'The Ingraham Angle' on COVID and college shutdowns

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A new round of university lockdowns has exposed the deep-seated corruption in higher education

Todd Zywicki tells 'The Ingraham Angle' the universities take kids money, lock them in their dorms, and it's not what we are supposed to do as professors and people who run universities.

This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on December 15, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

INGRAHAM: Alright. I'm Laura Ingraham, this is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight. The January 6th Committee continues to embarrass itself. Adam Schiff was just caught fabricating a text message from Jim Jordan to Mark Meadows. We have all the details.

And speaking of January 6th, our dear friend Liz Cheney, and her alliance with the Democrats to punish members of her own party has repercussions. Tonight, we speak to the woman who launched a primary against her in Wyoming. Plus, the DNC held a holiday party last night. You were not there, what? And Nancy and Joe were showing their age. Raymond Arroyo explains it in Seen and Unseen. But first, we won't be fooled again. That's the focus of tonight's angle.

If there's one thing that most Americans agree on, it's that they're tired of COVID. A new Monmouth poll shows that 60 percent feel worn out by the pandemic, of those 36 percent said, they feel worn out a lot. That's compared to 39 percent, who say they don't feel worn out at all by the pandemic and it's just restrictions. By the way, who are these people who don't feel worn out by the pandemic?

Well, I guess they must either live in red states, where COVID's treated like any other virus, or they're among the bunch running our colleges and universities. Because some college administrators obviously preferred the way things were at the start of COVID. A closed campus, virtual learning, limited students socializing. In fact, the schools loved it so much that they've begun to shut down their normal operations again, almost two years into the virus, they're doing this.

Cornell University, which has a 97 percent vaccination rate among students, faculty and staff just issued a COVID red alert and will be completely shutting down campus in the middle of finals week. And by the way, no December graduation ceremony either, all finals are online.

Imagine how the parents who shell out more than $60,000 per year or more than $80,000 for out-of-staters, for the kid's tuition, for the room and board. How do the parents feel? Like suckers.

At Georgetown University they've canceled all in-person social gatherings and events, and also mandated that final exams be given virtually writing on their website. While these cases are not severe, and vaccination continues to provide strong protection, it is critical that we act to limit the further spread of cases. OK. This makes no sense. Do they shut down the campus for other bugs that are inconvenient, but not deadly? Of course not.

Princeton University has also succumbed to lockdown mania, moving finals online, canceling events, and mandating masks. And not to be outdone by Georgetown, Princeton will also be mandating booster shots in order for students to return to campus in the spring. Now this boosterism will obviously pick up steam at universities across America, even though there's no indication that the boosted escape symptomatic Omicron infection.

Right now, the booster is required at Smith College, UMass Amherst, Bentley, NYU, GW, Notre Dame and others. And the deadlines for getting your boosters are coming up. As terrifying a thought as it is, universities are the leading indicator as to where government is actually going. Fauci already tipped his very small hat on this issue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN: Is it a matter now of when, not if, the definition of fully vaccinated changes.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: You know my own personal opinion Kate is what you said is correct, it's going to be a matter of when, not if. Our booster vaccine regimens work against Omicron. If you are fully vaccinated, get your booster shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But as I already said, data shows that the boosted can still carry the virus and spread the virus. Take the Cornell outbreak for instance, in the last week, the school has recorded nearly 900 cases and according to the school's VP of University Relations, virtually every case of the Omicron variant to-date has been found in fully vaccinated students. A portion of whom had also received a booster shot.

In other words, the booster may not hurt you, but it won't necessarily help you either. So why insist on it at all, especially for younger healthy kids and adults. But that's not the only evidence. We can look abroad to a place like Gibraltar, the so-called most vaccinated place in the world. 99 percent of the population there is vaxxed, and over two-thirds are boosted. Yet, Gibraltar has seen cases increased with 66 new daily infections reported on average, equivalent to 52 percent of its peak back in January.

Now this has prompted local officials to cancel Christmas parties, official events, and they're urging people to hold off on getting together for any Yuletide fun. Now since Gibraltar is part of the UK, I should note that the booster brain bug has infected British leaders as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I'm afraid we're now facing an emergency in our battle with the new variant, Omicron. It is now clear that two doses of vaccine are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need. Our scientists are confident that with a third dose, a booster dose, we can all bring our level of protection back up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The only emergency is to worry about is the hair emergency. OK. Do you believe this guy? Would you? Would you believe government officials who across the world have lied to their citizens? For now, about a year or so, about this virus and about their real plans and goals?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everybody talks about freedom and not to have a - have a shot or have a test? Well guess what? So, how about patriotism? How about making sure that you're vaccinated, so you do not spread the disease to anybody else? What about that? What's the big deal?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The big deal is that the leader of the free world has no idea what he's reading in that teleprompter. Does he really not know what his own CDC Director had to admit that you can spread the disease even when you're vaccinated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Our vaccines are working exceptionally well. They continue to work well for Delta with regard to severe illness and death, they prevent it. But what they can't do any more is prevent transmission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: They can't prevent transmission. For the 100th time, the vaccines do not stop viral transmission. So, why on earth are they shutting down schools again, it makes zero sense. Students should all hunker down together, take their exams and be done with it. The last thing you want are the kids rushing home to be virtual and taking their exams virtual and then spreading COVID to their elderly relatives. But that's precisely what the scenario, the scenario that's been created by these universities.

Now, to most normal people, turning a society upside down for a virus is simply insane. We already know the costs have been catastrophic. So, why do liberals love lockdowns and mandate so much? Why?

Thinking about this today, I asked a bunch of friends, I think liberals are truly more comfortable living in a lockdown world. They don't trust people to make their own decisions, unless it's maybe it's about stuff like abortion, pot, or porn. And they generally low the people who live in, especially the red states and thus want to dominate them control them. Every time they get a chance to restrict people's freedom, they'll do it. This is their default position.

Watching what's happening in Australia, in Europe, at our colleges, I really believe that some parts of the world may never be free again, not for years, maybe even decades. So, you have a big decision to make. What kind of country do you want to live in? What type of governor, do you want leading your state? Thankfully, here in the United States, we do have a lot of free states.

But the Far Left went crazy on the Atlantic magazine recently for merely publishing an article about how outside urban areas, Americans have essentially moved on with their lives and don't really pay much attention to COVID anymore. That's misinformation, the radicals wail, you're putting public health at risk by just reporting that. Of course, that's just another lie and a classic exercise and projection.

It's the fear mongers, the panic pushers, the control freaks, who've destroyed lives. They've robbed children of joy and experiences. They've driven teenagers to suicide and adults to drug overdoses. Fauci, Walensky, the entire public health cabal have become their own contagions. But now more Americans are on to their sick, twisted game. And they won't be fooled again.

If you want your life back, if you don't like where all this is heading, you'll have to start organizing now, because by the Election Day in 2024, we could be up to eight boosters. And that's the angle.

Joining me now is Dr. Houman Hemmati, Board Certified MD, Ph.D. research scientist. Dr. Hemmati, what's your message to the schools that are now locking down over this Omicron variant?

DR. HOUMAN HEMMATI, BOARD CERTIFIED MD: Well, my message Laura, is this, you did it once, and what did it achieve? You did it once, for over a year, closed down colleges, universities, elementary schools all the way through high school? And did we do anything in a meaningful, tangible way to reduce spread, to reduce hospitalization, to reduce death. That was before even we had vaccines. It was before we had medications. And it was before we actually knew how the virus transmitted and how it infected people and who was at risk.

Now, we know all those things. We have vaccines, we have amazing medications with many more in development, they're about to come out. And on top of that we know how this transmits and how it doesn't transmit. And most importantly, we know that the young are not generally at risk. And with this Omicron variant, especially, it's not causing any hospitalizations or deaths.

You look at Cornell's president admitted today, that kids in their college, these university students have not become hospitalized or died. There's an outbreak, but it's an outbreak just like an outbreak of a cold. Sure, you have a lot of infections in terms of numbers, but they shouldn't be looking at infection numbers, they should be looking at how many people actually are sick, very sick, or even dying, and they're not.

And so, what's - this is a blessing. It's nice, it's wonderful. But unfortunately, if you begin to treat this with hysteria, and hype and panic, you're actually making things worse, not better. And as you pointed out, Laura, they're sending the kids home.

INGRAHAM: Yes, well, they're treating this like its smallpox. This is, this is lunacy. I mean, I wake up every day and say, are we still doing this? Is this really what we're still doing? I mean, I know you must know people. Dr. Hemmati, I certainly, I know, four people, just over the past week, who've gotten COVID, both vaxxes and boostered have COVID in their late 20s. They're healthy people, late 20s have a scratchy throat, a little congestion. But that's about it. They're sitting at home and they're calling friends and texting. But they're all boosted and vaxxed, and they're still getting it, but they're fine.

HEMMATI: Correct. And by and large, the young, that's their experience, and even to the middle age, but the young, especially, college students, and school kids are not where we need to focus. If we are actually concerned, which maybe we should be maybe not. But if we are actually concerned, maybe we should be imposing these restrictions on nursing homes and hospitals, limit visitors to nursing homes. That's a great way to do it. But why schools, why the people who are at least risk doesn't make any sense.

INGRAHAM: Now, Dr. Hemmati, given the recent surge in cases, though, in the northeast, I want you to listen to Joe Biden from August.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDENL Make no mistake. So that's the - excuse me, the escalation of cases is particularly concentrated in states with low vaccination rates. Just two states, Florida and Texas account for one-third of all new COVID-19 cases in the entire country. Just two states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now fast forward to today, Dr. Hemmati. In New York now has nearly doubled the average daily cases as Texas, and about four times as Florida. So that's despite a 71 percent of vaxx rate in New York, only 63 percent in Florida, just 56 percent in Texas. What does that tell you?

HEMMATI: Look, what it tells us is that this is a virus, right. And it's just like any other virus. The virus mutates and it becomes resistant to vaccines. And what it also tells us is that a vaccine doesn't necessarily reduce infection. What the vaccine does is it may reduce and people who are at risk severity of infection for many of them, it may reduce the risk of hospitalization or death for many of them. But in terms of stopping the virus, ending the pandemic, stopping spread. It's very clear that this is not going to happen. Just by relying on vaccines alone.

INGRAHAM: Early therapeutics should be a key tool in the toolbox, correct? Not lockdowns.

HEMMATI: Absolutely. Look, we have those therapeutics, many more are in development and should be approved very soon. And once those are, they should become as widespread as candy, we should make these available to people. So, the moment they begin to have symptoms, even before they wait for a test, get the medicine and then you can find out if you're infected, continue it. And if not, you can stop. And this way we can really reduce the rates of hospitalization and death, which is really what matters, not the case counts.

INGRAHAM: We already have a lot of those therapeutics, Vitamin D, zinc, and a lot of other good stuff out there. But there'll be more. Dr. Hemmati, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

And a new round of university lockdown has exposed the deep seated corruption in higher education. A fact that a university could take money from students and force vaccines on them, then shut down anyway is outrageous.

Joining me now is Todd Zywicki, Professor of Law at George Mason University, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. Todd, parents and students should be demanding refunds if they start doing this virtual stuff again, correct?

TODD ZYWICKI, GEORGE MASON LAW PROFESSOR: That's right, Laura, and I'm a parent and a professor. As a parent, my son's a senior in college, he lost a year and a half of college. Yes, it was great to have him home. But these kids need to be in school, you go to college to go to college. And are they seriously going to talk about shutting down again.

As a professor what I've seen among my peers in the academy, it's basically these neurotic baby boomers and these titled millennials, who really don't want to teach, they want to go online, they don't want to go to the trouble of commuting and that sort of thing. And so, they're jumping in every chance they can to basically stop teaching in the like. The universities take these kid's money, they take the parents money, they build these miraculous rec centers and dining halls and all this sort of stuff. And then they lock them in their dorms.

And it's just - it's not what we are supposed to do as professors, and people who run universities, we're supposed to take care of these kids, we're supposed to educate these kids and not teach them to fear their own shadow.

INGRAHAM: And professor, the fact that kids who for whatever reason, don't want to get vaccinated. And I know a lot of these kids who, for whatever reason, don't want to get vaccinated. They've already had COVID, many of them, they're being forced out of school. A lot of these schools don't - are very stingy with the exemptions. They're being forced out. University of Chicago, other state universities. This is terrifying, they're healthy, young people, healthy.

ZYWICKI: That's right. And as you said, Laura, especially if they have COVID. If you're talking about a kid who's 20 years old, who's already had COVID. I mean, that's as good as it gets pretty much and at that point, all you're talking about with vaccines are side effects. And what we know is that the side effects are even greater for young people after they've recovered from COVID. And so, it's just really vicious. It's a really inhumane policy, a one-size-fits-all policy that basically forced these kids, but to choose between interrupting their education and having to really risk their health in order to do this.

And as you said, the vaccines don't really stop transmission, anyway. And a kid who's already had COVID in particular does nothing at all.

INGRAHAM: Professor, it's great to see you tonight. Thank you. And it seems the controversy over text January 6th didn't end with mine. Mollie Hemingway has details in moments. Plus, Liz Cheney's actions have repercussions, up next, meet the Republican looking to unseat her in Wyoming's primary. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Adam Schiff, to put it kindly perpetually struggles with telling the truth. So, he was a perfect fit to help lead the January 6th Committee. Let's take a trip shall we down memory lane. He leaked fake Don Jr. emails. He fabricated the transcript of Trump's Ukraine call to make Trump sound like a mobster. He even read the phony steel dossier into the Congressional Record. And for his latest stunt shift doctored a text message sent to Mark Meadows in order to smear one of his fellow lawmakers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): We could cue the first graphic. This one read January 6th 2021; Vice President Mike Pence as President of the Senate should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all.

You can see why this is so critical to ask Mr. Meadows about. About a lawmaker suggesting that the former Vice President simply throw out votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now the congressman who sent that text was Jim Jordan, and Schiff conveniently erased the second part of that text. Here's that part in full. On January 6, 2021. Vice President Mike Pence should call out all the electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all in accordance with guidance from Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedents.

Joining me now is Mollie Hemingway, Senior Editor at The Federalist, Fox News Contributor. Mollie, the January 6th Committee has apologized for this oversight. Does that really matter at this point?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST SENIOR EDITOR: Well, I would say they admitted that they doctored the text. They didn't actually apologize, but they did admit that they messed up by doctoring this text. Adam Schiff, as you note has a lengthy history of doctoring evidence, fabricating evidence, making up stories. He claimed for years that he personally had seen evidence that Donald Trump was a trader who had colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election.

The idea that this Committee which is staffed full of people who falsely claimed that Donald Trump stole the 2016 election, and put the country through so much trauma for so many years, with their lies, lies about that, lies about the first impeachment. They actually doctored evidence in the second impeachment, doctoring evidence appears to be what they do.

In this case, he mischaracterized the actual context of this, this note, which was relaying legal advice from someone else. He falsely claimed that it was written by Jim Jordan, which is kind of funny, because Jim Jordan doesn't usually write complex legal arguments and send them out in text form. And then they deleted paragraphs of this actual note to make it seem different than what it was.

But this is just what they do, because they're not actually in the search for truth. They're in the search of scoring partisan points.

INGRAHAM: It was kind of what they did with the text messages that various Fox News hosts sent to Mark Meadows, same kind of thing, like they can't seem to grasp what the truth is, or they conveniently ignore the truth that staring them right in the face. And Mollie, Congressman Eric Swalwell revealed the true target of the sham committee. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (R-CA): Donald Trump, may be on the hook for criminal liability. And it wasn't an accident that Liz Cheney laid out the elements of the offense of essentially, you know, not acting to save the Congress while we're performing the Electoral College count. So, there may be a criminal referral that could take place there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: So, Mollie, that upstanding citizens Swalwell tells us that really they want to try to prevent Trump from running again in 2024, with some type of imposition of criminal liability here.

HEMINGWAY: It's very interesting that they seem to think that they have to go after Donald Trump legally in order to preserve their electoral prospects going forward. It's good that they're admitting that. They first falsely claimed that they were trying to show evidence of a grand conspiracy for an insurrection that everybody on the Right was participating in.

Yesterday, when Liz Cheney who has such difficulty. She's such an emotional difficulties right now, she by reading those texts showed that her own claims about some grand conspiracy of an insurrection on the Right were false, that everybody on the Right condemns political violence, and that they're very consistent about doing so. And so, this January 6th Commission isn't about what they had falsely claimed.

But they're also - I think it's really important to note, the January 6th Commission is in violation of its own rules, it is required to have a certain number of members that it doesn't have. It is required to have a Republican ranking member, Liz Cheney has been falsely presenting herself as the Republican ranking member when she was in fact, picked by Pelosi, and there is no Republican ranking member on the committee. That is required, that is required that they have won because they're supposed to run their subpoenas by the Republican ranking member. They're supposed to coordinate with the Republican ranking member.

The Republicans are supposed to get equal time to ask questions. Liz Cheney is falsely presenting herself as filling that role, when in fact, she was chosen by Nancy Pelosi, so she's a Democrat appointed member of the committee.

INGRAHAM: Oh, Mollie, we're all learning things that we didn't know before. It's why we have you on. Great to see you. Thank you. And now it would be an abdication of duty to mention the January 6th Committee and not to talk about its most desperate endangered member.

Well, of course, we're talking about Liz Cheney. Now, I say desperate because she's facing a formidable primary challenger named Harriet Hageman. She joins me now Harriet, the voters of Wyoming. What do they have to say about this Liz Cheney quest for revenge against Donald Trump, given what this country is facing right now with inflation, and crime and everything else?

HARRIET HAGEMAN (R) CHALLENGING REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): They are absolutely incensed, Laura, and thank you for having me. I enjoyed listening to Mollie before this talk about the fact the problems with the committee, but I have been out meeting with people all over the state of Wyoming for the last two and a half months. And I cannot describe for you the anger that they feel towards Liz Cheney right now.

She's completely abdicated her responsibility towards us. She is pursuing her own agenda and the agenda of the radical Democrats in Washington DC. This is a sham committee. It's a sham commission. It's a sham investigation.

As a trial attorney, I've been practicing law for almost 33 years, and I can assure you that when I have to start making up evidence, you know that they don't have the facts on their side.

INGRAHAM: Liz Cheney let something slip recently, Harriet. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY, (R-WY): How we address January 6th is the moral test of our generation. It is very sad to see how my college on the other side of the aisle are addressing this issue. Mr. Meadows has refused to testify about non-privileged material. He is in contempt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: The other side of the aisle? Is she a Democrat now, Harriet?

HAGEMAN: The other side of the aisle.

(LAUGHTER)

HAGEMAN: It said it all, didn't it?

INGRAHAM: Harriet, how are things looking? How are things looking for you in Wyoming? I know there are a lot of Democrats who support Liz Cheney in Wyoming. Most of them are in the Jackson Hole area, but it's a pretty conservative state, to say the least. You've got one pocket there, one district that's pretty -- one county, I should say, Teton County, that's very liberal. But how is it looking?

HAGEMAN: I would say even Teton County is turning on Liz Cheney. All over Wyoming, they are all expressing their anger at what she is doing. But what you do say when you talk about the Democrats, the donors to the Lincoln Project, in fact, are supporting Liz Cheney, if you want to talk about Democrats.

But we just had a poll come out last week. It shows that I'm leading Cheney by 20 points. So things are going very good in Wyoming. And as I said, I've been traveling the state. I cannot even tell you about the number of people that I've been meeting with over the last several months. And the fact is that every time that I go to a new town, there more and more people who show up. And the one message that I hear over and over again is you have to defeat her.

I go to restaurants, I've been sitting in restaurants eating meals, and I have people come up to me that I've never met my life, and they say the only thing I want to say to you is you have to beat that woman. You have to send her packing. She does not live in Wyoming, she's not from Wyoming.

INGRAHAM: She's not a Republican. She's not a Republican.

HAGEMAN: She's not a Republican.

INGRAHAM: She doesn't seem to care about any of the issues people are really worried about. She is obsessed with revenge. I've never seen anyone more obsessed with revenge and getting back at people. It's actually super sad, but it's long since passed the expiration date for Liz Cheney.

But you should tell people, Harriet, when you run into them, if they're going to miss her, people that will miss her, just say tune into MSNBC, because they'll be able to see her on a lot of panels. So tell them not to worry.

HAGEMAN: I think that's true.

And for people who want to learn more about our campaign, they can go to HagemanforWyoming.com. But the fact is, people in Wyoming do not believe that Liz Cheney is representing them in Congress.

INGRAHAM: Harriet, great to see you. Thank you.

And missed exits, inappropriate singalongs, and what's Biden actually saying? Christmas parties hit D.C., and the partygoers are downright frightening. Raymond Arroyo has it. "Seen and Unseen" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for our "Seen and Unseen" segment where we reveal the cultural stories of the week. And for that we turn to FOX News contributor, the author of the "The Spider Who Save Christmas," Raymond Arroyo. Ray, everybody in D.C., the holiday spirits are a little bit hesitant because of Omicron, but generally high.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I guess you could say that, but for Democrats at their annual Christmas party last night, Laura, it sounded like they were indeed high. But the spirits they had imbibed were not the holiday variety. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA) HOUSE SPEAKER: Thank you, Jaime Harrison for the invitation, for your kind invitation and introduction. Our country could not be more -- could not be better served than with this most experienced, capable hands than yours, President Biden.

(APPLAUSE)

PELOSI: He is just perfect. The timing couldn't be better.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: She can't even find the exit, Laura.

Now, Biden is so perfect, a new ABC poll found 69 percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of the economy. "The Wall Street Journal" survey found his overall approval rating is upside down with 57 percent of Americans disapproving. At this point, Pelosi's next legislative agenda should be build back Biden. That might be a way to help.

INGRAHAM: Maybe she was trying to channel Biden in not knowing which way to walk off the stage.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: So she was trying to get closer to Biden in that way.

ARROYO: Maybe Pelosi meant that Biden is perfect on the stump, Laura, but somehow, I don't think so. This is from the same party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm worried about families and elderly grandparents and what their lives are at stake. Every one, every one, every one is a little harder. So you know, mom, grand mom can walk out without having -- on her porch without worrying about falling. We're going to make sure we take care of mom, we're going to take care of the child.

Think of that means -- think of what that means. No matter what -- anyway. I don't want to get going. Look, that's what the refundable tax credit -- no, I really mean it, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: God, that is terrifying.

ARROYO: They should really hand out a listener's guide before every speech, sort of like those plot synopsis you get before the opera, just so everybody can understand what Biden intends to say. I could not follow that at all.

INGRAHAM: We kind of made our own playbill for Biden, like the Biden playbill for Broadway.

But Raymond, I noticed at sundown, there is this sundowner syndrome for the elderly, and they get angrier sometimes at night. He seems to get very angry as the evening wears on, but he doesn't get -- enough of that. Enough of that.

ARROYO: He loses his way and then backtracks a little bit.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

ARROYO: This is the symptom of a party that was desperate to get rid of trauma, so they got the only Democrat they could find that could get black votes and older white American votes, and they brought that coalition together. There's no one to replace him, Laura. And that's the problem they're facing. But this can't go on. He'll be 86 if he gets a second term, God help him.

The Democratic Party was not the only Christmas party in town, though. At the National Institutes of Health, Director Francis Collins stepped down after 12 years, Laura, but not before offering this uplifting song to his colleagues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. FRANCIS COLLINS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Somewhere past the pandemic, masks will come off. Somewhere past the pandemic, we'll hug our friends, and thank the people in science that brought the pandemic's end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Laura, if this were the voice, our chairs would have already gone right through the floor. Somewhere Harold Arlen is weeping. Collins should have called it never refuse a booster, that would have been a more appropriate song. This is a guy who never found a booster mandate or a vaccine mandate he didn't like. And look where we are. Now the vaccinated are not only catching this Omicron, but spreading it, and they don't know how to control it.

INGRAHAM: Raymond, you and I personally know friends across the country who have tested positive and have some mild symptoms. They are generally fine, but they are kind of holed up and they are quarantined, but they did everything they were told. They got vaxxed, they got boosted, and now they have Omicron. So exactly where is this going, to the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth booster?

ARROYO: And Laura, we were sold on the line that this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

INGRAHAM: That was a total lie.

ARROYO: Now it looks like a pandemic of the vaccinated. And look, that's why this thing is mutating. It found the holes in the injections, in the vaccines, and it found its way through. Viruses adapt, they are really smart. But it's weakening. That's good news.

INGRAHAM: One of our dear friends said tonight that, to me off-line, said, well, Laura, notice how Fauci said we don't need a vaccine yet specific to Omicron. And everyone said that's interesting, if the vaccines aren't really stopping the spread.

And then you realize once there's an Omicron vaccine, everyone's going to abandon the old vaccine. There's going to be tons of vaccine left, and then there will be a new variant. And the Omicron, by the time they do that, that new variant will have me the Omicron vaccine pointless anyway, moot.

ARROYO: Irrelevant.

INGRAHAM: So they're kind of -- they are now kind of in their own box of their own making. It's just pathetic. But we soldier on.

ARROYO: At least you got a great serenade from Dr. Collins, and gain-of- function research. So that's good. Look at all we got from him.

INGRAHAM: It's kind of a Peter, Paul, and Francis deal. Raymond, thank you.

Apparently unmoved by the Jussie Smollett race hoax falling apart, ESPN is promoting a different one. We are going to explain it in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: As the Jussie Smollett race hoax blew up in spectacular fashion, and with the public growing increasingly wary of all these race games, you think folks would back off. Well, you're wrong. Yesterday, ESPN showed a clip from a new documentary, writing "Last year a noose was found on Bubba Wallace's stall at Talladega Superspeedway. The next day the NASCAR community stood with him in unity."

For the record, authorities determined a noose was not found in Wallace's garage, but the narrative must be fed anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUBBA WALLACE, CONFUSED GARAGE DOOR PULL ROPE WITH NOOSE: I get out the car, I look back, and it was like, holy -- it's the whole garage, the whole garage. And that's when I lost it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now is Larry Elder, host of "The Larry Elder Show." Larry, it's not enough that this was debunked.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: But if it hurts their greater goal of dividing us, America is a racist, awful place, NASCAR, a racist, awful place, then they are just going to stay with it regardless of the facts. This was unreal.

LARRY ELDER, (R) FORMER CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: That's right. As you know, the FBI investigated. The whole thing turned out to be completely fraudulent. That so-called noose was a door pull that had been in that garage two years earlier before it was even assigned to him, before anybody knew it would be assigned to him.

But it doesn't matter. It's like the Donald Trump allegedly said good Nazis and bad Nazis on both sides. Jake Tapper, one of host on CNN, another one Michael Smerconish, both said it was not true. He was talking about the issue of whether or not there out to be a Confederate monument in public square. But Biden goes on CNN and repeats it, and nobody corrects him, nobody says a word.

So it advances their agenda. The agenda is that America is systemically racist, and we don't care what the facts are.

INGRAHAM: Larry, here's an interview with Bubba Wallace that took place just two days after the event. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds like you're still fairly convinced that what was in that garage stall wasn't a rope pull, but it was a noose.

BUBBA WALLACE, CONFUSED GARAGE DOOR PULL ROPE WITH NOOSE: It was a rope pull for the garage door, it was attached. It was definitely in the shape of a noose. It wasn't a functioning news. I talked to the FBI, but it was in fact was a noose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Larry, what? I still can't believe that.

ELDER: Laura, one of the biggest fake hate crimes in modern history, of course, was pushed by Al Sharpton. Al Sharpton falsely claimed a teenager was raped by a white guy. A grand jury ruled the whole thing was fraudulent, and one of Al Sharpton's colleagues turned against him and publicly said Al Sharpton knew it was a lie. He didn't care --

INGRAHAM: We lost poor Larry. I don't know what just happened there. He was making a great point.

But his overall message is you treat people like human beings. Attacks, violence, defamation, disparagement, whether it's a white person, a black person, Hispanic person, all of it should be condemned. And if it's criminal, all of it should be prosecuted. But America is getting tired division along racial lines for only the purpose of dividing us. Especially this holiday season, we've got to bring people together as much as we can. But we appreciate our conversation with Larry, as short as it was.

All right, up next, Raymond is back with a big announcement? Even I don't know what this is about. What? No one told me about this. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: OK, Raymond, what is your big announcement? Another spider book or a lobster book?

ARROYO: No, it's not another spider book, smarty-pants. I do have a book- signing in Houston this weekend, RaymondArroyo.com. But that's not the announcement. Laura, the ratings for the year just landed today. I have a really big announcement.

You, Laura Ingraham, are the most-watched woman in cable television for the second year in a row. Congratulations. You won this timeslot throughout the year, 2021, and you were not only the most watched show, in the top five in all of cable-television, but you were number four in the demo, which is pretty darned impressive, particularly at 10:00 o'clock at night. Congratulations.

INGRAHAM: Well, that's all of us. I always say this, and I really mean it. My name is on the show, but Sam, Tommy, David, David, Michael, Michael, Michael, Elisa, Jess, Kate, this is like the Academy Awards.

ARROYO: You didn't do an acceptance speech. You should have.

INGRAHAM: It goes by fast, doesn't it? The year goes by fast, and slow in another way. But we had a lot of fun.

I've never worn a hoodie on their show before. I don't think so. Maybe I did, but I have the Freedom Matters gray sweatshirt on.

ARROYO: I see that.

INGRAHAM: All made in the USA. Don't buy the rip-offs made in China. Get the real stuff, LauraIngraham.com. Also that camo hat, Raymond, which your sons are getting for Christmas is a huge seller.

ARROYO: How did the acceptance speech turn into a product push? It's a QPC --

INGRAHAM: It's for charity, unlike "The Spider Who Save Christmas" is not for charity.

ARROYO: That is for charity, for all families Ingraham.

INGRAHAM: Be quiet. All the proceeds go to the Big Oak Ranch, which is an awesome, awesome place for disadvantaged boys and girls.

Thank you for watching. Remember, it's America now and forever. Gutfeld is next. Get your Freedom Matters gear.


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