Jesse Watters: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Democrats don't know how to read the room

"The Five" on Thursday discussed Thursday Democratic infighting over how to move forward after the big loss in Virginia in which Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a neck-and-neck election widely seen as a referendum on President Joe Biden's policies. 

Democrats also had a scare in New Jersey, where the Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, is projected to win by a narrow margin against Republican Jack Ciattarelli. (Murphy had a 20-point lead in the polls at one point before Election Day.)

Democratic moderate Sen. Joe Manchin responded to the election in an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, saying it was a "wake up call" for Democrats. On the other hand, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she believes Democrats should focus on energizing their progressive base. 

MANCHIN CALLS ELECTION RESULTS A 'WAKE-UP CALL,' REACTS TO IMPACT ON BIDEN AGENDA

"Manchin says this is a wake-up call, but you cannot wake up the woke because … they believe it's the people like Manchin, the moderates and everybody else on the planet who are unconscious. So you can never actually have a wake-up call with the woke," Greg Gutfeld said. 

Democratic strategist James Carville echoed this view Wednesday on "PBS NewsHour," saying that the Democratic Party needs a "woke detox."

"What went wrong is stupid wokeness … I mean this ‘defund the police’ lunacy, this take Abraham Lincoln’s name off of schools, people see that. And it really has a suppressive effect on all across the country on Democrats. Some of these people need to go to a woke detox center or something," Carville said. 

Jesse Watters suggested Democrats may want to listen to Carville.

"Carville knows how to read a room," he said. 

Watters said Carville can see that Americans like the police, the Founders, and that "they don't want to be called racists because they oppose CRT (critical race theory)." Americans want a lower cost of living, improved infrastructure and less divisiveness, which is not what the woke menu offers, according to the "Watters' World" host.

"Right now, AOC is in this little Queens bubble, the Met Gala bubble, the Washington, D.C., social media bubble," he said. "She doesn't have a clue what the rest of the country wants. [Sen.] Manchin knows, Manchin can read the room, so Manchin wants to give us what we want, and AOC is not going to let us have it."

Geraldo Rivera slammed progressives for holding the infrastructure package hostage by demanding the reconciliation bill pass first, calling it an "audacious ploy."

"And this is the audacious ploy of the progressives who said, 'You can't have infrastructure if we can't have "Build Back Better"' – they kept it hostage," he said. "They kidnapped the bipartisan infrastructure bill that would have given us bridges, tunnels, and WiFi … because they wanted to jam that, and then they lost. Now I think AOC is charming and once in a generation, and you know, but she ain't happening substantive."

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Dana Perino and Judge Jeanine Pirro both agreed the Virginia elections have ramifications for next year's midterms and beyond. 

"The thing that has happened is - it's just not an indication of what's going to happen in 2022 and 2024, possibly," Pirro said.  She added that Republicans "put … together coalitions of different parties who are interested in the issue of schools, children, America, and working … People are crossing party lines while the Democrats can't even stay together in lockstep."

Perino said the Democrats were "in-between a rock and a hard place." 

"If they ignore the will of the voters that have just spoken, then that will be bad for them. But if they don't press forward, they will literally have nothing to show their base. Yes, and in a midterm election, you need your base to turn out," she said.