'The Ingraham Angle' on COVID vaccine mandates, 2022 midterms

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Biden administration using vaccine mandate for political purge in military: Col. Douglas Macgregor

The retired colonel responds to troops struggling to get religious exemptions and says it's politically motivated on 'Ingraham Angle.'

This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on December 29, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN DUFFY, FOX NEWS HOST: Pete Hegseth. Thank you very much. Have a great night. All right. I'm Sean Duffy in for Laura Ingraham and this is a special edition of THE INGRAHAM ANGLE. We start with a Fox News Alert. The Biden administration tonight asking the Supreme Court to decide whether it could be forced to continue implementing the Trump era Remain in Mexico policy for migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. Now we're going to have more on this later in the show.

We have a lot to unpack tonight, including Seen and Unseen with Raymond Arroyo. He has a special announcement tonight. So, you don't want to miss that. And but first, how many times did you hear this warning from Laura.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Power hungry governors and radical mayors are endangering their state's futures. And we'll eventually see their states left behind. Those states are being left behind. The blue states will simply be left further behind. The free states would ultimately leave them all behind. The blue states are being left behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: The Angle tried to warn all of these Democrat leaders so many times, and they failed to take it seriously.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

DUFFY: Just like the Left ignored the science on COVID. They ignored what was best for Americans. If you need any more proof that people here are sick and tired of vaccines and masks mandates, CRT and rampant crime. Look no further than the brand new data from the Census Bureau. The states with the biggest increases in population were all red. Florida, Texas and Arizona and the biggest decreases New York, California and Illinois. So, what do these hard hit states all have in common?

(VIDEO PLAYING)

DUFFY: All right. Joining me now is Phil Kerpen, President of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, and New York Post Columnist Karol Markowicz, who has decided to leave New York City, a city she loves for the great state of Florida. So, Karol, I'm going to start with you. What was the final straw for you that made you leave the city that you spent most of your life in and go to a new state of Florida?

KAROL MARKOWICZ, NEW YORK POST COLUMNIST: Yes, so there was no one final straw. It was just a continual bad policymaking from our leadership that I didn't see ending anytime soon. I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. And I continue, to live in this place that I think it's just crazy. I point a lot to child masking. And yes, I don't like that, my kids unnecessarily wear masks both inside and outside their schools because they have to wear it outdoors during recess.

But masking is really just a symptom. And it's sort of the - what we can see of the crazy that lies beneath everything else. When you see two-year- old wearing masks outside, you can be confident that you're in an insane place. And I know that I am so I had to get my kids out.

DUFFY: I know this is horrible policy for kids. So, Phil, what is the social and economic policy, when states lose like thousands of Karol Markowicz is and they go to different states, what happens?

PHIL KERPEN, COMMITTEE TO UNLEASH PROSPERITY: Well, but first of all, I congratulate Karol on getting out of New York, I'm still trying to convince my wife, we should leave D.C. So, for now, I'm still in sort of deep blue enemy territory. It's a lot of things. First of all, this is not a new thing this year. This is a long running trend, with population leaving California in the Northeast in particular, and shifting to the South. And this year, the domestic migration was 650,000 people on net into the south, which is a massive number, but it's typically been about 400,000, 450,000 in recent years. So, it's a big jump, but it's on trend. And it's an acceleration of what we were already seeing. And it has to do with a lot of lifestyle quality of life issues.

One of the chiefs among them, of course, is no income tax in places like Tennessee, Texas, and Florida. And we've seen a very large influx of people, about 4 million people over the last decade have moved from income tax to non-income tax states. But this was different this year. There were a lot of other factors in play as well. I think crime was a factor, but I think the COVID policies were probably the biggest one. And to me, one of the most interesting things in the new number, Sean is Washington state, a non-income tax state that normally over the last decade has been gaining that migration of about 40,000 people a year. It was flat even; it was net even. And I think that's two things.

I think it's the crime problems in Seattle and the crazy COVID lockdown policies you look next door, Idaho gained an incredible 48,000 people. Idaho is not a non-income tax state, but it was a non-lockdown state. It was a very attractive alternative to Washington, Oregon and California. And so, we've got an acceleration of these long running trends, but we've got this new factor of insane COVID mandates that are really driving people out of some of these places.

DUFFY: So, Phil, I think that's a great point because it's not just taxation, it's other policies that lead to the quality of life that people have, otherwise people would be moving to Washington as well. But we've seen what happens in Washington, horrible policies, CRT, they have protests, homelessness, so that folks are moving there.

But Karol, I want to go to you, because when you look at people who come to America from places like Venezuela, and Cuba, when they get here, they recognize that Democrat policies, they're very similar to the policies that actually ruin their home country. Right. And so, they vote Republican.

I'm wondering, when people leave places like California and Illinois and New York and go to places like Texas and Florida, do they leave their bad policies that destroy their states behind, or they take those bad ideas with them, and vote for crazy liberals in Republican states and ruin those great states or freedom that we have right now in America?

MARKOWICZ: Right. Well, I was born in the Soviet Union. And I can tell you that the ex-Russian community in places like New York are generally conservative. And there's a reason for that. Once you've seen Leftism in action, you don't want it anymore. I think in general; the red states can be confident that the people moving there want to share their policies, want to share their politics. Sure, not everyone. There was a thread on Twitter yesterday from somebody moving to California and saying that he was worried about the politics of Florida where he was moving.

So, of course, you're going to have people like that. But I think when you have places like New York, like San Francisco, other big cities, where homelessness is something that is ignored. shoplifting is something that we don't talk about, burglarizing of stores and of homes is something that we just completely go by the wayside. And we don't talk about that either. And all of these policies that we see in action in these places, I think people are trying to escape the crazy and these red states, while they do have some concerns about people moving there, I really don't think generally that the people coming to these states are the ones that they need to worry about.

DUFFY: Karol, I hope you are 100 percent right. And then Phil, here's my concern. You don't have these bad policies that are in the states of California, New York, or the cities of San Francisco. They're not fenced off, right? Democrats want to take these horrible policies from these states and the cities, and they want to make them national, right? They want America with crime and drugs and homelessness and feces on the street. They want that San Francisco to be all of America. Shouldn't this be a warning sign and shouldn't the lights and sirens be going off for the American voter to go, hey, listen, if I don't want America to look like San Francisco, I've got to keep these guys out of office and out of power.

KERPEN: Yes, you would think so? Look, it's been a decade now that these states, New York, Illinois, and California, in particular, been shedding population, people are voting with their feet. They do not like these liberal big government policies. And it has only accelerated in recent years. And yet, as you as you point out correctly, the Democrats believe in the California model. That's the model they want for the whole country. That's everything in Biden's Build Back Better bill, it's all based on this idea of having more and more government control, more government spending, more taxation. That's what people are trying to flee. When you look at this domestic migration data. It's a little bit harder to flee when it happens at the national level, though.

And so, you're absolutely right. I think that we'd hate to really make the case that there's a reason the red states are performing so much better economically, and are so much more attractive than the blue states. And it's the triumph of a free market model over the government control model that the Democrats put up.

DUFFY: Yes, Phil, if you take those policies of the liberals and you make them national, and you ruin America, there's no other America out there for us to go. That's why it's so important that we save this country with great policies. I want to thank you both Phil and Karol, for joining me tonight on the Angle. I appreciate it.

All right, when it comes to red states, they were leading the way on COVID from the very beginning. You just heard Karol explain why she was moving to one. So, because people are happy, and they're free in red states. So, it makes sense that these leaders want to continue doing what they think is best for their own constituents. Here's how Biden said, he would help them out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no federal solution. This gets solved. at a state level. My message to the governor is simple. If you need something, say something, and we were going to have your back in any way we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: So, maybe he doesn't understand the definition of having someone's back. Because Florida's Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo says they're actually standing in his way in a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra , Ladapo writes, the administration is actively preventing the effective distribution of monoclonal antibody treatments.

Joining me now is Florida Senator Rick Scott, Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Senator, thanks for joining me. So, is that how Biden actually has your states back?

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): Absolutely not. I mean, first off, Joe Biden is a hypocrite. First he says that - that's still federal solution, but then he wants these mandates, and then they pick and choose where they want to send the treatments. I mean, this guy is A complete hypocrite so they need to treat all the states the same. They need to give us all good - as individuals good information, but with monoclonal antibodies, or whether it's the tests are going to distribute, all the states are to be treated the same. Florida shouldn't be treated worse or better than any place else, we all should be treated exactly the same.

DUFFY: And this is my frustration. Senator, if Biden and the CDC don't have recommendations for treatments, when someone gets COVID, why would they stop Florida from actually trying to treat people and save people's lives, who get COVID?

SCOTT: I don't get Biden and I don't get the Democrats; they want to tell you how to lead your life. But they don't want to be helpful to you. Get out of the way. Let Florida, or Texas each of these States figure out their own solution. Alright, and don't stop it. I mean, think of what the federal government does, they want to control all the treatments, they want to decide where all the treatments go, they will buy all the stuff up, they buy the vaccines up, they can try to control everything, everything, and then they decide, oh, I'm going to give you something if you do the right things. But if you do the wrong things, I'm going to hold it back.

I mean, think about I've got people in Florida, they want to make sure they don't get sick, they want good information. And but if they do get sick, we ought to have all the treatments.

DUFFY: 100 percent. We want to take care of the people that we represent, and what the governor is doing there and your support is making that happen. Senator, I want to get your thoughts on this breaking news. The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to hear the Remain in Mexico case. Now, this is of course, the Trump era policy for migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. Now Biden originally tried to scrap the policy, but a federal court earlier this year ordered him to reinstate it. And then it went to an Appeals Court where Biden lost again.

So, Senator, I guess, he just keeps losing and why would he want to rollback a set of policies under Trump that were actually working to keep people from coming into our country?

SCOTT: I mean, it makes no sense. I think today, about one out of every 150 people in this country came across illegally this year. We've got 100,000 overdoses this last year, 100,000. One of about 3000 Americans died of an overdose. We got drugs coming across the border like crazy. I was just down last month down in Yuma. And we've got thousands of people coming across, some of them - there was a day that I heard there were 4000 people came across in one day in one location through one open gate, one open gate. I mean, what is - what is Biden thinking? Does he care about Americans?

His first responsibility is secure the border, if there's policies that work I was down at the border. And the border agent said, I've been - I've had five presidents, every one of them had their ideas, but at least they had an idea of how to secure the border. Biden has done nothing to secure the border, has no interest in securing the border.

DUFFY: Senator, I think the odds are pretty good that Republicans take over the Senate and the House. And I know it's hard to pass legislation when you have a president who won't sign your bills. But one of the powers of the majority is the gavel for oversight. And I hope that a Republican Senate and a Republican House will do great oversight on this border, but also on what this administration has done on COVID. That really is the power of the majority. And hopefully you guys will take that opportunity. And I want to thank you for joining me on the angle tonight and for all of your insights. Thank you.

All right, when the military decided to force COVID vaccinations on troops, they made it clear that some would be able to obtain religious exemptions. In fact, faith is important to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the freedoms that that we fight for here in the military, is religious freedom. And so, in keeping with our values as an institution to allow people who are concerned from a religious perspective, to be able to state that perspective and to have that worked out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: So, how was that working out? You might be surprised to learn that despite the support that the Pentagon has for men and women of faith, zero requests for religious accommodations and the marines have been approved, leading many feeling like this is a total political purge. One source told Fox News, we are facing an unconstitutional edict that I think is very targeted as a political purge, taken out some of the best and the brightest.

Joining me now is retired Colonel Douglas MacGregor, Senior Fellow with the American Conservative and former Adviser to the Secretary of Defense under President Trump. Colonel, I mean, zero interest exemptions approved. I mean, that's unfathomable what's going on here?

COL. DOUGLAS MACGREGOR (RET) FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ADVISER UNDER DONALD TRUMP: Well, as with everything else this administration does inside the United States. This is politically motivated. This is an ideological attack, designed to eliminate anyone who might raise objections to anything this administration wants to do inside the military. The vaccine and resistance to it is simply a metaphor for everything else in the minds of President Biden and his administration that they want to achieve with CRT, social justice equity and so forth all of these Marxist programs that have been implemented are at the forefront of their greatest concern.

So, this is a good opportunity in their minds, to get rid of people and has nothing to do with COVID. Because we know, the fatality rate for people in uniform is extremely low. It's 0.03 percent, only 82 out of 261,000 infections. So, there is no justification for this radical action other than politics.

DUFFY: So, Colonel, you are agreeing, this is a political purge. They want to take out who they think are conservatives that might be vaccine hesitant or Christians who have a religious exemption to taking the vaccine?

MACGREGOR: Oh, absolutely. I don't know what the demographic breakdown is, what the racial makeup of the people they're throwing out is. But I suspect that the majority of them are probably white Americans. And a white American who is a Christian is probably the least desirable person from the vantage point of this administration to have in uniform, even though that's exactly what is populated the Army's, Air Force's, Navy's and Marines of this country for hundreds of years.

DUFFY: Colonel, this is unbelievable. But what does this policy this purging of good military men and women, what does this do to our readiness?

MACGREGOR: Well, our readiness is already in terrible shape. Morale is frankly, in the gutter. You can read through the various articles coming out of the Pentagon, marines, soldiers, airmen, sailors, people are speaking very, very clearly about their feelings. So, morale is terrible. And the thing that is so hard to understand is that after we have had so many people for so long in uniform do so much that they were asked to do over the last 20 years that we now know, in retrospect, was frankly, stupid in many cases. Nevertheless, they did what they were asked to do, and they sacrificed their lives in the process. Now to simply turn around and throw people out on a whim is unacceptable. This is just going to hurt us further. And it's going to end up creating an officer corps of pure yes men, people who are simply going to do whatever they're told.

But this is not going to create a force that fights effectively, certainly not a force that believes in anything, because they're creating a force that believes in nothing. They're just going to do whatever they're told, pick up their paycheck and go about their business.

DUFFY: You know, Colonel, it's disturbing because we don't live in a more peaceful world. The world seems to become more violent with more risks, whether you look at China or Russia. It's frightening that we don't have a military that's rising to the challenge. We're concerned about things that have nothing to do with our readiness. But I want to thank you for joining me tonight and giving me your insights, Colonel. Thank you.

All right. It's almost 2022. So, what does that mean, it's time for midterms with 23 House Democrats not seeking re-election. The GOP has a real chance to retake the majority. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise is here on that. Plus, Tom Bevan breaks down what Senate races could determine control of the upper chamber, so stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DUFFY: At a time when Biden's approval rating is actually lower than his vice presidents, Democrats are getting the hint and jumping ship. So, 23 House Democrats aren't seeking reelection in 2022 could more be coming. Fox's National Correspondent Matt Finn has more. Matt?

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Sean of those 23 House Democrats who say they will not seek reelection, five announced that decision in December alone. It's putting the Democratic Party in a very difficult position heading into next year's midterm elections. Democrats will try to defend their razor thin majority in the House. Republicans need a net gain of just five seats in the 535 member chamber next year to regain the house majority that it lost in 2018.

Just last week, a trio of House Democrats announced they won't seek reelection next year. Representative Stephanie Murphy of Florida, Lucile Roybal-Allard of California, and Albio Sires of New York. Republicans have history on their side. On average. The party that wins the White House in a presidential election historically loses more than 25 House seats in the following midterms. The last four presidents have lost Senate and House majorities. And the once in a decade congressional redistricting process is expected to favor Republicans. This all comes as President Joe Biden's job approval rates hit new lows in recent weeks and the president's hope of passing a $1.7 billion social spending package was slashed when democratic West Virginia Representative Joe Manchin announced last week, he will not support that legislation.

So far, 13 House Republicans to-date have announced or indicated they're retiring or not seeking another office in 2022. Some are retiring while others are seeking a statewide office. Sean.

DUFFY: Yes, thank you, Matt. All right, so how will the GOP capitalize on these 23 outgoing Democrats, so they can actually retake the House. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise joins me now. So, Congressman I know that you see the data, you see the polling right, do you see a red wave coming for Republicans in 2022?

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Hey, great to be with you, Sean. And what you see on the ground is a lot of energy and enthusiasm on the Republican side, you saw it happen in Virginia, but even in other states, where you saw kind of the preview of what could come next year, I think it's a lot like 2010, the year that you were elected to Congress, and we flipped 63 seats from Democrat to Republican in that big wave.

I think, you know, 63 might not be the number, but I think you're going to see a lot of seats competitive. And as you were talking about those retirements, the real retirements to watch, Sean, are swing district Democrats that are announcing that they're retiring, Stephanie Murphy was mentioned, I think that's a seat we can flip in Florida, and your home state of Wisconsin, Renkon (ph) was one of the first people to announce that they're retiring.

We've got a great candidate, Derek Van Orden, who has been out working hard, and I think he can flip that seat. We have great candidates all across the board. It starts with great candidates and a great message. People don't like this big government socialism. They're rejecting it in every state, from blue states to red states.

But with great candidates, we have a great fundraising advantage moving forward. And we're not going to slow down. We're going to be working very hard next year, not only to show how bad they're doing, people already get the inflation, the spending, and all the crazy policies, but also what are going to be those bold conservative items. We're going to be rolling that out next year as well.

DUFFY: So, Steve you just mentioned the cash, right. So, we all know that in campaigns, it takes money to win. You have to put ads on TV. You have to get mail. And if you don't have money, you can't actually get your message out. How are Republicans doing right now compared to Democrats on the cash front?

SCALISE: Well, Sean, we've been breaking records and out raising the Democrats almost every month. And by the way, they're in the majority, they have the House, Senate and White House. And we've been out raising them almost every month, this year. You're seeing people come in and donate money in large numbers, who in some cases who never did before, because they're scared to death about the future of the country, they don't want America to become a socialist nation. They're tired of all the spending, that's jacking up inflation.

And it's not just big donors, by the way, we're getting a record number of small donors, people giving $20 a person, You can go to stevescalise.com, and give $20 right now, it's going to go to help fire Nancy Pelosi and help us win back the House. We're seeing records being broken on fundraising, I think because people are excited about our great conservative candidates, the prospect of what we will do to reverse this big government socialism we're seeing.

DUFFY: I think what's interesting is there is a lot of small dollar contributions that are coming in, in the $5, $10 $40. But let me ask you about this, because you look at the failures of Democrats, whether it's the border or crime or Afghanistan, inflation, energy, I mean, there's not really any successes for them to run on. And so, when you hear them talk, they'll say, the salvation for our electoral chances in the midterms in 2022 is we have to pass Build Back Better, the socialist massive spending package.

And frankly, I look at that and go, are they blind? Do they not see that the American people don't want more borrowing and more spending and more programs? They want to be able to buy food at the grocery store, they want to be able to filter their car with gas and not get gouged? I mean, it seemed that they're completely out of touch with the American people.

SCALISE: They're incredibly out of touch. Sean, and you saw it in the exit polling in Virginia, you know, and Youngkin ran a great race, Terry McAuliffe, when he said parents shouldn't be involved in their kids' education. That was a bellwether. He's not the only one by the way. That is kind of the mantra of a lot of these big government socialists, it's about government control. But Democrats a week after the Virginia election, passed the $4.5 trillion bill. I mean, they won't stop spending money. And everybody knows it's driving inflation. And what is their answer to keep trying to spend more money, at least in the Senate, Joe Manchin said enough is enough. They won't even listen to him. They're calling him every name in the book.

They just want - they want power. They want control over people's lives. People just want freedom. It's why they're flocking to the states like Florida and Texas that are open and they're fleeing in droves from states like in New York and California and Illinois, they're shutting everything down.

DUFFY: You know, Congressman, I think that it's great to run a campaign that says I'm just not a Democrat right now. And that can work. But you do have to have an agenda to run on in the one of we support freedom, we support individual choice would be successful mantra for Republicans to hit across the country as you come into the midterms. But listen, thanks for joining me tonight. I appreciate it, Congressman.

All right, now we turn to the Senate. Control of the majority is going to come down to just a handful of states. Right. So, joining me now is Tom Bevan, co-Founder and President of Real Clear Politics. So, Tom, I know there's only a handful of states that you see that are competitive. Walk us through those states, where they're at and why they're going to be in play.

TOM BEVAN, CO-FOUNDER OF REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Sure, Sean. It's great to be with you. So, they're really there. I call them the Big Five and it starts with Democratic incumbents in the West. In Arizona, you've got Mark Kelly, up for reelection and just to the north of him, Catherine Cortez-Masto is running for reelection in Nevada. Both of those races are going to be very competitive. Both of those incumbents are in danger. There was a poll last week that showed at Adam Laxalt, the Republican candidate in Nevada, leading Cortez Masto by I think five or six points, which is a pretty good margin for a Republican in that state at that point. So those are two of the big spots for Democrats.

The other one is in Georgia. Raphael Warnock is newly elected and defending his seat there. Obviously very competitive state. Herschel Walker looks like the Republican candidate. Same polling from the NRSC last week that showed Herschel Walker up only a single point, which is not great for Republicans. In this environment you would think the Republican candidate in Georgia would be doing much better than Walker is doing right now. But those are the three that Democrats are really going to have to fight to hold onto. Otherwise, again, losing a net of minus one seat in the Senate loses their majority.

DUFFY: And how about on the Republican side, what seats are in play?

BEVAN: So on the Republican side, the two biggies are Pennsylvania, where you've got an open seat, retiring -- Pat Toomey is retiring, and you've got just really fluid, crazy primaries on both sides. You had Sean Parnell was in, then he's out, now Dr. Oz is in on the Republican side. So a very fluid situation there, but that's obviously a state Democrats think they can take advantage of and perhaps flip that state.

The other one is North Carolina, another retirement, Richard Burr is retiring. And you've got a competitive primary on the Republican side between a Trump-endorsed candidate, Ted Budd, and a previous governor in McCrory. So it'll be interesting to see how that primary works out early next year. But those are the two seats that Republicans are really defending, and they are open seats, so those are high on the Democrats' target list.

DUFFY: So Tom, as you look at these races, there's a whole bunch of people in primaries, and I think it really determines races by who wins those primaries. Do you have a candidate that can win statewide, we just don't know that yet. But there is polling that has come out that has talked about how Hispanics have moved from Democrat to Republican over the last couple years. Is that going to impact any of these races as you do your analysis?

BEVAN: Absolutely. That is the key. We saw this poll from the NBC News/"Wall Street Journal" that came out a couple weeks ago that showed in the generic congressional ballot if the election was held today, Hispanics would split their vote 47-47 between the Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate.

That is, as you know, Sean, that's a sea change. If that actually happened, you would see Democrats lose across the board, obviously in Arizona and Nevada, where you have a large section of Hispanic voters, but also places like Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, as well. You have Hispanic populations that are not insignificant, and if they swing their vote that much to the Republican side, that is going to make a huge difference in the midterm election. They are going to be, I think, probably the key swing electorate, and we are going to be keeping an eye on them, obviously.

DUFFY: So, Tom, I can't let you go without asking you about the most important state of all 50 states, which is the great state of Wisconsin where I'm from.

BEVAN: Of course.

(LAUGHTER)

DUFFY: You mentioned Ron Johnson in the Senate seat up in 22 in Wisconsin. What's your take on what is going to happen in the land of the Packers?

BEVAN: Yes, everybody is waiting on Senator Johnson to tell us whether he is going to run or not. Obviously if he runs, he is going to be a heavy favorite. He's an incumbent, that's a huge advantage. And given history and where the landscape is right now, it favors Republican, so I think he would be a solid favorite to win.

If he doesn't, however, if that becomes an open seat, that is a state that has been on a razor's edge, it's been 50-50 for the last three or four cycles, where Republicans and Democrats in that state have been in hand-to- hand political combat for the better part of a decade. They know where all the votes are. That's why it's so competitive. They know how to turn out their voters. And so if it is an open seat, depending on who the candidate ultimately end up being, that could end up being one on the board that ends up being very competitive. So we're waiting for Ron.

DUFFY: So Tom, I'll tell you this, that if Ron Johnson runs, I think he wins, you're right on that. If he doesn't run, I think there is a real problem in Wisconsin, and for some reasons I'm not going to go into tonight, but there's going to be problems in a primary that I think would give a lot of benefit to Democrats. So if Republicans want to keep the Senate, or win the Senate, Ron Johnson has to get into this race and run.

But hey, Tom, thank you for your insight on the Senate races. I appreciate it.

All right, the left is doing their best to shut down New Year's Eve celebrations? But don't worry, FOX News has you covered. Raymond Arroyo will explain in "Seen and Unseen." Plus, he has a big announcement, so stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DUFFY: It's time for our "Seen and Unseen" segment where we unpack the biggest cultural stories of the week. And for that we turn to FOX News contributor and co-host of FOX News New Year's Eve coverage, the great, the awesome, Raymond Arroyo. OK, Raymond, you are going to be in New Orleans, but a lot of cities have shut down New Year's Eve celebrations. What's up?

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Right, mostly due to Omicron fears, Sean. Atlanta is shutting down its annual peach drive. San Francisco has killed their fireworks. Seattle is scaling back. New York, as you know, is restricting Times Square to only 50,000 people, all masked and fully vaxxed. Other blue state governors and Fauci, while not canceling celebrations, are ringing in the new year with alarm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER, (D) ILLINOIS: Omicron and Delta are coming to your party, so you need to think twice about how many people will be gathered together, keeping social distancing. If you're at a party and you can't, leave.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER: When you're talking about a New Year's Eve party where you have 30, 40, 50 people celebrating, you do not know the status of their vaccination, I would recommend strongly, stay away from that this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Don't meet with anybody, Sean, don't talk to the kids, no neighbors, just keep it distant.

The good news is, the CDC director today, Sean, said despite the surge in Omicron, deaths and hospitalizations are comparatively low. Over the last seven days, cases up 60 percent, but hospitalizations are only up 14 percent, and deaths are down. So while this thing is infectious, it is not lethal.

So people have to make their own decisions given their health, their vax status, what their comfortable with. Let them decide how they want to celebrate New Year's Eve. I don't know why everyone has got a war on fun here.

DUFFY: No doubt, they are fun burglars, Raymond. And there are cities that are open. Rachel is going to be hosting from Nashville on FOX News. So what other cities are open and celebrating New Year's this year?

ARROYO: Las Vegas is going full speed ahead. Miami and Tampa are celebrating. In fact, we'll be covering both Tampa and Charleston, New York, Nashville, where Rachel will be, and of course here in the big easy.

Now, I asked the lieutenant governor of Louisiana, Billy Nungesser, what makes New Year's Eve so special here in New Orleans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY NUNGESSER, (R) LOUISIANA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: The passion here in New Orleans and all over Louisiana is like nothing else anywhere in the world. Everybody starts a diet on New Year's Day, so we overindulge with both drinking and eating on New Year's Eve, and they drop that, used to be the baby, now it's the fleur-de-lis. And usually it's highlighted with all the visitors for the Sugar Bowl.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Sean, we are going to have a blowout here in New Orleans. The Sugar Bowl is the next day, so these huge crowds come in. There's 70,000 plus fans already making their way here, a lot from Mississippi. I will be joined by Abby Hornacek, and we are going to take FOX viewers on a tour of the hot spots in the French quarter. We are going to share a little history. We're going to have a ton of fun, and might be some surprises along the way.

DUFFY: So, Raymond, you are in the big easy. I imagine there's going to be music, right?

ARROYO: Oh, what would New Year's Eve from New Orleans be without our music, Sean? In fact, I was at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the edge of the French Quarter a little earlier for a rehearsal that some of the acts will be performing for us on New Year's Eve. We're doing a run through. This is a clip of Grammy nominee Johnny Sansone, along with Rockin' Dopsie and friends. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Sean, that sound, that beat, you only feel that and hear it in New Orleans. I love country and rock, but we have the best country music in the country. Admit it, Duffy, we have it.

DUFFY: That's not my jam, Raymond. I'm a country guy myself, but that is screaming New Orleans.

But I have got a bone to pick here. So you are going to be going to check out music in New Orleans, right. I don't know if Rebecca is going to be with you, your wife. Rachel is going with Will and Pete to Nashville. And poor Sean Duffy, he is at home celebrating with the kids. I've got babysitting duty.

ARROYO: You can facetime Rebecca, who will also be at home with the kids, I think, and my parents celebrating. But look, for so many people, they don't want to travel out this year. We can be their proxies, and we're going to take them to the hottest spots not only in New Orleans and Tampa, in Nashville, but it brings us all together. It's a neat way to get together if you don't feel like going out. So I hope people will join us on New Year's Eve. We need fun in our lives, Sean. So we're going to find a little and share it, hopefully, with the audience.

DUFFY: And Raymond, I think you bring up a good point because there's a lot of FOX News watchers that are going to be sitting in a liberal city where their celebration has been shut down. So if you are planning on going out, put your party hat on, go grab some steaks and sit down and watch with this amazing crew of FOX talent and celebrate the new year coming in, right?

ARROYO: Yes, I hope you will join us. And we'll break open the bubbly. We're going to explore some nooks and crannies you might not have expected, so Abby Hornacek and I are going to have a great time here. And I know the gang in Nashville is going to have a riot, and in New York, Lawrence Jones is there. So it's going to be quite be a time. So I hope everybody will tune in. And Sean, make something nice for the kids, please.

DUFFY: I'm going to make them steak. The one time a year they get steak, Raymond. So I will send you a picture of it. All right, listen, thanks for joining me.

ARROYO: Happy New Year and merry Christmas.

DUFFY: Happy New Year to you, and merry Christmas.

So be sure to join Raymond in New Orleans and Rachel, Will, and Pete in Nashville for the New Year's Eve right here on FOX News. That's live Friday starting at 10:00 p.m. eastern and 9:00 p.m. central.

Coming up, one school board clearing the way to give extra pay to teachers, but only if they aren't white. What? Cynthia Garrett is here to react. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DUFFY: A school board in Minnesota voted earlier this month to provide extra pay to nonwhite teachers if they agree to mentor other nonwhite teachers. According to documents, this is designed as a retention strategy for teachers of color and teachers who are American Indian, and to reduce isolation and increase collegial support opportunities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

When you are one of the majority, it can be very isolating and lonely. To have a support system in place for them is not to segregate them. It is absolutely to support them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: Joining me now is Cynthia Garrett, education activist and host of "The Sessions" T.V. series and podcast. So Cynthia, isn't this un-American and racist in its policy?

CYNTHIA GARRETT, "THE SESSIONS" T.V. SERIES AND PODCAST: It's completely racist, Sean. And I love the language of racism. We want to support them, we want to make them feel good. If they don't feel -- it's so, it's such liberal policy disguised as we care about you, feel good B.S. And it's an attempt to return to something dangerous.

And I've got to tell you, it makes me think about Ruby Bridges, because it is not -- November was the anniversary, November 14th, I believe it was, 1960, when a little, tiny little six-year-old black child became the first child to integrate a school in the south, in New Orleans. And she went to school with four federal marshals. She had people throwing stuff at her and screaming at her and bringing coffins to school with black baby dolls, and only one teacher would teach her, Mrs. Barbara Henry.

Now, they were in a classroom alone, Sean. And I'm sure Mrs. Henry felt unsupported and isolated just like Ruby did. But you know what they did? They sucked it up and put on their big girl pants, and they found support in each other because that's what integration is about. It is about understanding that support comes in all ages, races, shapes, and sizes. I don't need only black people to support me. Yes, you can find something in common with people that look like you, but that is not what we are really here for. What about the big melting pot of America? This is a country that is built on a shared experience, and Ruby Bridges, her foundation is so beautiful because the whole point of her foundation is to actually celebrate the sharing of our differences, and to attack racism through integration, not through segregation. This little six-year-old child had more strength than these grown-ups today?

DUFFY: Yes, absolutely. But Cynthia, Democrats, they have a long history of supporting slavery and then segregation. Is this just another chapter out of their book where they support racism again, whether it was 150 years ago or now today with policies like this?

GARRETT: It's completely another chapter out of the same playbook. And I honestly, I don't know why blacks are not up in arms in general, and Native Americans, and anybody else of color, because this same language that these people are using in this school board meeting will be used in exactly the same way as it slides down the slippery slope to well, these children don't feel good, they need to be around other kids of the same color. Let's go back to segregation because it's about them feeling supported.

What is this? Really, what is this? Ruby Bridges says it best, quote, "Racism is a grown-up disease and we've got to stop using our kids to spread it."

DUFFY: Cynthia, you are so spot on. Segregation, division never works. Let's talk about what brings us together, what unifies us. Listen, thank you for joining me tonight, I appreciate it.

Is Aaron Rodgers about to get canceled again? The Last Bite explains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If science can't be questioned, it's not science anymore. It's propaganda. When somebody comes out with a scientific study, right, what do they always say? They say it's peer-reviewed, right? What does that mean? It means that people in the same field have gone through it and questioned the hypothesis and questioned the research and looked it up to see, does this research stand up. That's what science is all about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: Strange terms when our football players make more sense than our government scientists.

That's it for us tonight. I'm Sean Duffy in for Laura Ingraham. Catch me tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. when I fill in for Tucker. And listen to my podcast "From the Kitchen Table."

Up right now, Gutfeld.


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