This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," September 10, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: All right. Welcome to Washington. I'm Laura Ingraham on "The Ingraham Angle" on a very busy Monday night. We are monitoring, as Sean said, Hurricane Florence. It is a Category 4 storm that is expected to smash into both North and South Carolina on Thursday night, right around our show time. We will provide an update later in this hour with important information that you do not want to miss.

Plus, former chief strategist to the president, Steve Bannon, is here for a rare and exclusive appearance. He'll comment on that internal war at the White House and share exclusive footage from his new documentary, "Trump at War."

And a tennis star meltdown. I'll explain why Serena Williams kind of got it all wrong this past weekend and I'll be joined by a former tennis great himself.

But first, the NFL fumbles on the anthem again. And that's the focus of tonight's Angle.

Last May, the NFL owners announced a policy requiring their players to either stand for the national anthem or remain in the locker room during the anthem. Anyone kneeling or protesting would be fined. But what a difference a few months make, as the NFL has now announced that it won't implement its own new policy.

So this weekend, Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson of the Miami Dolphins took a knee during the anthem of their season opener. Their teammate, Robert Quinn, stood, but he did so with a fist in the air. So what penalties will they face? None.

An NFL spokesman tells "Sports Illustrated," "The status quo continues as productive discussions are ongoing on the important work of social justice." And you might have forgotten that this all started back during the Obama era, and about August, 2016. That was when Colin Kaepernick refused to stand in a pre-season game for the 49ers.

After that game, he defended his gesture, saying, "I'm not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

Well, remember, Kaepernick basically started on police brutality but now, this has morphed into a much broader movement that the NFL felt that it had to support. So in an attempt to appease the protesting players, and put the kibosh on the protests, the league committed nearly $100 million earlier this year to what they call "social justice initiatives."

But just where does that money go? Well, $73 million of it will be divided into three organizations -- 25 percent to the United Negro College Fund, 25 percent to Dream Corps, which is kind of a left-wing social justice group founded and led by Van Jones. Their goal is to lower the prison population by half and provide sanctuary to all. Not sure what that means.

And then half of the $73 million will go to something called the Players Coalition. Now, the Players Coalition was a nonprofit quickly formed by a group of NFL players to guide the social justice conversation and receive any money that the NFL might be willing to donate. And get this, they've consulted with George Soros-backed criminal justice groups and the liberal Center for American Progress, this, according to ESPN.

The coalition is led by 12 players, but it was founded by Malcolm Jenkins of the Eagles and retired player Anquan Bolden. The group advocates for everything from criminal justice reform to racial equality to voting rights. But some players have withdrawn from the group, including Michael Thomas and Eric Reed, who was one of the first players to protest right along with Kaepernick.

In an interview with "Slate," Reed trashed the NFL's attempt at hush money -- that's what he called it -- basically called it, and resigned it from the players coalition altogether, claiming that Malcolm Jenkins told him, "the money would come from funds that are already allocated to breast cancer awareness and Salute to Service. So it would really be no skin off the owner's backs. They would just move the money from those programs to this one. We didn't agree with that, because we weren't trying to cut other worthy programs."

Well, whatever the case, the NFL thought it could buy its way out of any further controversy surrounding the anthem by basically paying off a patchwork of left-leaning groups. But it didn't completely work. On the broadcast side of this issue, the increasingly liberal ESPN has decided it will simply no longer air the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at all before Monday night football.

Well, I hope Colin and company are happy with that. The fans aren't. Viewership of the NFL season opener at least was down 13 percent from last year and reached the lowest rating for an opening game since 2009. They did better yesterday, though. Well, I have a better idea of all this.

If these players or the NFL were truly concerned about making life better for minorities the United States, why not consider dropping the political chip on your shoulder and consider working with the Trump administration? I know you might not like his tweets, I get that. But I have a question, are you aware of President Trump's openness to criminal justice reform?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESDIENT DONALD TRUMP: Working together, we can restore the rule of law, keep dangerous criminals off our streets, and help former inmates get a second chance at life, and a second chance that many of them will really succeed at if only given the chance. America is a nation that believes in the power of redemption.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Or his willingness to commute the sentences of those with exemplary records and unusual circumstances, like Alice Marie Johnson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALICE MARIE JOHNSON, SENTENCE COMMUTED BY TRUMP: My message to President Trump is thank you so much President Trump for taking the time to really look at my case and to really look at me. And as I have said before, I will -- I promise you, President Trump, I will make you proud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I love that moment. And of course President Trump's policies have made this the best time ever for black Americans to find jobs. Black unemployment is at a stunning and record low, currently at 6.3 or 6.5 percent. Although the president disagrees with the anthem kneelers, and we all know that, he also offered them an olive branch back in June.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You should stand for our national anthem. You shouldn't go in a locker room when our national anthem is played. I'm going to ask all of those people to recommend to me -- because that is what they are protesting -- people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system. And I understand that.

And I'm going to ask them to recommend to me people that were unfairly treated, friends of theirs or people that they know about, and I'm going to take a look at those applications, and if I find -- and my committee finds that they are unfairly treated, then we will harden them, or at least let them out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: So my question is, how many of the NFL players have taken him up on that offer? Reached out to the president? Well, maybe some have used back channels, I don't know. But did not do so confirms a suspicion that the anthem protests are more about ideology than equality. And that would be a real shame. And that's the "Angle."

Joining us now with the reaction is Vera Bumpers. She is the president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives along with retired NFL star Burgess Owens. Great to see both of you. Vera, I want to go right to you. For your reaction to "The Angle," given what has happened over the past few years and where we are today, why not the players turn this into an opportunity to work with President Trump especially on criminal justice reform?

VERA BUMPERS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ORGANIZATION OF BLACK LAW ENFORCEMENT EXECUTIVES: Thank you so much for having me Laura. I can't speak for the players, but as far as the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, we do support anyone's right to peacefully protest. We do see this as an opportunity to address some of the issues in criminal justice reform, as well as police trust and legitimacy. This opens the door for dialogue and conversation. As far as our conversating with the president, I can't really speak to that.

INGRAHAM: Burgess, why do you think Vera is wrong here? This is an opportunity for conversation and community and people getting together, I mean, set aside the issue of George Soros group helping advise the players coalition or any of that, but could something good not come out of this and to not admit that, isn't that wrong?

BURGESS OWENS, RETIRED NFL PLAYER: Laura, I think your "Angle" was spot on. We have an opportunity here to actually help those who are hopeless and unfortunately, I think our problem is we have this group of black elitists that are doing pretty well in our country. They are living the American dream and they spend more time telling our young people how they cannot make it and telling them how white people are stopping them from being successful instead of reaching out and finding solutions.

We have now around the football field millions of dollars -- billions of dollars represented by these young players, and not once have they come together and put together a conversation about -- how about entrepreneurship? How about hiring these young people? How about telling our young men to man up and stop deserting our families? How about respect?

There are a lot of things we can do and at the end of the day, the left doesn't want that to happen. They would rather have us be in misery versus having real solutions. And that is what President Trump represents right now, a way to talk through and get some solutions. They don't want to come to the table to do that because he will get credit for it.

INGRAHAM: Friday on "Fox & Friends," the president actually addressed the anthem issue again. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't know why they are not enforcing it. And in cases where they don't have it, you know, they have a new thing where they don't have to do that, you don't have to kneel, you can go back into the locker room. I think that is worse than kneeling in a certain way, you going back in. That shows that you just have no respect for the anthem or the flag.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Vera, what about that? I mean, the Black Law Enforcement Association Executives support peaceful protest. But then you had Colin Kaepernick wearing the socks with a pig and a police hat on them. And a lot of police officers that I speak to and I have gotten a chance to know so many over the years, are just like, you know something, this doesn't help make our jobs easier.

This doesn't help keep people safer in the inner-city. There is a time for protest but when it comes to the national anthem that should be a moment of unity for the country, and patriotism regardless of political differences or cultural is agreement.

BUMPERS: Well, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, our membership, we do not feel like that was an attack against law enforcement. We feel like it had brought attention to some very important issues and --

INGRAHAM: What issues are those?

BUMPERS: Criminal justice reform, as I think I just heard the gentleman speak about, going into the neighborhoods, making a difference, talking to the young people. Our organization as well as other organizations, we are doing that. We are trying to get out and give the message of hope. We are - -

INGRAHAM: Right, but you didn't need Colin Kaepernick. Hold on, Vera, did Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem get the Black Police Officers Executives Association to go out in the neighborhoods? I mean, Burgess, police are out to the neighborhoods all the time, and they are getting disrespected by people who -- you know, are taught to hate police, sadly, both black, white, and Latino police officers.

They tell the same story. So, I get it, people are frustrated. I understand it and protest is fine. But it also seems like there is just some common sense we are missing in this conversation. Common sense.

BURGESS: Well, it comes down to this. You're right, there is a message going out to the black community and that messages is anti-American, anti- white, anti-free enterprise, and you see that with the anger that is developing within our young people who have no idea how to break out of it.

And I want to talk about the NFL because at the end of the day, it is the management. It might not be all the owners, but the management has decided that this is a good deal for them. They are globalist. Right now they have figured out a way that they can make $27 billion for the next nine years in a global fashion.

All they have to do is put on the face of NFL (inaudible) because China and France, and left-leaning countries, would love to embrace NFL and it has become a global brand. If all they can do is just be named the all-American brand that the NFL has had in the past. So, this is a long-term process --

INGRAHAM: They wanted to get rid of it. They wanted to get rid of the problem and it has minimized the problem for sure, but there is still -- I can tell you my radio audience, there is still a lot of ticked off fans out there. Both of you, I appreciate it very much tonight.

And the New Orleans advocate says that, well, he is ageless at age 37 and still getting it done, as tight end to the saints. Tough game last night. Running back Mark Ingram says he is so ripped he looks like the Under Armour manikin. Here from the aforementioned Players Coalition is the New Orleans Saints Ben Watson. Hey Ben, great to see you. How are you doing?

BEN WATSON, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS TIGHT END: I'm good. How are you doing, Laura?

INGRAHAM: I'm not bad. The Under Armour mannequin, I mean, that ain't bad. I saw that, and I'm like, gosh, that's got to must make you feel good even if you had a tough game night last night. You heard "The Angle," Ben. Your thoughts on where things are now given the $100 million almost the NFL has given over to various groups, including this Players Coalition. How are do you feel?

WATSON: Well, I think the bigger thing that we are missing in this whole conversation is the fact that what Colin did by kneeling was one check along the long spectrum of players and Americans who are concerned about what is going on in this country. People -- everyday, people, fathers, brothers, sisters, they are all concerned when they see things that happen on television or maybe the experience of being themselves.

And so what Colin did obviously brought a lot of attention but this is one thing along a long spectrum and specifically when you talk about the coalition. Look, tomorrow we are actually having a listen and learn tour in New Orleans, learning about the criminal justice system, educating ourselves, hearing from the grass roots organizations who are involved in this, going to bail hearings, hearing from people that are now able to vote because of a law that was recently passed here in the state of Louisiana.

So, players are engaged, players want to learn, players want to advocate. And I heard Burgess say something before about what guys are not doing. Let me tell you something, I'm a father of five. I live here in New Orleans. I'm in a room, a locker room, with 53 other guys from various places around the country and we do go into our communities. We do encourage young people, we do tell them that they can do whatever they want to do.

In my house, I tell my kids that they can become whatever they want. But I'm also real with them.

INGRAHAM: That's awesome.

WATSON: I'm also real with them, Laura, telling them that there are certain challenges that they are going to face because of the color of their skin.

INGRAHAM: Well, this is what Eric Reid said, you know, who obviously was supporting Colin Kaepernick early on. He is a free agent. I guess he hasn't been to sign to anyone yet which is tragic because he's a really good player. But why he left the Players Coalition. This is from November of 2017. He said, "When we agreed to be a part of the Players Coalition we were under the impression that it would be our organization. We were under the impression that we would all have equal say.

But we've come to find out that it's actually Malcolm and Anquan's organization. Nobody else really has a stake in the organization. Malcolm actually wants us to -- he calls it invest, I call it donate -- to the company that pay salaries for his staff. But again, we would have no equity."

What is your reaction to his ongoing complaint about what happened with this Players Coalition, where a huge amount of money is going into concerns about where that money is actually ending up, who's getting what and what audit is being done and all that?

WATSON: Well, there is auditing, it is an official 501. You know, all that stuff is right there. The NFL wouldn't be giving money if they didn't know how to trace it and knows where it's going so (inaudible). As far as Eric, you know, he is -- I'm glad you mention that he's a great player, because he is a great player. He is one that should be in his league.

And him and Malcolm have dealt with their differences and this is September, this is a month ago so I'm not going to comment on where they are or not because I believe that they are definitely in a better place, but again, where we are now is different. Players are poised to make a difference and that is exactly what we are going to do.

INGRAHAM: Did you need the donation from the NFL to be involved in your community because I know a lot of you guys do a lot already? You did it before Colin Kaepernick, and you are doing it after Colin Kaepernick. So, again, it looks like from the outside -- and even some of the more left- wing critics of you guys -- and there are people on the left to really think you guys were just bought off, like this guy Stephen Crockett at "The Root."

I guess I'll put up the full screen, Ben, so you can hear what I say. It says, "Malcolm Jenkins sounds like the man who turned his back on Harriet Tubman to do the good work of making sure he can effect change from inside the plantation. Please stop calling Malcolm Jenkins the face of Colin Kaepernick's movement. That would be like saying Ben Carson is doing the work that Malcolm X started."

Well, that is a nasty comment about Ben Carson, but you get the point, that you guys were too quick to take the money instead of continuing the protest and standing against what the NFL owners are really all about. So you are getting hit by both sides, the left on the right, I guess.

WATSON: Well honestly, Laura, I can understand how from the outside it may look that way, but when you are in the inside and you understand, again, that generations of players coming to this point and moving forward are going to be concerned about the issues that all Americans should be concerned about, you understand that the money being donated was simply us and the NFL coming together and negotiating that and them being willing to support some of our causes.

I think that we can learn a lesson from what has happened here because on the outside, again, and when you watch the news and when you hear the tribalism that is going on, there's a lot of back-and-forth but there is no communication. And what we have done between players and the league is to come together, communicate. They understand the things we are concerned and they are learning about it and because of that, they want to support our initiatives.

INGRAHAM: I get it. So Ben, why not work with President Trump? I mean, he is doing criminal justice reform, prison reform. He's reached out to you guys, given an olive branch, saying, you guys have ideas, bring them to my committee and we'll consider them. I let you have the last word briefly.

WATSON: This is the president of United States. He has ample resources. He has gone through thousands and thousands of people who need pardons. We wrote an op-ed talking about, we want systemic change, not just a pardon here or there, although that may be great for someone that have them. We want to be a place where these issues don't even -- these issues don't even have -- it's broader than that, but we do, Laura, --

INGRAHAM: I get it, but why --

WTASON: -- commend the president on his willingness.

INGRAHAM: OK, So I am saying is, they are doing prison reform now and he has expressed, as I played in "The Angle," a desire perhaps, which kind of ticks off a lot of conservatives, but to do a broader criminal justice reform. He's bringing in all these people, including Van Jones, who is also getting money from the NFL, so why not -- forget the politics for a moment.

We could actually get something done with this president, even with all of our differences on other issues, for his tweets or whatever. You know what I'm saying? Just come and talk to him. I think you would actually find someone who would actually want to work with you on a lot of things. That is my sense. Final thought?

WATSON: Once I get off this interview, please forward me the president's number so that I can contact him directly so we can come work. As players, we are open to any invitation for the president of United States, obviously, and we will go work with him.

INGRAHAM: We're almost out of time.

WATSON: But for me, I will say this one thing for me. This issue of justice is important because in the Book of Micah, it says to act justly and to walk humbly with your god and so --

INGRAHAM: I love it. I love it.

WATSON: -- this is just one of those issues but for me, it's something that -- that's when it goes home.

INGRAHAM: That's a great one. I'm going to end it there. Thank you so much, Ben Watson. We really appreciate it. Up next, Bannon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me what the Democrats are running on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Impeach 45!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Democrats have nothing to run on. They are resorting to racism, xenophobe, and all these other things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: African-American unemployment, Hispanic unemployment, record lows.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This election cycle is about the highest stakes possible for (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is armageddon.

TRUMP: You know, this is tough stuff. We are fighting a war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well that is a clip from the film "Trump at War," the new documentary from former White House chief strategist for Steve Bannon. And President Trump's enemies are seemingly emboldened after the release of details from the Woodward book and that anonymous "New York Times" op-ed by senior administration official.

Bannon says President Trump is now facing what is essentially a coup from within his own White House. He joins us now with more. You can see the film Wednesday on the One America News Network. That is going to be a lot of fun, 8:00 p.m. How are you doing Bannon? Long time no see.

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: Thanks for having me.

INGRAHAM: Thanks for dressing up. You have your own clothing line coming out, right? It's black on black where they -- I wanted the military jacket.

BANNON: I knew if I was going to come on the show, you were going to bust my chops. I deserve it. I deserve it.

INGRAHAM: I need the military jacket tonight because it's at war, you're at war so you got to be in the military coat. All right, why the film? Why now? We are at war -- we've been at war from the beginning --

BANNON: Well Trump has against the permanent political class and I've talked about this for years, you know, I've been on your radio show. You were on my radio show. Trump has been at war with a permanent political class. Eight months ago, I started this film feeling that by the time we had the run up and was going to be like the tea party movement.

We needed these rally films that kind of get people in power. So this film is for the base plus to get them excited, to get them out, you know, walking precincts et cetera. So, I think it's -- you can already tell it's gotten a big reaction already from the Democratic left.

INGRAHAM: Well, the funny thing is that it is coming out Wednesday when you had Omarosa, -- Michael Wolff, Omarosa, Woodward, and now the anonymous column. And there are some out there who say this was all planned. I mean, I don't know if it was all planned or coordinated, but you almost think it would be, given that this is -- every day it is a drip, drip, drip.

BANNON: The film shows what President Trump has been up against since day one, right. It shows on the campaign but particularly it shows in the White House where he is up against, and I think the convergence of that book and the anonymous column, I mean, it is quite evident that President Trump -- there is a coup.

I mean, there is a coup, like they are saying there was a coup by General McClellan and the senior leadership in the Union Army to try to thwart what Abraham Lincoln wants to do in the Civil War. You have an exact type of coup right now. What was said in that anonymous letter was absolutely outrageous and I think the president ought to take immediate and direct action to find out who the conspirators are.

I don't think there is any one author. I think there is an author -- I think there is somebody that drafted it. There are many voices in there. I think you can tell the way it's written. I think that's a much broader conspiracy than people think.

I think it is probably six to a dozen people and I think you ought to immediately start to do what Andrew Jackson did, do what Abraham Lincoln did, find out who is responsible and fire them.

INGRAHAM: We have Broadway actress now basically wishing that John Wilkes Booth was still around. I mean, this is the level of discourse and dialogue that they always blame Trump. They say well, he is the one who once said you can go punch someone out a rally.

BANNON: You can see in the first -- I have a prologue in this film that is five minutes long. If this was put into theaters, because it is going to be distributed otherwise, it would probably be almost x-rated for violence and language. What we did is went back to the rallies, we went back to what Antifa has done to the Trump supporters. We show the violence. I mean, the left is out of control right now, OK, across the board.

INGRAHAM: Is it by any means necessary?

BANNON: Absolutely, any means necessary. And now they have cohorts. Now they have cohorts in the administration and I think it is broader than the White House. Remember, what "The New York Times" said was senior administration officials and what that basically means for "The New York Times" is cabinet secretaries and their deputies, major agency heads, and assistance to the president, which is about 40 to 50 people.

INGRAHAM: Nikki Haley came out with an op-ed in The New York Times where she basically was supportive of the president but it basically said when I want to challenge the president, I do so directly to his face. And there was a word that the president didn't like that that much. Why do you have to write a column with that focus?

Again, it was fairly positive toward the president but pointing out she disagrees with him on key issues. When I worked for the Reagan administration, it wasn't so out there, constantly, that you had, you know, perpetual infighting, although there were people who were less conservative than Reagan. But it was more of a movement. There was more of a sense of a movement --

BANNON: I don't know, and Jim Baker, (inaudible) Jim Baker and towards the end of the first term or the second term, you had the knives being put into the conservatives every day. White Houses are naturally, you know, --

INGRAHAM: That's okay.

BANNON: -- cauldrons of different pinions, et cetera.

INGRAHAM: But that's OK because Trump does like people of differing opinions and in the end, did Cohn -- Gary Cohn get his way on trade?

BANNON: He did not.

INGRAHAM: No, Bob Lighthizer did. Trump did.

BANNON: By the way, that's the power of --

INGRAHAM: Trump did.

BANNON: They said to "Politico," what President Trump ought to do on the book is buy a million copies and air drop them into the congressional districts who got to win. Here's what it shows, that President Trump had the right idea from the beginning. He understands what economic war with China and he's going to brin all forces of the government to bear in that economic war.

Cohn and Porter and all this crowd that fought in the committee to save America, which the book is basically the typed up notes, the two central parts, the war -- economic war against China and Afghanistan, in which the president was lied -- he was lied to and he was misled, about the cost of Afghanistan and what type of control we had over the country.

That's why Mattis just went to Afghanistan to try -- to try to bail themselves and by the way, they were not upfront and truthful to the president of the United States. And so if you look at -- and they say in there that he has the temperament of a 5-year-old.

I told "Politico" today, if that is a five-year-old, I want more 5-year- olds on the National Security Council. Here is a guy that -- in everything they say in the book about his trade policies and economics, always dead wrong.

INGRAHAM: Obama has taken credit for the economy. You got this manufacturing boom blue collar jobs, wages going up for the lowest wage workers. They said it would never happen. It's happening. He's killing it on the jobs front, Obama is taking credit on Friday.

BANNON: By the way, not just Obama but also the Bush administration. Let's be brutally honest --

INGRAHAM: And anonymous is taking credit.

BANNON: A lot of the anonymous are people from the Bush administration, establishment Republicans. The establishment Republicans and the Democrats have been about managed decline in the United States of America. President Trump is a disrupter. He's an innovator. And this is what drives him nuts, because of his policy -- and what he's doing is reorienting the world's supply chain back to United States, that's why Mexico has just cut a deal with us. That is why the E.U. is going to cut a deal with us. That's why Korea and Japan are going to cut deals with us. He's winning. He --

INGRAHAM: Is he a nationalist.

BANNON: Absolutely. Economic nationalist, absolutely. You can tell what he's doing on trade. He's bringing jobs back just like he said he's going to do. They hate that. Goldman Sachs, Gary Cohn and these guys are the investor relations department of the Chinese regime.

INGRAHAM: They are all bought into China.

BANNON: A hundred percent.

INGRAHAM: Their chips are on China.

BANNON: What they told Trump was that the rise of China is like the second law --

INGRAHAM: Inevitable.

BANNON: It's like the second law of thermodynamics, some law of physics that can be turned around. And Trump said, that's not true. And he's been relentless. The book opens where they are stealing, they're taking off his desk the deal about NAFTA and about Korea. They said it was terrible, Trump didn't know. Eventually got around to it. He renegotiated NAFTA. He renegotiated Korea, and he's renegotiating in the process of taking the supply chain back from China.

INGRAHAM: Why was Omarosa hired?

BANNON: She was on the campaign. By the way, Omarosa was very good on the campaign.

INGRAHAM: She was effective.

BANNON: She was very effective on the campaign. She did a terrific job, we had we had to throw Omarosa into some very tough situations, and I think that is why --

INGRAHAM: She was taping conversations.

BANNON: I think that's why Reince, in hindsight, Reince and people had to make straightforward decision.

INGRAHAM: Looking forward to seeing the film. Can't wait to see it.

BANNON: "Trump at War." Go to TrumpatWar.com.

INGRAHAM: TrumpatWar.com, and you can find out more. You can watch the trailer if you haven't seen it already. A lot of you already have.

The attacks on President Trump seem to be more and more coordinated, as Steve said. So are they? A debate on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: From Bob Woodward's new book to the anonymous New York Times op-ed to the Brett Kavanaugh Senate hearings to the Obama comeback to the political stage, well, there appears to be an all-out coordinated attack from the resistance against President Trump. The Hoover Institution's Victor Davis Hanson calls this the circus of resistance in a great piece that ties all these events together.

Joining us for a conversation debate, Dan Bongino, former Secret Service agent and NRATV host, Victor Davis Hanson, of course senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, and Chris Hahn, here with me in the studio, I never get to see him, former aide to Senator Chuck Schumer, radio talk show host.

All right, VDH, let's start with you. Coordinated, is Woodward calling up Omarosa? Is that what you mean, or is it just the constant drumbeat?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, HOOVER INSTITUTION: No, I didn't say it was people got into a room as the Senate Democrats did with the Kavanaugh hearing, not like that. But here we are 60 days out, and suddenly we have an unsourced, unnamed, anonymous op-ed which is very rare in journalistic press by "The New York Times" alleging all these bad things that Trump did, and they are stylistic. There is not any citation that the Iran deal, canceling the Iran deal, getting out of their Paris Accord or negotiating are impeachable offenses. And he says he is member of the, quote, resistance.

And then four days later, the same theme is again exhibited in Bob Woodward's advance copies of a climate of incompetence. And then Barack Obama, unlike past presidents, now decides suddenly he is going to go out on the campaign trail. And he can't decide when he says that Trump is basically a clear and present danger and he is so dangerous that he's taking credit for all these good things that are happening that really should belong to Obama.

And then we have this really tragic situation where the McCain funeral follow the script of the Paul Wellstone 16 years ago were turned into a pep rally. And then McCain's theme was sort of channeled by the anonymous. And there is one thing about all of those that is strange and is common, and that is it's a complaint against style and temperament and so-called civility, but it's juxtaposed to a record booming economy and a record of achievement --

INGRAHAM: But it's Obama's economy. But it is Obama's economy, Victor David Hanson.

HANSON: It doesn't matter overseas because he's uncivil, or he's doing so bad that it's mine. I want to claim that bad record.

INGRAHAM: We've got to play some of this Obama from Friday.

CHRIS HAHN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Please, I loved it. Play a lot.

INGRAHAM: This is the guy, two-term president, very charismatic, but I don't like people that try to take credit for other people stuff. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: When you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: When the recovery started.

HANSON: When did it start? It started in 2009.

INGRAHAM: Remember, Barack Obama last year was saying, in 2016, he thinks he's going to wave a wand and bring back these manufacturing jobs. He didn't wave a wand but he did have sensible policies. Booming manufacturing, wages going up in blue-collar, even CNBC had to do a piece today basically admitting that the addition of the manufacturing jobs under Trump has been astounding and it dwarfs what Obama did.

HAHN: No question at all, the economy is doing great right now. But it didn't just start the day the man took office. Let's be very clear.

INGRAHAM: The growth of manufacturing, which they said would not happen in blue-collar and manufacturing, they said it wouldn't happen from Steve Ratner to Barack Obama, and it's happening under Trump.

HAHN: The growth in manufacturing under Trump is a product of the booming economy, a product of developing markets overseas where wages are rising. It's natural to happen. It started under Obama and it has continued. Don't forget, the jobs that Obama was creating, the economy was creating about 20,000 jobs more per month than they have been under the Trump administration over the last two years of the Obama administration. So it's not like this just happened.

INGRAHAM: There were jobs created, but again, this goes back to the resistance, Dan Bongino. Do you agree with what Victor Davis Hanson was saying?

DAN BONGINO, FORMER NYPD OFFICER: Yes, Victor is right. Listen, the politics of the swamp forever has been about two commodities -- connections and money. And Donald Trump is a threat to both of those things. He doesn't give a rat's caboose about your connections because he doesn't need them, and he certainly doesn't need your money.

But to Chris' point, too, I love debating with Chris, he's a good friend, but he rarely, if ever, knows the numbers, and he doesn't know the numbers either. Barack Obama led the worst recovery from recession in modern American history. This is just a statistical, numeric fact. I know it's hard for liberals to digest, but it's a matter of fact.

HAHN: Come on.

BONGINO: Notice what he does, Laura. Then he goes right to the stock market because he can't argue but I just said --

HAHN: It's 11 million jobs.

BONGINO: The jobs, Donna Brazile herself in a disclosed email you can all read on the Internet acknowledged in 2016 that the jobs created under the Obama administration were part-time jobs. They were not full-time jobs. And Chris's number about that is wrong, too.

HAHN: That's not true, either.

BONGINO: Full-time equivalent jobs, Donald Trump, 4.1 million. Obama, 3.3 million.

HAHN: The right's favorite number during the Obama years were job participation, which is down a quarter percent under Trump. So let's be clear.

INGRAHAM: I think the main thing, and Victor, you've talked about this before, almost out of time, but wages are going up. That is what all the economists have been looking for. They were flat under Obama.

HANSON: In the last 12 months, wages of the middle class worker have gotten off three percent. That is a funny number, three, because Barack Obama was the first modern president never to achieve three percent annualized GDP growth. The reason he didn't was because he put on new regulations, he had this neo-socialist ObamaCare health plan, and he jawboned to the economy. He said, you didn't build that, now is not the time --

INGRAHAM: People were not as optimistic.

HANSON: And he raised taxes, and it created a climate where people did not want to invest.

INGRAHAM: There was an anemic recovery. There was a recovery, but just the numbers don't lie. Guys, I wish we had an hour on this. Thank you so much for joining me.

By the way, Serena Williams had a messy loss during the U.S. Open final, an amazing player but a sad, sad event because of how this all went down. Now she is in some circles becoming like the Colin Kaepernick figure of tennis. So how did that happen? Feminist hero or a sore loser, we'll discuss it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Serena was watching her coach give her hand signals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Verbal abuse.

SERENA WILLIAMS, TENNIS PLAYER: I'm here fighting for women's rights and for women's equality, and for all kinds of stuff. And for me to say, thief, and for him to take a game, it made me feel like it was a sexist remark. He's never took again from a man because they said their. For me, it blows my mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And now, tennis superstar Serena Williams is being fined $17,000 for three code violations during Saturday's U.S. Open final. We at the Ingraham household were watching every minute. Williams lost to Japan's Naomi Osaka, and Williams says the critical penalties lodged against her by that match's male umpire were indeed sexist, as you just heard. But this isn't the first time she's tangled with referees or umpires, even female ones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, really -- that's as angry as I've ever seen her. You can't call that there. She's done it again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow. Violations. Violated for water? Really? Don't even look at me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: What did she say, don't even look at me? She's now their martyr for the female cause that many supporters are now claiming. Joining me with reactions is John Lloyd, a British and former tennis star and occasional commentator, along with sports agent Anthony Tall. All right, John, you've been out there on the court, just a few years ago, and I loved watching them play any part should be 70s in '80s. It is high-pressure. Was this a sexist call by the chair umpire?

JOHN LLOYD, FORMER PRO TENNIS PLAYER: No, no, no. Not at all. Carlos Ramos is a stickler for the rules. That is the way he is, and he went by the book. The three things that he called Serena for were correct. Could he have handled it differently? Could he have been a bit softer and maybe said something to her at the changeover and turned the mic off and said, listen, Serena, I can see the coaching going on. Tell your coach to cut it out, and then maybe this thing wouldn't have started. Perhaps.

But once it started, this was Serena -- it was a bad day for her at the office, and you can't say that sort of stuff to the umpire, not these days. These umpires are very professional, they have rulebooks. Carlos Ramos is known for keeping the rules straight. You've got to use your common sense here and back off when the times were getting bad.

INGRAHAM: And Anthony, I'll go to you. You're a sports agent, you handle a lot of high-profile folks. Margaret Court, who is the record holder in tennis grand slam, she is considered the grand dame of the sport, she was quoted as saying, the rules are the rules, and she doesn't like it when players try to pretend they are bigger than the game. Your reaction?

ANTHONY TALL, SPORTS AGENT: Yes, I think that Serena was having a really tough day. I think she was a little more upset with what was going on against Osaka as opposed to what the ref was saying to her. However, this has been a tough year with her with her getting random tests, random drug tests that she feels has been unfair, particularly coming off of her new child.

Remember, this has hasn't been the sport that has been so welcoming to her and her sister. Remember, when they first came out, this was a whole new look, two black girls from Compton, and they took this sport by storm. So she has felt a whole bunch of different things over her 20 year career, 20 some plus year career --

INGRAHAM: I know. Anthony, she's a global superstar, and there have been glowing profiles about -- and John, you can chime in quickly, she has been lauded by everyone and everywhere, and she is the star still of tennis. Osaka is probably the next generation. But I don't know. My daughter and I were watching it together, she's 13, she doesn't even watch tennis very often, and she just kept looking at me, going, I can't believe she's speaking to the umpire that way. She doesn't even play tennis. John?

LLOYD: I believe that Serena and Venus, it's the greatest sports story in history, what they've achieved. Don't take that away from them because it has been unbelievable from where they came from and how their father predicted they were both be number one in the world, and they've achieved that. They've been amazing.

This, though, was a bad by Serena. Could the umpire perhaps to diffuse the situation better? Perhaps. But Serena, I don't think, knew the rules. I don't think she realized she was about to a game penalty. I don't think she realized there was a three step to the rules, which the umpire enforced correctly, and she just lost it. You can't do that kind of thing, and it was a bad day for her.

INGRAHAM: Another woman, Anthony, who has been obviously a superstar in her own right in her own day, I grew up watching Martina Navratilova. And she said basically this sort of behavior, this is the sort of behavior that no one should be engaging in on the court. They have been many times when I was playing that I wanted to break my racket into 1,000 pieces, then I thought about the kids watching, and I grudgingly held onto that racket. One of the greatest players who ever lived in women's tennis. Anthony, close it out.

TALL: And like I said, I think she was more frustrated with what was going on. But I will say, John McEnroe has done much worse. And that was her point. But she was frustrated.

INGRAHAM: That's not sexist.

TALL: She's a global circus door. I don't know if it is sexist, but that was what she felt.

INGRAHAM: This is not sexist and tennis -- let's have tennis be one of the few sports that is no longer political, OK? We don't want any politics in sports. Guys, great segment. Thanks so much.

And when we return, what I found on the streets of Chicago and what all those social justice warriors should be demanding today, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: So called social justice warriors are good at protest but not so good at diagnosing what's ailing at-risk communities. There is no better example of this than in Chicago, the relentless cycle of violence that grips parts of it. On Friday night, we aired a powerful town hall, got incredible kudos, thank you for sending them, featuring officials and residents from the south and west side in search of solutions. While many liberal activists will tell you police or in part responsible for fueling the chaos, the officers who face off with these murderous gangs beg to differ.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, we have had 2,025 shootings in the city up-to-date as of today. First of all, it did not start yesterday. It started several years ago when they decided to underfund and underman the police department. We are still almost 1,000 policemen short of where we need to be.

INGRAHAM: Hold on. Everyone has to understand, you are 1,000 police officers short on the city of Chicago today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We only have half of the detectives that we need. We used to have 2,000 detectives.

INGRAHAM: How many do you have now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just about 1,000.

INGRAHAM: What is the reason for that? What do the politicians say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to ask the mayor, Rahm Emanuel, for that answer. Our opinions doesn't count. That's part of the problem. And that is what has to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: We also highlighted the horrific human and emotional toll this violence takes, and there are few examples more upsetting to the core then the cause of Demetrius Griffin Jr. He is a 15-year-old boy who was reportedly burned alive in 2016 after a gang tried unsuccessfully to recruit him. Demetrius' aunt, Rochelle Sykes, spoke with us about the murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROCHELLE SYKES: He wasn't in a gang. He didn't do drugs. What is it that he could have done so bad that a monster would take his life like that, and then two blocks from his home? We have to pass that block every time we visit my mom. I can't go into the house without hearing him say titi, I did this, titi, I did that.

He was looking so forward to high school. He only did two weeks of high school. He wanted to be on the swim team. He loved dogs, he loved animals. Why would you do that? Why would you burn someone alive? And then why is there such a code of silence that you did not hear him hollering for help and did nothing?

INGRAHAM: No one saw anything?

SYKES: No one saw anything.

INGRAHAM: No one said they saw anything.

SYKES: Yes.

INGRAHAM: Did Mayor Emanuel call you?

SYKES: No, we have not heard from either one of them yet.

INGRAHAM: Is not acceptable to any of you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Rather than staging protests, maybe the NFL players, more of them at least, and politicians, should focus on safety, family, personal responsibility, and education. Some of them are. But their foundations, all of those, for real social justice.

When we come back, the latest on the treacherous path of hurricane Florence. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Now an update on hurricane Florence. It's currently a massive category four storm, ferocious, sustained winds up to now 140 miles per hour. Meteorologists don't expect that to diminish any time soon. It actually may reach category five status tomorrow. The latest computer models say the storm will most likely make landfall on Thursday around the time of this broadcast.

The National Hurricane Center just came out with an update just moments ago saying there will be live, threatening storm surges along the coastlines of North and South Carolina, along with Virginia. So stay safe out there, please. Listen to what authorities are telling you.

Now, Shannon Bream and the "Fox News @ Night" team are here to take it from here with details on that and a lot more. Shannon?

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