'The Five' reacts to CDC pulling an 'about-face' on indoor masking
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld says the media loves 'class warfare' especially when it comes to vaccinations on 'The Five'
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," July 27, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Dana Perino along with Dagen McDowell, Geraldo Rivera, Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld. He's got a sign. It's 5:00 in New York City and this is THE FIVE.
So, the CDC pulling an about-face on masks, reversing their indoor policies they set just two months ago to help prevent the spread of the delta variant. Fully vaccinated people apparently should now begin wearing masks indoors but only in places with high COVID transmission rates. Here is the agency's director.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR (via telephone): In a rare occasion, some vaccinated people infected with the delta variant after vaccination may be contagious and spread the virus to others. In areas with substantial and high transmission, the CDC recommends fully vaccinated people wear masks in public indoor settings to help prevent the spread of the delta variant and protect others. This includes schools.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: That includes schools. SO the White House responding to the new guidance saying it's "another step on our journey to defeating this virus. I hope all Americans who live in the areas covered by the CDC guidance will follow it. I certainly will when I travel to these areas."
Now that comes as the debate over vaccine mandates is heating up, the Veterans Administration is becoming the first federal agency to require its employees to be vaccinated and California says state employees and health care workers must show proof of vaccination or get tested regularly.
And Jesse, right before we came out, apparently the vice president's plain, the aide went back to the press that's on the plane and handed out some masks and said D.C. apparently is one of these areas and so you guys are back in it.
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Why didn't she say this all on camera? I can't follow that on a phone call.
PERINO: That's a great point. It's a great point.
WATTERS: From a communications perspective, Dana, that was a disaster.
PERINO: Disaster.
WATTERS: You have to be able to see the woman explaining.
GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: That is irrelevant (inaudible).
WATTERS: This is a major update, Geraldo.
PERINO: Yes, it's true.
WATTERS: You can't have it done on audio. It just doesn't break through. The American people are either scared, confused, or annoyed now. They've lost the American people. We've had it, Joe Biden has blown this, this was his big mandate, tackling the pandemic and now no one knows what's going on.
It's just too confusing for the American people, and this is the thing he had the highest approval rating on. And that's not going to continue if he keeps this up. If you have deaths that are not rising, actually deaths continue to fall, they are under 300 daily deaths per day for the last month and a half, and if cases are going up a little bit, if you are vaccinated that's not your problem.
But to slap a mask on your face because other people are not vaccinated? That doesn't make any medical sense. And to now mandate vaccines for federal employees when two-thirds of blacks and Hispanics have not been vaccinated, it sounds like they are just now punishing people for not being vaccinated instead of saving lives.
Now, you cannot open the southern border to migrants from Mexico and Central America where they are seeing a big rise in cases and expect the delta not to spread. And the delta is spreading in Texas, Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, all of these southeastern states where, coincidentally, Joe Biden is buzzing them into.
So if you're really serious about stopping delta, close the southern border. But what did he do? He closed the northern border to Canada. What sense does that make? It makes no sense.
PERINO: Greg, I wanted you to listen to one of your favorites --
GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS HOST: Oh, yes.
PERINO: -- over at CNN and Gavin Newsom. And this is how they are talking about people who haven't received the vaccine yet. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: Don't get the vaccine? You can't go to the supermarket. You don't have the vaccine? You can't go to the ball game. You don't have the vaccine? You can't go to work. You don't have the vaccine? You can't come here. No shirt, no shoes, no service.
GAVIN NEWSOM, GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: Just like drunk drivers, you don't have the right to go out and drink and drive and put everybody else at risk including your own life at risk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: Thoughts on that or anything else?
GUTFELD: It's getting harder to say that vaccine is voluntary when you hear that, right? If you don't do it, your life is over, we will restrict your rights. So it's no longer -- let's not kid ourselves, it's not a voluntary thing anymore.
The media in particular, they love any kind of class warfare, right, because it gives them two camps to pit against each other and they've been doing this forever. They will exploit class. They will exploit race. Now they got a new system.
WATTERS: The unvaccinated.
GUTFELD: The unvaxxed versus the vaxxed, right. And the unvaxxed is just a continuation of the people that they've always hated, whether they were, you know, red state Americans, flyover country, Republicans and Trumpers.
And Don Lemon is all on this, and it explains your confusion over the border. It's why they embrace shaming Americans but don't care about the thousands of unvaxxed non-Americans because it's not about health. They don't care whether these people live or they die. What they are interested in is conflict theater.
Conflict theater is going to help at least prop up CNN for maybe another year. They have the lowest ratings in I think six years. And that's why they are giddy because they have a new group to target. And as the national hall monitor network, they can exercise their false sense of moral superiority over people.
I also find it weird that they love condemning Americans but you better not say anything about China. None of these Americans had anything to do with the spread of COVID or the origins of COVID, but you are so free to demonize them but god forbid you say anything about the experts who knew about, what's the name of the shit? Sorry.
PERINO: Yes, I'm not the only one.
GUTFELD: Yes. Yes. What's the name of -- gain of function. God forbid you talk about the experts who ushered in gain of function. God forbid you talk about the origins of the virus. Let's go after some people that have decided that they think that the -- experimental vaccine is voluntary and you think that's evil. I apologize for swearing but it felt good.
PERINO: Yes, and also now I'm not the only one. You guys done it so I'm in good company.
GUTFELD: Yes, you'll do it again.
PERINO: And it's also highly populated urban areas that are having this, too. Like, it's not just in rural America where a lot of white people live where there is vaccine hesitancy. That is quite apparent if you look at the data.
Geraldo, on the Fourth of July, President Biden had this big event at the White House, had declared basically our independence from the pandemic, perhaps premature?
RIVERA: Perhaps premature, but I think the vaccine is absolutely bulletproof against this damn disease. We had a lightning storm in Cleveland last night, it was as likely to get hit by one of those lightning bolts as to get this terrible disease if you are vaccinated.
This is a disease of the unvaccinated. I am appalled, however, by these gentlemen to my left, ironically, who blame the border for the spread of this disease without any evidence, where is your proof that the --
WATTERS: It's called common sense, Geraldo.
RIVERA: Well, common sense is not proof, Jesse. I got news for you.
WATTERS: Geraldo, so you don't think it's a coincidence that all of these variants are popping up in the very places on the border that Biden has opened? You don't think that's a coincidence.
RIVERA: You bend over backwards to demonize that population.
WATTERS: I'm demonizing Joe Biden. All right. Not the immigrants who have haven't been vaccinated. I'm demonizing Joe.
RIVERA: You have no -- when you -- when you -- even an anecdotal story of a bus pulling into a town that later had an outbreak. You have nothing like that. In terms of the mandatory vaccines, Jeff -- Greg -- Jeff, I don't know any Jeff's.
Greg, to say that demonization of the unvaccinated, it's not appropriate, you have to understand that if you are unvaccinated then you should at least get tested every week on your own or be -- understand why you are banned from the VA, why you're banned from restaurants, why you are banned from other businesses and colleges increasingly and they should be because it's selfish.
If you are unvaccinated and you are going around without being tested, you are an arrogant, selfish SOB.
GUTFELD: Do you have proof of that? Do have proof? You are asking for proof from Jesse. What's your proof that people are wandering around willy- nilly spreading the disease? You sound like you don't have any evidence.
RIVERA: No evidence that unvaccinated people? I have a -- you want evidence? Ninety-nine percent of the people sick in the hospitals in Los Angeles County of COVID were unvaccinated. How is that for proof?
GUTFELD: No. You know what else is proof? What if people are immunocompromised and can't get the vaccine? Have you thought about that?
RIVERA: They are and I copped to that, a tiny fraction of 1 percent.
GUTFELD: More than that.
PERINO: All right. Dagen, what about the people who got through that are business owners? They got through the situation and reopened their bars and restaurants and now hear something like this from the CDC that fully vaccinated people coming into a bar would have to be masked?
DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I'm going to be being vaccinated and having antibodies, I'm going to stick that mask where the sun doesn't shine, and maybe it's on my body and maybe it's somewhere else.
RIVERA: I hope it's not mine.
MCDOWELL: I will point to what the CDC actually said in the announcement. In them laying out this masked suggestion or mandate, they give a very strong case as to why vaccinated people don't need to wear a mask.
You read part of it. "In rare occasions some vaccinated people can get the delta variant. Even so, vaccinated individuals represent a very small amount of transmission occurring around the country." But instead, they are telling the American people that in two-thirds or almost two-thirds of counties in this country, if you look at the map, I did and added it up, that you're going to need to mask up.
It is purely political. It's in most red areas. It's throughout the south and into the southwest and guess why? Because those states are doing better in terms of unemployment, in terms of the economy than the blue states are.
And by the way, in terms of messengers for people to get vaccinated, can you think of two worse people than Don Lemon and Gavin Newsom? Nobody is going to listen to those nonsensical, moronical sass bags (ph). If they told me I had food in my teeth I wouldn't listen to them.
PERINO: But if you did I would tell you because I'm your friend.
GUTFELD: No, I'm just saying as a feminist, I'm surprised at Geraldo. What happened to my body, my choice, Geraldo?
RIVERA: I do not believe my body my choice when it comes to the damn vaccine.
GUTFELD: So, it changes.
RIVERA: I want you to be vaccinated and if you are not vaccinated you have to have a reason like immunocompromised.
MCDOWELL: So you are in the camp of the panic peddler, the former head of Planned Parenthood who was on CNN?
RIVERA: I am absolutely in the camp of no shirt, no shoes, no vaccine, no service.
PERINO: All right, we got a lot more coming up.
MCDOWELL: But that's private industry.
PERINO: Up next, a powerful moment from a police superintendent responding to Chicago's crime wave. What he said is to blame.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: Last weekend's violent crime wave in Chicago left 12 people dead and 70 shot. The city's top cop is calling out the justice system and blaming the courts for a skyrocketing crime rate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID BROWN, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: We are arresting violent offenders, the courts are releasing these people back into the community that over 90 people charged with murder have been released. That should be a headline in this city and it's not. So be adversarial to the courts. Ask what the courts can do different rather than release violent people back to these communities to create an environment of lawlessness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: It's sad that common sense is seen as refreshing. Meanwhile, a former Democratic senator from California becoming the latest victim of the nationwide spike in violent crime. Barbara Boxer revealing she was attacked in broad daylight.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BARBARA BOXER, FORMER SENATOR: I tried to cross the street and get away and he slammed me on the back and reached across me. He was behind me and grabbed my cell phone out of my hand. And I just said, how can you do this to a grandmother? I want to call my grandkids. Why are you doing this? He could care less and got in the car and they sped away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: That's what (inaudible) liberal is. A conservative is a liberal mugged by reality, something like that. Geraldo, in Chicago alone, 90 accused killers have been let go by the courts. Is it possible to do, like, a class action suit of victims' families against the city? Because it seems like politicians are only scared of lawyers.
RIVERA: Well, I think it's an excellent idea. I think that it's impractical. First of all, Superintendent Brown is a great guy, but he is transferring all the responsibility to the courts and the prosecutors and the police department's which is woefully undermanned I think really has to step up.
What you have there is the blood flowing in the streets. I mean, it's just this 12 dead this weekend, there were 12 last weekend, 17 the weekend before that, you know, it's so much bigger than the 90 murderers who are released although that is certainly part of the problem.
You have a situation here where we are losing an entire generation of young black man and nobody cares about it unless there's a white cop involved. It is horrific what's happening. This is the civil rights issue of our time. There is a ghetto civil war going on.
Everybody has got guns. They are dealing the drugs. They are fighting over turf. And they are firing into crowds, willy-nilly, as if that was a sign of macho, you shoot up a barbecue and you kill a 6-year-old. I think that the fact that this is not the front page story coast to coast, really to me, it fills you with dismay.
GUTFELD: I agree. I mean, we say that gun violence is a national problem but policing is local. You can't have it both ways. To Geraldo's point, Dagen, its' a different kind of crime going on. So you see Barbara Boxer, she's 80. Not that there's honor among muggers and thieves and junkies, but generally they don't really go -- beat the crap out of old ladies. Now that's every day.
MCDOWELL: It is every day and if you read the story after story, just whether it's in New York or San Francisco, that these perps have long rap sheets and it's very clear, if you just read the newspaper that they should have been thrown in jail years ago and stayed there.
But because of this revolving door, whether it's from bail reform, whether it is left wing liberal prosecutors, they are not kept in jail. If anybody is picked up here in New York just for simple assault, they are right back out on the street immediately. And this is a unique kind of evil and cowardice, attacking elderly people.
But just really quickly I want to point out one, just -- I have mentioned this on the show before, but there were two elderly Asian women who were stabbed in San Francisco by a man named Patrick Thompson. And the knife was as long as the arm of one of these elderly Asian women. And the handle broke off and the serrated knife was stuck inside of her.
Where did he come from? He had a background including assault with a deadly weapon and he actually was supposed to be in jail for life and he was released on a mental health diversion.
GUTFELD: There you go.
MCDOWELL: And now he is being prosecuted but these people are everywhere and nobody -- nobody cares about the victims. They just don't give a damn.
GUTFELD: But thank God we got that guy in the Viking hat.
MCDOWELL: Right.
GUTFELD: You know, Jesse, do you think CNN and the Democrats would pay more attention if we pointed out that the criminals are probably not vaccinated?
WATTERS: Speaking of not vaccinated, Geraldo, I just had to fact-check you on that last segment, 900 percent increase in COVID cases in the Rio Grande Valley sector and in terms of testing, 8 percent positivity rate in the detainment facilities.
Now, New York City closed down at 3 percent. This is 8 percent. So, you were wrong, I'll expect an apology in the commercial break. Kim Foxx is the villain in Chicago. She is the D.A. She has 700 lawyers under her tutelage, and she ran on this anti-cop, de-incarcerate platform, and now it's working out.
She doesn't sentence people. Pre-trial sentencing doesn't happen, no bail. Everybody gets out. Soros funded, Gutfeld, $2 million to her super PAC, from George Soros. So people you ask why? Well, they voted for her. They voted for her so at a certain point, you had to say, Chicago, I feel sorry for you, but you're putting people in office that are raising body counts.
Police departments and district attorneys are supposed to work together but if Soros keeps funding these radical D.A.'s that won't work with police departments to keep people behind bars, you're going to see more Chicago's.
GUTFELD: Yes. It's funny, if you think about it, if the mayor of Chicago was an old white dude, wouldn't you be kind of suspect of whether or not he really cares about black people. That's what they would think given the amount of casualties. These are black and brown bodies.
PERINO: So this issue on the prosecutors doesn't get as much attention as the police as you bet it should because now -- okay, they won't listen to us --
GUTFELD: Right, of course.
PERINO: They will not listen to us, but will they listen to the police chief? Because it's not just the one in Chicago, it's the one in D.C. as well.
GUTFELD: Right.
PERINO: And in St. Louis and in Los Angeles. So, you have all of that. The 1994 Republican wave was partly about crime and many other things as well, but the crime. That wasn't just in Congress. That was all across the country. So, for local governments and state governments. So to your point, if you are electing these types of people, that's the kind of results you are going to get, but there could be an even bigger wave happening in 2022.
GUTFELD: Right. Ahead --
RIVERA: (Inaudible) from the Title 42, people who are infected with the coronavirus are turned back at the border.
WATTERS: They got rid of Title 42, Geraldo.
PERINO: No, not yet.
WATTERS: They got rid of it.
RIVERA: Not yet.
PERINO: Not yet.
WATTERS: They're not even testing.
RIVERA: Not yet. Not yet.
WATTERS: Get out of here.
GUTFELD: All right.
WATTERS: That's what they tell you. It's on the books. They are not enforcing it, just like the laws in Chicago.
GUTFELD: All right. Ahead, the Pelosi selected committee holding their first January 6th hearing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MCDOWELL: A Democrat-led House Committee holding its first hearing on the January 6 capital riot. Police officers on duty that day giving dramatic testimony on what they witnessed. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi is under fire for blocking two Republican nominees to the panel.
The Democrats aren't happy with their Republican colleagues either, Adam Schiff saying this about Leader McCarthy before the hearing even started.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): That Republican Party that was willing to do that in 2001 and 2002 is not Donald Trump's Republican Party. Had Kevin McCarthy been the leader then, there would've been no 9/11 commission, there would've been, you know, an effort to persuade the country that what, it didn't happen or it's overblown or who knows what the explanation would have been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCDOWELL: And Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy blasting Pelosi and calling the hearings a sham.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi will only pick on people onto the committee that will ask the question she wants asked. That becomes a failed committee and a failed report, a sham that no one can believe. If you want the true answers, do not be afraid of the questions that will get asked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCDOWELL: Greg, have at it.
GUTFELD: Well, I'm going to preface like what we've always said on the show right off the bat, we condemn equally the riots of last year, the billions in damages and January 6 because we, as conservatives or libertarians or Republicans, we are the gate that prevents the barbarians from storming.
And on January 6, we became the barbarians. We don't like that. Having said that, it would be fun to do a hearing on the crime wave and interview the police from Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, New York City just to provide real context about actual threats to democracy.
We're being lectured by phony politicians about threats to our country while they ignored a mounting pile of dead and it's all for politics. I also reject the idea that having politicians jobs disrupted for two hours is somehow worse than billions of dollars of destruction and dozens of deaths including police officers.
That's why I would like to see a hearing about that, because I'm not -- I'm not getting -- I can't stomach the crying. I can't stomach the crying. I saw some really bad stuff all last year, and none of those people lifted a damn finger. What a backwards world we live in where the media didn't give two F's about police officers getting killed, about businesses torched, but they lionized a response in which an unarmed female protester was shot dead point-blank.
Imagine if she was BLM. Imagine that. How would this turn out differently if it was a BLM protest? Just think about that. That's why this is a circus. That's a clown show. And I don't buy the fake tears.
MCDOWELL: Fugazi tears, Dana. And they keep comparing this to 9/11. I'd like them to call just a few of the thousands of children who lost a mother or a father on 9/11. This is hideousness.
PERINO: Look, that type of comparison is not necessary. And there are 14 investigations that are underway. I think that there's 12 in Congress and then one at DOJ and one at FBI. I mean, there are some questions that should be answered. And I do think that the Democrats have overplayed their hand on the politics of this. And they're overestimating the amount of victory that they're getting in terms of politics. But the Republicans might be underestimating as well.
So, I would love to get some answers to some of these questions. In particular, the one thing that is interesting, and the comparison of 9/11 that might work, which is why wasn't the information shared with the people who needed to know in order to do something about it to prevent it in the first place.
MCDOWELL: Right. And the Democrats, Geraldo, didn't want to --
RIVERA: I'm a Republican.
MCDOWELL: I said, the Democrats didn't want to have a hearing about the origins of COVID which has killed 611,000 Americans.
RIVERA: I am absolutely -- you know, I treasure that the audience of Fox News has tolerated me for 20 years knowing that I'm at a step with the majority of the people who are watching right now. I hate when I agree with Adam Schiff who gives me the creeps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are my favorite Republicans.
GUTFELD: Oh, you're terrible.
RIVERA: They are -- this is -- this is Kevin McCarthy --
GUTFELD: What a phony.
RIVERA: -- on January 13, 2021. The President bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. That's Kevin McCarthy, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the same sanctimonious lecturer who's telling us there's nothing happened here. It's like blaming the person who gets shot in the chest for not wearing a bulletproof vest. I think it's preposterous.
GUTFELD: Like Ashli.
RIVERA: This -- they attack the capital. And how dare you, Greg, say that this a two hours of disruption. This wasn't two hours of disruption.
GUTFELD: Who was shot in the chest?
RIVERA: This was the worst attack --
GUTFELD: Who was shot in the chest? Ashli Babbitt/
RIVERA: This is the worst attack on the Capitol in centuries.
GUTFELD: Not a good analogy, Geraldo.
MCDOWELL: And Schiff is the worst spokesman for this, Jesse. These jerks were as the Coronavirus was beginning to spread around the nation, were busy impeaching President Trump for a second time,
WATTERS: I was watching the hearing on my phone and Jesse Jr. peeks out of his crib this morning and he says dad, is this all Pelosi has in the midterm elections? Is that all she's going to run on? Because I think there's what, six agencies investigating this thing. This is just a show trial to put Republicans on the defensive.
Sure, there's bad hombres out there, Geraldo, and they're going to be held accountable. But we know what this is. They rigged this committee. Republicans don't even have a voice. And then they fundraised off it and everybody cries. We know the game here.
What happened was a lot of rioters went in and broke into people's businesses last summer and no one cared. And then they broke into the Democrats' place of work and they want to what, throw the book at them one last summer? They bailed out the rioters.
RIVERA: It's the United States Capitol.
GUTFELD: That's not as important as the businesses.
WATTERS: They bailed out the rioters last summer.
RIVERA: Jesse Jr. will lecture you. It's the -- it's the Capitol of the United States of America.
GUTFELD: I care about the small businessmen.
RIVERA: It's the pillar of the American Republic.
WATTERS: Jesse Jr. is not a fan of yours, Geraldo.
GUTFELD: Small businesses is just as important, Geraldo. They're just as important. You know that.
WATTERS: You're not better than everybody on the street.
GUTFELD: You just said it was -- you said the crime was a civil rights battle of the generation. All of those businesses that's torched deserve equal, equal --
RIVERA: You are -- you are deflecting.
GUTFELD: No I'm not. I'm speaking of the truth.
RIVERA: You are absolutely deflecting.
GUTFELD: I'm speaking the truth.
RIVERA: You're trying to get the eyes off the Capitol that was raped by 500 people charged with felony already.
GUTFELD: I condemned that.
RIVERA: 500 charged already.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: (INAUDIBLE)
RIVERA: History will judge you.
GUTFELD: I think you've been judged a lot.
MCDOWELL: I will repeat what Greg said. Be careful about using the word rape, Geraldo. And by the way, the Democrats tune in up when the lawlessness fits their political agenda, please. Coming up, an Olympic stunner. Gymnastic superstar Simone Biles abruptly pulling out of the team competition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RIVERA: Heartbreaking upset coming out of the Tokyo Olympics. You all heard about it from the U.S. women's gymnastics team. Four-time Olympic champ and one of the most famous athletes in the world, the greatest of all time, Simone Biles withdrawing in the middle of the finals, crushed by concerns about her own mental health and well-being.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SIMONE BILES, U.S. WOMEN'S GYMNAST: I took a step back, because I didn't want to do something silly out there and get injured.
It's been really stressful this Olympic game.
I say, put mental health first, because if you don't, then you're not going to enjoy your sport, and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to. So, it's OK sometimes to even set out the big competitions to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor and person that you really are, rather than just battle through it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERA: You know, Dana, the pressure on these kids -- she's not a kid, she's 24, but it is crushing. And there's so much. She said, the weight of the world is on my shoulders. And remember, she's like a survivor of that sexual abuse ring, that awful Larry Nasser. Do you feel overwhelming sympathy for her? Do you -- do you -- are you disappointed as an American?
PERINO: Yes, I mean, I'm a big fan of hers. And I think also like, what she's been able to accomplish physically and technically in the world of gymnastics, I don't know if we'll actually see people be -- anyone in our lifetime be able to do that. I mean, it was just absolutely -- almost defied the law of physics.
But I also think that her teammates, a lot of disappointment. I mean, there was a big build-up out of this Olympics. The person most recognized would be I guess, Simone Biles, maybe Katie Ledecky, who also, you know -- she barely lost, you know, last night. But that young 17-year-old girl from Alaska, she surprised everybody and got the gold.
So, I wish Simone the best. I hope that the rest of the team can go on and will, you know, if she decides to talk more about it, great. But I also want to mention one other thing, which is, the United States ended up with a silver by the Russian Olympic Committee got the gold. And you know, the Russians were kicked out of the Olympics for the doping scandal, but their Olympic Committee gets to compete. And I think that that is wrong.
So, we can be disappointed for Simone and then be mad at the Olympic Committee for allowing that because that seems unfair.
RIVERA: She said we hope America still loves us, Jesse. Do you still love her?
WATTERS: She is beloved, Geraldo. We all know that. And yes, she's a, what is it, most decorated female gymnast of all time. This is her third Olympics. And she had a breakdown, and she pulled the car over the side of the road and said I've had enough. I get it. And she had a good run but I will say this. We still -- we still --
PERINO: Do you me to hold --
GUTFELD: Hold his hands.
WATTERS: No, I'm not going to say -- I'm not going to say anything about it. We still medaled. So, we got the silver. Right now, we're ahead of China in the total metal count by about four medals. So, it wasn't as painful as it could have been if we hadn't medaled. But at a certain point, I think to myself, I can barely touch my toes, Geraldo. I can't sit here and criticize her. It's very difficult.
RIVERA: Do you think -- do you -- you heard the conversation during the commercial break where Jesse was --
PERINO: Don't reveal that commercial break.
WATTERS: She was what, Geraldo.
RIVERA: Saucier in his --
PERINO: Oh, my gosh. Oh, no.
WATTERS: No, I wasn't.
MCDOWELL: No, he wasn't. I talked to a friend of mine who was an elite gymnast and is a gymnastics coach.
GUTFELD: I thought that was a private conversation.
MCDOWELL: No, I'm not --
GUTFELD: Anyway, go ahead. Go ahead.
MCDOWELL: As I was doing splits. On Dana's point about Russia, the team -- the gymnastics team was very upset by the preliminaries because they got the scores and deductions were way off and favored Russia. That was part one. It's -- Simone Biles is competing at such a high level. You can't water it down and dial it back. There is just no such thing.
And as she was running for that volt, she's running about 50 miles per hour or more. You will be catastrophically injured if you're in your own head and not competing -- not competing as you normally would. And in terms of the Larry Nassar scandal, this is her first game -- Olympic Games, since that scandal broke. It broke right after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. So, it's not -- it's not unfathomable to think that there is some post- traumatic stress going on here. And she's not allowed to have the support system in Japan as she would because of COVID.
But again, this is an incredible woman. The all-around is Thursday. Let's hope she's competing in that. I mean, we're all rooting for you, Simone Biles.
RIVERA: I've got five kids, three girls. And they compete in little tiny things over their lives. And each one is so, you know, your stomach- churning. You know, do you cut slack to someone who has that kind of pressure?
GUTFELD: Well, as you know, Geraldo, this is why I didn't participate in the Olympics because I just find it demoralizing and it's very -- it's very hard on your spirit. Look, this is a national global disgrace.
RIVERA: What is?
GUTFELD: What is I'm kidding. She could do whatever she wants. You know, I wasn't watching the Olympics. I'm not watching it now. Her decisions have no effect on my life. This has been a rough period for everybody. I'm not surprised if these athletes are having a hard time. This is the weirdest Olympics ever, perhaps the worst Olympics ever.
So, you know what, whatever she wanted to do, she probably did the best thing. I can't pretend to care. I could be like Adam Kinzinger and start crying but I won't.
RIVERA: Unlike Greg, we care, Simone. So, we send you love from THE FIVE. "THE FASTEST" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: Welcome back, everybody. Time for "THE FASTEST." First up, it's been a few years since that 70 show ended, but its stars are still apparently living like hippies. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis sharing some of their unique parenting techniques.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MILA KUNIS, ACTRESS: When I had children, I also didn't wash them every day. Like, I wasn't the parent that bathed my newborns ever.
ASHTON KUTCHER, ACTOR: If you can see the dirt on them, clean them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
KUTCHER: Otherwise, there's no point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: Dagen, what's that about?
MCDOWELL: Maybe they love pigpen. You know what, their kids have no problems. Even if they're covered in mud, they're gorgeous and they got no problems in life.
WATTERS: That is --
MCDOWELL: Because all you got -- you know what, you just -- you look like dirt animal and you just say, Ashton and Mila are my parents.
WATTERS: Geraldo?
RIVERA: I would be pigpen except my wife makes a shower every day and have to brush my teeth. She smells it across the room. So, I'm not my own man.
WATTERS: Wait, you wife makes you brush your teeth?
RIVERA: And shower.
WATTERS: How older you, Geraldo? Not a rhetorical question, how old are you?
RIVERA: 78.
WATTERS: All right. You look great.
RIVERA: Thank you.
PERINO: I think they are great parents and their kids are probably going to be super healthy and have amazing immune system.
WATTERS: Immunity, Greg.
GUTFELD: There's nothing worse though than a dirty kid. I can't -- I hate kids, but dirty kids are the worst. They get all their dirt all over the place. The food is on the doorknob, there's crap under the sofa cushions. I'm a proponent of the garden hose. So, if you -- if I ever have kids, you just take them outside, you spray him down like Rambo in First Blood or Chuck Heston in Planet of the Apes, you remember that?
RIVERA: We're not --
GUTFELD: By the way, that's garden hose. People might be taking that out of context.
RIVERA: A carwash.
GUTFELD: Yes. A car washes is a better idea.
WATTERS: I'm going to have you babysit Jesse Jr. one day. I think that's going to go really well. What do you charge?
GUTFELD: I pay you.
WATTERS: OK. Next up, one of America's most hotly debated topics has seemingly been settled just in time for barbecue season. A new survey reveals that more than 43 percent of Americans believe a hot dog is in fact a sandwich. Greg, I feel like you might agree with that.
GUTFELD: I don't know. I mean, a hot dog is a sandwich or not is a question when poses if your life is great. You know what I mean? If your life is awesome, you can have this debate. But I would guess it's a sandwich. You got two pieces of bread and a meat, a piece of meat.
WATTERS: Yes, but it's not the traditional bread, right?
PERINO: I don't know. Like --
GUTFELD: White privilege.
PERINO: -- if a hotdog was a sandwich, it wouldn't have a separate category at the diner.
WATTERS: Exactly. And like, if you have a hoagie, that's on a roll right, Geraldo?
RIVERA: If it's not native or a Hebrew kosher hot dog, then it's not a real hotdog.
WATTERS: Dagen?
MCDOWELL: It's wiener pastry.
WATTERS: It's a wiener pastry. I never heard that one before, Dagen.
MCDOWELL: I just made it up.
WATTERS: "ONE MORE THING" is up next.
GUTFELD: Wiener pastry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PERINO: It's time for "ONE MORE THING." Greg?
GUTFELD: Let's do this, Dana. Greg's crime corner with Greg Gutfeld. So, if you're an eagle-eyed viewer, you are realizing that this is not my normal cup of water because this, this is what I came to work to this afternoon in our green room. And then what's next to it? What's next to it? Read this little thing. Please forgive me, Greg. It was an accident. I swear.
Who do you think did this?
WATTERS: That's your handwriting.
GUTFELD: I am not Jussie Smollett. I'm not -- this is not a fake -- a fake hate crime.
RIVERA: Who could it be?
MCDOWELL: I know who did it.
GUTFELD: Who did it?
MCDOWELL: Janice Dean.
GUTFELD: All right, who do you think, Janice Dean?
PERINO: Yes.
GUTFELD: All right. Well, you know what, we got a --
WATTERS: I think it was Evil Shannon Bream.
GUTFELD: It might have been. A lot of people don't like me here, Jesse. All right -- and I don't blame them.
WATTERS: They're at this table.
GUTFELD: I don't like me. All right, let's roll the confession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANICE DEAN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR METEOROLOGIST: I'm really, really sorry. It was up here. Someone washed it. And then I opened this up and then --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it fell?
DEAN: And I'm really sorry. I guess this is one of a kind. Sorry, Greg. What can I do to help make up to it?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: I want -- I want a great summer of weather. By the way, she just threw some poor maintenance worker under the bus. I don't worry. I fired her. Everything is good.
PERINO: Everything is good. All right, no problem. Janice. We have more, we think. All right, Jessica.
WATTERS: So, last night, I was at the Nixon library in Yorba Linda, California. I love saying Yorba Linda. But it was a great event.
GUTFELD: I thought it was my Belinda.
WATTERS: And you did -- you did make an appearance, Greg. And I was selling How I Save the World. We did some signings and we were interviewed by Jennifer Horn of LA's The Morning Answer, and had a great time at a great event with an amazing crowd. And it's an incredible library, just fascinating what they've put together there.
And Greg obviously had to make it all about himself by dialing in. And there he is on the screen with a glass of wine in his hand acting goofy. I totally ignored him. But go buy the book. It's back in stock on Amazon. And we love everybody out in Yorba Linda.
RIVERA: Congratulations.
WATTERS: Thank you, Geraldo.
RIVERA: Number one. Number one.
WATTERS: Thank you.
PERINO: So, you know, the Olympics are on. We talked about that. There's so many different categories now like, surfing. But did you know that dumpster diving is one of them too? Here's -
WATTERS: No.
PERINO: Yes, here it is. Here's a couple of -- what do you call these birds?
GUTFELD: Parrots.
PERINO: Cockatoos? Yes. So, like, a little bit of figuring out. Like, OK, let me help -- let me figure out what I'm going to find in here. They're -- animals are great, Greg.
GUTFELD: Yes, they are great.
PERINO: Animals are great. Teamwork is really important in this, you know, helping other birds get their -- what they need. What do you think of that?
GUTFELD: Look at that. That's strong neck muscles.
MCDOWELL: (INAUDIBLE) had a cockatoo.
PERINO: All right, Geraldo.
RIVERA: I was -- I finally got HBO Max. And what did I find? Bonfire of the Vanities, that movie that starred Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith and me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERA: I mean, the story is legit, right?
BRUCE WILLIS, ACTOR: Of course he is.
RIVERA: I mean, it's Henry Lamb. He's s a nice kid. The neighbor seem to like him, no record, honors students.
WILLIS: No question about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Nice hair on Willis.
WATTERS: Wow.
RIVERA: I'm a terrible one.
PERINO: I didn't know that. I didn't know you were in there. Dagen, we owe you one.
MCDOWELL: Next time.
PERINO: We owe you one. Tomorrow will be great. All right, that's it for us. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next. Hey, Bret.
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