them lost their savings, lost their hope, lost their dreams. And it is -- I'm sorry that you are depressed, because it is hard for everybody who is a fan of yours, Greg, to see you like this.
But we know that it is from the heart and that you are witnessing something that feels like the city and the nation is fighting for its life. And we need help in order to win this fight. I believe that we will. I believe we will come out stronger. I also -- if I can just mention two things, one is this notion that the president was hiding in the bunker.
So I just want to be very clear. No president asks to go down to the bunker. That is a Secret Service decision. They come and they tell you, sir, you are going to the bunker. They actually had to carry Dick Cheney to the bunker, because he did not want to go after 9/11. Like, I really hope that the media stops saying that the president was hiding. That was not his choice.
The Secret Service is in charge of protecting the president. That's that choice. The other thing on the media that I just wanted to mention to you is -- this caught my eye today. So Michelle Goldberg is a columnist of the New York Times. I read her because I like to -- I get the perspective. And the headline is that she thinks De Blasio should resign, very liberal left, left-wing columnist.
And I thought, wow, we are on the same page. And then I realized, oh, no, she wants him to resign because he is not progressive enough, because he has sided too often with the police. And if you saw on the Daily Briefing today, one of the police officers who went after Cuomo and De Blasio saying you have no idea what it is like to be us. They do not feel supported by their local leadership. And I will leave it there, but -- could go and on.
GUTFELD: You know, Juan, I know you were in D.C. -- I think you were in D.C. during 9/11. Maybe you were in New York. I was in New York. It seems like this is so much worse, because it is -- dozens and dozens of cities and it was versus the terrorists. But now, it's -- the terrorists are us and we can't do anything, because they're -- they've have hijacked a movement.
And the movement can't expel them. So that's why we are eating ourselves alive. And I think why the politicians are so flaccid on this.
WILLIAMS: That's an interesting perspective. Obviously, we lost a lot of lives in 9/11 so far. Thank God in terms of protests here, it has been nothing comparable. But I wanted to just join with you in saying I want to unequivocally condemn the violence. I just think it is counterproductive even for those of us who are seeking some kind of positive social change in terms of reckoning and calling for accountability for police brutality in this country.
Dr. King, so many others have spoken about how that kind of violence does exactly what you said, allows critics to hijack a virtuous movement and derail it, because you can't build coalitions on that basis. Now, in the same time, Greg, I would say that I want to make sure that there are, just as I want, penalties for people who break the law as protesters.
I want there to be penalties for police who break the law in terms of their use of brutal tactics. I want to make sure that there are repercussions and equal treatments all around. Because to me, we have in this country systemic racism, and I know some people do not want to deal with it, don't' want to acknowledge it. They want to just get back to normal and say, oh, how can we deal with that?
How long will it take to correct? But we need to do it. I think we can both agree. It is harder to be a black man in America then it is to be a white man in America. And we need to confront this, because it is contrary to our ideals about equality.
GUTFELD: It depends what black man you are talking about. But I agree that there is racism. The problem is if we all -- and like you said. We all agree on it. It does not stop the violence. It is like, OK, we want to help you, what can we do? And then the violence still occurs. So that's why I think that there is another aspect of this that is way bigger than race. It's something about undoing society. Jesse, what are your thoughts?
WATTERS: Well, just to Juan's point. One of the ways you can punish police, you know, they have union rules. These are police unions. The unions have devised these systems, so a police officer can have 30 complaints against them in a couple of years, and he gets no discipline. So that's on something that the unions can figure out how to do.
And on the point you just made about they can't expel these criminals and domestic terrorists from their movement, one way to do it is maybe take a breather on the protests. They had a week. It's been hijacked. No one's talking about George Floyd anymore. Everyone is talking about the reckless violence and property destruction.
If you sit down, the rest of the looters and the criminals won't have you as the cover to perpetrate crimes against the country. That is just a suggestion. In terms of the media, I have never seen so many peaceful protesters commit so much violence, right? How many excuses does the media have to make for these acts of violence?
I mean, this is like the guy who says, oh, well, my girlfriend only cheats on me when she is drunk. And he says that time and time again. I mean, just break up with her. And the other point is this. You know, Bill De Blasio, he could do something about this. Juan condemned it, so did De Blasio. De Blasio runs the police force.
Tell the police crackdown and then we can all have enough of it, because I want you to be in a better mood, Greg.
GUTFELD: It's hard. I was just going to ask Dagen if she's interested in buying an apartment. It's in a really quiet neighborhood now.
(CROSSTALK)
MCDOWELL: You know what? You are trying to be funny, and I love you. But you know what. There is no telling how much the price of that apartment is going to collapse with what has gone on in terms of the lock down in the city. Half of the restaurants probably will never come back. The destruction of jobs in leisure and hospitality, and retail and then all of the violence and looting that has gone on.
You're going to see unemployment here that could be an upward of 30 percent for a very long time. But one real quick thing in terms -- I wanted to mention that Governor Cuomo could do something rather than laying the hammer down on De Blasio, the police force here in New York. That is actually call out the National Guard troops with their 13,000 at his avail. Instead, he likes to talk and not act, meanwhile New York burns.
GUTFELD: All right, coming up next, police coming under attack in several cities amidst the riots.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: More shocking and vicious attacks on police officers across the country last night. A Las Vegas police officer reportedly on life support after getting shot in the head outside a casino. Four police officers were shot in down downtown St. Louis. Their injuries reportedly not life- threatening. And in New York, two officers were targeted. One officer pummeled and the other rushed to the hospital after getting hit by a car. Well, I mean, there goes the math of violent Trump supporters, Juan.
WILLIAMS: Look, I don't think there's any excuse. There's no way that anybody should be allowed to assault a police officer. It's wrongheaded. You know, it's -- and as I've said to you before, Jesse, it's counterproductive for people who are seeking genuine social change at this moment in American life.
But I'd say it's also the case, and you hear this from conservatives. They say, wait a second. You know, when the cops misbehave, it's just a few bad apples. It's not -- well, look, if you have millions of people on the street in many cities in America, maybe there are a few black bad apples among these millions of demonstrators.
And I think the logic has to go both ways, but it does not then-involved George Wallace 1960s type rhetoric or use of force that I think is going to exacerbate a very difficult situation and make it all the more dangerous.
WATTERS: No, not to be funny, but that's apples and oranges, Juan, and I don't have the time to get into it. So Greg, I think it's because you know, these liberal mayors are just letting these guys run wild and you know, you attack the police. They don't want to do anything about it. But if these were Trump supporters doing all these things, you could be sure there'd be a major crackdown.
GUTFELD: I remember the good old days when we're outraged overthrowing water at cops. But the fact is, if you attack police officers, that means that you're more willing to attack civilians. That's why it's not just a symbol, but it's a warning of the intensity of the -- just the recklessness.
We've demonized police, even as shootings have declined dramatically over decades. It's been amazing. There have been hiring programs. There have been diversity classes. But we demonize them even as they give their lives protecting minority cities. It has -- law enforcement has gotten better and has reduced the systemic racism, which is what drives me crazy when people bring up systemic racism because we know there will always be that.
So as long as you keep using that as the cudgel, then we will always have riots because you're going to say -- because it's never going to be perfect. Juan did get at a good point. The Defenders of the protesters say it's a few bad apples in terms of the violence, but a lot of them reject that argument with cops. They smear the entire force with the bad apples. So, in reality, in the protests, there's a lot more bad apples there than there are on the police force.
WATTERS: Dagen McDowell, what are your thoughts?
MCDOWELL: Well, in places like New York, criminals aren't criminals and crime isn't crime because of bail reform passed early this year. You don't have to put bail up for any crime other than something that is violent.
So a lot of these people who've been arrested over the last few days, they -- if they -- if they got arrested, they're probably already out on the street. The job is thankless. People do not have the backs of police officers. And I think Americans are going to get to see in short order what it's like when the cops just aren't there.
GUTFELD: Yes, it looks like it.
WATTERS: And Dana, we're looking at live shots of New York City. It looks like large crowds are gathering there, not a lot of social distancing. The media doesn't care about that anymore. What a week it has been.
PERINO: It has. I'll be really quick. One of the things I heard today from Congressman Kinzinger who is also a part of the National Guard. He said, one of the things that the National Guard can do is they can do things like man a barricade so that the police who know their communities well can go and do the actual dynamic policing that needs to be done.
So as we have this discussion about the National Guard coming out, I mean, people think about that. That could help the police do more as the military could actually help them on things that, you know, they don't need to be doing if they have extra manpower.
WATTERS: That's an interesting point. All right. Joe Biden is hitting Trump over the unrest in America. And we're going to talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: Joe Biden ramping up his presidential push as violent protests continue to engulf the nation. The former vice president promised to heal America's racial wounds and slammed President Trump for "turning this country into a battlefield."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I look at the presidency as a very big job. And nobody will get it right every time, and I won't either. But I promise you this. I won't traffic in fear and division. I won't fan the flames of hate. I'll seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country, not use them for political gain. I'll do my job and I will take responsibility. I won't blame others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: Dagen, I've been thinking about how Joe Biden delivering this message. It's kind of interesting, he's been in office since the 1970s and wants to return, and then there will be change.
MCDOWELL: Right, indeed. And he's going to, according to the George Floyd, his family, the Vice President is going to be going to the funeral next week which I believe is scheduled for Tuesday. So expect to -- this is what the vice -- former vice president is talking about here. But in terms of the wounds, he's going to need to broaden his message to all of Americans. People who have actually been hurt. Their livelihoods damaged by these violent criminals who were robbing city after city after city.
He needs to speak to the whole nation. And he's going to have to start being a bit more vociferous about stopping this violence.
PERINO: Juan, what about the president then pushing back against Joe Biden suggesting -- you know, portraying Biden as an ally of this lawlessness and of the looters and not standing up for law and order as he would?
WILLIAMS: Wow, I must say, I find this -- you know, it's so political, Dana, on the President Trump's part here because what I saw today from the former vice president was a strong speech. And strong I say because it had so much passion about sympathy, empathy for what's going on in the world. country in a sense that we need to come together as an American community and speak to American values that we believe in equality. And we believe that people have liberties and shouldn't -- those liberties should not be infringed upon, even if we are a suspect.
So I thought, boy, you know, I Biden is giving a very strong speech here. You know, and -- I must tell you. Something else struck me there. I loved hearing him say that America, as we know it, was built by a strong middle class, and again, not by Wall Street, but by people, essential workers who go out and do the jobs every day. And that includes a lot of working-class people who want to be treated fairly by the authorities.
And you know, at a moment when, you know, you see people getting upset and depressed or anxious, inducing times, anxiety-inducing times, I just think to hear that kind of talk about us as an American community was very important, very important and it fill the vacuum.
PERINO: Jesse, both candidates are going to define the other even though we're in the middle of twin crises of a pandemic, and now this. So, I don't know if Joe Biden was just speaking about unity. He was also drawing a contrast and trying to compare himself to President Trump.
WATTERS: Joe Biden didn't write that speech. I mean, if he did, he plagiarized it, at best, he read it. I thought it was sleepy as sin. I mean, he doesn't stoke fear, division. OK, you're not black. They're going to put you back in chains. I mean, come on. This is Joe Biden we're talking about. He's been in Washington his whole life. What has he ever done on this issue? I mean, nothing.
Joe Biden's hasn't done anything on bringing the country together. This country was torn apart under the Obama-Biden presidency. There were race riots all the time. All he did was point fingers. I mean, now he's siding with a movement that includes rioters, looters, and domestic terrorists He's siding with democratic mayors who can't keep their country or their city safe. I'm not listening to Joe Biden for leadership right now and no one else's because no one watched his speech.
PERINO: Greg, the President is talking about law and order, which is a message quite reminiscent of 2016, where he said, I'll be the president that protects you from internal and external threats. Do you think that will be part of the big message going into the rest of this election?
GUTFELD: Yes. And I think the way that you combat somebody like Biden is when you know someone has no ideas, practical ideas, when you ask them a question, what can we do? And they go, we need to address the long-standing problems of systemic racism. And we go, well, we're doing that right now. We're trying our best. And we think we're making progress and we have statistics that show that we're making progress over addressing systemic racism in the past.
What we're asking you is what can we do right now, when there are mobs destroying our buildings and beating up innocent people and attacking police officers and setting fire to stores and trying to destroy America? What can you do about that? And if they come back and they say, you know, we really need to address the systemic nature of racism or some kind of generic kind of overarching thing. That is absolutely useless.
You need somebody who has practical solutions, who says, you know, if there's looting, you have checkpoints, at the tunnels, you have checkpoints, at the bridges. And when a car passes, and you see there's loot in that car, that person is photographed and publicize, so they don't get a job or they lose their job.
You search the cars going into the city out of the city. Practical solution. Practical solutions, sending in the National Guard to help police the streets, because that works. Those are practical solutions. Not like, you know, I'm going to come here and I'm going to heal the nation. No, you aren't. You can barely pick your socks out in the morning.
PERINO: It was like that I saw this a protester in California holding up a sign that said do something. All right, OK, coming up, Tucker Carlson blasting leaders in charge over the riots in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: If you do not protect them or worse than that, if you seem like you can't be bothered to protect then you're done. It's over. People will not forgive weakness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: Here more of all of that up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MCDOWELL: Attorneys for the family of George Floyd are speaking right now along with the mother of his daughter. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRENCE FLOYD, BROTHER OF GEORGE FLOYD: Why I'm here? Because my brother's daughter have to live without him. Look at the tears in her eyes. This is why I'm here. I'm ready to fight. I'm ready to stand for my brother. I'm going to get justice for my brother. That's why I'm here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCDOWELL: And that was just the attorneys for the family of George Floyd speaking again in the funeral scheduled for next week. But let's move on to Tucker Carlson taking aim at the President last night criticizing what he is calling the Trump administration's lack of leadership as looting and riots continue to rage across the country. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: When the mobs came, they abandoned us. What about the president? Where's he during all of this? The first requirement of leadership is that you watch over the people in your care. But if you do not protect them, or worse than that, if you seem like you can't be bothered to protect them, then you're done. It's over. People will not forgive weakness.
Nero is the only Roman Emperor whose name most people still remember. Why? Because he abandoned his nation in a time of crisis and 2,000 years later, we still don't forgive him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCDOWELL: Greg, people are going to hang their hat on those comments about Trump, but I don't think anybody in leadership in this country was left unspared by Tucker.
GUTFELD: That was a 25-minute monologue and probably Tucker's finest work as a -- as a showman or anchor, and he proves how wrong everyone is about whose side he's on. He's a true patriot which allows him to be able to say anything about everyone. And he described the horrid state of our nation societal protections, and how we are being destroyed from within and where that came from.
And I urge left, right center, you name it, to watch that. Whether you like Tucker or not, you will come away with knowledge.
MCDOWELL: Dana?
PERINO: Well, my husband and I watched it unfold last night. And it was one of those -- you know, usually, I'm multitasking and doing other things while I'm watching T.V., but last night, we just sat and watched the entire thing. And I've known Tucker since the late 1990s. And I knew him first as a magazine writer. And he was I think probably one of the best magazine -- one of the best writers of our time, but those who are of course, long form.
To be a great writer, you have to be a great thinker, and you have to have great care. And you have to make arguments and you have to be persuasive. At the end of that monologue, I had to send him a text. And Greg, I said the same thing. I said, it's probably your finest work.
MCDOWELL: It was. When I watch, I watched it a few times, and I just wrote down quotes from it, Jesse. Violence and looting are not forms of political expression. That was one of my takeaways and also that people need to stop the race-baiting.
WATTERS: Yes. I mean, I thought Tucker's finest work was on Dancing with the Stars. But this was a close second, I'll give him that. You know, politicians can't shut down businesses and then let them burn. You just can't do that in this country. This country has been through so much to have this happen now when we're coming up after a pandemic, it's just atrocious.
There's just a total leadership vacuum right now in this country. Everyone's pandering. Because everybody thinks, OK, they're not going to come for me. Well, you know what they did. They came for the CNN headquarters; they came for the AFL-CIO headquarters. They came for Nike after Nike kiss their you know what. So everyone's getting it and the media the whole time are laughing it up because they're quarantined in their estates in the Hamptons, while they're outside of the city, and this is all going down.
It's really reckless to breathe fire -- breathe into this fire. And, you know, everybody's to blame. But I think finally we're getting it under control.
MCDOWELL: And Juan, one thing Tucker did for a long part of the beginning of the monologue was touch on the personal stories of people whose businesses have been looted, damaged, people who have been injured. It's those people that leaders and politicians and moronical chatterboxes on television gloss over and forget. That was my takeaway as he made it personal, reminded people of the devastation.
WILLIAMS: Right. Well, you know, I agree with Tucker about safety and protection being an essential function of government. So you got to hold our leaders responsible. I don't think that it should be an invitation for again, abusing citizens or taking us into some kind of lockdown situation. We already have the curfews in the like. So I worry about that.
I do think that you have to maintain the peace, but you can't use that as a reason to be indifferent to the heart of the problem, George Floyd and the notion of police brutality. That's why you have millions of people across the nation, even across the world, standing in solidarity and saying, we've got a problem here. Let's address it.
And to my mind, it's so important to also note that we didn't show up. But you know, Tucker went after Jared Kushner there. And again, you think to yourself, well, if he says Jared Kushner is talking down to Trump supporters, well who put Jared Kushner in any position of power? It's President Trump.
MCDOWELL: Well, Greg, we've got exactly three minutes left. The monologue was what, you said 25 minutes. It lays that so we didn't have time to play all of it. Let's get a Laura Ingle on the protesters here in New York City. Laura?
LAURA INGLE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Hey guys. We are on the Upper East Side right now where protest that has been going on for hours all day throughout Manhattan is coming to a conclusion on the Upper East Side, though you wouldn't know it to look at it.
These protesters have blocked off avenues and streets so far. Where we are here, we're on East 89th Street. For the most part, it has been a very peaceful protest. We've been following this group all day long. As you have heard, 8:00 p.m. curfew is tonight in New York City. So in theory, these thousands of people are going to have to get out of New York City in the next little bit.
And we talked to police today about this new curfew and about the timing being moved back. They thought last night that the curfew worked to a degree because they did get an increase of arrests overnight. We'll have to see what happens of course. But this is the scene on the Upper East Side. This is a very large demonstration and rally that has gone on for hours in the city. And again, we wait for nightfall, one more night to see what happens. Back to you guys.
WILLIAMS: Laura Ingle in New York City. Laura, thank you very much. That's it for us. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next.
MCDOWELL: No, no.
WILLIAMS: Oh, we had nine -- we have some time. I thought we were out of time. My apology. So, Dana, what do you think of this peaceful protest. Does that reassure you that there is a legitimate protest element here?
PERINO: Well, I think one of the big challenges for cities across the country is how do you separate the peaceful protesters that have the right to protest peacefully from the looters and the rioters and the arsonist and the deprived people wanting to just wreak havoc and steal and just destroy things? How do you separate them?
And perhaps the curfew will have an impact on that. I got to say because -- I don't know what's going to change from last night to tonight. De Blasio and Cuomo are in disagreement. De Blasio didn't seem to think that there was going to be any like concrete changes for tonight except they did say they were going to double the amount of officers that are on the streets tonight so maybe that will help.
WILLIAMS: Well, I don't know. Sometimes you wonder what's going on between De Blasio and Cuomo because you would imagine, New York City police are pretty good, well equipped. I don't know. Jesse, what's your final thought? We got a few seconds left.
Oh, I'm sorry, Jesse, we're out of time.
WATTERS: Take back the streets block by block.
WILLIAMS: OK. All right. That's it for us, folks. This time is for real. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next. Hey, Bret Baier.
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