This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on September 17, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. And this is the "Ingraham Angle" from Washington tonight.

An accomplished neonatal nurse from New York has quit her job rather than agree to the vaccine mandates being forced on healthcare workers. She's here and she's going to tell us why she taking a stand. But first, fencing off the Capitol and Milley.

From the moment he decided to run for President, Biden's been eager to convince you that he's an aboveboard kind of guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The vice president, Harris, and I, and our entire administration will always be honest and transparent with you about both the good news and the bad. I will always be honest with you about both the progress we're making and what setbacks we meet. We just have to keep telling the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, those were just words. And now we know they were totally meaningless. Eight and a half months into his presidency, we see that right now Joe Biden's running the government on a need-to-know basis. And the less you know, the better for him.

Now, take the deteriorating situation at our southern border. A few months back, the Biden administration banned reporters from visiting migrant detention facilities. So much for transparency. The overcrowding, the horrific conditions, the unaccompanied minors, they didn't want you to see any of it. And yesterday, Biden's FAA swooped in to impose temporary flight restrictions over the international bridge at the border in Del Rio, Texas.

And it was only after pressure from Fox was the decision rescinded.

You see, they don't want you to see the crush of 12,000 plus migrants that want to enter our country at the border. Of course, though, it's not just the denials and cover ups limited to the border crisis.

General Mark Milley just admitted to the AAP that he did, in fact, call his PLA counterpart. But he claimed it was perfectly within his duties. Notice, he avoided saying it was a perfect phone call, that Milley thinks it's fine for military leaders to coordinate and warn our most serious foreign adversary is yet another reason the General should be terminated immediately. He's totally delusional, or drunk on his own power. And he should not be trusted with any sensitive information or operational details.

Now, last night, I don't know if you saw but Senator John Kennedy told the "Angle" audience that he thought Milley wouldn't survive this controversy that Biden would have to throw him under the bus. Maybe I'm wrong. I disagree with them. But I just don't see it. Because the Dems' response to every mistake, every accusation, every scandal is to dig in, deny, deflect and defend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: I see nothing in what I've read that would - that would cause any concern.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President has complete confidence in his leadership, his patriotism, and his fidelity to our Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: No, yes. Typical cliche-ridden defense. Well, where are the transcripts of these phone calls that have been going on apparently for five years? Where the notes? Are members of the press corps suddenly incurious? These were secret negotiations. And as we know, China has the transcripts. So they know exactly what was said. But the American people I think going to be kept in the dark.

The truth is, the independent media in the United States is dead. It no longer exists. We should just call them the regime media going forward. I think I will. And the Biden transparency and truthfulness pledge is officially dead.

Today, the administration finally had to own up to the fact that its drone strike that Milley referred to as righteous killed 10 innocent Afghans.

Now, I'm convinced the administration was forced to finally come out and admit this after that New York Times report and actual videotape of the carnage was released. And of course, the international outcry that followed.

Milley was involved in the - they were all involved in this. But they built fences around Milley. They cordon him off from accountability. And now, they've rebuilt their fencing around the Capitol in another blatant act of security theater, because supposedly there's a rally that, they admit, will only attract 700 people.

It's not a rally that President Trump is attending or urging others to attend, by the way. But that doesn't matter. The Biden people and the Hill Democrats are using it as a pretext to dredge up more insurrection talk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOGANANDA PITTMAN, ACTING U.S. CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF: We are predominantly consumers of intelligence, rather than producers. Well, that is no longer.

That was prior to January 6. We have now grown and expanded our intelligence operations.

SEAN GALLAGHER, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE ACTING ASST CHIEF: We have already transitioned into an enhanced security posture on Capitol grounds as you can see by the security fence, and various other security measures that are in place. Externally, we have been working with over 25 of our partnering agencies on a seamless, integrated plan for this weekend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The obsession about this rally, the erection of the security perimeter, all the press conferences, also has the added benefit of preventing you, the people, from having access to the Capitol that you rightfully deserve. You pay for it after all. More fences means fewer American citizens get to see how their government actually works, or doesn't. Remember, House Democrats, House members can still vote from home.

Remember, what I've said from the start? At its heart, the Biden administration is basically just one big comms shop. If they had good news, they'd communicate with you about it. But the bad news keeps rolling in on every level. And they're working overtime to keep it from you. And so they're lying to the American people about the border, about what General Milley did, about what really happened in Afghanistan, and about the significance of this stupid rally tomorrow.

All right. Joining me now Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at the Federalist; and Tammy Bruce, host of the "Get Tammy Bruce" show on Fox Nation; and Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary. All Fox News contributors.

Ari, let's start with you. They were supposed to be the most transparent, truthful administration in American history. What happened?

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, I disagree with you, Laura. I don't think they're one big comms shop as in communication shop. I think they're one big teleprompter shop. I mean, without a teleprompter, where would Joe Biden be? He can do no communicating on his own. When he does, it's almost always botched and his policies backfire.

So, I mean, this administration has just, on every policy they have announced, hurt the United States of America. They have helped the Taliban in Afghanistan. They helped Russia through their energy policies. They help people who want to come to America illegally through their border policies.

And now they're about to hurt all Americans with their economic policy. So forget communications. It's been a policy failure along every stage of the way.

INGRAHAM: Mollie, I mentioned the bombshell from the Pentagon today about that drone strike. Here's the CENTCOM Head earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL FRANK MCKENZIE, CENTCOM COMMANDER: I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike. Moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K, or were a direct threat to U.S. forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But that's not all. Officials are saying, Mollie, that no one will be punished. And it's worth reminding everybody, by the way, about what General Milley said right after this strike.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL MARK MILLEY, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We know from a variety of other means that at least one of those people that were killed was a ISIS facilitator. We think that the procedures were correctly followed and it was a righteous strike.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Mollie, imagine if this were Trump. I keep saying that, and his people. Your response?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, THE FEDERALIST: It's something you think every day. Yes, so they say that this was a righteous strike. They now admit that they killed up to 10 innocent civilians, including seven children. But they said that they're still standing by the intelligence.

That makes no sense.

The same intelligence community that cooked up the delusional belief that Trump was an agent of Russia also has bad intelligence here, and no one is ever held accountable. This is something where it's not just about the need to fire people, there are people who are long past needing to be fired, including woke General Mark Milley.

But in this case, this is actually requiring accountability under the U.S.

Code of Military Justice that actually needs to happen too. Otherwise, we're no different than the barbarians that we oppose. And so it's very important that when something like this happens, that people are held accountable. They're not doing it, because all they do is - all they exist is to protect their own regime, but not protect the country.

INGRAHAM: Now, Tammy, earlier today, General McKenzie, who I also asked should be fired - said should be fired, also had the audacity to claim that they have remained very transparent. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: We took the strike because we thought we had a good target. It takes a little while to uncover some of those things. We moved and worked as rapidly as we could. And actually, I think we work extremely rapidly to get this information out and to make it public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Extremely rapidly. Tammy, the footage of this drone strike was available within hours on Twitter.

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes. It was being discussed on Twitter as being a mistake, right? The social media world knew that something had gone wrong. And then, of course, you've got this dynamic where as you mentioned appropriately in your monologue, that it was the New York Times that forced this.

If the New York Times did not do a story about this and calling them out, I don't think we would have heard anything. And then we go back to the first strike that we don't know really who was killed, and yet they still insist that someone was. So we don't know if anyone was. We're in a very dangerous position here, where when the government says something, we tend to not be able to believe it. It ends up being wrong or a lie, or when they don't say things, it's a lie by omission, like the efforts to censor the drone footage because of the border.

And what this also tells us, though, is that they know what they're doing is wrong. Otherwise, why try to hide it? They know they don't want to have people look at this. So they're not proud of it and yet they still won't retreat.

Part of the issue is, and I have a big concern about this, that no one in the establishment, not any of the heavy hitters are saying, wait, something is very wrong here. There needs to be a change that it needs to be made.

Not George W. Bush, not Obama, not anyone really with real power in Congress.

There's no unifying messaging that, well, we seem to be going off a cliff, maybe someone should stop or we should stop and ask them questions, and do more than have sound bites on television. That concerns me. It's as though this shredding of the Constitution and an abandonment of the values that the American people expect have been abandoned for quite some time. And now it's just a matter of papering over it.

INGRAHAM: Yes. That's why I say, they are like a comms shop. Yes. Well, teleprompter readers are comms shop. Ari, they think they can press conference themselves out of any responsibility here. McKenzie was also asked about the 13 American servicemen who were killed. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a failure of intelligence, or leadership in Afghanistan? And what do you intend to do about that?

MCKENZIE: And we took every precaution we could every day. There were also a number of attacks that were thwarted. So the silence of those attacks should mean something too. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to prove a negative.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Ari, does that [ph] wash?

FLEISCHER: Of course it doesn't. But you know, here's the deal, Laura. The reason they do this is because the press largely lets them get away with it. When you watch the news conference today and previous news conferences when something went wrong, or even the situation at the border where they banned oversight of all the flights.

The Press doesn't go into a uproar. When I was in office, it was a instant uproar. It was emotional. It was from the heart. It was a feeding frenzy.

They all were practically out of their seats screaming mad. Here, it's just one and done. They dutifully ask the question and move on to the next topic.

The first question today at the Pentagon briefing wasn't even about the air strike. It wasn't even about General Milley. That's what happens when you have a passive press corps and a Democratic administration. They take for granted that the press will largely rollover, because the press almost always does.

INGRAHAM: And, Mollie, I think what happens is especially if the person responsible is dutifully anti-Trump, they always go back to Trump.

FLEISCHER: Yes.

INGRAHAM: Then it really will be forgotten or explained away. So that moves us to the hysteria over this rally that no one I know has heard about or is attending, a Democrat congressman who is one of the impeachment darlings speaking out today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Donald Trump remains not just a threat to our democracy, but an actual physical security threat, public safety threat to the American people. You know, he has made himself the head of a domestic violent extremist movement. This is not over. They continue to fan the flames of it and incite violence of this nature.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Mollie, basically, they want to criminalize the Republican Party, not just attendees at some rally, the Republican Party.

HEMINGWAY: Well, there are so many problems with this. Yes, this rally, a lot of people are worried about it. Both - the Democrats are pretending to be worried about it, even though it's only a few hundred people and will probably be half full of federal agents and half full of Americans who actually do care about the bad treatment of January 6th defendants.

But there's something much bigger here, which is our establishment has made it difficult to even redress grievances. This is a constitutional right. We should be able to peaceably assemble. And by conflating riots on the right with actual important protest, they are thereby also preserving their power. They want to make it so that nobody can speak out.

We have millions of people who are outraged by everything that's going on in this country, whether it's the border, the economy, foreign policy, violation of constitutional principles. But our establishment has basically made it impossible for them to speak out in public about these things. And Fort Pelosi is their very - you know, secure from any public redress. But it's important that people be able to speak and bring their grievances to their elected representatives, but that's not what's going to happen tomorrow.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Tammy, do you agree that this is in part an intimidation play, chilling of speech before the midterms, before the presidential election? Don't even try to assemble, because you're going to be branded a domestic terrorist if you do.

BRUCE: Well, that's exactly - I think that's the main point. The main point is when the fences go up, and anybody wants to demonstrate and that is of the core of what makes this nation different. It's that you're able to do this and not be disappeared as some people still are in a basement somewhere, imprisoned.

So we're looking at this as a signaling to everyone who's not at the rally that don't you dare think about doing this. And to the world, that the American government is now afraid of its own people that Americans are to be - you're supposed to be suspicious of Americans. This is a war now on us. While you've got those eight to 10,000 people on the border, perhaps mostly from Haiti, while we're flying in tens of thousands unvetted from the Middle East, and yet it's the American people for whom we need corrective offense. It's extraordinary and unacceptable.

INGRAHAM: Yes. They think we're the threat. It's not coming for anyone else. It's the American people, especially the ones who voted for Trump.

Panel, great to see you tonight. Have a great weekend.

And the medical cartel has been telling you that vaccinating pregnant women is totally safe. But the study that they were relying on just issued a huge correction. Our medicine cabinet responds.

Plus, a neonatal nurse quit her job rather than take the vax. She's here to tell us why health care workers are hesitant. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Dr. Fauci, is there any evidence that the Pfizer, the Moderna, or the J&J vaccines cause any reproductive issues in men or women?

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: The answer to that, Jake, is a resounding no. There's no evidence that it happens, nor is there any mechanistic reason to imagine that it would happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Would you be surprised if I told you that Fauci might not have his facts straight? Of course, not. Trick question.

My next guest say, the science on COVID vaccines and fertility is not as clear cut as Fauci clearly wants you to believe. Joining us now, Dr. Byram Bridle, is associate professor of viral immunology at the University of Guelph; and Dr. Martin Kulldorff, professor at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Bridle, what is Fauci getting wrong here?

BYRAM BRIDLE, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH PROFESSOR: Well, I'll tell you.

Something is clearly wrong with that statement. And that is that the onus is never on scientists to prove the danger of a vaccine. Rather, the onus is on the people rolling out these vaccines to prove their safety. OK. So that's the big difference here.

So his statement is incorrect from that perspective. And what I want to point out actually is we can go right back to the beginning. These studies were approved for roll-out into the public based on some very flawed and limited animal studies. We call these preclinical studies.

So I'll just give you an example. So for the Pfizer vaccine, and again,

(inaudible) base all my comments on science. So this is from Pfizer's own report that they submitted to the European Medicines Agency was rats that were used and rats are a completely inappropriate model to study the toxicity of these vaccines. Why? Because we express a, what we call, a high affinity receptor that the surge coronavirus too uses to attach to ourselves. That's why we're so susceptible to infection. Rats express a very low affinity receptor, meaning the virus cannot strong very - bind very strongly to their cells. Rats are quite resistant to COVID-19.

So if you use a model that is unable to demonstrate toxicity, it's going to make a new therapeutic agent appear quite safe. Even with that understood, in their own report, they mentioned that with the vaccinated females - the vaccinated females themselves, first of all, suffered a loss of appetite and their weight gain was reduced following vaccination. Worse, there was a two-fold increase in the vaccinated rats of fetal loss.

INGRAHAM: Dr. Kulldorff, you can correct me if I'm wrong. Because the New England Journal of Medicine did do some type of report on the vaccines in pregnant women. But they issued this correction saying that, "No denominator was available to calculate a risk estimate for spontaneous abortions, because at the time of this report, follow-up through 20 weeks was not yet available for the 905 of the 1224 participants vaccinated within 30 days before the first day of the last menstrual period or in the first trimester."

So Dr. Kulldorff, aside from the study that they've been kind of relying on with the rats, there was this. But doesn't usually take years to monitor for adverse reactions, especially given the time it takes to have gestation for a baby and the follow-up thereafter, or am I missing something? To me, this just seems completely off.

MARTIN KULLDORFF, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL PROFESSOR: Well, as public health scientists we have to be honest about the things that we do not know. And whenever there's a new vaccine or drug for that matter that comes in the market. It usually takes a few years before we have a complete picture about adverse reactions. For example, when the vaccines came out in December, we didn't know about the myocarditis risk from the Pfizer, Moderna vaccines. We don't know about it now.

So we don't know exactly what the risks are. I haven't seen any reports of a problem as of yet. But when it comes to, for example, birth defects, you need to have nine months follow-up for obvious reasons. So we can't - we don't really have any data on birth defects right now.

So - but when it comes to reproductive health, anybody can get the disease.

But there is (inaudible) difference in risk between - mortality rates between the old and the young. So the vaccines are very important for older people to get if they hadn't had - or they had a COVID, in which case they're immune. But if they haven't had a COVID, older people should get these vaccines. And of course, if you're above 50, your worries about reproductive health are, of course, not that great. So it shouldn't prevent all people for getting this vaccine.

BRIDLE: This study in the New England Journal of Medicine, this was the basis for arguing that there was evidence of safety of these vaccines in pregnant women. And this unveiling of the fact that the study has essentially been debunked that the author's made a critical mathematical error has flown under the radar. The whole point of this is that the argument these vaccines have been shown to be safe in pregnant women is gone. The foundation for that messaging is gone. And yet we are mandating these vaccines for pregnant women. It's not appropriate. And I agree 100 percent. We can take the time to study these vaccines properly, because there are effective early treatment strategies.

INGRAHAM: Gentlemen, thank you both. Great to see you both tonight.

And COVID vaccine mandates aren't just morally repugnant. They're beginning to wreak havoc on our healthcare system. Now, how? This has happened just this week. A small upstate New York hospital announced it's going to stop delivering babies after six maternity ward staffers chose to quit rather than take the vaccine.

My next guest quit her job as a neonatal ICU nurse as a result of these vaccine mandates. She joins me now, Devan Lapresi. Devan, you were forced to choose between, I guess, violating your firmly held belief and quitting the job you loved. So why did you choose the latter?

DEVAN LAPRESI, NICU NURSE AGAINST VAX MANDATE: I think - Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I think it was a difficult decision, ultimately. But I don't believe that this is the medicine that I want to practice, or that resonates with me. And in the beginning, when this all rolled out, my husband and I had a conversation. And we honestly said, we would lose it all before we got the vaccine. And so it is unfortunate that has come to that me losing the career that I worked hard for. But it was a decision I knew that was right for me.

INGRAHAM: Why did you choose it? Were you worried about the safety of the vaccines? The fact that you don't - you have - you're obviously very young.

You have very low risk, you look like you're probably in pretty good shape.

Was that part of the calculus?

LAPRESI: At this point, I think it's assumed risk. I know the risk and benefit and you can see the data. The statistics alone of the survival rate for me, the risk of the vaccine was more concerning to me than getting the virus and just seeing things inside the hospital, hearing co-workers anecdotal - anecdotic experiences was enough for me to say that, I didn't want it.

INGRAHAM: Now, one of the media's favorite doctors, you might know who he is, says the hesitancy, in part that you may be feeling, others are feeling is just politics. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER HOTEZ, DEAN, SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE:

The anti-vaccine groups are more empowered than ever. And now, it's been full on adopted by the extreme right, the political right. And with that brings political action committee money, PAC money. They're stronger than ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Devan, are those pushing back against vaccines doing so for political reasons? I know, you know others who are making the same choice that you made.

LAPRESI: I don't think this is political at all. We are spearheading protests outside of our upstate New York hospital. And it is one of the most united groups of people we have, vaccinated individuals that are anti- mandate. We have vaccinated individuals that just don't want continued booster shots, or have had awful side effects to their first couple doses of the vaccine. And then we have non-vaccinated individuals. I don't think it has anything to do with the political background of individuals. It has everything to do with bodily autonomy, and losing that right to making a choice of what we feel as though is best for our body.

INGRAHAM: Devan, and also with children, they're pushing now children to get vaccinated after this is approved as young as two up to age 12. One line on that for us.

LAPRESI: Terrifying.

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: That's a scary way to end it. Devan, I hope you are able to go back to your career as a nurse, and I hope it's soon. We need great nurses.

We have a shortage across this country of nurses. Devan, thank you.

LAPRESI: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Pelosi trashes America abroad, and a mayor attacks one of her own city's citizens. Raymond Arroyo has the tape. Friday Follies, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's Friday, and that means it's time for Friday Follies. And for that we turn to FOX News contributor Raymond Arroyo. Ray, people are really taking vaccine status to the extremes this week.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Look, in America, Laura, people should be able to decide what they put in their bodies. But for people like Don Lemon and Sarah Silverman, mayve it's time for the country to split up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SILVERMAN, COMEDIAN: Why don't we just finally just realize that - these states are working, and divide up into two or three countries of USA one and USA two.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST, "DON LEMON TONIGHT": The people who are not getting vaccines, who are believing the lies on the Internet instead of science, it's time to start shaming. What else? Or leave them behind. You don't feel that way about the polio vaccine. You don't feel that way about measles, mumps, rubella when it comes to your children. And all of the sudden this vaccine is different? What is different about it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, I will tell you what's different about it. I read a study in several journals of medicine this week. Those are called perfect vaccines, OK. They have a 97 percent perfect rate of protecting you against that disease. Then you have leaky vaccines, which is what we are partially dealing with these COVID vaccines. Now, doesn't mean they are not useful, but to use that to segregate Americans, to carve them up and somehow say, well, this part of the country should be left behind, that is a wicked, evil thing, to break people up based on race, religion, your health. It's an awful thing to even put into the atmosphere.

INGRAHAM: I'm young enough to remember that there was proper outcry against people who were trying to shame people with other diseases in our country.

ARROYO: Right.

INGRAHAM: The AIDS epidemic, certainly not acting in a rude way towards anyone who has HIV positive, that was rightly condemned. But now suddenly, what is your status? You couldn't card someone at a door in Greenwich Village on that. And people were criticized roundly for -- and he had to walk it back.

ARROYO: Right, with Dershowitz. And look, while some are carving up the country, Laura, the Speaker of the House was in the U.K. trashing it. Yes, Pelosi was out making the case for America, the case that America is overrun with cultists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER: I would say to my Republican friends, and I do have some, take back your party. You are the Grand Old Party of America. You've done wonderful things for our country. You have now been hijacked by a cult that is just not good for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But like General Milley, who ran down the country to the Chinese, Pelosi made sure to defend the nation she is most loyal to -- China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: With their continuation of genocide of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province there, with their violation of the cultural religious priority of Tibet, with their suppression of democracy in Hong Kong, they are just getting worse in terms of suppression. Having said all of that, we have to work together on climate. Climate is an overriding issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: So Laura, let me get this straight. You can suppress religion, suppress free speech, but watch all your sins away if you are willing to agree with us or work with us on climate. And she claims half of America is in a cult? Come on.

INGRAHAM: Raymond, she concedes that all that other stuff is happening, but they are going to be got on climate. OK. That's just so stupid.

ARROYO: So don't worry about the way they kill all those babies and those Christians.

INGRAHAM: What's next?

ARROYO: What is amazing, Laura, is when these public officials are actually held accountable by the people, they get very high and mighty.

This is our New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, captured at one of the swankiest bars in town. A man at the bar respectfully criticizes her handling of the recent storm. Now bear in mind, the mayor has instituted a mask mandate for bars and restaurants. Watch as she reacts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS: LaToya is me. So what do you have to say to me? What do you have to say to me? Say it!

Don't ask me a question. Say what you've got to say to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying. You keep interrupting me. On the evacuation, how come you said there wasn't enough time?

CANTRELL: And we didn't have it. And we didn't have it. We didn't have it.

We didn't have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: The idea of public service or humility is out the window with these people. Cantrell has all the grace of a bus hitting one of those massive potholes and her city. To bully a citizen like this, Laura, that you supposedly work for and yell at him like he is trash, it's completely uncalled for. And by the way, if you have a mask mandate in bars, put the mask on. Set an example. And the mask can only help whatever you are trying to say and make it a little bit agreeable.

INGRAHAM: You have an exemption when you are screaming at someone else.

That's the mask exemption when you're screaming at one of your constituents.

ARROYO: Awful.

Before we go, Laura, remember that moment from the president's bilat press conference with Britain on Australia?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Boris. And I want to thank that fella down under. Thank you very much, pal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Now that Pal, prime minister fellow down under, Scott Morrison, is responding, Laura.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: I didn't pay very much attention to it. These things happen. They happen frequently from time to time. We've got a great working relationship, and the proof of that is in the pudding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: The pudding is I think in Biden's head most of the time. But good of him to be so gracious, even if he can't remember his name.

INGRAHAM: He's paying attention, Raymond, to the submarines they've gotten from the United States. So that's the whole deal there. That is what they are doing. Raymond, pal, that guy over in New Orleans, Raymond, thank you.

ARROYO: Thank you, lady from Washington, fellow pal, dame.

INGRAHAM: With Biden's approval circling the drain, he and his administration are getting more and more desperate. Ben Domenech, Tom Bevan explain it in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Joe Biden's presidency has become kind of an old, leaky rowboat lost at sea, and the rations are running out. To stave off starvation, the White House is promoting an agenda that entails absurd amounts of domestic spending. It's only $3.5 trillion, no big deal. But don't worry, because none of it is going to cost you a dime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON KLAIN, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: This package adds nothing to the debt, nothing to the debt. It is fully paid for by raising taxes on wealthy people.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My plan is paid for. It's fiscally responsible, because our investments are paid for by making sure the corporations and wealthy Americans pay their fair share.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Not only is the White House playing fast and loose with that and what constitutes wealth, they are jamming regressive taxes through this bill. You will feel the pain, as will your children and grandchildren. But again, don't worry. They have a media willing to shamelessly debase themselves to help the Democrats sell it. They are the Dems comms operation.

This is from the A.P. -- "President Biden's agenda is poised to be the most far-reaching federal investment since FDR's New Deal or LBJ's Great Society, a prodigious effort to tax the rich and shift money into projects touching the lives of nearly every American."

Here with you now, Ben Domenech, publisher of "The Federalist" and FOX News contributor. Also here is Tom Bevan, cofounder and president of Real Clear Politics. Ben, is it fair to say that Biden's presidency hinges on this bill's passage?

BEN DOMENECH, PUBLISHER, "THE FEDERALIST": Well, Laura, that's an interesting question, because I do think that you are going to run into a situation here in very short order next year, an election year, in which the Democratic Party is going to be able to do very little that they don't do by fiat. In terms of a legislative agenda, this may be the last time that Biden is able to push through a significant package in the Pelosi Congress. And I think that that's something that he is very aware of. It's why he's trying to bend Joe Manchin's arm.

It's why he's trying to really push this through, because it's not really a package that is designed to do anything to really help Americans. It's a package that is designed to remake America in a significant way. as the notoriously nonbiased and ultimately fair A.P. quote that you mentioned there indicates, it would make him the most significant Democrat president since FDR or LBJ.

But here's the thing. I think that this is actually running into a real brick wall right now. His numbers are going down. he has a finite window in which to push this through. And I don't think that he's actually going to be able to do it in part because he hasn't been able to convince any of these holdouts that they should come along with it, and there are actually more moderate members, I think, in the Senate who would actually revolt against this if their vote was actually on the line.

INGRAHAM: Tom, let's go to you on this, because again, I think Biden wants everyone else to think that this $3.5 trillion fiasco can actually just do anything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My Republican friends talk a lot about inflation. But if you want to talk about actually lowering the cost of living for people in this country, my plan does just that by strengthening the capacity of our economy while also reducing inflationary pressures over the long run.

Here's something else my plan does. It confronts the crisis of extreme weather events.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Wait a second. Tom, I must've missed it. It solves inflation and weather? How about that, Tommy?

TOM BEVAN, COFOUNDER, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Look, I think the inflation issue is one that the Biden administration, they think that if they actually believe what Biden just said there, I think they are living in a fantasyland. Inflation is already showing up. And this is one of the concerns that Manchin and other moderates have is that the gushing of all this money into the economy, many of which is still sitting there unspent from some of these previous programs, could really cause inflation to take off.

If that happens, there was a poll recently, Laura, that showed the average person, what they look at to see whether the economy is going well or not.

It's not the stock market. It is the price of goods that they pay for at the pump, at the kitchen table. Those are already going up. And if they were to pass something like this, it could get out of hand. It could be really bad. It could be bad politics and policy for the Biden administration.

INGRAHAM: So when people say workers who are working have all the leverage, they can get higher wages, that might be true. But then those higher wage, guys, get eaten up by the increasing cost of gas and basic food and other merchandise. So that all kind of ends up getting thrown out in the wash.

But I've got to bring up this Reuters poll, Ben, because it shows that Biden's approval rating on the issue of COVID -- first of all, the regular approval rating dropping to a massive low, just 44 percent. And then the Quinnipiac is showing Biden underwater on almost every issue. And so much for his COVID leadership. It's now at 49 percent disapprove on COVID. But then he was handed a vaccine, and the country was basically out of its doldrums when he took over. And now he's going south in as little as eight- and-a-half months.

DOMENECH: And that is why so much of the party is trying to lean into the idea that we are still in his panic mode and that something like this $3.5 trillion package needs to be passed.

By the way, I love that quote that you used. It's a varnish and a dessert topping. But I think that one of the things we can see in these polls is that Biden really is not able to sell his agenda to the American people in a way that they will approve of and that they will invest any trust in him.

What we saw with the Obama agenda during his years was that his agenda was actually not popular, but that his own personal popularity could overcome that. Biden's, as it turns out, is not able to overcome that. Instead you've just got the policy, and people can see what's happening in front of them. They're waking up to the reality around them. And it shows that he hasn't brought the virus to a standstill, he hasn't delivered on the promises that he's made about unifying the American people. Instead, he's blaming them for all of the problems of his own leadership and his incapacity to govern in so many different respects at home and abroad.

INGRAHAM: Ben, Tom, great to see you both tonight, thanks so much.

In rare public remarks, my old boss, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas offered a warning last night. The Last Bite explains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks, you better listen up. This was his warning about the court straying from its original mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS, U.S. SUPREME COURT: When we do that and we begin to venture into political, legislative, or executive branch lanes in resolving things, those of us, particularly in the federal judiciary with lifetime appointments, are asking for trouble.

We have lost the capacity even, I think, as leaders to not allow others to manipulate our institutions when we don't get the outcomes that we like.

I think the court was thought to be the least dangerous branch, and we may have become the most dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Wow, the most dangerous. Wise words.

Of course, remember, on LauraIngraham.com, get your Freedom Matters gear.

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I want to thank you for watching, and remember, it's America now and forever. Have a great weekend. Gutfeld is next.

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