The Five: It's happening, Ukraine invasion is imminent
'The Five' panelists react to Joe Biden announcing he is convinced Putin has decided to invade Ukraine.
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," February 18, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: So that was President Biden at the White House declaring for the first time so far that he now does believe that Vladimir Putin will militarily invade Ukraine. The president just getting off the phone with our European allies who he says are united and determined and are preparing a massive amount of economic sanctions against the Russians who he said is pushing out massive amounts of propaganda all over the place and we don't know any more than that is basically what he said.
Greg Gutfeld, your reaction to what you heard. It sounds like it's happening.
GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: I don't -- I don't know what to believe because they also had some interesting intel on Afghanistan. When he said it was hard to read Putin's mind, I get that. So why don't you just ask him? You know what I mean. I mean, this was -- there is always the psychological barriers in these things, why don't you just ask him what's on his mind and just sit there.
This is what we did with North Korea. This is what -- Trump de-escalated a psychological threat by actually asking the dude, what's your problem.
JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST: Right.
GUTFELD: And he moved a psychological threat from the table. Look, America has -- America would love for you to join the rest of the world and not some regressive tyrant, but we're not planning on blowing you up, so maybe you could point your missiles somewhere else. And he goes and then that's the end of it.
You have to -- you have to remove the psychological barrier. It would be interesting. There's only one person you need to talk to.
PIRRO: Right.
GUTFELD: It's Putin. Just ask him, let him talk. There is something going on here that feels very, very manufactured. I don't know what it is, but it just seems to me that --
(CROSSTALK)
LISA KENNEDY MONTGOMERY, FOX BUSINESS HOST: I know what it is.
GUTFELD: Go for it.
MONTGOMERY: It's Jake Sullivan.
GUTFELD: Yes.
MONTGOMERY: Jake Sullivan is the national security adviser. He is in the deep yogurt in the Durham probe, and he has been the one saying we have so much intelligence, an invasion is imminent. He said it last Friday.
GUTFELD: Yes.
MONTGOMERY: It's next the Friday. Here we are. I don't think Putin is going to invade and I don't understand why we are running point when Germany is the one who has got the most invested, they've got the energy relationship with Russia. Russia needs their money, they need their markets, therefore, with a new chancellor, he should make his mark on the rest of Europe and cool things down with Putin.
He's got a much better shot than the dumb dumbs in this administration who blew it in 2014 and they are going to blow it again and I know that, because Kamala Harris is the point person.
GUTFELD: Yes.
MONTGOMERY: She's going to be repetitive. She's going to say the same thing over and over again portraying her lack of knowledge on the entire situation. She is just going to go, we stand together. We are standing together. And here we are together standing. It's --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Don't forget the hash tag. There's got to be a hash tag.
PIRRO: Yes. Yes, there's always a hash tag with Kamala. But you know the amazing part of it is that he is convinced that Putin has made the decision to invade. But he says it's hard to read his mind. So, what are you basing that at?
GUTFELD: Yes.
PIRRO: What are you basing it on, did you talk to him or are you basing it on the fact that they've got the planes out, they've got the tanks that are, you know, in position. They called the Russian reserve which apparently is only used when they are about to occupy.
So, Putin is playing this game, whatever it is, and he's got these nuclear drills that he's going to, he's going to be doing this drills this weekend, then you have to say OK, are you basing it on that? Because if you are, it's just a game and you don't know what Putin is doing.
But I agree with you, Kennedy, I really believe that Jake Sullivan and Blinken, they are a bunch of doofuses, and then you put the queen at the top of that, Kamala Harris who doesn't know anything, we're sending her over there to tell them that we stand with the Ukrainians.
First of all, we can't fight with the Ukrainians because they're not a NATO country. What are we going to do, shake their hands when they come back for more? What is this all about?
WATTERS: Well, Leslie, it looks like the intelligence community believes that it has told the president that they are going in, and that intelligence is either right, or that intelligence is either wrong. We just don't know that, but you could tell by the president's somber tone, and this is pretty somber that he thinks it's happening any day now. This was different than he usually is.
LESLIE MARSHALL, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: His tone was different, I agree, but the message is the same. And look, if it has a bill and it has webbed feet and it quacks, it's a duck. And when you look at over 10 years of the -- of what Vladimir Putin has done.
First of all, Vladimir Putin has wanted Ukraine as bad as a teenage boy wanted the centerfold in Playboy since before, he was Vladimir Putin.
WATTERS: You're saying really bad one.
MARSHALL: And in addition, when you have 90,000 additional troops, you have 150,000 troops there right now, one, two, you have these small cyberattacks and that's how they start and then they escalate. And then three, you have this propaganda, that's the M.O. for the invasion that's what he did last time and that's what he's done before, so why would he do anything differently now?
PIRRO: But why didn't Obama stop him in 2014 when they annexed Crimea and when they -- they, you know, when they declared war back then?
MARSHALL: Well, you brought up a very good point and you took one of my points.
PIRRO: I did? I didn't know that.
MARSHALL: But one, Ukraine is not a NATO country, and two, this is one area where we have bipartisan support. Even those it's symbolic the Senate has passed a resolution echoing the sentiments of the president, both Democrats and Republicans. We don't want military involvement now. We didn't want it when Barack Obama was president.
PIRRO: Yes, but he actually annexed Crimea. I mean, that's pretty significant.
WATTERS: Yes. What are you going to do there though?
Let's get some reaction to Joe Biden's speech from Jennifer Griffin who is live at the Pentagon. All right, Jennifer, you heard what he said, it looks like he thinks Putin is going in. What changed so significantly, do you think in the last 24 hours?
JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jesse, I think first of all, I need to level set with the conversation I've just been listening too. What we are listening right now is not something that just changed in the last 24 hours. If you go back to notes that I've been sending out for the last two weeks, this is something we've been watching in terms of you have commercial satellite imagery, you have the buildup of forces, the type of forces, the number of forces, things that we have been told in advance to look for in terms of some of the disinformation that is already starting to appear, the false flag operations in the Donbas region.
All of that is ticking up. This is something that through a web of intelligence sources, as well as the com -- the surveillance imagery that you can see with your own eyes. This is something that has been accept -- it has been expected. They have been watching it very closely, and they feel that they are now in the final hours and days in which there is still a small possibility to try to get Putin to accept the off-ramp of diplomacy.
But as you heard from President Biden, and it is extremely significant, what he just said in terms of from his point of view, Putin has already made a decision. That coincides with what I am hearing here at the pentagon, from western intelligence sources, from western allies, this is a very different situation than I've heard the comparisons to the Iraq war, WMD, how do we know.
We are seeing it with our own eyes. If you can't look at the kind of Iskander missile battalions that are now in Belarus, 30,000 Russian troops there. The kind -- half of his air force has now been deployed toward Ukraine.
I am told just moments ago from a senior defense official that 40 percent of his 190,000 troops who are on the border with Ukraine are now in attack positions, that is something we have been waiting for. They were in those barracks. They are now moving into assault positions. They could move in a matter of hours or days.
And this is something that needs to be watched closely. This is not some backwater, this is Europe, this is one of the largest military actions being threatened to redraw the map of Europe since World War II. It's going to be bloody. We've heard estimates that 50,000 civilians will be killed, one to five million refugees will be sent on the road.
The level of destruction and the bloodiness of this invasion, if it moves forward, and again, they are doing what they can to try and get Lavrov and Blinken to meet and to say that if there is an invasion before that meeting on Wednesday, that then those sanctions and everything else goes into place, and we're in a whole different world at that point.
But right now, every American should be watching this and knowing that this is deadly serious. This is not some wag the dog situation, to even mention the Durham probe in the same sentence as what we just -- what we know, and what we can see with our own eyes in terms of the military buildup and knowing what Vladimir Putin is capable of.
I served in Moscow from 1996 to '99. I watched as Vladimir Putin rose. I remember the apartment blocks that were blown up by his KGB, his FSB as a pretext to go into Chechnya. Go look at those images of Chechnya and how carpet bombed, Chechnya was, when the Russian military moves in.
This is not a precision small, pinpointed strike. This will be the full weight of the Russian military going into Ukraine if someone doesn't stop it in the coming days.
WATTERS: Jennifer Griffin, thank you so much. We appreciate it. You look like he wanted to say something?
PIRRO: Well, I want to say a couple of things. First of all, our electric grid in this country is vulcanized, it's like a third world country. Even the military is connected to our electric grid, so we are very vulnerable to a cyberattack to the electric grid. It could throw us back, and I don't -- and I'm not being dramatic here, but it could throw us back into the dark ages.
WATTERS: You mean candlelight dinners.
PIRRO: Yes, candlelight dinners but may not --
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: Not romantic.
PIRRO: But not romantic.
WATTERS: Got it.
PIRRO: With no food.
WATTERS: Got it.
PIRRO: OK. That's number one. Number two, if invasion is so obvious and we're in the midst of it, why is the president of Ukraine, Zelensky, going to Munich this week?
GUTFELD: And why is he the most relaxed leader --
PIRRO: Yes.
GUTFELD: -- in the face of an invasion.
PIRRO: Right.
GUTFELD: I've never seen a guy more relaxed.
PIRRO: Well, that is my point. But thank you very much for finishing my sentence.
GUTFELD: Somebody had to.
PIRRO: Yes. Thank you.
WATTERS: There has been a little contrast between the intensity on this site --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Look at Biden versus Zelensky.
WATTERS: Compare to Zelensky.
GUTFELD: I don't know. I don't know. This kind of swirling like it's going to happen, it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Forgive.
PIRRO: Fifty thousand refugees is already there, they got to count it.
GUTFELD: Yes. I know. It's -- but we have been hearing this. We've been hearing this, and it's like no, I mean, don't start giving us crap because we don't know what's true because we've been lied to.
MONTGOMERY: Repeatedly.
GUTFELD: Repeatedly. Right.
WATTERS: I think what people are seeing through the satellite images are they have amassed a massive amount of soldiers and armaments right around that country and you know what happened in World War I, what happened in World War II, it's a bloody theater, the United States usually has come and bail those people out. We do have the strongest military in the world and we are allied with all these NATO countries.
The fear is getting sucked into this bloody theater and having it spiral, the price of gas goes to $4 here in the United States and we get hit with cyberattacks.
MONTGOMERY: Yes.
WATTERS: So, there is a lot of concern.
MONTGOMERY: There is also some concern that this administration is, you know, being pulled into a hot conflict with a nuclear power. You know, it's not exciting. It's not a football game. You know? We are two nuclear powers about to get into a fight with each other and would Germany come over and have our back if Justin Trudeau and his handsome hair decided to launch an invasion into the United States? I don't think they would.
So, I go back to why are we the ones running point on this, and why are people so excited at this prospect? You know, look, what happen in Afghanistan? I'm not just talking about the botched withdrawal, and you know, to the point you made earlier, the bad intelligence on the withdraw and how quickly that country would collapse. Why are we now trusting the exact same intelligence apparatus to give us information here when the president can't say it plainly?
So, yes, I do, I share a lot of distrust, we have been lied to repeatedly by the Department of Defense about Afghanistan for decades. Why are -- why would they all of a sudden come clean now when we also know the NSA and CIA are very spying on Americans illegally.
WATTERS: SO, to Kennedy's point about trusting the intelligence, they have seen, I guess all of the satellite images show that in circumvent of the countries, so that's not in dispute, it's something that's in the shadows, you can see clearly where they have surrounded the country.
It's a matter of what the president can do diplomatically because we're not going into deter him militarily. We don't have an alliance with that country. And we don't want that country in NATO to begin with. Right? We're not going to say that --
PIRRO: Right.
WATTERS: -- because you can't let the Russians tell us who we're going to be allies with 10 years, 15 years later. But it's pretty clear we don't want them in NATO. All right.
GUTFELD: But that's -- that's --
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: Biden didn't say that clearly enough. But Putin I don't think he even cares. He just wants the country.
GUTFELD: Well, if Putin says --
(CROSSTALK)
MARSHALL: That I would agree with.
PIRRO: Yes.
GUTFELD: If Putin says that that's one of a condition, the it's like, cool. Like it's like, I don't want California in the Warsaw pact.
WATTERS: There may have -- there may have been a smoother way for the president --
GUTFELD: Yes.
WATTERS: -- to diplomatically kind of (Inaudible) to Ukraine.
GUTFELD: What if this -- what if this is a fact-finding mission. You prepared to invade just to see what the other side has.
WATTERS: Well, that's what I think and that's what I thought was happening for the last two weeks. I think he was testing us --
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: But don't they already know?
WATTERS: -- to see how were going to respond.
GUTFELD: We might have a -- we might have a weapon that we don't even know we have. Right?
WATTERS: And it's you.
GUTFELD: It's me.
WATTERS: You are the secret weapon.
PIRRO: So then, who is paying -- who is paying for it?
MARSHALL: I don't -- I don't --
WATTERS: Leslie, is there anything to --
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: You ahead, Leslie.
MARSHALL: OK. OK. Where is the Grassy Knoll underneath the table? Look, Vladimir Putin reminds me of the silver black that gorilla do this. Right? He is all about -- sorry to the sound people there.
PIRRO: Yes.
MARSHALL: He is all about power, he's all about money. You know, we need to take a deep breath. The western world controls over 50 percent of the world's economy. Russia and China combined less than 20 percent, so when it comes to money, we are going to win. And that's why I think we see that confidence not just in Biden, but in our allies like Germany and others.
In addition, we know we're not going to send in the military, right? We're not going to send in the military and we have bipartisan support in not sending in the military. And we also have bipartisan support on the sanctions.
So, you know, he is taking, he is having his power grab which is Ukraine which he's always wanted, but what's going to happen after? I do think that not just President Biden, but I do think along with our western allies, he is going to be smacked so hard financially that he will regret this decision.
GUTFELD: He knows that.
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: But then the question --
WATTERS: Do you think he can stomach the sanctions and say I'd rather gobble up the country?
PIRRO: No, I don't think he can stumble this -- stomach the sanctions. And I was just going to agree. I don't know that he has the money to last there for more than a couple of weeks.
MARSHALL: Did you ask for anything?
PIRRO: I did. I did.
WATTERS: Yes. He is going to get --
PIRRO: In terms of Russia --
WATTERS: I agree.
PIRRO: -- economically surviving and invading and -- I mean, how is he going to pay for it?
WATTERS: Occupying.
PIRRO: Occupying. How is he going to pay it?
MONTGOMERY: This is like placing saddles when they created a fake town. They used all the wood they could possibly find to create exact replicas of themselves, and that is what Russia is doing with their military. They have every single thing they've got in one place --
PIRRO: Then they threw it out there.
MONTGOMERY: -- to try and make it look like they've got much more waiting in the wings. And that is a false -- to your point, their economy is in shambles.
PIRRO: It is in shambles.
MONTGOMERY: People in that country our hurting. They don't want this. They can't afford to take care of --
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: What they have eastern Ukraine, why do they need all of Ukraine?
WATTERS: Well, they --
PIRRO: Could someone explain that to me?
WATTERS: -- need it as a buffer militarily and they want to go and reclaim the old empire that they lost. That's what they want.
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: He can't afford to --
MARSHALL: Look at the Brit -- the British, the Romans. I mean, since the beginning of time, men have been wanting to get more and more territory.
WATTERS: Yes. You know what, if there was a female leader of Russia she never would've invade.
GUTFELD: So, let's -- it's all about men, right? It's all about the guerrillas since the beginning of time, it's been about men.
PIRRO: Well, you know what, we're on the pink team over here.
WATTERS: Well, good thing we sent Kamala over there.
MARSHALL: Can you name a woman --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Yes.
MARSHALL: Can you name a woman that's had a power grab?
MONTGOMERY: Catherine the Great. She was not a pacifist.
MARSHALL: All right. You're good. That's right.
WATTERS: Boom. Wow. You just got Catherine the Great. I didn't see that coming.
(CROSSTALK)
MARSHALL: I'll give you that.
GUTFELD: Yes.
WATTERS: Well, I think just to recap, Americans are concerned about the rising gas prices and if there is a cyber war back and forth in response to the sanctions --
PIRRO: That's a problem.
WATTERS: -- that could also hurt us too. Until then, we don't know what's going to happen.
GUTFELD: Kamala is going to solve this, trust me.
WATTERS: But Kamala is on the job.
GUTFELD: Border czar.
PIRRO: She's got this.
GUTFELD: She handled our border. She could definitely handle another country's border.
WATTERS: She she's always wanted to go to Europe.
GUTFELD: Yes. That's right.
WATTERS: She told Lester Holt.
PIRRO: Yes.
WATTERS: All right. We're going to continue to follow the breaking news with Ukraine. But up next on THE FIVE, chaos in Canada as Justin Trudeau tries to crush the freedom truckers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PIRRO (on camera): Major chaos in Canada as petty tyrants Justin Trudeau makes good on his promise to crack down on the freedom truckers. A massive police presence arresting and tussling with protesters on the streets of Ottawa after taking two of their leaders into custody.
Some truckers are saying they are ready to leave with honor, but officials apparently aren't letting them go and are impounding their vehicles. And as we've been telling you, the protesters are not the only ones getting harassed. A cafe owner who got doxed after donating to the cause, giving in an emotional interview to our very own Jesse Watters.
GUTFELD: Very own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMMY GIULIANI, CAFE OWNER, CONVOY SUPPORTER: I gave a donation to fill a gas tank of someone so they didn't have to sleep in minus 30 in the cold that night. And I think that decision speaks to my humanity and not to political beliefs.
Someone draped a large bedsheet over our sign. I'm sorry. It's been -- it's been a tough few days. And I think -- you know, and the sign read, Tammy supports terrorists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PIRRO (on camera): OK. Jesse, you spoke with her, I mean, you know, this woman gave what many would consider up a minor donation and she is being punished for it, socially ostracized, criticized, and being called a terrorist.
WATTERS: She's not a political person. She said she was worried because it's minus 30 degrees outside so she gave the donation so truckers could buy gas and buy food, and the next thing you know she had her whole life turned upside down. They vandalized her place, they've called her all sorts of names, and they've called her a Nazi.
And it's broken our heart. And it's a sad thing to see because she just wanted everybody to come together and show respect for each other and she thought this could've been handled much differently. And she was pleading for the prime minister to just kind of do what leaders do commit and bring everybody together and stop dividing everybody.
And ultimately, the mandates are the most divisive thing. We've seen it here in this country and now up there, they are divisive and you've got to get rid of them. He should've had a maple syrup summit. He should've have brought everybody together.
How easy would it have been for him to say, you know what, guys, we're going to pause the mandate for 14 days, let's get together, you guys leave, open the bridge, let's sit down have a little dinner, it may be some waffles, and then we'll straighten everything out.
At least it would have gotten people off the edge a little bit. But he didn't do that. He went full mow on them. And now look at what we have. We have a whole country of people at each other's throats. And where is Bieber? He is the most famous Canadian out there and he hasn't said a word about this.
PIRRO: Well, you know, Greg, as we've talked about yesterday. You've got Justin --
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: That's what everybody is asking.
PIRRO: -- you've got Justin Trudeau who says that the country admires most is China and he himself is acting like a dictator. All he had to do was start talking with these truckers in the beginning, but instead he calls a Jewish member of parliament, a conservative, you know, she stands with the flag-waving Swastika people and now the Canadians are doing the same thing to someone who wants to contribute. I mean, can Trudeau get this back or is he just, is his legacy going to be one of a tyrant?
GUTFELD: Well, if his Canadian breck girl spent half the time on communicating with the truckers as he does on his air, this would have been fixed. He should not be prime minister. He should be a wedding D.J. at midsize hotel in Niagara Falls. That's where he belongs.
Does the media have such a severe injury that they don't see how comical this contrast is when people were burning down cities in 2020? Leaders were saying give them space. And here they are saying, my God, these people are honking their horns. Slash their tires. Take their gas. Take their kids. Take their pets. Arrest them. It's an interesting contrast. But if you want to see who the good guys are, this is what I do when I'm not sure, because I do think that like --
WATTERS: Wait, you're not sure about things?
GUTFELD: No.
MARSHALL: What?
WATTERS: Breaking news alert.
GUTFELD: I'm a contemplative guy. But like, I want to make sure that the truckers are respectful.
WATTERS: Yes.
GUTFELD: And they are law abiding in that they're good people and so far, they have been. But you want to look at on who is on what side. Right? So, I'm looking like, who supports the truckers and who don't. Well, the people who support the truckers, Elon Musk who just gave billions to fight poverty.
Jordan Peterson, an amazing Canadian philosopher. Reason magazine Nick Gillespie, that means libertarians are behind him. You got -- you got prominent liberals like Glenn Greenwald, I could go on with the people that support the truckers just by going on Twitter you could see who the -- then you look at the other side, all it is, is the dying legacy media, the dying tacklers of CNN. They are the elitist, the Washington Post.
They are so detached from this class of people, it's so easy for them to call them rubes. But I look at the other side, and I go, I want to be with those people. I mean, Elon Musk, the smartest guy in America.
PIRRO: Yes.
GUTFELD: That guy is with the truckers, count me in.
WATTERS: You think he is the smartest guy --
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: Well, you know what, Leslie --
GUTFELD: He is the smartest person -- he is the smartest guy in the planet.
PIRRO: The truth is, Leslie, that there are now 100 checkpoints.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: You need to (Inaudible).
PIRRO: There are 100 checkpoints. It's almost like east Berlin, and they are telling these truckers, if you have an animal, and we arrest you, you may never see the animal again. And we are going to call in Canadian child protective services if you have children with you. Your kids are going to be taken into custody.
I mean, you got to admit that this is so beyond the pale of a peaceful demonstration that is objecting to a year and a half of being locked down. And you know, there are over the top here, wouldn't you say?
MARSHALL: I would say, let's look at the people of Canada, and specifically of Ottawa, and what are they saying? If you look at the polls, they're not with the freedom convoy or Elon Musk. If you look at the polls, they're with the vaccine mandate.
And if you look at harassment, there is a family that had a rainbow flag at their home and they were harassed. Oh, they're all -- wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
GUTFELD: (INAUDIBLE)
MARSHALL: There were homeless people and people working at a homeless shelter that were harassed. In addition --
PIRRO: What does harassed mean. Yelled at or are you talking about an assault --
MARSHALL: There are individuals in this community who have had to close their businesses and it's hurt them economically.
PIRRO: What about what happened in this country in 2022?
MARSHALL: They fear for their security. They fear for their security.
(CROSSTALK)
MARSHALL: Justin Trudeau and the police who met with the organizers of this movement, originally, is Justin -- who is his responsibility too, these freedom convoy truckers or the people that are electing him? The people that elected him.
PIRRO: All right, but let me ask you a question, Leslie. Leslie, the problem is, and I said this yesterday, I said, Parliament has to vote on this emergencies power act.
WATTERS: They punted.
PIRRO: And they punted.
KENNEDY: Absolutely.
PIRRO: They don't want to vote on it, because they are with the truckers. So, you can tell me that the Canadians want -- you know, we're supporting Trudeau. This guy is out of his mind.
MARSHALL: I don't agree they're with the truckers. And I agree that they should have punted.
WATTERS: Well, they should have voted.
MARSHALL: And the reason is, this is not World War II, OK. And that's and that's really, if you look at the situation, the scenario what this emergency powers --
WATTERS: Are we going to liberate Canada?
KENNEDY: So, we saw the rise in fascism in World War II, and that's exactly what this is. Justin Trudeau has turned to Ottawa in Canada into a fascist state when you have people who are forcibly being pulled from their lines, arrested, having their vehicles confiscated so they can't work, having their bank accounts frozen, so they can't spend money, they can't pay their bills.
What is one thing we heard when we were having this massive supply chain issue where people couldn't get any supplies into local drugstores or Walgreens? We need more truckers. We need them. It's a tough job.
GUTFELD: They were heroes.
(CROSSTALK)
MARSHALL: Yes. By the way, this convoy has affected the supply chain on both sides of the border, ours and theirs.
KENNEDY: Then maybe if the Prime Minister had acted rationally and in good faith -- like, Jesse's recommendation is actually the best one I've heard, suspend the mandates for two weeks, hammer everything out, and then once you have an agreement, then commerce will be free-flowing not only from the moment you actually sit down but until there is a resolution.
Justin Trudeau is an embarrassment to the northern hemisphere, and he should be kicked out of humanity.
PIRRO: And to all those people who add to their eyebrows, because his are falling off all the time. But what do you think about the fact that he just disappeared? He wouldn't even talk to them?
MARSHALL: Well, a couple of things. Think about our nation. I know we're a greater nation than Canada. Sorry, Canadians. But would a president, I don't care if they're Democrat or Republican, would be president sit down with people --
PIRRO: He would send someone -- he would send someone out to talk to them.
MARSHALL: Right. And the head of --
PIRRO: Trudeau didn't do it.
MARSHALL: Yes, he did. The head of the police sat down with the organizers.
PIRRO: The head of the police who quit.
MARSHALL: Yes.
KENNEDY: That was not a representative of Justin Trudeau.
PIRRO: That's right. And he quit.
MARSHALL: But I don't think -- I don't think the Prime Minister of Canada any more than President of the United States should be sitting down with everybody who has a grievance and everybody who protest.
PIRRO: And that she quit. And it's not because --
KENNEDY: Yes, but he can make speech about it with his handsome hair.
PIRRO: OK, everybody, straight ahead. Americans want to move on, but Joe Biden and the Democrats can't seem to give up masks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KENNEDY: Democrats are worried that their party is quite tainted. Yes, they're getting a major warning on COVID mandates. Internal polling reportedly shows a majority of swing voters believe the party took the pandemic response too far and the backlash could prove to be politically fatal in the Midterms. But not all Democrats are ready to move on, as you know.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the past two years, so much of the identity of what it meant to be a Democrat to follow the science was tied up in masking and following these rules and regulations. And if you didn't do that, you were, you know, a bad person, you were Ron DeSantis you were -- you were a denier. So now, these Democratic leaders need to get their base comfortable with unwinding all of that.
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, THE VIEW: I listen to the little voice in my head. That doesn't really follow 100 percent what they tell me because they keep changing it. So, I -- if I go on the subway, if I go into bus, if I go into the theater, if I go into -- where else would I go?
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, THE VIEW: A crowded spot.
BEHAR: A crowded place, I would wear a mask. And I might do that indefinitely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Oh, thank God.
KENNEDY: Jesse, you know, actually, Joy Behar should just really covered up just --
WATTERS: You mean, not listen to the voices in her head?
KENNEDY: Just cover it up.
WATTERS: Maybe she should see a doctor.
KENNEDY: Just wear the mask.
WATTERS: Yes.
GUTFELD: I'm so glad she takes the subway.
WATTERS: Double mask? I don't know. Some people I don't mind if they want to stick with masks. Let them.
GUTFELD: Yes, who cares?
WATTERS: What do I care? I've always been about mask optional. It doesn't bother me. Just don't make me wear it. Everyone got the cron over Christmas, the whole country. All Democrats got the cron. And right now we're 75 percent vaccinated. Where's the Big Joe Biden speech congratulating the country for hitting a 75 vaccination rate?
I mean, he bothered the heck out of us all year about how we weren't getting vaccine and shame on us. And finally, we got our numbers up and the guy isn't saying anything. He just talks about Putin this Putin that. What about us? Don't we get any respect?
Listen, I think a lot of people in the beginning of the pandemic were kind of excited about staying home, the remote thing, they got a little -- set up an office in their house. It was neat, it was fun, it was different. And now, people are getting sick of their spouses and their spouses are getting sick of them.
Guys want to get back to the office, they want some action. The women want to get back to the office, they want action too, or they want to stay home and get the husband back to the office so they can have some peace. We just got bored, it got a little tedious and we're ready to go. And even Democrats are ready to go.
But here's the problem. Most of Democrats don't want to move on, but the rest of the country does. So, the government has to realize there have to govern for everybody. They can't just govern their own party. And that's why you're seeing it be so awkward right now.
KENNEDY: Yes. And you're also seeing a lot of Democrat states buck the CDC guidelines, and they are going ahead and getting rid of mask mandates. You know, you're seeing that in Oregon, California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut. They're all -- they're all getting rid of it because it is politically toxic. We shouldn't be making public health decisions based on politics.
But masks are the emblem of the pandemic. And it has activated a group of voters who before had nothing in common and many of them were apolitical. They're the ultimate swing voters in the upcoming midterm, and that's parents. And I don't think Democrats realize what they've stirred up with parents across the country. Virginia was just an appetizer.
PIRRO: But, Jesse, that's what I think is the case, that the Democrats are not convincing the swing voters because now the swing voters understand that the Democrats totally are not in touch with them. We learned it from Youngkin. We learned it from the San Francisco School Board.
America is in a bad mood right now. We're in a bad mood because we've been told to be quiet. They've been telling us with big tech is not letting us communicate what we want to communicate. The CDC right now can even decide whether or not a mask are -- what did they say? They're going to put in guidance soon regarding mask. They haven't figured it out yet.
So, of course, everyone in the swing states are mad at the Democrats for defunding. They're mad at the Democrats for the border. They're mad at the Democrats for the spending that's out of control. They're mad at them because Americans get it. And they've had it with that.
WATTERS: And what's guidance anyway? Just guidance.
KENNEDY: Yes, guidance is a lot more than guidance when it affects your life. And you can't work and you can't hire certain people, or you're going to get fired because you're exercising your medical freedom.
WATTERS: That's a rule, not guidance.
PIRRO: Where has Fauci been?
WATTERS: Yes. Fauci has aged. I saw his hair the other day got really gray. And it's kind of like when you're president after the second term, you get like, totally different. He's had it. His run is over.
KENNEDY: All right, so --
WATTERS: Even admitted that immunity, natural immunity is very powerful.
KENNEDY: It is six times more powerful than the vaccine. So, Leslie, what is more politically problematic for Democrats right now, inflation of the issues with masks and schools, or the horrific situation with Russia?
MARSHALL: A and B, not C, not foreign policy at all. I mean, it's not top 10 of any voter Democrat, you know, Republicans, swing or not. I mean, it's the economy and COVID. And in my State of California, what Gavin Newsom did is he's always gone by what's going out with the hospitals, as we saw -- the cron -- I've never heard it's called that before. I like that I'm going to take. The cron was not killing people at the rate that Delta was. We didn't see the numbers in the hospitals in the ICU, so he said, let's take it off.
There are concerns. You know, I'm a Democrat. I'm not wearing my mask. I don't have it here under the table and, you know, under my leg or anything. But there are concerns that what's going to happen next? What's the next variant going to be? And we're going to be, you know, putting all those mask back on.
KENNEDY: Yes, there are a lot of -- a lot of fear-mongering.
MARSHALL: But I hope it's not all politically motivated because I think it's terrible that any --
KENNEDY: Of course it is.
MARSHALL: -- of this has been political. Democrats know historically that they're going to lose seats in the House, and hopefully not too many in the Senate, with or without COVID. But then again, by the time we have the election, I think a lot of voters will have forgotten.
KENNEDY: OK, so the Squad, that is one of the issues that is giving the DCCC the hips because they are so incredibly divisive. They're not only dividing the country, they're dividing the party. And whatever they said, whatever their little mandates were in 2020, it has failed the Democrat Party, and now they are panicking.
GUTFELD: Well, I mean, basically, the squad is no different than the loudest, most irrational voices on Twitter. And that's what screwed the Democratic Party is they started listening to like the shut-ins, the crazy people. And they also --
WATTERS: Never listen to these guys.
GUTFELD: -- we started the segment talking about the fact that they pushed it too far. And the reason why they push this so far is because it didn't affect them. They didn't start worrying until it affected them politically. That's all it -- it doesn't matter -- your suffering doesn't matter. And you know this is true because I'm not talking -- I'm not even talking about COVID.
I'm talking about crime. Like they didn't give a damn about crime. They didn't give a damn about COVID because it doesn't matter to them until the power is threatened, right? Because if you're rich, and you're powerful, you could live with a pandemic indefinitely. The shutdown is fine, you could still go to the restaurants, you could still be the governor of California and take off your mask, you could still go to the birthday parties, you can still dance because you're exempt. You can fly private.
So you could go as long as you want with a pandemic, with a shutdown, while everybody else suffers. When we were doing this show, we talked about this. We were doing a show, we were still working while other people weren't. We had to remind ourselves that.
The thing is, freedom came back. It did come back, but it came back to the powerful first. Go look at the restaurants go look at the galleries and the events. That servants are still going to be covered up. And all the famous people, all the rich people, they're all going to be uncovered. It's going to be -- the last ring -- the last ring will always be the poor, will always be the kids, and then everybody will say what about the children. And so they give a damn, but they don't.
KENNEDY: Absolutely not, or they would have taken their mental health into consideration. And they have not and shame on them. "FAN MAIL FRIDAY" is up next. You're going to love it.
GUTFELD: Oh, really?
KENNEDY: Yes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: All right. Get Smart. "FAN MAIL FRIDAY," First question, we only have time for one. If you're in a bad mood, asks Steve, what's one thing that can turn it around? What can turn it around, Judge?
PIRRO: Peppermint Patties.
GUTFELD: Wow, there you go.
PIRRO: Was that fast enough?
GUTFELD: That was fast enough. I saw that one coming. How about you, Leslie? What gets you out of a bad mood?
MARSHALL: Shopping and booze.
GUTFELD: You know, putting them together, amazing. There's nothing like drunk shopping. Because it ruins all the -- you don't think about the prices anymore.
PIRRO: Quick answer.
GUTFELD: I'm hosting this, Crazy Lady. Jesse?
WATTERS: Emma, my wife. She puts me into good mood.
GUTFELD: I like how you said, my wife.
KENNEDY: Very nice.
PIRRO: Oh, that's so sweet. Oh, that's so sweet.
WATTERS: She probably not even watching, and I think that's a credit.
PIRRO: She's watching.
GUTFELD: Yes. All right.
KENNEDY: A schooner full of sailors. I'm an American, all right.
GUTFELD: You know --
KENNEDY: Man, I'm not going to turn anything.
GUTFELD: You know what turns -- if I'm in a bad mood, what's one thing that turn around, just seeing the smile on like a young child.
PIRRO: Oh, cut it out.
GUTFELD: And I'm dropping them off in the woods.
MARSHALL: Oh, my God. "ONE MORE THING" is up next.
WATTERS: That's it?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTERS: It's time now for one more thing. Let's do a Feeding Frenzy.
GUTFELD: Oh yes, baby. This is stupid. This is so stupid.
WATTERS: Don't ruin it. I haven't even announced what it is yet.
GUTFELD: It's stupid. Who does this?
WATTERS: Hostess does this. Caffeinated doughnuts. That's right. You don't even have to dip them in the coffee. They're already dipped.
GUTFELD: That's the fun of it.
WATTERS: Hostess is releasing brand new caffeinated donuts nearly as much caffeine as a cup of coffee in each donut. They have chocolate mocha, caramel macchiato. And if you really want to get a double boost, you can dip the caffeinated donuts in the coffee.
GUTFELD: You know, I'm --
WATTERS: It's like a double espresso.
GUTFELD: People eat those are not in such a hurry that they need to like combine things.
WATTERS: Don't stereotype large groups of people.
KENNEDY: Whatever they're made with pure fiber too?
GUTFELD: Even better.
WATTERS: And "JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME" tonight. We have a very interesting follow-up to the woman who we showed you earlier in the show who is from Canada and is now reeling. But we've made her a star awesome and we love her, Tammy. And Greg you're up.
GUTFELD: All right, tonight we have a great, great show. Janice Dean is up. We're going to do a lot of fun stuff. And then, Monday, I leave -- the show leaves for Dallas.
WATTERS: Thank God, you're out of here.
GUTFELD: We're doing shows every night. By the way, we're on at the same time, 11:00 East Coast time, but we're going to be Dallas with a massive audience. We got a lot of surprise guests. We got a lot of food, got a lot of -- a lot of good stuff, but you knew that.
WATTERS: You should check out some local spots there in Dallas.
GUTFELD: You know, I hear that Dallas had some good food. Let's do this. I have another thing.
KENNEDY: I stay away from the Grassy Knoll.
GUTFELD: Yes. Greg's Yoga News. You know the best part of doing yoga -- because you know, I've been doing yoga since I was 12 -- is being able to stretch in a way so that you can see people approaching from behind like this little fella here.
This is Kiko. Kiko has learned through yoga to tilt her head back since she was a puppy, so she can always see if somebody is going to sneak up on her.
WATTERS: Eye contact.
GUTFELD: See, look at that. Yes, there you go. That's disgusting. Don't do that. She was a downward-facing dog.
KENNEDY: Yes.
GUTFELD: That was downward facing human. All right, I'm going to shut up now.
WATTERS: All right, Judge?
PIRRO: OK, this -- now for a little distant magic. We're taking a look at this 2-year-old Amelia. She just watched Beauty and the Beast for the first time and she loved it so much, she immediately turned around to waltz with her dad just as they do in the movie. And her mom Brittany (INAUDIBLE) says Amelia was glued to the screen while the father got ready for work.
So, even though he was running late, he danced with her. But the clip was a memory for me. So I couldn't help her pull up this picture of my daughter, who -- this is my daughter Kiki, who's now a lawyer. She doesn't look like that anymore. And she used to sing and dance to Beauty and the Beast with me. And so, my very own daughter was a -- it's a huge memory for me down memory lane. And that's all I have to say.
WATTERS: Oh, that is sweet.
PIRRO: Beauty and the Beast.
WATTERS: Very sweet.
GUTFELD: Who's the beast?
PIRRO: You. OK.
WATTERS: Kenney?
KENNEDY: Oh, yes. Guess what this weekend is. It is the biggest event in NASCAR, the Daytona 500. You can check it out Sunday 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Fox. It's going to be incredible because NASCAR is debuting their next- gen cars. You can see them for the first time. They're going to be 40 cars in the lineup. It's going to be extraordinary.
Fox Nation has a fantastic four parts special called Road Daytona. It is available now so you can get excited for the race. Use Daytona 30 at FoxNation.com. You get 30 days free of Fox Nation. You can check out the documentary. Watch the big race on Sunday and thank me later.
GUTFELD: Tell me they're not going to be wearing masks in the car, please. Well, I guess they wear the whole hood thing.
PIRRO: Yes.
WATTERS: The helmet.
KENNEDY: They're going to a lot in the car.
GUTFELD: And the helmet.
WATTERS: All right. And that Hunter Biden documentary is a smash.
PIRRO: Oh, you like that.
WATTERS: I heard some of the numbers. They're bananas.
PIRRO: Oh, interesting.
WATTERS: They give a lot of appetite for --
PIRRO: And who hosted that?
WATTERS: Oh, was that you, Judge Jeanine? I knew you had something going on.
PIRRO: Yes, go ahead, Leslie.
MARSHALL: Sorry, I missed that one. A Florida teacher surprised her kindergarten students with a snowman. Robin learned most of her students had never seen snow before after reading them a book about a snowman. So, she convinced her sister Amber to mail a snowman over 800 miles from Kentucky to surprise her students. They named the snowman Lucky for making it to Florida without melting.
The school -- the snowman lives in the school's cafeteria freezer. And when he melts, Robin will use the water to plant a garden at her school to show her students how everything come full circle.
GUTFELD: See, Hunter Biden would have loved that.
PIRRO: Yes.
WATTERS: That's it for us. Have a great weekend, everybody.
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