Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on why Americans should be concerned about mail-in voting

This is a rush transcript from "The Ingraham Angle," May 26, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Happy Tuesday, although those are disturbing images, Sean. And we'll see what else develops there, but people are on edge across the country. But there's a lot of room, there's a lot of room at the same time, we have challenges. A lot of room for real optimism which I'm going to hit on tonight despite the fact--

HANNITY: That's awesome. You know what, Florida, Georgia, Texas, great stories. You've got a lot of good stories to tell.

INGRAHAM: Absolutely, Sean. Great show tonight as always.

HANNITY: Have a good show.

INGRAHAM: All right. I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight. Now despite declining COVID numbers, why are some governors still subjecting their citizens to these sustained absurd lockdowns. We're going to speak to a couple of folks who are suffering under the thumb of power mad leaders. Also, tonight in the states where lockdowns are loosening, Democrats are working overtime to expand mail in voting. Now why is that?

We're going to show you also why the President's warning about potential fraud is right on target. And Raymond Arroyo now it's Tuesday, so it's a little unusual, but he's here on the Trump-Biden mask showdown. And what Memorial Day could tell us about the campaign. But first, those who bet against America. That's the focus of tonight's ANGLE.

We know who they are. They short the market, they short the dollar and when things look unstable the situation gets a little rocky here at home, they look for the exits. Maybe they move their money or their businesses offshore because they think America has seen her best days.

But truly smart people including smart Democrats know that betting against America has always been a losing proposition. Even during our darkest hours, the Civil War, the Great Depression.

At a recent Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, Warren Buffett who is no fan of Donald Trump discussed America's past and future trials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARREN BUFFET, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: You have this testing period. And people really lost faith to some degree, they just didn't see the potential of what America could do. And we found that nothing can stop America when you get right down to it. And it may have been tested again and the Great Depression and it may be tested now to some degree. In the end, the answer is never bet against America (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And it shouldn't surprise you, any of you that Warren Buffett is a hell of a lot smarter than Left-wing economists who've been predicting doomsday scenarios for the U.S. economy since COVID.

Well today, the Dow jumped 500 points almost closing above 25,000. Consumer confidence rising. Investors across the board are seeing light at the end of the tunnel and Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Utah, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, all run by pretty conservative governors. Well, you see their life is finally getting back to normal.

Even California's locked down lover Gavin Newsom. He's under pressure from lawsuits from small business owners and people in the faith community. And he has had to ease up also. Los Angeles County officials initially suggested the lockdown could last through the summer. But after massive backlash across the board. LA County is aiming to now reopen on July 4th. And churches are opening at 25 percent capacity starting tomorrow.

And as for those blue state governors that just won't accept yes for an answer. Well, don't believe for a second their fraudulent justifications that it's all for your own safety. You know they always say that when they're taking away your constitutional rights. But it's becoming more obvious by the day that these power-hungry governors and radical mayors are endangering their states futures and we'll eventually see their states left behind.

Now it's horrific enough that Andrew Cuomo ended up creating death traps in New York's elderly facilities. But now his slow roll to reopen is doing untold damage to his state going forward.

The Washington Post wrote this piece over the weekend, they ran it about how the COVID shutdown has been the straw that broke the camel's back for New York, more residents now are reporting being so fed up with life in the Big Apple that they're relocating to places where they can actually have a decent standard of living, and Cuomo wants taxpayers in Florida and Texas and beyond to bail them out.

None of these lockdown liberals should get a penny more and bailout money so long as they continue this lockdown stuff, because the longer they stay locked down and they have all these other onerous and unnecessary restrictions in place, the more difficult, the more expensive. And I'd say the more dangerous it becomes for their states, the longer any kind of recovery will be.

Given that we now know that the virus is a lot less deadly than originally thought and that it's most dangerous to the confined elderly, there's no good reason to keep any part of the country completely closed. Unless that is, you don't want America to recover, at least while Trump is President.

An article in Politico, you may have heard of it, it reported over the weekend that Democrats are privately freaking out. Yes, you heard that right. That the American economy will be in a massive recovery mode. Come the fall. Check this out.

This is my big worry, said a former Obama White House official who still close to the former president. Asked about the level of concern among top party officials, he said it's high, high, high.

Now, how do you describe this except to say that Democrats see their only serious path to victory hinging on your despair? Deep down, it seems like they're rooting against life getting better for American families. They're rooting for Americans to remain unemployed. Can you believe that, anyone? Or four schools to stay closed? Now, long after we flatten the curve, they issue these grim warnings of a second wave, a third wave that could come next month, that could come in September. It could be worse. More people dead. I mean. Or the super spreader phenomenon, or you really have to have 18 feet social distancing or 30 feet or sneeze spreads 40 feet.

I mean, every minute of every day they have to push the panic button to scare you back into your homes. They shame people who don't bow down to their new rules. But in the end, most of these people seeking to control your behavior don't apply the rules to themselves. They never do, do they? We'll share the biggest offenders with you in just a moment.

Now, what worries these hypocrites is not the dire situation they created in their own states. They're worried about the possibility of your state's economic recovery. Trump could be poised to benefit from the dramatic numbers produced during the partial rebound phrase that is likely to coincide with the four months before November. That realization has many Democrats spooked. Now, let that sink in for a moment. Where you and I are spooked about the idea of living like masked zombies, waiting for government checks for this foreseeable future, the Democrats are spooked by the idea that things are getting better.

In March, Biden's campaign, Pelosi, Schumer, the whole gang were betting that the virus would cripple the economy right through the election. The only way that that happens now, though, is if enough blue state governors make life unlivable for the 99.99 percent of Americans who survived this virus. That's a pathetic anti-science sicko campaign strategy.

But let them make that bet. America will not allow this crisis to be get a waste. And that's THE ANGLE.

Now, while some blue state governors have heeded President Trump's call to reopen places of worship, not all of them have. New Jersey is letting beaches; bicycle stores and some retail open up. The 76ers will soon start practicing again. But Governor Murphy is keeping churches still under lock and key. He hasn't even set a date to reopen houses of worship, and he wants to subject them to an arbitrary 10-person limit. It's for those reasons that my next guest is suing to have the governor's orders overturned.

Joining me now is Pastor Bobby Bledsoe, founder of the Dwelling Place Network, which is based in New Jersey. Pastor, thanks for joining us tonight. Your governor is letting 500 people walk into a grocery store but doesn't trust you and other religious leaders from other faiths as well to keep churches, mosques, or temples safe. What's going on? PASTOR BOBBY BLEDSOE, FOUNDER, THE DWELLING PLACE NETWORK: Laura, thank you for having me on tonight. Yes, it's a shame. Who would ever think in the 21st century, convicts would be being released and pastors would face scrutiny? I told my congregation the other day, we had outside parking lot. How many of you thought that today on your way to church you may get arrested? It's a shame.

The religious freedom that our country was founded on is one of the most essential basic human rights that we have here in America. And we have to stand up. And that's why we decided to take action against our government.

INGRAHAM: Pastor, the President said last Friday that he wants churches to open up. They need to open up. Do you want more from the federal government in states like New Jersey, where these onerous restrictions still in place or outright still shut down churches? Should the feds step in here? I know you're suing, but do you need federal help? BLEDSOE: I hope the Attorney General do something, and I believe he will. I think they made their statement. But I have to now say, the responsibility is now on my fellow pastors. I have been saying this since day one. We have to stay open. The churches are essential to the well-being, the spirit, the psyche of people in our communities.

We ministered to people, you know when a church, the psyche of a church. The church, when you think about it, I believe that the hope of the world. When the doors of the church are closed, who do people begin to look for, for help? The government, maybe that's what they want. But I still believe the pastors now have to take a stance and you have to count the cost. It may cost you something, but you have to open. INGRAHAM: Well, think about the great sacrifices of religious leaders around the world and parishioners around the world of all faiths. I mean, they're worried in Syria and other parts of world getting killed on the way to church and they still make it to church and mass and temple and so forth. Pastor, this is what Governor Murphy said about churches defying his lockdown orders. Watch. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL MURPHY, GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: Well, there'll be repercussions in any case where someone willfully violates our executive orders. The overwhelming amount of folks who lead institutions of faith, they understand this. They're chomping at the bit. We get that. But they also understand the risks associated with it. And we've got to make sure we're all in this together and we do this the right way. (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Pastor, will you reopen despite the threat from Governor Murphy? BLEDSOE: Well, what I can say is this, the last two Sundays, we'd had parking lot church and it was OK, but we need to meet in person. We need to meet in person. And all I can say is as for me and our congregation, we have a plan to get together and to worship. And I would call on all pastors in New Jersey to take a stand. Pentecost Sunday is on us here next Sunday. It's when the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost. I'm asking all churches, no matter your denomination, to stand strong and let's be the church of Jesus Christ. INGRAHAM: There's not enough jail cells, I don't think for all Christians and people of faith throughout the state of New Jersey. They're not enough. So, thank you, Pastor. Thank you for standing up for your faith and doing it responsibly. Thanks so much.

BLEDSOE: Thank you. INGRAHAM: And are these little petty tyrants across the country adhering to the punishing lockdown's they demand of their own citizenry? Take Michigan's Gretchen Witless Whitmer. After telling Michiganders not to flood areas upstate that are reopening, her husband was caught doing just that and worse, demanding a harbormaster release the family boat early for Memorial Day weekend. Liberate the boat. When they refused, he responded. I'm the husband of the governor. Will this make a difference? In other words, saying, do you know who I am? Unreal. So, how did his witless wife respond? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRETCHEN WHITMER, GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN: My husband made a failed attempt at humor last week when checking in with the small business that helps with our boat and dock up north. Knowing it wouldn't make a difference. He jokingly asked if being married to me might move him up in the queue. Obviously, with the motorized boating prohibition in our early days of COVID-19, he thought it might get a laugh. (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: That sunk. That attempted justification sunk like the Titanic. Absolute pathetic. As Whitmer's husband seek special treatment, my next guest is risking everything to keep a 60-year-old Michigan barber shop above water. Joining me now is Karl Manke, owner of Karl Manke's Barber and Beauty. When he openly defy the governor's lockdown order, the state tried to suspend his license. A judge that struck it down. I love it. Karl, great to see you. The governor just further extended the state shutdown. It's unbelievable. Until June 12th. So, how does it make you feel to see what her own family is doing, meanwhile? KARL MANKE, OWNER, KARL MANKE'S BARBER AND BEAUTY: Well, you know, I really - over - in a sense, I think this governor is a little bit immature for this job. This assignment that she's been given is obviously a little bit more than what she's capable of handling. INGRAHAM: Well, what do you make of her husband trotting up north to get his boat released? Meanwhile, you can't be released to cut some hair and give some beauty treatments to people, even though the curve has flattened.

MANKE: This is pretty typical of people who want to rule rather than govern. You know, oftentimes they'll use these types of tactics where do as I say, not as I do. You know, it's sort of like our mothers at one time. And truthfully, she's not my mother, you know, so I don't really probably listen too much to her. I lived under 14 different administrations, starting with FDR. I was born in 1942. I've never seen anything like this one. This one is the most ridiculous. Even back during the 1960s, you know, I remember when the Democrat Party at that time was the party of free speech, no censorship, against an oppressive government, for human rights and civil rights. She had completely turned upside down on this, saying it's become more of a police state than it has anything else.

I wrote a story. I'm an author also. I wrote a book called Age of Shame. And in that story, it takes place in a Warsaw ghetto in the 1940s. Now, at that particular time, the Jewish people were packed into one square mile by 800.000 in one square mile.

Now, the younger people knew what was going on. They knew where were these, what the Nazis were up to at that time. The older people feared that if the younger people wouldn't behave themselves, that the government, the German government would punish them. So, they would turn in their younger people and willingly listen and watch nice movies, they were going to have a wonderful day and wonderful time.

INGRAHAM: So, Karl, I don't mean to interrupt, we're running tight on time, and I love that story. MANKE: OK.

INGRAHAM: But Karl, you're talking about the encouraging snitching on your fellow citizens and she didn't wear a mask, and he opened up too early and you cut the hair of a protester. How dare you? So, I've never seen that ever in the United States of America. But we have elected officials encouraging that type of neighbor, spying upon neighbor to tell the authorities. I don't think that washes well in the United States of America. Well, I don't think it works. MANKE: You know, we need in Michigan right now at this point, you know, we need to stand up. We need to stand up. We need to open up our businesses. And we need to show up. This police state tactic that turns one neighbor on another, one neighbor scolding another one for not being social distance. Another one scolding another one for not wearing a mask. They love this kind of crap.

INGRAHAM: But Karl when people snitch on her, she gives a bogus excuse. Oh, it was a poor attempted humor. Oh, really? No one's buying that. All these governors, if they don't open the state, should be recalled, should be a recall petition against her and Pritzker and all the rest of them. Karl, it's infuriating to me what you guys are going through. I'm so sorry that you're going through this. Keep up, standing up, speak the truth. And thanks for being with us tonight.

MANKE: Thank you very kindly for the opportunity. INGRAHAM: Absolutely. And speaking of these hypocrites, Virginia Governor Ralph Blackface Northam was shaming people on Friday for not following the latest COVID fashion fad. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RALPH NORTHAM, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA: Wearing a mask could literally save someone else's life. That is becoming clearer every day as we move further into managing this virus over the long-term. (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: So, it was stunning to see him the very next day, walking around Virginia Beach, taking selfies with strangers right up against him, unmasked the very activity he just said could actually kill people. OK, so you obviously didn't believe that is what I'm saying earlier. They don't believe what they're saying. They just want to control you. Now, was he embarrassed? Not in the slightest. In fact, he's now making what he failed to do mandatory in public for all members of the Commonwealth of Virginia. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORTHAM: Everyone will need to wear a face cover when you're inside at a public place starting this Friday. I'm taking this step because science increasingly shows us that the virus spreads less easily when everyone is wearing face covering. (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And by the way if you think that's ever going to be rescinded. He wants us masked from here on out. OK, he's been exposed as a hypocrite. All Virginians now have to suffer. But is this even constitutional. Article 1, Section 1 of Virginia's constitution states that this is just - let me read it. Can you back it up, guys? Actually, want to read that. Yes. So, people know what I'm saying. Well, let me just read this really quickly. That all men are, by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights of which when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity. And that all powers vested in and consequently derived by the people that magistrates are their trustees and servants and at all times amenable to them.

Joining me now, Harmeet Dhillon, Civil Rights Attorney, Founder of the Center for American Liberty. Do Virginians, Harmeet, have a legal case against the mask mandate and other orders such as those? HARMEET DHILLON, FOUNDER, CENTER FOR AMERICAN LIBERTY: Well, thank you, Laura. Clearly, the governor himself is very comfortable, masked or in blackface, but most of us aren't. And so, the question is, can they do it the way that they're planning to do it? So, the way that Virginia is doing it is different than some other states, Laura. They're actually saying that they're going to find the businesses, the restaurants, those places where people go indoors, not the actual citizens of Virginia, like you or I who might walk in. So that's interesting. That becomes an economic regulation that subject to rational basis scrutiny.

Now, if it is true, as we've been told, I think you've said this on your show before, that maybe the masks don't work, or they can't prove that they work. I mean, Governor Northam didn't think they worked enough this weekend to wear one. Then maybe we can disprove the rational basis that the government is saying applies here. And I think that would be one route to go.

Other challenges to masks have included that masks are an expressive form of communication. They communicate a message. In this case, I'm scared or, you know, as the Left would say, I care about you. And can the state compel us to carry that message forward? So, I could see a cause of action where an individual going into a store says, I do not wish to convey that message. And there's no rational basis for it. So, I'd like to challenge it. So, I think it's going to raise some interesting issues in that regard, Laura.

INGRAHAM: Yes, well, if it's all for safety, then everyone should know this is not a temporary thing. These - they will - if they get real power, pass a rulemaking at the Department of Transportation mandating that masks from here on out on public transportation, whether it's a plane or a bus, forever, not just now, because, if that's the argument, then you've got to wear it all the time during flu season, forever masked. So, that's sort of stuff. It's not just during COVID. It's forever.

And if that's what people want, I guess that's what they're going to get. Harmeet, great work on all these religious liberty cases as well. You've got a big victory today for the barbers, and cosmeticians in California. And we're going to be watching those cases closely. So, great work, Harmeet. Thanks so much.

DHILLON; Thank you, Laura.

INGRAHAM: And now that we're gaining a more complete picture regarding COVID in the mortality rate. Is there a greater risk now being locked down? VDH is here next. Stay there. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW CUOMO, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: At what point do the numbers drop to the reopening threshold? Now people can speculate. People can guess I'm out of that business because we all failed at that business. Right. All the early national experts. Here's my projection model. Here's my projection model. They were all wrong. They were all wrong. (END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Were they all wrong, Andrew, is that what we're saying now? Well, some smart people were questioning all of this from the beginning. And it wasn't just the old models. Just three weeks ago, the experts at HHS and FEMA were predicting the daily COVID death toll would nearly double to 3000 by June 1st.

Well, the reality, only 510 new deaths were reported yesterday. Joining me now is Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Victor, it isn't just the conventional scientific wisdom surrounding the disease itself that's been wrong, but the refusal to admit the harm of an unnecessarily long lockdown. Explain that. VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION: Well, I think the Progressive Party has become the party of superstition and faith-based information, it's not based on science.

Almost everything they've told us has been wrong. It's not two to three people per hundred that are infected. The dialogue or two or three per thousand. And we know from past recessions, when you lose a trillion dollars a year and this, we're losing a trillion dollars in GDP a month, we know statistically how many people will die in excess because of that.

We know in Northern California; suicides are more now than deaths to the virus. So, the data's coming in of the medical cost of being locked down in addition to the economic cost. And that's not faith based. That's the actual data. And the Left refuses to look at it. It reminds me almost of that famous quote, D-Day when Colonel Taylor said, he honors two types of people on the beach. There's those that are dying. Those are dead. And those are going to die. So, let's get the hell off the beach.

And what we're here, there's two types of people locked down, those who are broke. And those who are going to go broke for the most part. So, it's time to get out of your house and take a risk. And it's a scientific risk. And I think most Americans would whether follow George Patton. And they weren't George McClellan. That's the choice we have right now. Take a reasonable risk or to get into a collective fetal position. INGRAHAM: Yes, well, America is built on risks. I mean, the most daring risk takers on earth were founding fathers of America on everything that they risk, their fortune, their blood, everything for freedom and liberty. And look at what we're doing. Well, Governor Newsom today issued this warning. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, (D) CALIFORNIA: The reality is this pandemic has just begun. It hasn't ended. By no stretch of the imagination is this virus behind us. And I just cannot be more, I think, precise in terms of my, well, recommendation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Victor, he's basically prepping people to get used to this kind of rolling series of draconian controls over their daily lives.

HANSON: We are seven weeks now, Laura, from his March 19th warning that 25 million people would be infected at the given rate, we were told, of two percent. We should have had 600,000 dead Californians. We have got about 3,800. That's a tragedy. We are the largest state in the country, we have 40 million people, and we haven't seen any of that. And maybe it's because scientists have warned us, that were ignored, that viruses mutate, and often weaken in their mutations. Or maybe it's because we are developing herd immunity, or maybe it's because of the weather here. It's 103 today where I'm talking to you from.

But all of that in perfect storm fashion has not given us the predictions of doom and gloom and Armageddon of the governor. So he has no credibility anymore, none at all, and people know that. So this all begs the question, why are we doing this? In a few words, you don't have to be a cynic anymore to think that they are willing to destroy the fifth largest economy in the world without which this country cannot rebound before the November election. Just New York and California, 20 percent of the GDP -- excuse me about 15 percent, 20 percent, yes, 20 percent of the GDP of the states.

INGRAHAM: Yes. Got to go.

HANSON: We've got to have those two states.

INGRAHAM: Victor, they have their strategy. It's betting against America and holding back against America and controlling America. I think a lot of conservatives want to let loose, not the virus loose, but the people in their ingenuity and their innovation and their hard work. Let that loose and we're going to be OK in the end. Victor, thank you so much.

HANSON: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: And speaking of faulty models, faulty data, remember that German study that claimed that kids were the COVID super-spreaders? It was hyped by "The New York Times," "The Guardian," of course Dr. Fauci touted the study initially, and Governor Cuomo recently echoed the findings.

Given all this, no one should be surprised that it all turned out to be a load of you know what. A reanalysis of the study's own data, is this sounding familiar, actually came to the exact opposite conclusion. Children have lower viral loads than adults. Our next guest said this is the scientific equivalent of a war crime. Join me now is Phil Kerpen, president of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. Phil, despite that study coming from Germany, none of the German medical societies or governments gave it any credence. So why are we?

PHIL KERPEN, COMMITTEE TO UNLEASH PROSPERITY: It's a good question, Laura. Every major German medical society came out, condemned this paper, said that kids should all be back in school. In fact, they said they would support reopening the schools immediately with no restriction, which is not was Germany is doing. They are putting similar restrictions as a lot of the other European countries.

But this study was written for one reason and one reason only, which was to scare and frighten governments and parent all over the world into keeping schools closed. The conclusion was predetermined and prewritten before they even looked at the data. And the numbers, as much as they torture them to try to support that conclusion, just don't support it. And there have now been multiple re-analyses looking at the very data from that paper and finding that children have about a quarter of the viral load of adults.

INGRAHAM: And France is now, even though France went through obviously a horrific time with the virus, France is now reopening schools, Phil. France's education minister told the BBC it is obvious that a lack of schooling has increased inequalities. It's a social emergency is the term he then uses to describe the need to unlock the country schools. Now, France has had a lot more tragedy per capita than the United States. They are reopening schools, Phil. So what the heck is the United States waiting for?

KERPEN: It is really bizarre. We've only got a couple of states that have reopened schools. I think they're Montana and Wyoming, and maybe North Dakota started summer school. But that's it. The vast majority of the U.S. is not. Almost all of Europe now has. The United Kingdom is going back June 1st.

And in France, they had 1.4 million children go back to school, 70, 70, seven-zero, of those 1.4 million tested positive for this virus. That is such a minuscule tiny, nothing number. It shows that there's no threat and no issue here. And yet that headline was blasted all over the world and in a lot of American outlets as France school opening fails, 70 student test positive, without the context of what a tiny number that is.

INGRAHAM: Yes, exactly. I think the scientific community is going to have a lot to answer for, the modeling community biostats, and, of course, the media in all of this. Huge, huge disservice they did to not just this country but to the globe. Phil, thank you so much.

KERPEN: My pleasure.

INGRAHAM: And in moments, Raymond Arroyo will break down Joe Biden's racial blunder culminating in a ridiculous softball interview on CNN. Plus the new development mask-gate. "Seen and Unseen" unmasked when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's now time for our "Seen and Unseen" segment where we reveal the stories behind the headlines. Joining us now with all the details, Raymond Arroyo, FOX News contributor. Raymond, now, you think Memorial Day may have given us an insight into the campaign to come. How so?

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Laura, if you look closely what happened during those dueling Memorial Day ceremonies, voters look at this. They are looking for signs. They are looking for impressions of how they should vote. Biden emerged from his basement for the first time in two months to lay a wreath at a war memorial near his home in Delaware. It was a grim look. He wore a black mask, the dark gray bands. Even his gait was tentative. He projected an image of trepidation, even fear.

Trump on the other hand, appeared at Fort McHenry. He is surrounded by the Drum and Fife Corps, flags are waving behind him, no mask. He seemed to be aligning himself, visually at least, with that American spirit of defiance in the face of adversity. It even had the touch of revolutionary spirit about it, Laura. And I think voters are picking up on this. Whether they recognize it or not, it is there. They see it, they feel it.

INGRAHAM: I don't think America is -- I don't think they want masks long- term, even if short term they will do the mask because they think it's safe. I think they are worried that this is going to become the new normal forever, which I think the blue state governors want. They need a visual to keep this narrative going since the curve has long since been flattening, they need that visual to keep people scared. And the mask for some, not saying it has no use, but for some, it keeps that visual front and center.

ARROYO: Well, whether it has use or not, Dr. Fauci a few months ago said it had very little use. But from Joe Biden it is virtue signaling. It's a way to set himself off from Trump. And in his first in-person interview in two months he sat down 12 feet apart from CNN's Dana Bash and explained why he wore the mask on Memorial Day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I watched the president yesterday wearing no mask, and making fun of the fact that I wore a mask. The truth of the matter is that I think you're supposed to lead by example. And one of the things our governor has said, he wants to keep social distancing, stay at home has been the order until June 1.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, the governor of Delaware is now setting the course for Joe Biden's national campaign? This is bizarre, really. Who is he protecting, by the way, on Memorial Day? The slab at memorial? I don't know who he was protecting? His wife he has been quarantining with for months? It was all very bizarre. But I think it's political. There's a political piece to this.

INGRAHAM: It's all political. And now we are reading stuff about how you can damage yourself by wearing a mask because then you are breathing back potentially microbes --

ARROYO: The viral load.

INGRAHAM: Not everybody changes their mask every day or cleans it. They were too busy. You know we're going to read an article a month from now about how unhygienic masks are now super-spreaders of the virus. That is coming.

Raymond, Biden is still trying to clean up those comments he made on that popular radio show last week. Here is the exchange, starting with a Biden aide interrupting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's really our time. I apologize.

CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, RADIO HOST: You can't do that to black media.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've got to do that to white media and black media, because my wife has to go on. If you have a problem figuring out whether you are for me or Trump, then you ain't black. The NAACP has endorsed me every time I have run. I mean, come on, take a look at the record.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Not only was Biden's message presumptive and inflammatory, Laura, but the NCAAP has said they never endorsed Biden and have a policy of not endorsing candidates. The fury from black Americans was immediate, including black leaders. Joe Biden tried to walk it back on CNN today. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He was being a wise guy, and I responded in kind. I shouldn't have done that. Look, the state you're sitting in here has the eight largest black population in America as a percent of vote, of population. And I've got overwhelming support every time I've run. But I've worked like hell because I work in East Side. I work in all the things I care about, making sure their houses are as valuable as the same white person's house in a white neighborhood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, how condescending is that? I'm going to make sure that a black person's house is worth what a white person's house in a white neighborhood is? This is stereotype writ large. It's almost as offensive as the other comments.

INGRAHAM: Well, I will say this. Biden had eight years to make all these improvements in the African-American community, and it took Donald Trump who before COVID had made more progress in helping the unemployment efforts and pushing for school choice and all the things that he's for, criminal justice reform. Obama didn't accomplish any of that stuff. So God bless these guys duking it out, but you have to operate in the realm of facts at some point. Raymond, great to see you on a Tuesday night.

ARROYO: Thank you, Laura.

INGRAHAM: And if you think Democrats' push to expand mail-in voting would open the door to potential fraud, you're right. So why is the media and big tech, why are they claiming otherwise? Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick highlights a major ballot harvesting case coming up in Texas, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you do all mail-in voting, ballots, you are asking for fraud. People steal them out of mailboxes. People print them, and then they sign them and they give them in, and the people don't even know if they are double counted. In California, the governor sent, I hear, or is sending millions of ballots all over the state to anybody, people that aren't citizens. We are not going to destroy this country by allowing things like that to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, President Trump is not the first to warn about the potential for massive amounts of fraud from mail-in ballots. The bipartisan commission on federal election reform was cochaired by the noted right- winger Jimmy Carter. OK, well, it found in 2005 that absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud. Citizens who vote at home, at nursing homes, at the workplace, or in church are more susceptible to pressure, overt and subtle, or to intimidation. Vote buying schemes are far more difficult to detect when citizens vote by mail.

Joining me now is Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Dan, the geniuses at Twitter subjected Trump to their first ever fact-check. But in your state, a recent two-year investigation, didn't you guys uncover an alleged ballot harvesting scheme involving mail-in ballots?

DAN PATRICK, (R) TEXAS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Well, we found many over the years, Laura, but this story just broke tonight literally. I think you're the first person to talk about. And Colleen Vera, who I know very well, a very good citizen investigative reporter spent two years on this. She found where a Democrat Congresswoman in Houston paid a convicted forger, and there was another convicted forger working on this campaign. They also have audiotapes of them talking about how they can harvest these ballots, group them up in groups of 50. The signatures were the same on the envelope as they were on every one of these ballots, the ballot signatures.

So, look, Twitter owes the president an apology. They fact-checked him, Laura, for his opinion. And by the way, his opinion was based on fact because the Democrats are trying to steal this election. I just tweeted out that the Democrat plan to have everyone vote by mail is an invitation for fraud, and it is a total scam. And tonight, I would like all of your millions of viewers to tweet their own tweet out about how mail-in ballot are a scam by the Democrats. Let's see if Twitter fact-checks me and the millions of people.

Remember that movie "Network" when Howard Beale said go to the window and just shout out you are mad as hell, you're not going to take it anymore? The modern day is go to your computer, millions of tweets how the Democrats plan -- you write your own tweet, folks, send it out, and let's see if Twitter goes after him like they went after the president. They owe him an apology.

INGRAHAM: He's not going to get it from Jack. I don't think so.

PATRICK: They need to stop fact-checking opinion.

INGRAHAM: Are they going to fact-check all the modelers who were wrong during the COVID? Are they going to fact-check all of the people who were wrong about all their doomsday scenarios? Jerry Nadler, by the way, a congressman, liberal from New York, said this Dan in 2004. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERROLD NADLER, (D-NY) HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: In my experience in New York, paper ballots are extremely susceptible to fraud. I want a paper trail. I want paper somewhere. But pure paper with no machines, I can show you experience which would make your head spin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Jerry Nadler might have lost a little weight since then, but the weight of his comments are just on target there.

PATRICK: And Laura, I was one of the coauthors of our voter I.D. bill when I was a senator before becoming lieutenant governor, and that's what the Democrats said on the floor. We don't have to have photo voter I.D. because scam is in the mail-in ballots. They know that. That's why they're trying to have everyone vote by mail.

Look, here is the deal. The further away, Laura, you get from the ballot box, the more opportunity for fraud. The Democrats used to say, you don't have to show an I.D. to vote. Now they don't even want you to vote. And s far as protections, they say this is about safety.

INGRAHAM: Oh, please.

PATRICK: It has nothing to do with safety, because 65 year and older citizens in this country in Texas and almost every state can already vote by mail. What the Democrats want to do is automatically send out ballots, which is against the law in Texas. You have to request them to vote by mail. And they want to send it out to every citizen. This is their opportunity to try to rig the election. We're not going to put up with it. And if they get away with it, Laura, it's the end of democracy. It's not just the end of this presidential campaign. If they get away with this, democracy has been shredded.

INGRAHAM: I remember when we were hailing Iraqis for going into the poll to the vote for the first time with their purple fingers. They risked their lives to vote, it is so important to them. We can do it safely, in person, like everybody has done it through the history of the country. If you really need an absentee ballot for real reasons, you can get it. But this is a complete Democrat scam, 100 percent.

Dan, thank you so much.

PATRICK: You bet.

INGRAHAM: And just How proud was CNN over its socially distant Biden interview? We have a doozy for you next, Last Bite.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Today CNN outdid itself in virtue signaling of its handling of the Biden interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: We were socially distant. You can see that we were actually 12 feet apart. It was a very small footprint.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I know you drove by yourself in your own car. That's the safe way to do it. Obviously, our crew drove in a separate car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I love it when people are wearing a mask in their own cars down the street.

Shannon Bream and the "FOX NEWS @ NIGHT" team take it all from here. Shannon.

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