Ingraham: Time to put Americans first
'The Ingraham Angle' host says this should be the GOP agenda for the next three years
This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on August 19, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE. We have a huge show for you tonight.A lot going on in Washington and beyond. So let's dive right in. It's time to put "Americans First, "that's the focus of tonight's ANGLE.
Now, our elites in politics and the media, they really want you to know that they care deeply about the Afghan people so much that they want to bring as many Afghans here to the United States as possible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WES MOORE (D) MARYLAND GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE:-- accepting Afghan refugees and the willingness to accept more, because we have to do more.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Integration of refugees, in particular, has been a great American success story.We're actually quite good at it here in America. 50,000 Afghan refugees in a nation of over 300 million is not even a drop in the bucket.
JC HENDRICKSON, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE SENIOR DIRECTOR: Across the United States. We are seeing widespread support for Afghan refugees, but for refugee resettlement in general.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: And while it's certainly heart wrenching to see the needless suffering wherever it occurs in the world, it's just awful,none of us want to see that. But why is it that most of the same people, we just saw on those clips, and all these politicians, all the people who are going on and on everybody in the country,why do they so often ignore the very real suffering happening here at home?
You don't have to go to the Afghan provinces near Bagram to see human tragedy. You can see it not far from here in Baltimore. And the last three weeks, five teenagers have been shot there, two of them fatally. One 15- year-old was gunned down in the street in broad daylight. You don't have to go to Kandahar to see thousands living in constant fear of can go to Chicago to see that.16 were shot yesterday alone, including a seven year old boy who is sitting in the back of his mom's car.
It's all horrifying, but we shouldn't be surprised.When the Taliban terrorizes Afghans, it's an Islamic fundamentalist extremist cult, after all, come on. But what's our excuse? Why aren't we more shocked? Why aren't we demanding a response to the gangs and the cartels, the opioid, all of it, terrorizing our neighborhoods right here at home?
In fact, the Left has only made matters worse on the ground for the working class here at home. They excuse riots, they bailed out criminals, they endorsed the racist radical agenda of BLM. And Democrats in bed with the Left on all of the issues,of course, they've helped make all things worse at every turn.
Every person now demanding that we take every Afghan because we promise them forgets that America's first promise is to her own citizens - their safety, their security, and their freedom.
Yet our border towns are being overrun by released migrants, because Biden refuses to do what's right on the border. They know that COVID infected migrants will infect American citizens and schoolchildren this fall, they know crime is going to spike due to the million plus migrants Biden's already released into the country. And they don't care.
In fact, their goal right now is to speed up the admission of these migrants into the United States. Just yesterday, the administration announced new rules to empower bureaucrats who will now unilaterally decide whether an illegal alien shows up at our border should be allowed entry into the United States.
These open borders fanatics cannot be trusted to safeguard our sovereignty and enforce our laws. It's been obvious for a long time that when you really think about it, the elites have pretty much had it with Americans.
They like China a lot better in many ways.
Remember, regular Americans, well, they elected Trump. They love their Second Amendment still, and they're far too religious. And at their core, they come from a kind of evil and racist background. Thus, the more folks from other countries who can come here, the better. Even if we can't really vet them, even if they become wards of the state, even if they bring in more crime, more violence, their extended family comes in - third cousins twice removed. To the Left,to the open borders establishment, they're better than the old normal.
The next three years we'll see blunder after blunder from Biden as his team drifts from one crisis to the next. So what should conservatives in power do now? Well, first thing we should do is resist the Democrat spending binge that's happening.That money is just going to be wasted, because Biden's team are not competent administrators.
Second thing we should do, defend the states who were trying to do the right thing. Red states are leading the way economically, and they're leading the way to help protect our cherished freedoms. We cannot let Biden bully them or the inept blue state leaders drag them down.
And third, I think we should, obviously, protect our border.The GOP may be divided on the immigration amnesty issue and refugees. But we should agree on the rule of law and resist all immigration actions that are not in strict accordance with duly passed laws.
And fourth, of course, we have to fight inflation, that includes pressuring the Federal Reserve to take more aggressive action to stop inflation, and block disastrously big spending bills. Number five, we should continue to beat the drum for energy independence.We did it under Trump, it was awesome. We could do it again. Lower energy prices mean more prosperity. It means more jobs for all Americans.
Six, we have to try to win in every state. How about that concept? Because for the last 25 years, Republicans have focused on winning the majority by capturing a slim number of red states and then picking up a few purple states here and there. It's really hard to do. And that strategy, as we saw, has failed and it's allowed the hard Left to build solid support on the two coasts that they dominate now that can't stand.
For all their problems. California and New York are too important to concede that the Left, they're both beautiful, great states, we got to win them back. If we really want to stop the socialists, who despise our country, want to destroy our country, want to import more people into our country to kind of balance out or swap the old normal? Well, we have to see some big landslides.
Remember, Reagan fought for every state and he eventually won 49 of them.
We have to try to do the same. The time is right to take our religious freedom, our message of freedom and prosperity to the voters on two coasts.
And to the inner cities, you bet, they have to hear our message too. People are suffering there from incompetent leadership. They're dying there because of incompetent leadership.
If we must live through a repeat of the 1970s with Biden, let's try to follow it with a repeat of the 1980s and that's THE ANGLE.
All right.With us now a man who wants to be part of the effort to flip New York red Congressman Lee Zeldin.He is on the Foreign Affairs Committee and he's running for governor of the Empire State.Also with me, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Texas has been under assault by the Left lately.
Congressman Zeldin, let's start with you. How confident are you of the administration's ability and its desire to properly vet the refugees and other qualifying vulnerable Afghans for admission into the U.S.?
REP. LEE ZELDIN (R-NY): Well, I have zero confidence in that competency.
And it's sad to have to say that, but that's the truth. Right now in Afghanistan, our priority number one needs to be to get our own American citizens back home.
Earlier today, Admiral John Kirby was giving a press briefing at the Defense Department. And he was saying that they had evacuated several thousand people from Afghanistan. But he didn't know how many of those people were American citizens, how many were Afghans, but under U.S. law, we were permitted to bring them out. And how many were third-party nationals. There was an unknown amount of third-party nationals part of that - this evacuation. I don't know how you can prioritize all these other people before Americans first.
Now, as far as the process goes, in order to make sure you're bringing the right people here. There's two main ways to vet people. One is with their paperwork to ask all the important security questions, you need to make sure they are who they are, and they don't pose a threat. And when you don't have the paperwork, you have to do thorough questioning - tactical questioning of that person to try to get answers beyond what is missing in the paperwork.
And this chaotic setting that we have right now, I am concerned that we are bringing people who are not American citizens, who are not properly vetted.
INGRAHAM: Yes. Well, Dan, I want to get back to that. But let's move to the other crisis, which is a crisis on our Southern border. You heard what I said on THE ANGLE, Dan.That while our heartbreaks for Afghans, and we want to get our Americans out of there, obviously. And maybe it's a small group, that's actually the interpreters, the people who've actually done the real heavy lifting for our soldiers.
But at the same time, none of these people who are crying about Afghanistan cry for the people of America, who are having to absorb 1.5 million migrants into the United States from the Southern border crisis. What's your view on this?
LT. GOV. DAN PATRICK (R), TEXAS: Yes. Laura, your ANGLE was spot on. We now have a new name for the president,President Chaos, because everything he touches is chaotic - Afghanistan, the border, the economy, with inflation, as you pointed out.Out our oil and gas independence, where we were independent, free before and we're not now from foreign countries, many who are enemies.And chaotic COVID policy allowing 1.5 million people cross the border, not checking them for COVID.
President chaos and someone said, Well, we need to impeach him or replace him.Then you have president clueless, because she doesn't have a clue. So I've never seen our country in the hands of two people more inept. And the interview yesterday with Stephanopoulos where he said, George, I just don't know how we could have gotten out of there with chaos. I just don't know how that happens. That tells you everything you need to know.
And what does the Left want to do, Laura? They want to create chaos - in our streets and our courts, you name it. They are trying to overturn our country from the Left by creating chaos, and they have the perfect foil for them.
And on the border. We haven't forgotten about it, Laura. We're dealing with it every day. thousands are coming in. The photographs of people rushing into the airport, look like the photograph across the border.
INGRAHAM: Right, that's exactly--
PATRICK: It's the same everywhere we look. He's destroying this country - a country that was on a really good path under President Trump when he left office.
INGRAHAM: Yes, I mean, Congressman Zeldin, Dan's point there is so searing.
We have that plane full of people being taken out of Afghanistan, many of them coming here - a good section of them were Afghan nationals. And then we have several hundred people every day,thousands crushing our Southern border, but the Left is like, Oh, no, this is fine. This is not a crisis.
We don't have any humanitarian crisis. It's something we just have to basically just let everyone in.
So I get you import Afghans, import migrants, with no credibility at all on an actual process that makes sense for the American people.
PATRICK: Right.
INGRAHAM: Who they're supposed to be serving, congressman?
ZELDIN: Yes. And it's a crisis on our Southern border.They want to play it out as either there is no crisis or there is a crisis and it's all Trump's fault.When the fact is, it is the policies, the statements going back to their campaign, the promises made to pander to their own base to day one with the executive orders that came out, the message was sent to come to our border.They are continuing to flow across and the policies are continuing to incentivize even more of it.
You put vice president Harris in charge of that effort.That one time she was shamed in to going to the border.She didn't even really get that close to it. She was still thousands miles away from where it was the biggest challenge. So this is huge. I think that Republicans have to work to earn the support of voters to take back the House, take back the Senate.
INGRAHAM: That's the only way it's going to change.
ZELDIN: We have to move forward - that we have--
INGRAHAM: Only way it's going to change.
ZELDIN: Well, you have to have balance need to have a check and balance on this administration,because the open border policies are only going to actually get worse if these guys continue to stay unchecked.
INGRAHAM: And Dan, they're coming after your state - really quickly here as a response - coming after your state because of the increased COVID numbers, hospitalizations, deaths are up in Texas. And there's a direct assault on your governor's policies and your state's policies - very brief response.
PATRICK: Yes. Well, Laura, the COVID is spreading - particularly most of the numbers are with the unvaccinated, and the Democrats like to blame Republicans on that. Well, the biggest group in most states are African- Americans who have not been vaccinated.The last time I checked, over 90 percent of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties. So it's up to the Democrats to get just - as it it's up to Republicans to try to get as many people vaccinated, but we respect the fact that if people don't want the vaccination, we're not going to force it on them. That's their individual, right.
But in terms of criticizing the Republicans for this, we're encouraging people who want to take it to take it, but they're doing nothing for the African-American community that has a significant high number of unvaccinated people, so they need--
INGRAHAM: TikTok videos we got a lot of - yes, we got a lot of TikTok videos and hip hop artists given messages.
PATRICK: Yes/
INGRAHAM: But the vaccines also diminishing in its benefit over time.
PATRICK: Not working.
INGRAHAM:We're going to get to that later on in the hour.Gentlemen, great to see both of you on the dueling crises.
So why they ignore every single other crisis across the country, the Biden Administration actually empowers the terrorists at the same time and Afghanistan. You don't believe me?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools. Let me say - emphasize, all the tools, training equipment of any modern military.We provided advanced weaponry, and we're going to continue to provide funding and equipment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: OK, that was July 8th, all of the tools and equipment he mentioned. Well, it's now in the hands of the Taliban.Four days ago, they took over Bagram, the Air Force base there.We built it. Now they have a fully functional airfield with two runways. Not to mention the state-of- the-art embassy we hand it over in Kabul on the cost about 1.5 billion to build it.
Joining me now retired Brigadier General Robert Spalding.General, do we even know,do we even have an inventory of how much weaponry we left behind and I'm not even talking about potentials for moving aircraft out of Afghanistan and third party locations that we'll get to in a moment?
ROBERT SPALDING, RETIRED BRIGADIER GENERAL: Well, we spent, you know, hundreds of billions of dollars there. And we do have a pretty good understanding of what we sent over there. I think most of it particularly like the Super Tucanos, which are used for close air support, the BlackHawks, which are used for similar missions.They're going to require maintenance and training to use.
My concern on the advanced stuff is, is it going to be sent to China or Russia or some other for reverse engineering. On the rest of the equipment, I think it's going to be of minimal use. I think the real issue here, Laura, that - the problem here is that we had every chance in the world to plan this, to make it right.
This wasn't 9/11. It's something that we knew, we planned, we had a date for.We knew it was going on. I'm heartbroken that our military just didn't do - just didn't fit the bill.
INGRAHAM: Well, to your point on the number of planes, this question was posed at one of the big briefings this week. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: How many U.S.
taxpayer funded military aircraft have been flown out of the country and what are you doing to get those back? We've heard of Afghan pilots taking those planes to third countries.
LLOYD AUSTIN, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I have received reports of a number of aircraft that were flown into Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, exactly how many, I don't have firm numbers on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: General, aren't they paid to have firm numbers? He is the Secretary of Defense. This is a international crisis of epic proportion and embarrassment to this country.And the level of ignorance on the part of our top military command,the callous and disregard for all of these details, the incompetence, whatever we want to call it, I'd like to say it's shocking, but that word does not capture what I'm feeling right now about this.
SPALDING: It really feels like in competence. I think I agree with the
President-- I agreed with President Trump, we need to get back to protecting the American people here in the homeland, rebuilding infrastructure, rebuilding our manufacturing, really rebuilding our country after 30 years of neglect.But at the same time, we can't forget we have Americans on the ground in Afghanistan.
INGRAHAM: General Spalding, we knew you'd make sense of it for us tonight.
Thank you so much.
And our American starting to get buyer's remorse?And can Old Joe recuperate from his self-inflicted wounds?Pollsters, John McLaughlin and Robert Cahaly, break down the latest polls. You won't believe these numbers next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR:So you don't think this could have been handled - this actually could have been handled better in any way - no mistakes?
BIDEN: No, I don't think it could have been handled in a way that there - we were going to go back in hindsight and look.But the idea that somehow there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Now, it doesn't matter whether you agree with Biden's decision to pull our troops out of Afghanistan or not - I do agree with that. But the idea that there was no way to handle this better, none? This is the essence of Joe Biden. He just doesn't know what he's doing as my ANGLE noted last night.
Now, the truth is the ruling class hated Trump so much that to rid themselves of him, they just kind of diluted themselves everyone else into believing that Joe Biden was witted (ph) enough and experienced enough to make things OK and calm. That he was some kind of foreign policy guru - wrong. That he was compassionate and bipartisan - wrong. That he was smart --oh, boy, that was wrong.
But now reality is hit the country like a sack of bricks and voters are scrambling and President Joe Biden's approval rating,it's dropped by seven points just since last Friday, hitting its lowest level - lowest level of his presidency after the Afghanistan debacle,of course.
Well, that's not all.A new Rasmussen Poll finding that just 37 percent of likely voters would now vote to reelect Biden. The question becomes, can Biden's presidency withstand what are ultimately a whole bunch of self- inflicted wounds? Here now is Trump 2020 Campaign Pollster John McLaughlin, and Robert Cahaly, Chief Pollster of the Trafalgar Group.
John, are we finally seeing a bit of buyer's remorse here?
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN:Oh, absolutely. And it's been it already started sliding in May and June, because of the economy that people thought it was going to get worse instead of better for the first time all year, and we found that our monthly polling.
But I tell you what we're finding in focus groups now is people do not think this is a withdrawal from Afghanistan. They think this is a surrender. So this is - like the media is still being kind to Biden.
They're calling this a surrender, because he is still getting good coverage from a lot of the corporate Left Wing media. But let me tell you, his numbers are taking a hit.
And 62 percent of the voters that we asked before he gave up Afghanistanthink that he's not going to finish the term. They think Kamala Harris is going to be President within four years. So they already had doubts about his stamina and his capacity, and its ability to just serve for years.
INGRAHAM: Robert, I want to get to a new poll from Trafalgar.Now you found that Democrats and Independents disapprove of Biden's handling of Afghanistan.Overall, 69.3 percent of Americans disapprove. That includes
48.2 percent of Democrats and 74.8 percent. of Independents. Robert - and this is what most of them agreeing with the actual withdrawal of troops.
But the way it was done, and actually the media slightly telling the truth, this time, because the camera doesn't lie. Is that the difference here?
ROBERT CAHALY, THE TRAFALGAR GROUP CHIEF POLLSTER: Yes, it really is.
There's part of it is - there's been this understanding that people haven't blamed him for everything, because they really didn't think he was in charge. We did another poll that showed 57 percent of the public don't actually believe Biden's in charge.
But in this debacle, he actually went on television said, hey, it's all my fault. And that is - certainly had an impact. I mean, even though he finished the statement, if it's my fault by trying to blame others, this thing was sloppy. It was sloppy as brain surgery with a steak knife. And he has to own it now and it's being held against him in a bigger way than anything he's done so far has been.
INGRAHAM: And John, I also have to believe that this refusal to take questions in a pivotal time in American military history, really this - with this debacle in Afghanistan been running as he did twice this week away from reporters.They're shouting at him, not a question and sending out the two generals who just don't reassure anybody about anything. That whole competence thing, I think, people hope for Biden.That's out the window.
MCLAUGHLIN: Oh, absolutely. That's why I quoted that number to where the majority of Americans don't think he's going to serve the term. But I tell you what, I have clients in democracies in Europe and other places, and when Biden was elected president, they felt they were going it alone. They felt that they'd lost the leadership of the United States, because they knew he was going to be weak. And Biden has not disappointed them.
INGRAHAM: John, Robert, great to see you both tonight. Thanks so much.
OK, there have been a lot of outrageous developments over the past few weeks. But Biden's callous disregard for U.S. assets - now, I'm talking physical human assets, all that stuff that's been left behind in Afghanistan, that is really infuriating.
Now, with the disastrous planning and withdrawal strategy they had at the Biden White House, they simply abandoned the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Now that gives the Taliban a state-of-the-art building, that all told cost our taxpayers a staggering $1.5 billion, according to Forbes. Now that doesn't even include how much money it took to operate it over the last 20 years.
Now - but remember, Democrats, they never worry about stuff like that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JARED GOLDEN (D-ME): It's a building. It's a building. Let's point out by the way, we still got about 6,000 troops on the ground at Kabul International Airport.They got to stay there till we get all American personnel out safely, at the same time, also trying to get as many of our Afghan partners out as possible.But I don't feel strong emotions about the embassy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: OK.Well, no one's saying a building is more important than a human, but it's a big cost to the taxpayer. It's this ridiculous dismissiveness, it reminds me of the Minneapolis mayor's response. Never during the riots - the George Floyd riots when they lost a building that, I think, is fairly important to the safety of its own residents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JACOB FREY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: The symbolism of a building, cannot outweigh the importance of life. The building is just bricks and mortar. It's a building.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: It happened to be the third police precinct, really important to the safety of the community. He didn't care. So losing wars, botching missions, both have huge consequences. But most liberals don't even care not even by the way when it ends up that Americans get killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: With all due respect,the fact is, we had four dead Americans.Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: It made a difference because we want to know why the Americans died. It actually does matter. The bottom line is Democrats care more about the wellbeing of non-citizens,the safety of migrants and refugees.Everyone wants everyone to be safe, but American citizens you bet first.
The well wishes that we have for people in need that were American--
The well wishes that we have for people in need -- we are Americans, of course we do -- but Americans first and foremost because that's the duty of our politicians.
Now, remember though, deep down, liberals think America is racist and wicked and can only really be fixed after it's completely transformed. That means you've got to bring in new people.
Joining me know is Kurt Schlichter, retired Army infantry colonel and author of "The Split." Kurt, the left, they're just so fanatical about their agenda, they don't really think all that much about the collateral damage their misdeeds and mismanagement both cause.
KURT SCHLICHTER, AUTHOR OF "CRISIS": Laura, it's not important to them. It doesn't matter at all. It's literally not a consideration. That's why when you're arguing with some of these fanatical liberals, you will offer facts and evidence, and it just goes off with her heads, because all they care about is their own power. Anything they can say or do that will increase their own power or tend to support increasing their own power in the short term, they will say -- so one day, defund the police. That doesn't work, now they are fund the police, and we were always for fund the police. And Oceana was always at war with Eurasia. You can't reason with these people.
INGRAHAM: One of the things they think will end up maybe curing America, because we have to be cured of our evil -- this is what the far left believes -- is that we need to bring in people from other countries who are just better than average, certainly better than the average Trump supporter, Kurt. And that includes tens of thousands of refugees that they end up, I guess, vetting, and we are supposed to trust them. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. GREGORY MEEKS, (R-NY): We need to make sure that every one of those individuals that we know put their lives on the line are out. If that means we have to stay longer, in my estimation, we should do that. If that means that even if we have to bring more troops in to make sure that we can get them out safely, we need to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Kurt, the Dems want to risk American lives on the ground for longer in Afghanistan for refugees who may not even be refugees. Some of them are, but we don't know if all of them are. Is everyone who ever worked for an American contractor as a driver, does every one of those people qualify for special immigrant visas now? Is that the new rule?
SCHLICHTER: Laura, we could have figured it out. We had a long time where we had a president who knew what he was going to do. In fact, he increased the time to do it. And you would think that a superpower's government would have the capacity to go through and screen people and decide, yes, this is a person who risked his life for Americans and we are going to take care of him. And this is a guy who we don't trust.
INGRAHAM: There's not a lot of vetting going on at the gates of the airport. Who is checking authenticity of documents? Absurd. Kurt, great to see you, as always.
Have you ever been to the great restaurants of New Orleans, great independent, small restaurants? Well, guess what? They are up in arms over the latest LaToya Cantrell mandates, the mayor there, for COVID, COVID vaccines. Our own Raymond Arroyo hit the streets there, and he's going to tell us why some of the local businesses are in revolt. Raymond on the road is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JACKIE IBANEZ, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good evening and welcome to FOX News live. I'm Jackie Ibanez in New York.
An internal State Department memo reportedly warned Kabul could collapse shortly after the U.S. troop withdrawal. According to "The Wall Street Journal," Biden and administration officials were warned last month that the Taliban's advance was imminent, and that Afghanistan's military may be unable to stop it. The memo also reportedly called for the State Department to use tougher language to describe atrocities committed by the Taliban.
President Biden will speak about the evacuation operation in Afghanistan tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. eastern.
Meanwhile, a man claiming to have a bomb in his truck near the U.S. Capitol surrendered after an hour long standoff. Law enforcement did not find a bomb in the vehicle but say they collected possible bomb making materials.
So far no word on a possible motive.
I'm Jackie Ibanez. Now back to THE INGRAHAM ANGLE. For all of your headlines, log on to http://FOXnews.com.
INGRAHAM: We've got New York, we got L.A., and now the city of New Orleans is under a vaccine mandate courtesy of Mayor LaToya Cantrell. The mandate, it is already hitting local businesses, they are enraged, most of them. Our own Raymond Arroyo went down to New Orleans for the support.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm in the historic French quarter.
This is, of course, the epicenter of tourism and the heart of New Orleans economy. But Mayor LaToya Cantrell's vaccine mandate requires anyone going into a bar or a restaurant or a concert venue to show proof of vaccination.
Mayor Cantrell says this is not a burden at all. In fact, she's done it herself.
MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS: We found ourselves leaders in the United States of America. Look for your vaccination card and be prepared to show it. I tested this out myself at Saffron (ph) on Saturday, I believe.
and no problem. I was proud, I had my card laminated. Bam, pulled it out.
And then my friend who I was with, she had her L.A. wallet. Bam, pulled it out, and we had a great time ding.
ARROYO: But some restauranteurs we spoke with in town are finding the mayor's vaccine mandate less than great.
SCOT CRAIG, RESTAURANT OWNER: I've got to tell you, brother, if I could retire right now, I am mentally done. I am tired. But I can't.
ARROYO: Scot Craig is the owner and proprietor of Katie's, which he has run since 1993.
How difficult has this vaccine mandate then on your business here? I know lunch is a big part of your income.
CRAIG: Extremely difficult. This is way off. We're 50 percent off right now, or more. This dining room would be full right now.
I think people are going to Jefferson Parish, which is right across the canal where they don't have to worry about this.
Here we are on in Orleans Parish on an island having to carry the burden for the whole state. And in that regard, I think it's wrong. It is -- it's killing us.
ARROYO: Carlo Clesi is owner of Clesi's Seafood. The vaccine mandate has impacted his business as well.
CARLO CLESI, RESTAURANT OWNER: I think we're going to lose a significant piece of business to Jefferson Parish and other cities.
ARROYO: The customers at Katie's were divided on the vaccine checks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's an added burden put on business owners.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel more comfortable knowing that there are things in place for our safety.
VINA NGUYEN, BUSINESS OWNER: This is the slowest three weeks we've ever seen in the last six months.
ARROYO: Vina Nguyen owns an art gallery in the French Quarter. She's also a Republican running for mayor of New Orleans.
NGUYEN: I feel as if a leader should think outside the box. And what she's doing is she is taking a coward approach to a global pandemic, a global problem, but it's affecting her whole community, and now it's really affected the business community.
ARROYO: No matter the fallout, Mayor Cantrell is promising immediate looked closer of any business that fails to comply with her vaccine mandate.
CANTRELL: This will go into effect on Monday and we will begin aggressive enforcement actions the following week.
LEILANI HENO, BUSINESS OWNER: I would like to see aggressive enforcement happen with crime.
ARROYO: Lielani Heno is an independent running for mayor and the owner of a gym in mid-city.
HENO: We have a pandemic of crime going on in this city that's been happening for the last -- they have been running rampant. And there's been no aggressive enforcement of crime. Businesses that are suffering that are just trying to open and feed their families, you're going to aggressively a force those people when you can't protect the citizens from crime? That doesn't make sense to me. It's a gross mismanagement of resources.
NGUYEN: We are down 500 police officers, and crime has been the highest it's ever been in the last 45 years. Last year alone we lost over $5 million in just police enforcement.
CLESI: It's not only COVID keeping tourists away, but also crime that's keeping our tourists away too.
ARROYO: Restaurant owners are deeply concerned about the long-term impact of the vaccine mandate.
CRAIG: Only time will tell, but this is going to set the hospitality industry back quite a bit. I'm not sure that all restaurants that have survived are going to be able to survive this because, honestly, brother, this is worse.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
INGRAHAM: Raymond Arroyo joins us now. Ray, what are people doing in response to this mandate?
ARROYO: Laura, so many restaurant owners I spoke with were afraid to appear out of fear that the mayor's office would retaliate. That should not be. They are the heart of this economy, and major restaurants tell me since this policy kicked in, half of their reservations have been canceled, half.
And I know that a group of business leaders met today to discuss a lawsuit against the city and the state, and there was a march organized by protesters over the mandate, but whether this will have any effect, Laura, who knows.
INGRAHAM: And those independent restaurants in New York have filed a
lawsuit, so people want --
ARROYO: Yes.
INGRAHAM: People want this -- people want fairness. This is just a joke.
Raymond, thanks.
ARROYO: Thank you.
INGRAHAM: New findings from Oxford University cast doubt on the effectiveness of the vaccine mandates that are being pushed by the left.
Dr. Harvey Risch has some reaction next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: OK, everyone is supposed to get a booster shot. Biden has talked about it, Fauci has said how important it is, private businesses in cities across the country are mandating vaccines. But now a new study out of the University of Oxford is showing that vaccinated individuals with breakthrough infections carry just as much of the Delta variant virus as the unvaccinated. What does this mean?
Joining me now is Dr. Harvey Risch, epidemiology professor at the Yale School of Public Health. Dr. Risch, good to see you tonight. So the regular person who doesn't read all these studies or focus on all the new medical data, they are hearing that they now have to go out and get the third shot, and they have to get it at a particular timeframe after I guess the last shot. And yet now they are reading that people with the vaccine who have these infections are carrying an enormous amount of virus, and I guess than transmitting the virus to others. And they're still having to wear masks and all the other things, all the other restrictions. So what's the point if the study is correct about the viral load's?
DR. HARVEY RISCH, YALE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Good to talk to you, Laura.
The study is correct about the viral loads, but the gist of the study is talking about what happens to the person who gets vaccinated not transmitting the virus. And our questions mostly for government policies, mandates, and things like that, concern risks of transmission. And what this study shows is it suggests that risk of transmission in vaccinated people are not substantially different today with the Delta variant then risks in unvaccinated people. And that's a big and important difference than what we've been led to believe. Sure, we want the vaccines to reduce risks to individuals, to lessen the severity, lessen the risk of infection.
But as a society, we want the vaccines to reduce the risk of transmission, and we are not seeing that.
INGRAHAM: Well, the good news is that the elderly do seem to get -- especially the elderly do seem to get a benefit on the hospitalization front, other vulnerable people. But when we were initially hearing about the new vaccines, we did understand that they had more of a neutralizing effect on the virus, correct, or am I misremembering that?
RISCH: Yes, they were more effective at that time because we were dealing with the original strain in the U.K., the alpha strain. Those are now mostly long gone. In the last month or so, we've had the Delta strain, which is different enough that the antibodies that the vaccines make are not as capable as they would have been for the original strains. And in fact, these vaccines are becoming obsolete as more and more changes to the virus occurs.
INGRAHAM: Dr. Risch, one more question. Now it looks like they are mandating that children as young as 12 get the vaccine in certain school systems, the Culver City school system in California, a lot of parents there who, for whatever reason, have their issues with the vaccine are up in arms. Your brief comment on that?
RISCH: The parents are right. The rationale for vaccinating children who largely do not transmit the virus to adults, to teachers, and so on, there's no logical reasoning for that. And the hazards, we don't know about what's going to happen for children who have to live their whole lives having been vaccinated with an unknown quantity is just too big an uncertainty for too little benefit.
INGRAHAM: Dr. Risch, good to see you tonight.
And when we come back, a very special INGRAHAM ANGLE announcement, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: And THE INGRAHAM ANGLE is headed to California next week. We're going to be in San Francisco and L.A. -- watch out liberals. And we are going to be trying to get to the bottom of the California recall petition.
Where does it stand? We'll talk to Larry Elder. We have a lot more going on there. Also, what the police are up against in California and the out-of- control crime rate. We're going to tackle all aspect of that on the road with THE INGRAHAM ANGLE.
Remember don't forget to get your Freedom Matters gear at LauraIngraham.com. All the proceeds go to the charity of the month, which is the Little Sisters of the Poor. Great truckers hats. We've got cool beach towels. Summer is not over yet. And a lot of other great gear. You'll love it. All made and the USA. Remember, go to LauraIngraham.com because Freedom Matters.
That is all the time we have tonight. Greg Gutfeld takes it all from here.
See you all in California.
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