'Watters' World' on 2022 midterms

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Democratic county executive: My party conveys weakness right now

Former Nassau County executive Laura Curran, D., warns her party faces a 'bloodbath' in the 2022 midterms.

This is a rush transcript from "Watters' World," January 1, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Brian Kilmeade.

I know, you're so disappointed, Jesse Watters is not here. I'm disappointed, too. I'm working today.

But I'm privileged to have a great show. This lineup is fantastic. So, let's get started for the first show of 2022.

Here we go.

Let's look back, if we will.

Our President thought not so much about a great year in 2021. How did he do in 2021? Not so good. Joe, in many ways had a disastrous first year at office. He came in with an economy on the rise, a secure border, the vaccine ready to go and he squandered it.

President Biden failed to keep his promises from day one. He promised the world on COVID, well, we'd get rid of it. We'd get rid of the virus and provide more testing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), THEN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The administration's failure on testing is colossal and it is a failure of planning, leadership, and execution.

We will deal honestly with the American people and we will never ever, ever quit. That's is how we will shut down this virus.

I'm not going to shut down the economy, I'm going to shut down the virus.

We need to scale up testing. So, anyone who needs one can get a test. After 10 months of the pandemic, we still don't have enough testing. It's a travesty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: It is so much easier to be a candidate. A year later, not only have COVID cases surged and deaths exceeded Trump's final year, which was without benefit of a vaccine, but the President never ramped up the testing after campaigning all of Trump's supposed failures. The big one was testing.

People unable to get at-home tests waiting hours in line to get tested. You saw this today, all blaming Biden. So what does our 46th President decide to do? He decides to punt to the Governors, let them handle it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Look, there is no Federal solution. This gets solved at a State level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Yes. When Joe can't solve a problem, his only other line of action is to deflect it. Crime soared across the nation this year. Most of the major cities that broke homicide records in 2021 veered left on crime and policing like Philly and Portland in Chicago, surging an over 60 percent increase in murders from 2019, not to mention the millions stolen and destroyed and these horrible smash-and-grabs this year -- everyone heard that term before -- crimes ever seemed to be a Biden administration priority though, they still aren't.

Now, his D.O.J. is giving $1.6 billion to cities to battle the violent crime after his party denied it was even happening. Biden halted construction of the border wall on his first day in office and surprise, surprise, a crisis erupted. Record numbers of illegal crossings happening throughout the year.

In fact just in November, 173,000-plus encounters at the border, double the number from 2020 and over four times the number of 2019.

Look, not to mention over 130 percent increase in fentanyl being seized at the border from 2020 and the millions that cartels are making from human trafficking. This is not tough. He's not even trying.

Joe ended up reinstating former President Trump's remain-in-Mexico policy and is closing gaps in the wall though he is still fighting the courts there, and Joe's border czar Kamala is MIA. No wonder she is on the image rehab tour. She was asked what her biggest failure has been as VP. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGARET BRENNAN, CBS NEWS HOST: What do you think your biggest failure has been at this point?

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To not get out of D.C. more. I mean -- and I actually mean that sincerely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Yes. She doesn't want to go to the border. Right?

What about Joe? Fumbling the economy, mandates causing worker shortages, the port backlogs causing supply chain issues. These are some issues he should have chosen from. The question should have been with multiple choice.

Inflation soared throughout the year, reached up to almost 40-year high through November, and things are not only expected to get worse in January. You've got food manufacturers saying some of their prices will rise this month like Heinz, General Mills, Campbell's -- all of them as much as 20 percent.

But Joe says inflation was just transitory.

But by far, the President's supposed epic fail that will live for generations sadly, is Afghanistan. The Taliban took over in a flash and Americans had until August 31st to get out. Thirteen would die trying to execute this tragically flawed exit plan. This is what Joe said before August 31st.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We're going to do everything in our power to get all Americans out and our allies out.

If there's American citizens left, we're going to stay until we get them all out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Well, that's a flat out lie. He didn't follow through with that. Of course, hundreds of Americans were left behind, and you name it, they have gone where things have gone wrong with this administration.

And this year, will they get more luck? Will they get better outcomes with these policies? It is not likely.

Here to break down what happened in 2021, and go over what could happen in 2022 is the one and only Karl Rove. Karl, you wrote a column in "The Wall Street Journal" at the end of 2021, and you graded yourself.

First off what I ran through, how much did you predict?

KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I had, I think, 25 predictions, and I bet 70 percent of them right. But when I got them wrong, I got them way wrong.

I projected that Joe Biden would govern as a traditional Democrat, and instead of being the sort of traditional liberal, he went way out on the left wing of his party and associated himself with the squad and Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and their agenda.

And so I got it -- numerically, I was right, but on a bunch of them, but I've got to tell you, on the ones that I got wrong, then that was the biggest one. I thought, he could -- I believed him.

You know, he said, the biggest issue of the incumbent was messing up on COVID and I'll get it right, he said, and I'll be a normal President and a normal Democrat, but he hasn't been a normal President or a normal Democrat.

KILMEADE: Are we less polarized or more polarized?

ROVE: Well, you know, I think we're sort of the same level of polarization. It's just that you know, rather than now being upset about Trump, we are now upset about Biden, but both sides, you know, we're in a tribal moment, everybody goes to their corner.

Democrats think Biden is doing a great job just as Republicans thought Trump was doing a great job. The key is the Independents, and the Independents who are the people who put Biden into office have turned against him, because as you said, I mean they go through that litany, you know, COVID, he is mishandled that, bungled that. Inflation, dismissed it when we were all feeling it when we went to the store or at the pump.

The economy slowing down with more government mandates, spending going wild. The American Rescue Plan, which was supposed to be COVID-related is mostly an expansion of the welfare state. Build Back Better turned out to be a gigantic fraud. Oh, it's only going to be $1.7 trillion.

So that's because we've got a bunch of gimmicks in it. If you take the gimmicks out, it's actually $3 trillion in debt, and $5 trillion in new spending.

Afghanistan, you did a good job on that one. Immigration, you're right. You know, you did a good job of explaining what they did wrong on that.

It's just been disaster, debacle, mistake, and error after error. And occasionally, there have been a few grace notes. He finally got around to thanking President Trump for Operation Warp Speed, but that was so -- the country has been so poisoned by both sides, this President had a chance to go in and say things and do things in a different fashion.

But instead, with a few -- with one major exception, has always found a way to blame it on his predecessor, and I don't think that's healthy for the country and it certainly hasn't been healthy for his presidency.

Think about this, we end the year with 30 percent of the American people thinking the country is going in the right direction and 62 percent thinking we're off on the wrong track. That ain't a good place to be if you're the new President of the United States. It is hard to turn that around.

KILMEADE: Lastly, no one can tell you -- in this country -- can tell you anything about running a campaign, but he promised to handle the virus. He promised to get testing and he made that statement -- anybody responsible for so many American deaths should not be President.

Karl Rove, he did not control the virus. He did not get all of our testing and the numbers of deaths with the vaccine and a million shots in the arm to start have exceeded Donald Trump's. It is really hard to get around that and spin your way out of that. Final thought.

ROVE: Yes. I think that's right. And look, he made a big mistake. I remember being in the White House in 2002 and 2003 in briefings about SARS. The chance for a global pandemic based on this virus that was emerging in China, and I remember the guy who led the briefings was talking about all the imponderables, all the things we didn't know and how we had to be cautious about predicting what would happen because there were lots of how transmissible it was, how and what kind of mitigation could be taken, what kind of therapeutics and how fast would we get a vaccine and so forth.

So he said, we've got to be cautious about projecting that we know what we know, and that we know everything. And Biden came in promising that eradicate the virus by July 4th, and the guy who proved, who in 2002 and 2003, Dr. Fauci, was right. There are lots of imponderables, and this administration acted like it had everything under control.

And you're right on testing. In September, he said, we're going to have hundreds of millions of tests. And it turns out that, three months, four months later, they hadn't even ordered them.

So he is reaping what he sowed, and what he is sowing is that people are not having much confidence in him.

Speaking of not much confidence --

KILMEADE: And Karl, we have to stop there -- go ahead.

ROVE: They told me Watters, and I got you. I mean, I'm sorry but where was Watters?

KILMEADE: He is so disappointed. I know he's cuter with better eyebrows. I really let you down, Karl. It is a bad start for 2022, but I'll make it up with the series of radio interviews. Thank you so much.

ROVE: Excellent. Thank you, sir. Happy New Year.

KILMEADE: Karl Rove, have a great 2022. Thanks for everything.

I would say, in his column, he goes on to say he believes the House and Senate will go to the Republicans. That's his prediction.

Let's bring in Laura Curran, a member of the Democratic Party. She was a Nassau County executive who lost a nail biter, Bruce Blakeman in her seat, and she believes it is because of what's happening at the White House.

I know as a Nassau County resident, I didn't really see many people that were upset with the job you're doing, and many of which are Republicans.

Laura, have you figured out why you lost it? Did it really come out from Washington?

LAURA CURRAN, FORMER NASSAU COUNTY EXECUTIVE: I think it really has. Unfortunately, my party, the Democratic Party just conveys weakness right now. It almost feels like elder abuse with what's going on with President Biden. He has a hard time putting a sentence together. I think everyone gets nervous, you know, listening to him talk if he's going to mess up.

And what we need always and especially now is someone who exudes confidence and competence, someone who sets a reassuring tone, and we're not getting that at the top right now.

And unfortunately, I think your previous guest, Karl Rove, is absolutely right. I think it's going to be a bloodbath for the Democrats in the midterm.

So, you know, the question is, as a Democrat, I think it's really important to have a strong two party system. I think it's good for democracy. I don't think it should be one party rule either way.

But unfortunately, it seems like we are giving the Republicans ammunition just to shoot us because we exude this weakness. People want to be reassured that government is there for them, not telling them what to do, but making sure the roads are in good shape, making sure the sewage is properly run, making sure that public safety is where it should be.

That's what people expect. And unfortunately, my party is not delivering this right now.

KILMEADE: You, you would characterize yourself as a moderate. Is there a place for moderates? There's one outstanding -- Joe Manchin. He has been vilified and eviscerated by his extreme left? Do you feel the same pressure? Is there a place for you in the Democratic Party?

CURRAN: You know, I served as County Executive in a county that is larger in population than about 10 states. And there is that pressure, but there's always going to be pressure when you're in politics, when you're in government. The question is, what do you do with it? Do you have a strong backbone? Do you do what you believe is right? Are you serving your constituents, you know, the best you can with the information that you have? That's what you should be doing, not worrying about the Twitter mob, not worrying about, you know, people disapproving of you.

If you can put your head on the pillow knowing you've done everything you can do and done it well, then I don't think you can go wrong.

KILMEADE: Well, very well put, and we'll see if you could back the cops like you did, and be against crime like you are if there's a place for you in the Democratic Party.

Laura Curran, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

CURRAN: Happy New Year.

KILMEADE: Same to you.

Hey, when we come back, should you have a say in your child's education? I thought the answer was yes. But not according to Nikole Hannah-Jones of the 1619 Project. She says no way. We'll try to explain that when we come back in this Special Edition of WATTERS' WORLD.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES, AUTHOR, 1619 PROJECT: I don't really understand this idea that parents should decide what's being taught. I'm not a professional educator. I don't have a degree in Social Studies or Science.

We send our children to school because we want them to be taught by people who have expertise in the subject area, and that is not my job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Is that unbelievable? Nikole Hannah-Jones says this earlier in the week as she promotes the 1619 Project. "The New York Times" puts it out, makes a curriculum across the country and it matters to every household watching right now -- is that true? Parents should have no say in education. And she's not a professional.

I thought she is on Howard University's faculty? I want to talk about this with three perfect people who tackle topics like this on a daily basis. We have "Cut the Bull" podcast co-hosts: They are Professor Wilfred Reilly, Charles Love from Charleston, South Carolina; Shemeka Michelle is joining us together they are cutting the bull.

Shemeka, I'll start with you. I was shocked to hear that. Terry McAuliffe tried that. He is no longer a candidate to Governor, he lost. What do they have against parents, Shemeka?

SHEMEKA MICHELLE, CO-HOST "CUT THE BULL" PODCAST: Brian, you know, Nikole Hannah-Jones is a prime example of what happens when a woman marries a man who takes her last name. And I can't help but wonder if she attributes her success to hard work and determination or the fact that she is a mixed American, and so therefore, she is where she is because she is privileged, because she is half white.

I think it's an insult to parents that do feel like we don't have the intelligence to decide what our kids should be learning. Of course, we should have some type of input. Am I you know, the person to teach my child Calculus? No. However, do I think my child should be taught Calculus through the prism of racism or race? Absolutely not.

KILMEADE: Charles, on top of that, I think it is just so interesting, in that we know day-to-day lesson plans, it takes an expertise. We're not saying that. But in terms of what she is getting to, and that is the history of this country built on stolen land off of slavery. That's what she wants to get across.

CHARLES LOVE, CO-HOST, "CUT THE BULL" PODCAST: Yes, is terrible. You know, I think that we're burying the lid here. To be fair to her, I don't think she was saying that parents shouldn't be involved, but she's still wrong because what she's saying is, we don't want parents writing curriculum when we know no one is saying that. Right?

We are saying that the teacher should teach, but the parents should say what shouldn't be taught when things are inappropriate and to the history thing, you know, my book "Race Crazy" has a chapter on every essay in the 1619 Project. Why I say they're burying the lid is what she said in his interview earlier, she said that it is not a work of history, it is a work of memory.

And now in this interview, she said both that it is a journalistic project, not a history project, and that she is not an educator. Well, if that's the case, it shouldn't be taught to kids, and if they're going to do it, I would challenge all these people who are lauding this new book she has to take my book and teach them both and use it as a critical thinking exercise and see which is really the true history.

KILMEADE: Professor, you know the headlines on 1619, if you push back on it, that means you denying that reconstruction failed and that slavery existed. There is truth between those two things, isn't there?

WILFRED REILLY, CO-HOST, "CUT THE BULL" PODCAST: Well, of course there is. I will say that Nikole Hannah-Jones's original comments fall into what I call the cult of the professional or the cult of the expert, which is this idea that you can't criticize anyone with any kind of upper middle class degree. For example, a DEI consultant. And I really think that's pretty silly.

I mean, there's expertise like surgery. That's the process of long methodical training. Then there's expertise like teaching or coaching that most people have done at some level, leading meetings -- I'm an educator myself -- where the average parent really can't have input.

And yes, the average parent is correct to say it doesn't sound like 1619 is an unbiased view of U.S. racial history. That's something an average smart person absolutely can figure out. That's correct.

KILMEADE: Shemeka, looking at where we're at right now, what does it say in your mind that she is still on the bestseller list? You know that people are buying this, that more and more cities are encompassing this in their curriculum. Like it or not, even though we seem to agree that the statement doesn't work for parents in America, there's people buying into this. And there's a bunch of first, third, seventh and ninth graders that are learning this, because it's going to be on the test.

MICHELLE: It says to me that we have a lot of lost Americans. If we're trying to move forward, the way to do that is to stop looking back and stop trying to change history.

I'm all for teaching anything about America in truth and entirety, but when you surround everything with the race, I don't think that's moving forward. So I think it says a lot about where we are as America and what we need to do to actually overcome the places that we've been.

KILMEADE: Charles, you say "Race Crazy." America is about race crazy, we should be Americans, and then whatever your nationality is: American-Irish American-Italian, American-African -- how do we get back to American mattering more?

LOVE: Well, that's the problem. When you're so focused on race, you're not going to solve any problems. I give them the argument and say, there are problems, there are policing problems, there are education and income gaps, but you're not going to solve them by just carrying signs and saying, "Well, it's all systemic racism."

One, it is not all. I am not saying clearly here that is not a percentage of. What that percentage is -- is it two? Is it 20? I don't know. But I know it's not a hundred.

And when we become race crazy, that's all we see. So, if someone gets shot, it's race. If someone is sick, it's race. How do we fix anything that way? So, you talk about getting back to it, we need to get back to actually focusing on things that will work. Just think about what they propose. And if it won't fix anything, just don't be afraid to cast it aside.

Don't let them call you racist, or whatever the case may be, that's just BS. It is not going to work, so, I'm not going for it. You can't teach me that my 10-year-old is -- tell my 10-year-old that he is the reason why racism exists and think you're going to fix it. It's silly.

Or telling black people that you need to learn math, the black way. That's not helping anything, and until people wake up and stand up and speak out against it, nothing is going to change.

KILMEADE: And thanks so much, guys. I appreciate it. Pick up the "Cut the Bull" podcast. It dives into race. It says America was never perfect, but we're trying to be but where we're going right now is actually going to destroy the country and you get into in depth conversations on it.

Professor Reilly, Shemeka, Charles, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

MICHELLE: Thank you.

LOVE: Thank you.

KILMEADE: All right, meanwhile, if you want to get a historical context of race in America, pick up "The President and the Freedom Fighter: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass in the Battle to Save America's Soul." Currently, number 6, thanks to you guys on the bestseller list.

And coming up next, the biggest foreign policy failures over the past year and what we can hope for this year.

Don't miss this Special Edition of WATTERS' WORLD.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JON SCOTT, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR: Welcome to "FOX News Live." I'm Jon Scott.

For air travelers, the New Year picks up where the old one left off, with lots of frustration. According to the tracking service FlightAware, more than 2,600 U.S. flights canceled today. Airlines blame wintry weather and high numbers of sick-outs due to the rising number of COVID-19 infections, and there is no relief in sight for stranded travelers with another thousand flights already scrubbed for tomorrow.

Tribute tributes are pouring in from Hollywood and around the world as fans remember legendary actress and comedian, Betty White. A sea of flowers placed at the Betty White Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. She died yesterday at the age of 99, a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday.

White's career spanned eight decades, including roles on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Golden Girls."

I'm Jon Scott. Now back to WATTERS' WORLD.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENNAN: What do you see is the biggest National Security challenge confronting the U.S.?

HARRIS: Well, frankly, one of them is our democracy. The year 2021 is not the year 2000. You know, I think there's so much about foreign and domestic policy that, for example, was guided and prioritized based on September 11, 2001. And we are embarking on a new era where the threats to our nation take many forms, including the threat of autocracies, taking over and having outsized influence around the world.

And so, I go back to our point about the need to fight for the integrity of our democracy.

In addition, it is obviously about what we need to do on the climate crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: I could think of a lot of answers to the question about security challenges, but that wasn't one of them. It was so circuitous, I am still dizzy. Give me a second to get my equilibrium.

Joining me now to make sense of the foreign policy challenges we actually have and the one we are looking forward to in 2021 is David Asher. He is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. He has been involved in almost every foreign policy area you can imagine, the perfect person to speak to today.

David, what do you -- first off, what was your take on democracy being the number one issue in the Vice President's mind?

DAVID ASHER, SENIOR FELLOW, HUDSON INSTITUTE: It's ridiculous. I mean, our democracy is functionally in excellent condition. I mean, yes, we have pretty profound divisions, but that's happened throughout our history. I'm much more concerned about our lack of commitment to democracy around the world, and the threat of dictatorships and communist regimes to the United States and their aims to disrupt our global fabric of security.

And through that imperil democracy, perhaps that's what the Vice President thought, but I don't think so. I'm not really sure, you know, what her concern is. I don't think the Soviet Union is coming back and the Communist Chinese as much as they don't like us, they're not going to impair our democracy, but they certainly are both in Russia, acting more like the Soviets and China, certainly acting like a classic communist regime are both ready to make big moves in 2022.

KILMEADE: You're convinced of both, first off, we will start with China. They already put a warning shot out with the hypersonic missile to let us know our missile defense is probably null and void because they have more than one of them. They started a nuclear program and that really trumpeted that word out, and we still don't know how the Wuhan virus started.

How much of a threat is the Belt and Road Program? This is with China seems to be emboldened to embark on in 2022. Am I wrong in any of these areas?

ASHER: No, none. But you know, you didn't mention Taiwan and the threat that China poses there. And of course, we're dependent in our high tech economy on semiconductors coming out of Taiwan, and the Chinese know it.

They're cracking down on their tech sector in a way that almost implies that they have to take Taiwan, given Xi's communist inclinations to run his economy along the lines of Karl Marx, not capitalism anymore.

So you know, you're facing a multiple series of challenges. The Belt and Road is interesting because it's a type of return to economic mercantilism and imperialism in almost cult of quasi-colonialism. So, I think that as China starts to move outward and reclaim what it sees as its lost history where it once dominated Asia in its own mind, it never really did, but let's not put that -- let's put that aside, the Chinese think they dominate Asia, and they want to regain their dominance.

As that happens, this economic imperialism will expand as well, their willingness to take hostages, and I mean, American exporters in China, American business people, they all need to be worried about becoming hostages to the Chinese government if Taiwan gets hit, we will sanction them. The Chinese will then take over our factories and probably take some of our people hostage. I mean, they already did that to the Canadians related to that Huawei incident.

So I mean, this thing is getting ...

KILMEADE: That's a great point.

ASHER: ... really, really ugly, and it's going to get so much worse. I mean, we're heading into a world -- a new world disorder, and Biden is literally oblivious. He is acting -- I mean, the environment and the U.S. democracy, our top foreign policy challenges. He's out of his mind.

KILMEADE: Absolutely. That's why I wanted to play that to see what we're up against.

David, I was -- I am looking at what's happened in Taiwan, of course, people are worried. Then we're finding out what's happening with the Russians now where they have about 100,000 troops outside the Ukrainian border, and they want to speak about their security guarantees.

This after a bizarre for-hour press conference with Vladimir Putin saying that we are encroaching on them. What is he up to?

ASHER: Yes, I mean, in this -- we are encroaching on them. The Chinese say the same thing. We're not encroaching on anybody. I mean, we should be encroaching on Russia and China, but we're not.

Putin, you know, this is a sort of self-created phobia that they're using to justify expansionism because they sense weakness in this President. We are facing a Russia that's poised to do a pincer movement with its military on the North-South and Eastern borders of the Ukraine, how far in they go? It doesn't really matter.

What are they trying to do? Jack up the price of natural gas, hold natural gas hostage because where they're positioned in the North and in the East of Russia on the borders of the Ukraine, I should say. That is the perfect position to sort of protect these pipelines.

You know, they can send the price of natural gas in Germany skyrocketing and hold them hostage, break the back of NATO. They've made this effort before. They are now, I think poised to do it and they will expand it with military incursions. By doing that, what happens? The price of oil also skyrockets.

You know, we think it's bad at the pump right now, just wait. Putin knows economic warfare.

KILMEADE: It helps Russia.

ASHER: Yes, so, it'll help the Iranians, it will help the Russians, and even the Chinese now will be okay because they bought long-term contracts with the Iranians because this administration has taken the very successful Trump-Iran sanctions policy and shredded it. So basically, Iran is selling all of its oil to the Chinese.

KILMEADE: it's amazing -- yes. David, I hear the frustration in your voice and I definitely worry about all of this because it's all avoidable. We make the natural gas. They didn't have to okay that pipeline, but it is amazing. Western Europe bought the crack and the pipe, and now, they are wondering why they're addicted.

ASHER: Yes.

KILMEADE: David Asher, thanks so much.

ASHER: Thank you very much.

KILMEADE: We look forward to talking to you again.

Meanwhile, straight ahead, we're going to look at the top media bias stories of the past year. Don't move.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: Welcome back to this Special Edition of WATTERS' WORLD as we begin 2022, I hope it's going to be a great year for you and I think it will be if you've just tuned in to this show alone.

First things first, the biggest media bias stories of the year, first and foremost, Kyle Rittenhouse.

First, he is exonerated, then he was mischaracterized afterwards. For example --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Kyle Rittenhouse, the armed teenage vigilante for whom Trump has been kind of sounding like outside counsel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rittenhouse is basically what you would have had in a school shooter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kyle Rittenhouse, a guy who is deeply racist went with weapons to Black Lives Matter protest, looking to get in trouble, he did. He murdered a couple of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: White, Trump supporting MAGA loving, Blue Lives Matter social media, partisan, 17 years old, picks up a gun, drives from one state to another with the intent to shoot people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Unbelievable, right? You've got to think of lawsuits to come in his direction.

Here to make sense of this story and so many others is Jimmy Failla. He's got a very great show on "FOX across America," on radio. Jimmy, welcome back.

JIMMY FAILLA, FOX NEWS RADIO HOST: Great to see you, Brian Kilmeade. And I just want to say one thing, most people would argue the biggest media malpractice --

KILMEADE: Yes.

FAILLA: The biggest media malpractice is you actually booking me the day after New Year's Eve. Most shows assume I'm in a holding cell with a face tattoo right now. But you had faith, Brian Kilmeade. So thank you.

The Rittenhouse --

KILMEADE: It was a big mistake on my part. Now, on this --

FAILLA: You stop it.

The Rittenhouse thing is the biggest -- the biggest proof that we are living in the death of shame, and what I mean by that is everybody you just played in that montage is openly screaming that this guy is a white supremacist, deep ties to racism, deeply racist. We have no proof of any of that.

So to get in front of the camera and say that with no regard for how it's going to inflame racial tensions, number one is disgusting. Number two, if he is a white supremacist, he shot three white people. Apparently, there is either a typo in the handbook or he is just really bad at the gig because there is nothing white supremacist about what went on there, Brian.

KILMEADE: And there was -- Jimmy, there were no facts in that analysis from them.

FAILLA: None.

KILMEADE: Meanwhile, Governor Ron DeSantis, by far the rock star should be of America, but only of the right. Listen to how he is attacked and mischaracterized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been appallingly derelict in doing anything to fight the pandemic. Now, as Governor, Death-Santis as he is known by his critics continues to push to infect the Sunshine State's children with his dangerous and stupefying mask mandate ban.

JOY BEHAR, COHOST, "THE VIEW": He should be criminally liable for that. You are actually committing negligent homicide when people die on your watch.

SUNNY HOSTIN, COHOST, "THE VIEW": I want to say about Governor Death- Santis in Florida -- and there have been allegations again from the very beginning that Florida misrepresented the COVID-19 data.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FAILLA: I mean --

KILMEADE: Unbelievable, right, Jimmy? Your take?

FAILLA: Have you ever had a friend, Brian, who complains about a crazy coworker so much that you eventually realize your friend is the crazy one in this exchange? That's the media with Ron DeSantis.

They complained about this guy, again, with no regard for the facts, with no regard for the fact that he did the best job of any Governor in that he prioritized the elderly who are the most vulnerable to this pandemic and got them vaccinated at an astonishingly high rate, and he managed to take the pandemic seriously without crashing his economy, which is why Florida has the best job market in the country.

The one thing I will say that DeSantis has going for him though, Brian, is nobody is scared of COVID in a state where people eat each other's faces.

KILMEADE: Got-cha. Good point. Lastly, when Joe Biden struggled on the stairs, and you compare the easy way he got away with that when he did and nobody wants to see him struggle, but the guy is obviously hurt in many ways. And everyone just gave him a pass compared to when Trump had the problem walking down the ramp. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The matter of a President's health is of great importance to the American public.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Do you see something possibly neurological that could be throwing off his balance?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know so little about Donald Trump's past medical history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Jimmy, go ahead real quick.

FAILLA: And this is why when it comes to the media, more people trust the finger sandwiches at Jeffrey Dahmer's house, like give me a break man. Joe Biden fell three times on the way up the stairs, Brian, but on the plus side, I think we figured out why he never left his house during the campaign because he didn't know how to get out of the basement after all. They needed like a chair left.

It's absurd.

KILMEADE: Yes, it's a theory, Jimmy. We look forward to listening to your show all year in 2022 at noon, Eastern Time on Fox News Radio. Jimmy. Have a great weekend.

FAILLA: You're the man, Brian Kilmeade. Thank you, buddy.

KILMEADE: All right. I believe that, too.

Coming up next, "Triple Play" with the one and only Carley Shimkus. Don't move and gradually get dressed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KILMEADE: All right, everybody. Welcome back to this historic edition of WATTERS' WORLD. I'm Brian Kilmeade filling in.

This is according to reports -- I just checked the calendar, the first "Triple Play" of 2022, and let's see it. It's an electrifying experience.

Also, I have to say this, I have managed to lasso Carley Shimkus, the same one who co-hosts "FOX and Friends First" to help me with this "Triple Play." She wanted to be introduced as the most talented woman in television history, but I'm just going to say co-host of "FOX and Friends" First. Carley, welcome.

CARLEY SHIMKUS, COHOST "FOX AND FRIENDS FIRST": Thank you for having me, Brian. I do appreciate the wonderful intro.

KILMEADE: You've got it. All right, ready for this electrifying experience?

SHIMKUS: Absolutely.

KILMEADE: Let's flash forward to Indonesia where this man walking with an umbrella gets hit by lightning and it evaporates. This security guard just walking in the rain, which is the reason why you have an umbrella, which means it'll happen again, and it almost acts like a radio transmitter, just blows up.

I think Benjamin Franklin tried this hundreds of years ago. What is your take on this, Carley?

SHIMKUS: Well, this is a truly wild video. I'm sure that getting hit by lightning ruined his day, but there are some positives to this that I'd like to point out.

The first is that getting struck by lightning, the odds of that happening are very low, for it to happen once. But for it to happen twice, even lower, so at least he got it out of the way. It happened to him once, it's probably not going to happen again and he lives tell the story, which brings me to my next positive, which this story will get you out of any awkward social situation.

If somebody tells a bad joke or two family members are fighting during dinner, you just tell your lightning story, and it totally serves as a distraction, and everybody can move on in a positive direction.

SHIMKUS: Exactly. And Carley, they have a video to back up his story. So they know it's not some fisherman's tale thing.

SHIMKUS: Bingo.

SHIMKUS: He only suffered burns to his hands. He was released from the hospital four days later.

Let's move ahead and first watch, listen, and observe and see if you can make heads or tails of this. I'll fill in the blanks.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

KILMEADE: So I don't know if you could tell, but evidently the backstory is, it has gotten millions upon millions of views. He was given by his sister dissolvable swimming trunks. So as soon as they got wet, they disappeared.

He finds himself in the ocean, totally naked, and this woman was experiencing huge backlash saying it's cruel. So is this funny? Or is this cruel, Carley Shimkus?

SHIMKUS: Well, Brian, that's exactly right. So this video has gotten like 29 million views on TikTok. But the overwhelming volume of negative comments is unbelievable, and really serious stuff.

Like somebody said, "What if the genders were reversed, they would never do this if it was a girl."

KILMEADE: Right.

SHIMKUS: "Just really cruel, a total loss of trust." Then somebody says, "This is not even doing sibling stuff. It's just mean. You could have gotten him arrested for public indecency."

If I watched this video on social media, I would, you know, view it once, say that it's like a silly sibling prank and move on with my life. But the internet overreacting to some silly thing is another day ending and why? So it shouldn't come as any surprise.

KILMEADE: Well, a couple of things, two I'd like to add to that. Number one, I don't know the relationship between the two, but the sister got so upset, she went back on social media and blasted all of her critics. So this thing is totally out of control. I do look at it as pretty cruel, especially if he was forced to get out of the water, it would be terrible, or it was very cold water. It will be awful reputation.

SHIMKUS: They handed him -- yes, the reputation. Like, they gave him a pair of swim trunks before he got out of the water. So, everything wound up being fine.

KILMEADE: Right. By the way, why are you going to Goodwill and getting swim trunks and give them as a gift to people. There's so much wrong there.

So here's something that's going to be impossible for us to do in our jobs and that is detached from tech.

But Kahlua, which is the only alcohol worth anything will pay $25,000.00 to a couple who will ditch technology for a month. The question is as those who enter it, they'll have to take a polygraph to prove that you didn't.

If you do take this challenge, could you and your husband do it, number one? Number two, is this possible?

SHIMKUS: Well, first of all, I'm just having this image in my head of a producer saying something to me like, did you read the latest "Wall Street Journal" op-ed? And me saying back? "No, I didn't as a matter of fact, I didn't do any research for this morning's show because I just entered a 30- day internet challenge sponsored by Kahlua." I don't think that that will go over very well.

But for whoever this challenge is for, some people can do it depending on their jobs. I say go for it except continue to go on foxnews.com, FOX Nation, FOX Weather, and briankilmeade.com as well.

KILMEADE: Right. But Carley, the problem is that would eliminate them. They fail the polygraph and would be forced to live life partially without tech for a month and with a lot of Kahlua, which I don't know, there might be a different fate in that.

Carley Shimkus, your mission from 2022 is to be as great as you were in 2021. I'm convinced you can do it. Will you accept that challenge?

SHIMKUS: You're the best, Brian. I will accept the challenge and I appreciate it so much.

KILMEADE: All right, keep smiling. Carley Shimkus, thanks so much.

When we come back, the great Jesse Watters does what he does best -- hits the street and talks about the biggest mistakes and the resolutions Americans have for 2022.

Don't move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST, WATTERS' WORLD: Who are you going to kiss when the ball drops?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got any suggestions?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: Welcome back. Thanks for watching. You know what 2022 means, a fresh start, right? But now it's time to look back.

Jesse went to the streets to find out what resolutions Americans were making.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: What is the biggest mistake that you made in 2016?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not watching you on TV enough.

WATTERS: Best answer I heard all day

Who are you going to kiss at Midnight?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It might be you, so watch out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD CHRISTOPHER, FICTIONAL CHARACTER: So you're telling me there's a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go.

WATTERS: Who are going to kiss when the ball drops?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got any suggestions?

WATTERS: What is your New Year's resolution?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no [bleep] clue right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My New Year's resolution is get rich. Are you rich? And I get rich? And we can have fun.

WATTERS: Not too much fun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to be healthy and be happy.

WATTERS: Can I give you a little advice? Don't skip chest day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spend time with the family.

WATTERS: Drink a lot of water. Set specific goals. Eat healthy and you, too can be a success.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish you could just shut your big yapper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you.

WATTERS: I love you, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love FOX News.

WATTERS: Always remember one thing, I'm Watters ...

I'm Watters --

I'm Watters --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watters.

WATTERS: And this is my world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KILMEADE: All right, no one is better on the streets than Jesse.

I can't thank you enough for watching this Special Edition as I tried to fill his shoes. Make sure you watch "FOX and Friends" every Monday through Friday and listen to the Brian Kilmeade radio show.

Judge Jeanine is getting ready in fact. She is ready now.

Thanks for watching.

END

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