'The Five' on Americans starting to get back to normalcy

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Fox News' 'The Five' returns to the studio

Jesse Watters, Sandra Smith, Greg Gutfeld, Dagen McDowell and Harold Ford Jr. discuss the return to normalcy as the coronavirus pandemic begins to wind down

This is a rush transcript of "The Five," on June 1, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST:  Hello, everybody, I am Jesse Watters with Dagen McDowell, Harold Ford, Jr., Sandra Smith, and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5:00 in New York City and this is THE FIVE. 

Notice anything different? THE FIVE finally back in studio and boy, does it feel strange. It does a little weird. So, no more remote set ups, no more two second delays, we are finally back here face-to-face, kind of coming back to.

People are shedding their masks and we are starting to get back to normal. 

COVID cases are near a pandemic low falling below 10,000 for the first in more than a year. The TSA says air travel increased nearly 500 percent this Memorial Day weekend and tens of millions of people hit the road. 

And movie theaters, remember those? People went back to the box office this weekend and ticket sales hit the highest level of the pandemic. But perhaps may be the biggest indicator of this return to normal FOMO, or people suffering from fear of missing out is making a comeback. I can almost touch you, Sandra. We're going to get back to the table, we think soon. So how does it feel to be back here? 

SANDRA SMITH, FOX NEWS HOST:  I'm just appreciating the sock game from all the guys. Jesse, are you participating because Harold, Greg, you guys have

--- 

WATTERS:  Harold, did you know that you were going to get shot head to toe or is that a mistake? 

HAROLD FORD, JR.: I got to write that down. 

SMITH:  It's good. It's good. You remembered the text. No, I -- there's no doubt a boom going on. The movie theater thing, it kind of surprises me because how many people pre-pandemic that did not have Netflix or Amazon got it, right? And they can now watch those movies at home. The movie -- that shocked me, really.

What doesn't shock me is people traveling in the numbers that we saw over the weekend. There is a lot of FOMO going on, people kind of did fear that they missed out a lot in 2020 so they're getting back out there. They're travelling again. 

But remember, you still got millions of Americans that are working from home, they are mobile. They can get on an airplane, go wherever they want and continue working on their laptop. They can travel more than they ever did pre-pandemic, so I think that travel boom is going to be one to watch. 

I think it's going to continue. 

WATTERS:  Did you take any trips this weekend Gutfeld? Where did you go?

GUTFELD:  You know what's interesting, I did take a lot of trips without ever leaving my home because I'm a vicarious traveler. To your point about movies, I think you did lose. You're going to lose a sizable portion of the older male audience who have now gotten used to being able to pause the movie to go to the bathroom. I hated going to movie theaters because there is an argument between your brain and your bladder. Everybody goes --

SMITH:  Oh my god.

GUTFELD:  It's true.

WATTERS:  When do you decide? 

GUTFELD:  It's true. And then it's like this because you know the moment you get up, you're going to miss like the best part of the movie and what if there is a line in the bathroom and what if, you know, there is -- anyway, I will skip to that. What's the other thing? Oh, here is the other thing. I think that we have to admit that most of America was ahead of us on this, right, because in the city everything you do will get -- you'll get sued. 

Wear a mask, don't wear a mask, somebody is going to sue you. So the biggest cause of delayed openings isn't risk of death, but risk of litigation. Behind every company is just a stream of lawyers scared, you know, crapless that they could get sued. 

So I predicted two years you're going to see those commercials like, did your employer force you to return to work too soon? You may be entitled to a large settlement. That's going to -- because you're going to see COVID --

WATTERS:  Yes.

GUTFELD:  Lastly to your -- don't have any FOMO because I have -- I solved FOMO by -- I have this -- this is my adage. Create a life that can't be equaled and you don't need to be anywhere else. Like when I'm going home, I see people having a good time, but I'm going, you know what, I'm going home. There's nothing more fun than being home alone, taking a trip. By the way, it's weird being here.

WATTERS:  It is weird. 

GUTFELD:  It's weird because everything is really noisy, like did you notice that because there's just more people? 

SMITH:  And cold.

GUTFELD:  It's cold and noisy. 

DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Well, it's because I'm staring at you. 

GUTFELD:  Yes.

WATTERS:  Do you have FOMO? 

MCDOWELL:  I never used too. I am a recluse, a hermit. Howard Hughes is my man crush. But even the last 14 months have been too much for me like being trapped in and I am starting to do things that I have never done. I went to an all-you-can-drink boozy brunch, surrounded by tables of nothing but like shrieking women dressed like distant Kardashian cousins. Not a man in sight, drunk as all out and I actually enjoyed myself a little bit. 

WATTERS:  You did?

MCDOWELL:  Like, I'm going to go to Disney World. I'm planning it. I'm going to go to a water park as soon as I can tan up these albino hams that I have four legs. I'm going to do everything absolutely possible that involves large crowds. Wish me luck. I hope I don't get arrested. I mean, not for, you know, for getting in a fight. 

WATTERS:  Are you -- do you fear missing out of these bottomless brunches that Dagen is talking about? 

FORD:  I have taken a lot of notes this first segment here and I'm -- I'll call you Dagen over the weekend. You know, I don't -- I'm a little nerdy about the whole thing. I don't mind. I'm like you, I kind of like being at home. I thought that I wouldn't like being at home. I was the one that loved to go out.

I'm not convinced everyone is going to come back into these workplaces like people think. If you look at the productivity, the amount of money people made at home with these big businesses made, I don't know how you're going to justify, number one, business is one. They spend the money for rent and all the other things and people -- and all of the other costs associated with it. 

And if you're making as much money with people not being at work or being in the workplace, why having this? Some places you have to be, of course, but I'm going to try to find Dagen on the weekend for this brunch she is talking about.

MCDOWELL:  I will even White Claw with you.

GUTFELD:  By the way, the bottomless is not what you think. It means you get free booze.

MCDOWELL:  Right.

WATTERS:  Oh, it's not people without pants? 

GUTFELD:  The bar I go to, no pants. 

WATTERS:  No, I agree with you, Harold. Very productive during the pandemic. I actually wrote a book during the pandemic. It's called "How I Saved the World" and you can order it now on Amazon. So, do you think that's going to keep people home? The businesses are just going to say, hey, you know what, people are working around the clock from their couch. 

Maybe we should keep it this way. 

SMITH:  People learn the way to be super productive, working from home. 

Stamford University is keeping track of this whole, you know, return to work, hybrid model, full return. Only 28 percent of people who were physically going to an office pre-pandemic said that they will return in a full capacity. 

To your point, Harold, people don't want to go back to work. The economy might be booming, but they have seen the light. They have experienced light in a different way and they don't want to go back to the rush hour. 

MCDOWELL:  If you're living in a low-cost state where you are not paying any income taxes like Florida or Texas and Nevada, your boss is going to cut your pay if you are not living in a higher cost area. They will eventually do that. They'll come in and say, you know what, you're getting a tax break, you're not coming into the office, boom, pay cut. 

FORD:  I differ a little bit. I think people are going to make more coming out of this, largely because the companies and the economy is doing better. 

We've shown that we could perform even with this kind of -- we didn't think this juxtaposition about being in the office, not being in the office.

And I think wages are going to go up. I think you're going to see states that are low tax states end up having to pay employees more I think because of a confluence of factors, but I can -- don't cut me out of that boozy lunch even though -- 

WATTERS:  So the red states will lead -- so the red states will lead the recovery, right, Gutfeld? 

GUTFELD:  Haven't they already, Jesse?

WATTERS:  Yes, they have. 

GUTFELD:  I also think that this is going to be a really, really weird couple of months. It feels like the end of the school year for a lot of people and they, you know, when they went to TP the yard and empty their lockers. I have a feeling that it's going to get a little crazy for a while. 

WATTERS:  Like senioritis? 

GUTFELD:  Yes. I think that it's senioritis. 

WATTERS: Senioritis.

GUTFELD:  The people that can go out, they're going to go out in style. 

It's going to be like a lot of drunken sailors on leave, Dagen. More your style. 

WATTERS:  Okay.

MCDOWELL:  I'm ready. I've slept a lot in the last 14 months.

WATTERS:  Find Dagen at the brunch this Sunday. Drunken sailors abound. Up next, President Biden promising to spend what? Tens of billions on racial equality. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SMITH:  President Biden unveiling his administration's plan to combat racial injustice in a speech to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a horrific event that left more than 300 people dead. Biden promising to spend billions on racial equity and asking Americans to root out systemic racism. So, Dagen --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATS OF AMERICA:  -- of white Americans belong to the Klan, and they weren't even embarrassed by it. They were proud of it. And that hate became embedded systematically and systemically in our laws and our culture. We do ourselves no favors by pretending none of this ever happened or does not impact us today because it does still impact us today.

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

SMITH:  To close the race wealth gap, Harold to you first on this, the spending money, the massive amounts of money really that he is talking about here and other places, does that fix the problem? 

FORD:  I think it's part of helping to fix the problem. I think some of the times when we talk about racial equity, I think there is a sense that we are saying the country is bad or we're saying that white people are bad or we're degrading people. When -- you can look at it narrowly that way, but I don't think that's what it's really about. 

If you look at what happened in Greenwood, that community was burned down. 

Greg and I were having an interesting conversation about this before going on. That community was burned down. It was a successful community, black community, economically. So taking efforts and targeting the money and saying look, we as America, there is no other country on the face of the Earth that can go through this and recover and thrive the way we are and have the kind of conversations that we have.

So, if it makes us a little unsettled, a little uncomfortable having the conversation so be it. As long as it doesn't come from a place of malice, as long as it comes from a place of trying to make things better. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt, the president and his efforts to try to do that. If the money turns out to be a waste then they need to shift it, reorganize and redo it. At the start, I think give him the benefit of the doubt, you try to do it. 

SMITH:  Greg, to that interesting conversation you had with Harold, from what we just heard from President Biden, I'm the first president in 100 years, he said, to acknowledge the truth of what took place there in Tulsa. 

GUTFELD:  Well, I was -- I had no idea that, I mean, this was not taught to me in high school or college, and I was thinking is it because I'm on the West Coast? Is that why? But, you know, it's a horrible story. I think it's important to talk about it. But that's a separate issue than from this idea of equity. 

I'm an apostle of Thomas Sowell. So it's like when they shifted from equality to equity it becomes a different story. It's not -- everybody wants equality of opportunity, but we understand that the equality of outcome is impossible, and it's harmful. There are certain places where I will -- the percentage of 5 foot 5 white guys with an Ashkenazi (ph) background will not be in the NBA. There's maybe -- it will be less than

0.00 percent. 

So we have to ask ourselves, why are we shifting from equality to equity? 

And it's because we realize that discrimination, deliberate discrimination is illegal. And we know that it's not happening. Everybody in corporations wants to hire minorities. Colleges want minorities. So then where is the discrimination? It's before that. It has to be before that.

Because we are seeing problems on the street. We are seeing lots of issues, so it happens -- we are meeting this problem too late. And that's why I go back to Thomas Sowell. So he will bring up three areas. What are the three areas that have negatively impacted black lives? He will say the welfare system destroyed the family.

He will say teachers unions killed competition. School choice that kills education. The third thing now would be the de-escalation or the defunding of police which now makes communities where minorities live unsafe. 

So government bureaucracy by liberals has hurt families, schools, and communities. That's what makes everybody suspicious. Like what can they do that can make it worse? And that's what you have to worry about, I guess. 

WATTERS:  If I were a black American --

GUTFELD:  Who says you're not?

WATTERS:  -- and I see, well, you know I have my DNA test.

GUTFELD:  I know. 

WATTERS:  .1 percent. And if I see another white liberal like Joe Biden coming around and saying how they're going to help me, I would shake my head. I mean, for how many years have white liberals said they're going to help black America? And you still have the black poverty rates twice that white poverty rate is, black unemployment rate twice what white unemployment rate is. 

You have the black education gap. It's gotten bigger. You've had now less black families intact. Is any of that working, what we're doing? I'm actually thinking now when the government said they want to help blacks. 

They are actually hurting blacks because where are the trillions we already spent go, Joe? Where did they go? Did they go to just the race hustlers that run the federal programs that don't work? 

Because they didn't go to the people that need the help. So, if someone was saying I'm going to help you, I'm going to help you, you know I'd say, you know what, I'm going to help myself. I'm going to operate my schools, my businesses, my families. I'm going to keep more of my money and I bet black Americans would thrive if white liberals stop trying to help them. 

GUTFELD:  I think of the teachers unions let the education flourish.

WATTERS: Exactly.

GUTFELD:  That would be a big start. 

WATTERS:  And the Democrats Party is behind it all because they want to call black Americans victims. When black Americans are labeled victims. 

That means they need help from white liberals and help means votes. You get votes in exchange for help. Once they are not victims anymore, they don't need help and then they don't get the votes.

So you're going to see the Democratic Party, and I know you agree, because you're shaking your head yes. They keep playing the race card because that keeps victimizing black America and that keeps the Democrats in power. And that's never going to change. That's never going to change. 

FORD:  So what if I told you -- what if I told you that from 1920 to 1980,

99 percent of all loans for homes, residential mortgages in the country were only provided to white Americans and 99.5 percent of those providing that where the government and it was an intentional effort on their part. 

And what if I told you the number one creative wealth in any family regardless of what you look like in the country is in your home. Now, if you deny the numbers and what they are and I think there was an intentional effort, I think part of what he's trying to do and I don't dispute a lot of the things you say about, I mean, when I hear liberals saying they want to solve every problem, I get concerned.

In fact, when I hear anyone saying they want to solve every problem I get a little concerned, but particularly in this space. I think finance, economics, we've got to find ways to tell these stories to remind people what happened. And two, the things you mentioned, all those three things that Mr. Sowell mentioned, there were challenges before. We were trying to address them, and the answers weren't sufficient. 

That doesn't mean we stop trying. I think we have to continue to offer idea after idea, whether it's conservative or liberal to try to solve this. I believe from 1920 to 1980, if just 5 percent of that money had gone to black homeowners, think about how many more black businesses, how many more black homeowners, how many -- because remember, the number one determinate for how well you do in school in this country, public school, is the zip code you come from, regardless.

So if you had more money and local communities, more money would go towards schools. We're not going to solve it all here in a minute and a half, but I think there is a lot more to it than what we discussed. 

MCDOWELL:  And does that speak to one of the words that you will hear from black Americans who were upset about inequality, is ownership, and it goes back to the Tulsa Massacre. It goes back to home ownership. That is something that -- that's a word that you will hear and a message you'll hear often. 

But in terms of liberals, look no further than the liberal bastion of Silicon Valley. I talk about this over and over again. If you look at the percentage of their workforce that is represented by black Americans, it is dismal, it is appalling.

In technical jobs, Facebook has less than 2 percent of people in technical jobs who are black. You mean to tell me over the last 20 years or so since these companies were founded, they could not have done something about that? Actually, going into high schools and pulling people and educating them themselves, they are starting to do that, but it's a little too late.

In terms of what Joe Biden wants to do, it might be unconstitutional. Last week there were two courts that blocked Joe Biden's small business administration from handing out benefits based on race. It's $29 billion restaurant relief fund. So you know who gets to the front of the line? It is minorities and women. 

At the back of the line, it was everybody else. And if it run out -- if that program runs out of money before it gets to someone who is a white man, then you are out of luck. And to those two judges, two courts have blocked that program so far because you know what, bias and discrimination is wrong and unconstitutional regardless of the group. 

SMITH:  And if you hadn't seen the budget proposal because it came out Friday late in the day before Memorial Day, you saw that it was in it. All right, ahead, some in the media admitting that they made a major mistake dismissing the Wuhan lab leak theory, but will others follow suit? 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FORD:  Some in the media are now saying members of the press were too quick to dismiss the theory COVID could have leaked from a lab.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS WHTE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT:  I think a lot of people have egg on their face. This was an idea that was first put forward by Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, Donald Trump. And look, some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them. 

DAVID LEONHARDT, NEW YORK TIMES WRITER:  I think a lot of people on the political left and a lot of people in the media made this mistake. They said, wow. If Tom Cotton is saying something, it can't be true or they assumed that. And that's not right. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FORD:  And according to a new report, British intelligence now thinks a leak from that lab in Wuhan could be "feasible." Jesse.

WATTERS:  Yes.

FORD:  I like looking at Greg when I call you.

(LAUGHTER) 

FORD:  You like that. You like that.

WATTTERS:  All white guys on the left. I know. I get it. 

FORD:  I did that on purpose.

WATTERS:  At least you're not looking at Dagen and thinking of me. 

FORD:  What -- you like that -- what do you think went on here? 

WATTERS:  Are you talking to me or Greg? 

FORD:  What do you think went on here? J.G., I'll call you Jesse Greg. What do you think went on here?

WATTERS:  I'll tell you exactly what happened. And this is actually the media admitting they're bad at their jobs. Here is Chuck Todd. He says, "the lab leak got tangled up in politics and conflated with the idea that the Chinese deliberately released it." 

Who was the one that tangled it? Who was the one that conflated it? It was the media that did that. So you're getting now the media, which they love to talk about themselves. I'm a member of the media. I love to talk about myself too. But they are the ones screwing up. So then they have to talk about how much they screw up and it is fun to watch.

Because they are not just saying I made a mistake. They are saying we deliberately made a mistake. They are saying we deliberately made a mistake. They are saying we didn't believe our own head. They are saying we don't believe Republicans. We're biased and we're lazy. 

And they are admitting that they didn't follow up on this theory because of politics. Now, in what industry do you just cell phone yourself like that and just say you're bad at your job. And then you think you need a pat on the back by admitting you screwed up. I mean, these people are so self- obsessed that they think they are somehow doing the honorable thing by admitting they made a mistake. 

FORD:  Do you agree? 

SMITH:  Yes. Well, I think the question now is how does the media handle this constant -- to Tom Cotton's most recent point, cover-up, that it continues to engage and not providing any evidence, not bringing any conclusions from the lab saying that China really still needs to pay. How many journalists are going to learn from their mistake and not shut down any idea that comes from Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, Tom Cotton, and others, and actually ask the questions?

And I think if you bring yourself back to those dark days, when we were starting to hear about these sort of ideas and this theory about the Wuhan lab, and it was -- it was worrisome to see the mainstream media not digging it, not asking the questions, not even considering that to be a case. And I'm not saying everyone, but many in the media. That's a problem. That's their job.

FORD JR.: Dagen, did they get credit for -- any of them getting the credit for saying that we made a mistake. We should have done this differently. Do you give -- 

MCDOWELL: They didn't -- they didn't say they made a mistake. They say it was Trump's fault. They're still saying it's Trump's fault. That it was an idea floated by Mike Pompeo. No, it wasn't. It was a reasonable thing to question. And it was Tom Cotton in the late January last year. 

Oh, and then there was Botao Xiao of South China University of Technology who posted a paper about the virus originating possibly from a lab in Wuhan

-- from the lab in Wuhan. Of course, that paper was taken down. But they were so anti-Trump that they're anti-science, that they're anti-reason, that they're anti-logic and they're perfectly happy with that.

Because if they had talked about this lab leak theory last year, Trump might have won, Trump might still be the president. And that was the goal all along. It was purely political. They still can't own their mistake. The fact that their malicious makeup were in smug hucksters who spouted Chinese Communist Party propaganda for the last year. 

FORD JR.: Greg, let's assume that the Chinese were -- that this lab where the leak came from and the press was snookered and was intentional. What do we do going from here? What's the answer to try to prevent this?

GUTFELD: This is a -- this is an interesting problem because I think the Chinese have us over a barrel of wet bats. Because all they have to do is show that we had any bit of funding during this, right? If the United States helped fund this thing, how is the United States going to sue them? 

We're going to have to sue ourselves, right? Because if we had -- I kind of think we had some funding. We keep -- I keep hearing this story about how they waive these restrictions that allowed the funding to continue. 

And I think -- I imagine it's going to -- that's probably why nothing is going to happen, because we might have our fingers all over those bats. But I like to self-reflection. I agree with Dagen that they're only -- they're only doing self-reflection because there's no risk of danger involved. 

Trump already lost. So, it's like now, it's just meaningless to this. 

But I think that the weird thing about the media is they're not singularly wrong. They're doubly wrong. So, they choose the wrong idea -- they avoid the right idea and then choose the wrong idea. So, they're doubly wrong. 

They say, this Wuhan lab didn't work. But we really love Andrew Cuomo, and what he's been doing in New York. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you are also going to blame DeSantis for something. 

If you look at every facet of life and how the media impacts it, it's never good, whether it's COVID, or it's crime, or it's race, or it's pro-life matters, whatever it is, they all -- they add a veneer that makes it far more damaging than it has to be and creates unnecessary pain and suffering for a lot of people. I mean, imagine if a surgeon decided not to use an effective therapy on your kid, because you went to school with the scientists and they didn't get along. That's the media. 

WATTERS: Are you saying if we got rid of all the media except Fox, we'd have a better country?

GUTFELD: Legacy media. 

WATTERS: Legacy media. 

GUTFELD: Get rid of legacy media. No, no, no, I like voices. In fact, to that point, we don't mind being wrong. We don't mind talking about wrong. 

This was all based on the idea that they couldn't accept the fact that the other side could be right. They can't accept the fact that Trump was right or Pompeo, or Tim Cotton -- Tom Cotton? 

WATTERS: Tom. He goes by Tom.

GUTFELD: Tom, Tom Cotton.

MCDOWELL: They took it further. They derided and attacked people who brought up the lab theory that they called us kooks and conspiracy theorists.

FORD JR.: As you can tell, we're excited. Up next, disturbing attacks caught on major camera -- on camera, rather, in major cities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Violence surging in cities. A new video shows criminals acting more brazen than ever. In New York City, a man brutally sucker-punched a 55-year-old Asian woman. It is sickening. She's now reportedly in stable condition. The suspect charge was apparently arrested eight times in the past year, eight times. 

In San Francisco, a police officer was pummeled by a homeless man until bystanders stepped in to help her. So, Harold, you live -- you live in New York a few blocks from me. I see you all the time. You should wear more clothes when you jog though. OK -- 

FORD JR.: Keep that between us. 

GUTFELD: So, this guy was arrested actually 17 times, he's homeless, eight times in the past year. You live here. What do you think? We know there's a spike in crime, but these crimes are very similar. They're not even linked

-- they're not even linked to theft. They're just these is -- what do you think -- what do you think is the real problem here?

FORD JR.: Well, we got to stop it. We need to -- we need not to defend the police. We need to put as much as we can in police departments across the country. I think it's naive to think that you can't hold police accountable and fund the police. We should do both, too. 

I think there's a mental health issue we've got to address. And I think that one aspect of the defund the police conversation it gets caught up -- we think badly about it because we talk about defunding police. But we got to think about mental health and what the police do whether or not we have a different force or force within the force to deal with that. 

I also have some concerns around bail reform. I think it was well intentioned, but I'm not convinced that we're getting after -- we're solving the problem that we want to solve. In fact, we may be -- we may be had -- we may overreached here. That doesn't mean we shouldn't go back and look at and try to get it right. But what we have now is not working. And kids, moms, and dads, people in every community should feel safe walking outside of their door.

GUTFELD: It is -- it's -- Dagen, it's a -- it's just -- it's a creepy atmosphere. It's like -- because it's -- the people that you see committing these acts are not well. And my theory is that they are -- they -- when they look at shelters, there's not a place for them. They're not going to the shelters and they're being spun out of prison. They don't care because they just go back into jail and maybe jail is preferable to the shelters. 

There's not -- there's -- we gave $800 million to De Blasio's wife to do this thrive thing. That should have solved more than this, and yet nothing has happened.

MCDOWELL: No, that was a boondoggle. Like, you could have thrown that money down in an open manhole in New York City. Part of the problem is -- and I'm not -- don't mean to disparage police, but with people who are mentally ill, I've seen people, I'm not someone rubbing human excrement on the outside of say, a CVS, they're not going to arrest that individual. 

Because with this -- with this man who hit -- who assaulted this Asian woman, he's been arrested 40 times. So, under bail reform, every time you get picked up, you aren't held. There's no bail, you're right back out on the street, and then the crimes aren't prosecuted. If they pick up somebody who's mentally ill, that individual might go to say Bellevue Hospital for

72 hours. 

There has been a vast deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill since JFK, quite frankly. And it's only gotten worse. And that means there's not a lot of help for people who really need it, number one. Number two, just quickly to watch the mayoral primary that's coming up June 22. Eric Adams, former -

- retired police captain strong on place. But Catherine Garcia who's been backed by the New York Times, she says officers who did not wear masks during last year's protest have to be docked their pay. That's her stance on the cost.

SMITH: Oh, God.

GUTFELD: Jesse, this is -- this is New York, but we're seeing lots of stuff all over the country, but we're not seeing much of it in the suburbs. So, is this just something that only the city people are dealing with? And is it COVID-related?

WATTERS: It is. So, thanks for bringing us back to the city, Greg. I really appreciate that. But there's a judge out there who stared in the eyeballs of this deranged lunatic, looked at his rap sheet, and slam the gavel down and probably said probation, and didn't sentence the guy. 

There's a bad judge out there that could have thrown the book at this guy and didn't. And back in the day, I would have been at the judge's doorstep at 6:00 a.m. and stuck a mic in his face because he's a villain. And you have to humiliate these judges in order for them to get tougher. Because without a judge that gets tough, you're going to keep rolling out these perps and they're going to keep committing crimes.

The deinstitutionalization situation, liberals love institutionalizing someone that fires off a gun. They're ready to go to court the next day, have the gun seized, have all their constitutional rights taken away from them. But you can have some lunatic out there and sock someone, push them in front of the train -- 

SMITH: It's horrible. 

WATTERS: And then, the next day, they're out on the streets again. You need to institutionalize these people because they're sick.

SMITH: I'll make this one final point. And you can tie this back to our discussion on the economy. And you look at what's happening in some of these blue states with the defund the police movement or slashing police budgets, and you look at the spike and rise in crime. And then, you see video like that, that just makes your heart hurt. Thank god we're hearing she's in stable condition, that woman. 

But -- and how do you expect to return full workforce to a city like New York when you see these random awful attacks happening on cities? I mean, for anybody walking down a block in New York right now, I don't feel safe. 

There's -- I mean, this could happen to anyone anywhere at any moment.

GUTFELD: I think that the thing that is so shocking about this modern type of violence is that it's the victims. Like, who hits an old lady? That's an

-- in the back of your head, that's the thing. It's like, who hits an old lady?

WATTERS: Predators go for the weakest. That's what they're targeting.

GUTFELD: But they're not -- they're not even taking stuff from them. 

They're just pounding them. And it's obvious that the guy is psychotic. He was on Special K, which is I don't know what kind of drug that is.

WATTERS: Well, that's why Harold is running through the streets so fast. 

GUTFELD: Yes. 

WATTERS: He's trying to get away from everybody. 

GUTFELD: All right.

FORD JR. That's why I forget my clothes.

GUTFELD: He's got his socks though. Coming up, a teenager takes on a bear. 

That and more in the "FASTEST SEVEN."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MCDOWELL: Welcome back. Time for "THE FASTEST." First up, here is one of the bravest teenagers ever. 

A 17-year-old in California shoved a bear off the wall in her backyard in order to save her dogs. That video has racked up more than 15 million views so far. Animals are great. 

GUTFELD: Well, I just got off the phone with PETA and they're demanding an investigation. Apparently, the mainstream media believed she didn't have to push the bear and they demand an arrest. I mean, she could have just talked to the bear. 

MCDOWELL: That's all you got?

GUTFELD: That's all I got. It's a great video. What are you going to say? 

She pushed the bear, there's dogs barking, what else do you want?

SMITH: She said she didn't know there was a bear there. So, I mean, I would say, wow. I don't know that I would encourage her to do this again. She thought it was just barking dogs. I hope she ran track and field because she's pretty quick to get over to the animal. 

GUTFELD: Maybe it wasn't a bear. 

SMITH: And her instinct is very good. 

GUTFELD: It's a very hairy man. It could be a very hairy man. 

SMITH: Oh, no. 

MCDOWELL: Would you -- Harold, what would you do if there's a bear out there getting ready to eat your dogs?

FORD JR.: She's a lot braver than I am. She reminds -- she might be related

-- I watched a show one day, and there was a guy who went -- jumped in the water, an older man and had a cigar. He held his dog. That's his niece or his granddaughter. 

GUTFELD: Oh, yes. That was his -- 

FORD JR.: That -- she's unbelievable. 

SMITH: The puppy from -- the puppy from the alligator.

FORD: Alligator, yes. 

SMITH: I interviewed him. He was on my show. He's amazing. 

FORD JR.: That was unbelievable. 

MCDOWELL: Jesse, I think you -- 

WATTERS: Didn't I -- didn't I besmirch that guy.

GUTFELD: Yes, you did.

WATTERS: Didn't I say that the alligator was small. 

FORD: I wasn't going to -- I wasn't going to say that. 

GUTFELD: You said the alligator wasn't large. 

WATTERS: It wasn't big enough alligator to make him a brave man. 

GUTFELD: You got so much hate mail from Floridians. 

WATTERS: I did. I think I apologize for that one. 

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: It's hard to keep track of the apologies.

MCDOWELL: Yes. How small would the animal have to be for you to intervene?

GUTFELD: That's a good question. 

WATTERS: Size doesn't matter. Size does not matter. 

GUTFELD: What about spiders?

WATTERS: I'm not intervening?

MCDOWELL: All right, let me go to the -- next up, don't look down. Swimmers in London taking a dive in the world's first see-through sky pool. It's suspended between two apartment buildings 115 feet above the ground. Are you in?

WATTERS: Yes, because I trust architects. I don't trust a lot of people but architects I trust.

GUTFELD: Good point. 

WATTERS: I mean, you don't see a lot of buildings falling down or bridges collapsing. Well, maybe it did. Maybe that's why we need infrastructures. 

SMITH: Hold on. So, they didn't build it into place, right? They did the extensive strength testing. I think this was developed in Colorado, Dagen, right?

MCDOWELL: So, it's safe. It's American.

GUTFELD: Yes.

SMITH: The strength testing was done before it was installed within the buildings.

GUTFELD: If it's in England, it would have a draft, you know, and they have little cracks. I don't -- I could not do that. I have a fear of heights and I can't open my eyes underwater so I don't like this. 

SMITH: Oh my word. 

MCDOWELL: Really? Harold, what about you?

FORD JR.: I'm not doing it. I'm barely getting in a pool on the ground. I'm not going up in the air to get in a pool like that. It's just -- 

WATTERS: You have too much to lose, Harold. 

MCDOWELL: I have a fear of wearing a bathing suit. And so, I certainly don't want people looking up at me. 

GUTFELD: That's true. How do you pee in the pool? 

WATTERS: Oh, boy. 

GUTFELD: It all comes back to the bladder. 

MCDOWELL: It does. I love that. Thank you, Greg. 

GUTFELD: You're welcome. 

MCDOWELL: "ONE MORE THING" next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: It is time now for "ONE MORE THING. Greg, go ahead. 

GUTFELD: Let's do this. Yes, it's Greg Fashion News. D.M., I don't know what that means. You know, a lot of people in fashion, celebrities, they like to wear chinchillas. It makes me wonder, what of chinchillas like to wear? They like to wear hats. So, we're going to vote on which hat looks best on this chinchilla. 

That's a -- I guess that's a clown hat. That's a sexy little hat. And then you got a Kentucky Derby style hat. And this looks like a Tex-Mex hat. 

WATTERS: Like a rancher, right?

GUTFELD: Yes, like a gay rancher. All right, you made me sad. And I don't even know what kind of hat this is, but I hope it doesn't have any -- you know, unfortunate overtones. All right, Dagen?

MCDOWELL: Rainbow rancher.

GUTFELD: Rainbow rancher. Harold?

FORD JR.: Kentucky Derby.

GUTFELD: Jesse?

WATTERS: I want the derby too. 

GUTFELD: OK. 

SMITH: Kentucky. 

GUTFELD: Kentucky -- Derby wins. That means nothing because I don't know if that chinchilla is actually around. 

WATTERS: All right, a very special birthday announcement. Happy birthday to Emma. There she is. We were barbecuing over the weekend celebrating her birthday. She's still in her 20s, can you believe it? It's unbelievable. We love you very much, Emma. 

And also, if you look below, you see the table there? That's from the Amish. They have a place. It's Casual Comforts in Lancaster County. They do great tables. I got it at Bywatyr gift shop.

WATTERS: You're always plug something. 

WATTERS: In New Jersey, the only place to go for outdoor furniture. 

GUTFELD: It's your wife's birthday. 

WATTERS: It's Small Business Tuesday. And happy birthday, Emma. I love you. 

Harold, take it away. 

FORD: That -- you won't find much -- will bring more tears to your eyes than that -- than that "ONE MORE THING." But mine brings a little joy to your heart as well. When Grace Mackey stood on the stage to get her diploma, she was told that her father Master Sergeant Greg Mackey had a message. It would come across a video. And here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we can't see the video, can you help me welcome out Master Sergeant Drew Mackey. He is home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FORD JR.: I'm a sucker for these kinds of things. I look forward to my daughter graduating from first grade and second grade, let alone high school and hope I can be there. Congratulations to that family.

WATTERS: Congratulations.

SMITH: Congratulations. And happy birthday to Emma. I never get sick of stories like that. I love that, Harold. 

This is a hilarious video of a man golfing with his buddies in Georgia. 

He's on, I believe, the green on the ninth hole and the swan gets a hold of him and like, will not leave him alone.

WATTERS: Greg, how did you miss this. 

SMITH: All of his buddies are watching on and they're laughing at him instead of helping. But watch out because birds on the golf course are territorial and they will -- 

WATTERS: Oh yes, pick the ball up. Let's go.

MCDOWELL: I know that because I worked on a golf course driving the boost car after college. And so, I would just -- 

WATTERS: You were a cart girl?

MCDOWELL: Yes. And the -- 

WATTERS: I'll have a transfusion. 

MCDOWELL: And I would just -- I would just sit back and watch the idiot male golfers mess with the geese. I'm like they're going to bite your ass. 

And it ended up happening. 

Quickly, just take a look at this video of this awesome shepherd and -- 

SMITH: Oh, my gosh. 

MCDOWELL: I'm more admire not the dog but the chick because I cannot do that. 

WATTERS: Is that what you guys do at brunch, Dagen? 

MCDOWELL: After a couple of pops.

WATTERS: OK. All right, we got to go. That is it for us back in studio. 

GUTFELD: Yes.

WATTERS: How does it feel, Greg?

GUTFELD: Great. "GUTFELD!" 11:00.

WATTERS: There it is. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next with Shannon.

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