Kristi Noem on becoming a media villain for defending liberty

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Kristi Noem on becoming a media villain for defending liberty

South Dakota Republican governor joins 'The Ingraham Angle' with reaction to mainstream media attempts to discredit her

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," February 2, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: All right. I'm Laura Ingraham. This is "The Ingraham Angle" from another busy Washington. While, blue state governors tortured their states with destructive COVID policies, many of them saw a corresponding rise in violent crime as well. But one state leader has stood above the rest. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is here on why her leftist critics are still trying to take her down.

Also, tonight, we've warned you about a domestic spying operation under Biden. Well, wait till you hear what some so-called experts are pushing through a new "New York Times" article. Kim Strassel and Dinesh D'Souza unpack it.

But first, "China's Useful Idiots," that's the focus of tonight's Angle.

Now, sometimes the U.S. medical cartel lets the truth slip out. They get comfortable when they're gabbing with their friends, like when Dr. Fauci appeared in his, I don't know, millionth on-camera interview with David Ignatius.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID IGNATIUS, THE WASHINGTON POST, COLUMNIST: When do you think for us here in America, life's going to get back to something like normal? Is that is that September, November? Is it next year? What you--

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: You cannot give a definite answer when you have so many moving parts. Because when you give a definitive time and it doesn't work out, they say, ah, the scientists were wrong. They gave us wrong information. It depends on so many factors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK. I warned you about these months ago, Fauci is always shifting the goalpost. He's doing it again. Listen closely what he said. No definitive answer. But we're supposed to spend $1.9 trillion dollars, then to do what exactly? Dr. Fauci says none of it matters, so many moving parts.

Now, Fauci will just give another interview in, what, three months and say there's just another mutation. It's too risky. Can't open up. But remember, the pin up boy for the Gray Panthers has lied repeatedly about everything from herd immunity to vaccines to masks. But today he gave the closest thing to a straight answer. I think that he's ever given.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: If we really want to talk about true approaching normality, then, we've got to attack this at the global level. Whenever there's transmission, and viral outbreaks throughout the world, the United States will always be in danger, no matter what we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

INGRAHAM: OK. In other words, no matter what we do here in the U.S., double, triple, quadruple masks, social distancing, more closures, more vaccines, unless the virus is eradicated from every corner of the earth, Fauci is saying we can't have our old lives back. That's what he's saying.

So now we know this was never about flattening the curve or saving the hospitals, a worthy goal. This was never about our needing to be patient and do our part. It was never about developing vaccines. It was never about how well we were doing vis-a-vis other nations. Because if the virus is still present in a country, let's say like Malawi, America is not safe. No normal, can't go back. 

Now, the Left, perversely, loves the pandemic. After all, they believe climate change requires that we will end up using less, consuming less, traveling less, which means we're going to enter a period of slow, steady and permanent decline anyway. So we might as well get used to it. COVID is a perfect time to do it.

And, remember, the climate nuts and irrational bureaucrats, all at the W.H.O., they believe that it is immoral for the U.S. to have a higher standard of living than any other country. They want something called wealth harmonization for a more placid and ecologically friendly planet.

But let's tease this out a little bit more. Which nation stands to benefit the most if the United States is less free and less prosperous and more beholden to, let's say, global bureaucrats and unelected experts? OK, if you answer China, you win the home version of "The Ingraham Angle" board game. Good for you. 

Now the CCP hid the truth about the virus's origins, we know that. Then they let it rage around the world and devastate millions. And now its evil regime will end up dominating while we stupidly adopt a new permanent, new normal. Now, Bill Gates whose net worth won't change much if China runs the show has just the answer for preventing future pandemics. And of course, it involves global superstructures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, CO-CHAIR BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: If there turns out to be some new infectious pathogen, then we need a group of infectious disease responders to spring into action. Think of these as like pandemic firefighters. Stopping the next pandemic will require a big investment. But I think of this as the best insurance policy the world could buy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: First of all, he treats us like we're eight years old with the figurines. But a big investment, he's talking about? China caused this virus, let China pay to clean it up. But that would make too much sense and offend Gates' friends at the World Health Organization.

The Microsoft Founder is one of the WHO's biggest donor, second only to the U.S. government. And now that Bill Gates has made his billions, why not use pandemics to advance the great reset of capitalism. Time to live greener and leaner or be outcasts in this brave new world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2021 will be the critical to you to reestablish trust in our ability to shape our common future.

FRANCOIS VILLEROY DE GALHAU, GOVERNOR, CENTRAL BANK OF FRANCE: The reconstruction must be a transformation.

KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNAL MONETARY FUND (IMF): Capitalism that works for everyone.

ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: Every country, city, financial institution, and company needs to adopt credible plans for transition to net zero emissions by 2050.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And who will determine what is and what is not a credible plan for American citizens? Certainly, not you the American voters.

Now, think of it this way. What country is most comfortable in a world where unelected, irresponsible bureaucrats hammer out policies behind closed doors, and then impose those policies on anyone who gets in their way? What country is most comfortable cracking down on anyone who disagrees with the technocracy, banning them from the internet and punishing them in lots of other ways?

Well, it's not the United States. It's not even the European Union, the former leaders of multinationalism. Now, the country that is best suited to dominate the world being built by Fauci and his fellow bureaucrats is the one led by this man.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XI JINPING, THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, PRESIDENT: No global problem can be solved by any one country alone. There must be global action, global response and global cooperation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oh, he left one out and global dominance, of course by China. Now, right now, it sees institutions like the World Economic Forum and the W.H.O. as useful vehicles through which to exert their will and weaken their adversaries. Economic and military preeminence is the CCP's ultimate goal. And now with Donald Trump gone, they believe they're on a glide path to accomplishing this.

Joe Biden's entire mandate is solving the coronavirus pandemic, nothing more, nothing less. And now we find out it was a complete fraud. The men pulling his strings are apparently fine with a forever pandemic as long as it allows them to stay on TV, and as long as it gives the medical establishment unlimited power and resources. Again, the great reset.

Now, Republicans and anyone with common sense must not allow this madness, this destructive insanity to continue, and that's The Angle.

Joining me now is Dr. Scott Atlas, former White House COVID Adviser, Hoover Institution Senior Fellow. Dr. Atlas, you just heard THE ANGLE. Dr. Fauci got little comfortable in his interview with "The Washington Post" this morning, making it clear that the United States "is not safe if this virus is still raging in any other part of the world." What does that mean for getting back to normal anytime soon?

DR. SCOTT ATLAS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COVID ADVISER: Well, hey, Laura. Thanks for having me. I think this is a question that the American people should have been asking for a while, which is what is the end of this sort of regulated world we're living in?

And, frankly, you know, according to the scientists - the real scientists who are actually doing the research, we look at people like the Bhattacharya and Gupta to column in "The Wall Street Journal," the end of the pandemic is in grasp here, which is just vaccinate and protect the people who are high risk, and everybody else can restore live back to normal.

This is the rational, sensible way. We have a virus here that has a target audience, if you will, of high risk. It's not true that everyone's at high risk from this virus. It's not true that, for instance, children need to be locked out of in-person schools. The data is in. It's been in for months, by the way, it's nothing new. And yet people just say the science and they don't talk about the actual data or don't know the data. We have to get it- -

INGRAHAM: Well, Dr. Atlas, I'm going to interrupt you. You're very smart. But he knows the data. OK. I don't buy that Fauci doesn't know the data. I mean, he's on TV a lot - a lot more than you, so I don't know when he's doing all of his work. But, apparently, he's just working away constantly.

But the idea that he doesn't know the data, I believe that for a second. He's made clear now that we're not going back to normal. I think the exact same thing that I said in May continues to happen. The goalpost will always shift. Kids aren't going to go back to school if he has anything to say about it.

I'm sorry. They're not going to force the kids to go back to school. Teachers aren't going to want to go back, because Burkina Faso doesn't have full vaccines for everybody against the coronavirus or there's a mutation somewhere.

ATLAS: Yes, it's hard to ascribe actually, the motive for that kind of statement - these kinds of statements. But I can tell you this, the failure of the faces of public health here to the American people are just legion.

Number one, the inconsistency of what they've said, number two, highlighting what we don't know instead of all the amount of information that we do know. Number three, looking at the exceptions to the rule, instead of putting things into perspective, like somebody who's actually knowledgeable about medical science.

There's been gross failure after failure in articulating things to make the American people - instead of keep - igniting them with fear, to put them in a rational sense of expectation, the rational sense of expectation.

I don't care what was just said in that interview, is that we protect the people that are at high risk to die and open everything up. That's the point of getting the vaccine. That's the point here of doing the analysis of the data. I don't know what ulterior motive people have. I don't want to guess at that. I do think there's a tremendous amount of incompetence that people are - does not--

INGRAHAM: He's not a dumb person. He's a really smart person. And neither is Bill Gates. He's obviously a really smart person. And they're kind of--

ATLAS: Well, I'm not--

INGRAHAM: --they're talking about global structures, global surveillance, global interest, it's got to be a global F. Well, at some point, we just got to be able to go to weddings and funerals and the Rose Parade and NASCAR and all this stuff that makes life, life for a lot of people.

ATLAS: Yes. I would make two points if I can.

INGRAHAM: Real quick.

ATLAS: Number one, I don't care what Bill Gates says. I don't know why anyone cares what Bill Gates says about this. 

INGRAHAM: Hallelujah.

ATLAS: People want to talk about computer programming, or how does - do a computer business, that's fine. That's just completely ridiculous to listen to that. But the second point here, is it the Americans - this is a free country. The American people have to get the information and decide how they want to live.

We're supposed to - where is the independent spirit here that America is known for? Where are these tough New Yorkers that everybody keeps talking about? I think, this is really not supposed to be a dominant government on personal behavior. People have to understand the information and make decisions about what they're going to do.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Well, of course, the problem is independent thought is being stricken from the internet. And you're called anti-science when actually you're following everything from Farr's law to Muller's ratchet to understand viruses. Dr. Atlas--

ATLAS: Well, I think this is - really the biggest issue of all, Laura, is what you're saying is the censorship and the - particularly at our universities were the only way to really arrive at the right solution, and the only way to educate the public is to have the free exchange of ideas. And when you have universities and the media have these kind of rebuking, intimidating atmosphere here, we've lost the essential freedoms that make up the United States.

INGRAHAM: They don't want an informed public. They want a compliant public. Dr. Atlas, thank you so much.

And speaking of Dr. Fauci, he and the rest of the COVID brigade are sounding the alarm about something entirely new now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

FAUCI: Well, one of the wildcards, Chris, that we have to keep an eye on are the mutations? The mutants that are out there, because if they become dominant, that then could lead to another surge.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Could have this melting pot of variants and mutations

DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: That variants are here, they're circulating, and they are going to cause a large spike in cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

INGRAHAM: Cases, because cases are what matters, not infectivity, not lethality, but cases. What they're not telling you, of course, is viruses run their course. They naturally peter out and they mutate to keep spreading, usually getting more transmissible and less lethal. It's a process that generally, as they said, makes them less deadly. It's what happened with Ebola and a whole host of other deadly contagions.

Contrary to the doomsday, as my next guest says, it's a reason why COVID is in a steep decline across the country. Joining me now is Dr. Harvey Risch, the Yale School of Public Health from there. Dr. Risch the virus is mutating. We've been talking about viral mutations since, I don't know last March. Nobody wanted to talk about it back then for some reason. Cases are falling, but the panic is still being stoked. Why?

HARVEY RISCH, YALE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Honestly, I don't know. I mean, I think that people who have interest in stoking panic use everything they can to stoke panic. But I think, we're in great shape now as the pandemic in the United States is on its decline.

North Dakota and South Dakota, their pandemics are almost over. And as we see what Dr. Atlas said, you vaccinate and treat high risk people and let the rest of the population get on with life, and that's what ends the pandemic. Mutations come, the same principles apply.

There will be some degree of immunity from the earlier infections and the vaccination, and whatever needs to be made up will be made up by treating or vaccinating again and that's how we handle it. It's all practical problem, and we have the solutions for it.

INGRAHAM: Yes And so locking down at this point, does what? Does it prolong the pandemic? Does it treat hotspots or address hotspots? Because that's what you sense a lot of people still want to do?

RISCH: Well, locking down doesn't serve any function other than prolonging and delaying what's going to happen eventually. And you might as well do the best you can. If you're over running your services that you need to save people's lives, then you'd have to deal with it.

But if you're not doing that, then just treat everybody as best you can. We've got all these drugs now that we know that work to treat people early. We should just be using them as we need them, vaccines and drugs is it.

INGRAHAM: Knack, you have hydroxychloroquine which of course got political and totally maligned, Ivermectin, Vitamin D, Zinc, all of its good to take. On CNN, by the way, Dr. William Hazleton made this stunning claim, Dr. Risch, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DR. WILLIAM HASELTINE, ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL CHAIR & PRESIDENT: There's no reason at this point with the information we have about variants to think that immunity won't wane and that the vaccine - the viruses won't come back in a different form, just like flu. We live with flu, we contend with flu with changing of vaccines. This is going to be a long battle - not a yearlong battle, a decade's long battle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dr. Risch a decade's long battle. It just - it's kind of - the timeline works with climate change too - decades long battle. That's probably a coincidence, right?

RISCH: It's not it's not a battle. OK? I mean, when you phrase it in those terms, you're raising panic again. It will be a decade's long issue perhaps. But we have the tools to deal with it. And in fact, we have better tools now than we had a year ago, when we didn't know that we could actually treat it well.

Now, we know that we can actually treat people and prevent them from getting sick - really sick with the flu or this or the next version of this that comes.

INGRAHAM: Dr. Risch, thank you so much for joining us tonight and setting the record straight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

INGRAHAM: You're looking at live pictures here. President Joe Biden paying his respects to fallen U.S. Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick who is lying in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Remember Sicknick was fatally injured during the January 6th Capitol riot. His remains will lie at rest in Arlington Cemetery on Wednesday.

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

INGRAHAM: And last night, we showed you some exclusive documents from the DC Public School system's BLM curriculum. Tonight, we bring you more and expose a key figure behind this push. But, next Governor Kristi Noem is here to respond to critics, looking to sideline her despite the state's success. That's cute. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

INGRAHAM: The BLM fuelled crime wave that began over the summer is still wreaking havoc in cities across this country. Nowhere has it been deadlier than in Chicago, which just saw its bloodiest January in four years. Fox News Chief Breaking News Correspondent Trace Gallagher has that story. Trace?

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHIEF BREAKING NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And, Laura, when Chicago police are stunned by the increase in violent crime, that alone is significant. In January, Chicago had 51 murders, the highest since 2017. And those numbers released by Chicago Police Department are conservative.

"The Chicago Sun Times" puts the number of killings at 54. And while the murder rate is always the most concerning, it's not the only violent crime on the rise. In January Chicago, had a 144 carjackings. That means 2021 is now on pace to outdo the carjackings in 2020 and 2020 had double the carjackings of 2019.

The number of carjackings is also setting off alarm bells, because most police say that carjackers are between the ages of 15, 18 maybe 20. And it's not just Chicago seeing a rise in crime. In a sample of 34 American cities from New York to Norfolk, Virginia, The National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice says the murder rate increase in 2020 has "no modern precedent."

For example, homicide rates from 2019 to 2020 were up 30 percent which translates to an additional 1,200 killings. And the study says oddly the murder rate didn't fit usual crime patterns. Normally, homicides increase during summer months and decrease during the fall and winter. But the 2020 murder rate steady throughout the year, though it did peak a bit during the summer riots.

Gun assaults and aggravated assaults also went up. In fact, the Commission says the reasoning for the increase is that the pandemic, quoting here, "disproportionately affected vulnerable populations, placing at-risk individuals under additional physical, mental, emotional and financial stress." And the situation was further aggravated, says the report, by lack of outreach to those who were most affected. Laura?

INGRAHAM: Unreal, Trace, thank you so much.

GALLAGHER: Yes.

INGRAHAM: And the media are ignoring this ongoing crime wave. Instead, they're focusing on kneecapping successful GOP governors ahead of 2024. And few have gotten worse treatment then my next guest, Kristi Noem of South Dakota.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. LIPI ROY, PHYSICIAN: These leaders, particularly Governor DeSantis, Governor Noem, they are not following the evidence based guidelines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know that the South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been a horror.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not helping the people in our state who have literally been dying while she spouts about personal responsibility

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Literally versus figuratively dying, apparently. Well, the pandemic is basically over in South Dakota. Look how far down cases have dropped after the peak in November. And the death rate remained below Cuomo's New York without any lockdowns at all.

And like its viral caseload South Dakota's unemployment rate has also fallen. It's now well below where it was before the pandemic. On top of that, South Dakota is a national leader in the distribution of the COVID vaccine.

Governor Kristi Noem joins me now. I don't know what I'm going to - what you have left to say after that governor. But they are so annoyed by you. Why is that? And why do you have a target on your back when it comes to the American media?

GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R-SD): Laura, I really think it's about control. They have used for the last year fear to control people. And in South Dakota, we just took a very different path.

We knew the science told us we couldn't stop the virus. We could slow it down and protect people who might be vulnerable and make sure we had enough hospital capacity to take care of those who would need it. But that we were going to do it together and allow people to be flexible to take care of their families and still put food on the table.

So that was a unique approach that for our people really worked well. We did have tragedies and we did have losses, but we also got through it better than virtually every other state. And I think the media hates that, because it really is a testimony to what Republicans believe in, what we conservatives believe in. We implemented what we always say we believe, and it showed that it really does work and bring more opportunities to families.

INGRAHAM: And Governor, "The New York Times" again, so obsessed with you that they attacked you in this video. This was just last Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANYA DOSANI, NEW YORK TIMES PRODUCER (voice-over): In Noem's world restrictions become inconveniences that hold companies back. Noem uses words like want and choose on purpose. She's making it seem like she's giving you freedom, but public health isn't personal responsibility. It's her job. She's the one who's supposed to make tough decisions. But she's offloading that responsibility onto ordinary people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That that reporter sounds quite young, good for her. But you're offloading personal responsibility, Governor, is that what your constituents believe?

NOEM: Yes, Laura. I've never seen a video like that before. That was an outright hit piece and it was hard to watch because it was full of lies. Really, the truth is that in this country when a leader such as a governor oversteps their authority in a time of crisis, it breaks the foundation of this country. What is the next event that it's OK to do that in? 

What is the precedent that that is setting up into the future? And I was well aware of that throughout this last year while I was making decisions, that I knew what my authority was, and I didn't want to step over it, and I trusted my people. And overwhelmingly, they appreciated that. They appreciated the ability to get through this in a way that works for them, their businesses, and our state that really was an example to the nation. 

INGRAHAM: And Governor Noem, lot of other issues are bubbling up out there while you continue to make sure your state is safe and prosperous. There's talk of the battle for the soul of the Republican Party, the party is divided because of Liz Cheney, or someone like an Adam Kinzinger, I guess Mitt Romney. Do you think the party's divided on ideology, or even this impeachment farce of a trial next week? 

NOEM: I think we're talking a lot about what we disagree on. And I gave a speech a couple weeks ago about what Republicans need to do and why the American people are so angry with them. And it's because we don't follow through on the things we say. We said we'd reform healthcare. We didn't. We said we'd fix immigration policy and we didn't. And that is really what we need to do as Republicans is start following through. And stop standing up and giving speeches and attacking each other, but instead work together and really follow through and pursue American opportunity for the folks at home. 

INGRAHAM: But isn't that what President Trump did? The America first agenda was wildly successful pre-COVID. Obviously COVID threw a wrench into everything. But I'm basically focusing on this attempt to lurch back to the mid-2000s, to much more interventionist, open borders, pro China trade type of governance versus an America first populist approach, which seemed to be really popular. So where's the divide? 

NOEM: Oh, absolutely. President Trump never forgot about the ordinary, hardworking Americans. He thought about them every single minute of every day and fought for them. Arthur Brooks told one time to never get angry on behalf of yourself. Get angry on behalf of people that need help. And that's what President Trump did. He fought for everyday people who got up and worked long hours to take care of their families. So we should not go back to what this country was before him, and we need to make sure that we continue putting America first. 

INGRAHAM: Governor, great to see you tonight. Thanks so much for joining us. 

And "The New York Times" used to champion the First Amendment. Now one columnist is calling for a new government office, shocker, to eviscerate free speech. Kim Strassel, Dinesh D'Souza sound off on the latest threat to your liberty, next. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: For most Americans, it's perfectly acceptable for people to hold different beliefs and values. But now the left wants to make it a crime against the state. For "New York Times" columnist Kevin Roose, it's a problem that can only be solved with the most Orwellian of prescriptions. "These steps, experts say, could prod more people to abandon the scourge of hoaxes and lies. Several experts I spoke with recommended that the Biden administration put together a cross agency task force to tackle disinformation and domestic extremism, which would be led by something like a reality czar." In other words, an arm of the government dedicated to demonizing and censoring Biden's political opposition, how convenient, something we were mocked for warning you about many weeks ago. 

Here now is Kimberley Strassel, "Wall Street Journal" editorial board member, FOX News quote. Also with me is Dinesh D'Souza, conservative commentator and filmmaker. Kim, "Pravda" would be applauding the "New York Times" for propagating these disturbing recommendations. It seems like a laugh, a parody at this point. But it's not. It's coming perhaps to a government near you, namely Biden's. 

KIMBERLEY STRASSEL, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, and that is the really rich part about this. Here's a piece that is wringing its hands over the mainstreaming of crazy, even as it mainstreams crazy, Laura. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that we have a truth commission in Congress that the media should come in front of. She was laughed at. And yet two weeks later, here we are, and "The New York Times" is treating that as a serious idea and quoting people with respectable positions suggesting this indeed should become a reality in the Biden administration. It's beyond parody. 

INGRAHAM: "The New York Times," Dinesh, isn't the only one advocating for these dystopian ministries of truth. A new report from NYU researchers calling conservative claims of social media censorship itself a form of disinformation. The researchers also called for the creation of a new digital regulatory agency and suggested Biden could empower a special commission to work the industry on improving content moderation. Dinesh, what does this all remind you of? Don't you feel like we're back at Dartmouth in the old days when they were trying to stop us from doing our conservative media thing back then? 

DINESH D'SOUZA, CONSERVATIVE FILMMAKER: Well, we knew that we were in a kind of an asylum. But even when I wrote about this in my first book, "Illiberal Education," I presented the asylum as kind of crazy house inside of a larger culture. But it now almost seems like the asylum has become America. 

And you mentioned earlier George Orwell. It's almost as if there's a group of people, we're in some dystopian future society where a group of vicious people are taking Orwell not as a warning but as a handbook. They open up Orwell, they go, oh, my gosh, this guy has some fantastic ideas. Let's start implementing them right away. So this whole notion of a ministry of truth controlling information, acting as if they get to define what reality is when reality should be emerging through observation, experiment, criticism, debate. All our processes from science to the law are based upon the idea of contested ideas, and somehow in politics they want to abolish them. 

INGRAHAM: And Kim, a disturbing exchange happened at today's White House briefing. Check it out. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this administration concerned that the former president's defense could incite further violence? 

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Certainly, watching reactions in the country, watching the potential for violence is something that we will do closely from the White House across the country. And that's something we will certainly keep an eye on. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I'm surprised Psaki didn't get a foot massage and a hot stone massage on her back. What else can she be given? So apparently the president can't have a defense at all. He doesn't deserve a defense because it could spur more extremism, Kim. 

STRASSEL: This is now becoming the game plan. You see a lot of people on the left talking and worrying about domestic violence and domestic terrorism. But then you have a piece like this that seamlessly transitions into the real problem, the growing problem of domestic extremism. Who gets to define what extremism is? At least terrorism and violence are crimes, but extremism, you get a Biden administration that just decides anything that is beyond its pale somehow gets lumped into the same category as terrorism and violence. And that is thought police. We have laws against the former. But fortunately, we have a First amendment that protects the latter. 

INGRAHAM: And Dinesh, extremism is defined as anyone who disagrees with their disordered thinking, period. 

D'SOUZA: Well, look at the weirdness of simply saying that if Trump denies that he is engaging in incitement, denies that his words had the effect of provoking any kind of violence, that itself is now interpreted as a provocation to violence. So we're now living in a world where words have lost their basic meaning, terms like incitement don't really mean incitement. They mean things like defending yourself, speaking up for yourself, playing your appropriate part in a formal Senate trial. 

And the fact that you have this cozy relationship between the media and the Biden team shows we don't really have a functioning free press in the country. The press are sort of in on it, and it's almost like they're making coded signals to the Biden press secretary. They're speaking a kind of mutual language among themselves which they both understand. 

INGRAHAM: Dinesh and Kim, thanks so much tonight. 

And last night we brought you the first in a series exploring the push to insert BLM curricula into schools. In tonight's installment we're going to show you the man behind this push and the corporate bigwigs propping him up. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Last night we showed you the exclusive week of action documents that BLM is pushing in some of our schools. These lesson plans are littered with poisonous principles, like dismantling the nuclear family and eliminating the so-called patriarchal practice. Those same toxic forces are pushing this BLM coloring book on children in D.C. and New York City. One page urges kids to be transgender affirming. And on the national page promoting BLM's week of action, there's a quote from FBI most wanted terrorist Assata Shakur. Shakur is a former member of the Black Liberation Army, and was serving a life sentence for taking part in the murder of a New Jersey state trooper in 1973. That is until she escaped and fled to Cuba. 

So who's behind this? A Boston University professor named Ibram X. Kendi. He's shoving this radical vision of race down the throats of our children and getting paid handsomely for it. Here's just today him selling it. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IBRAM X. KENDI: When we teach our kids to be anti-racist, when we teach that brown or black girl that there's nothing wrong with you because of the color of your skin, or when we teach that white boy that there's nothing right about you because of the color of your skin, when we teach America's history of racism, we are protecting our children. We are allowing them to develop a sense of self that allows them to see themselves as fully human and see all others as fully human. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now, Harmeet Dhillon, civil rights attorney and founder for the Center for American Liberty. Harmeet, someone like Kendi couldn't exist without the largesse of corporate America. And on the surface, some of what he says is, of course, we don't want to take into account racial differences because we believe everyone is children of God, and we want everyone to have equal opportunity, period. That's in our founding document. What's going on here? 

HARMEET DHILLON, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, Laura, there are a lot of things going looking at the very current phenomenon, and what has happened is what I call these industrial complex entrepreneurs have created a problem. They have convinced everybody from school age on up that we have inherent racism in every sector of our economy and our lives. And then they have created a market-based solution for it, which is if you pay me, I will come and teach you. It's almost like a form of the mob if you're a corporation. It's protection money. If you want to avoid having strikes, if you want to avoid having trouble in your workspace, you will pay this consultant. 

And to be clear, this isn't the old once a year sexual harassment training that everybody had to sit through. Today's version of diversity, equity, and inclusion, so called DEI consulting, is a constant process. Your work is never over, to use this term. You have to constantly be bringing in these experts to come in and host and provoke these conversations. You know what, most of our corporations are there to provide products, build value for their shareholders. They didn't have a problem in the first place to the degree that these companies have convinced them. And now these people have a multibillion dollar industry that is expanding into federal contracting. It is used by companies to defend themselves against lawsuits. And now they're reaching into the schools with some fairly horrifying concepts that most parents are not aware that are being pushed. So it is a dangerous business. 

INGRAHAM: I think most parents don't know anything about this. I think they think Black Lives Matter is great. We're going to make sure black Americans are treated fairly and protected. And great. But then you dig into kind of what's going on, and it's a very different scenario. 

And by the way, Twitter cofound Jack Dorsey, he donated $10 million to his Center for Antiracist Research, Kendi's center. Before that, the company Vertex Pharmaceuticals handed Kendi's center $1.5 million. The Rockefeller Foundation, of course, gave another $1.5 million. Fairfax County public schools in northern Virginia paid Kendi 20k for an hourlong lecture, and spent another $24,000 buying his books. Harmeet, you add that up around the country, grievance pays. 

DHILLON: That's like Janet Yellen level money by the minute there. But it is, and it's a huge industry. Someone was mocking me, this is like 20 or 40 jobs. No, no. Every time I'm asked to be on a panel, at a bar function, the ABA, or otherwise, there's a dozen people who are doing this for a living, and corporations have full time people who do this. And their job is to make everybody feel bad and feel guilty. I don't see a lot of solutions being pedaled. I see a lot of grievance being pedaled. And indeed, if you were doing this as a business, you would never want to --

INGRAHAM: Everyone is inoculating themselves. Harmeet, it's box checking, and it's big business. Thank you so much. 

We told you about skyrocketing crime in her city, but Lori Lightfoot is failing Chicago at every turn. The Last Bite explains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Not only is Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot failing to control out of control crime in her city, she is failing parents as well. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT, (D) CHICAGO: I thought it was in the interest of all that we announce a cooling off period, meaning the negotiations would continue intensely, but we would not take any disciplinary action against teachers who were refusing to report to their classroom.

Look, this is a very difficult situation, and we're in it still because of the incompetence of the previous administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

INGRAHAM: Trump? It's always going to be Trump's fault. Nice try, Mayor.

Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team take it all from here. Shannon. 

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