This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on December 14, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

INGRAHAM: I hate that word. I got to go. I'm late. All right. I'm Laura Ingraham. This is THE INGRAHAM ANGLE from Washington tonight. You are not going to want to miss. My takedown of Liz Cheney and the media elves' obsession over January 6 texts sent by Fox News hosts, including myself to Mark Meadows. That's coming up.

But first, your next lockdown. That's the focus of tonight's 'Angle'.

Now, soon COVID will be behind us, you're thinking. Maybe it will be after Omicron. But there'll be fewer and fewer states with mandates or restrictions. And I know you can't wait for the old normal to be back, cheap gas, affordable airfare, the freedom to move around without masks, without having to show your vax card, boost if you feel like it, don't if you don't. We're all looking forward to the end of shaming and recriminations.

But, before you get all excited, let me tell you what the organized left has planned for you. First, an end to private vehicular travel. Listen carefully to Trudy Harrison, who works for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUDY HARRISON, UK UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT: That we can design a transport system that is fit for the future and free of fossil fuels, which moves us away from the 20th century thinking, centered around private vehicle ownership and towards greater flexibility with personal choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Ah, the CCP would be so proud. Greater flexibility, she said, with personal choice. But whose choice is it exactly to go carless? Not mine, not yours. But decisions about how to restrict and track your personal travel are being made right now by global bureaucrats.

The trendy climate change thinking in Europe is already here and it's wrapped in a public health emergency. It's just another attempt to foist new rules on you without your consent. Now, their ultimate goal limiting your ability to travel with convenience, when you want, where you want. This would mean an end to private car ownership as we've known it and loved it for decades.

Think about it this way. It's the image of the middle-class American dream though, a job to support your family, buying your own home and your own car that liberal elites have hated for a long, long time.

Now you've heard of gun buybacks, right? Why wouldn't put, they're doing a car buyback? Why not? Because they'd prefer we all run around on these and crocs and maybe a sweaty hoodie, then we can all live like the urban dwellers who are happy to stay home during COVID, ordering in, growing herbs and little pots on their little balconies, playing Fortnite.

Now, this government dependency mindset existed before COVID, for sure. But now, it's worse. And Team Biden and the Democrats are hoping to exploit this dependency that they've grown going into 2022 and later in 2024.

Now, some of you may be thinking that I'm just too pessimistic here. We're never going to go the way of Europe. We're too strong and independent. But after watching our flaccid public response to some of these COVID controls, I have to tell you, I'm not that confident.

Think about how many Americans are rushing out to buy electric cars, because they think electricity will be cheap, and even maybe free. Tens of thousands of charging stations across America, how awesome is that? Well, it's pretty awesome. Until you realize that Democrats plan to follow Europe and make electricity far more expensive here as well.

Now ideally, they'd like to restrict its supply. What's happening in Europe right now is terrifying. "European Union Labor Commissioner Nicolas Schmit on Sunday warned that there are already millions of people in Europe not able to heat their home sufficiently and this number could rise further."

I have another question. What happens when the wind doesn't blow? Bloomberg notes that, low speeds have reduced output. And then they cite years of lower investment in oil and gas? Well, whose fault is that? Europe is now finding itself unable to affordably heat their homes, all self-inflicted wounds. The (ph) eureaucrats just run things, you know, and they're just - there's all twisted.

The French Transport Minister actually bragged about eliminating travel options for travelers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: France got a lot of attention for banning short-haul flights in places where you could take the train, two and a half hours. Should this be strengthened?

JEAN-BAPTISTE DJEBBARI, FRENCH MINISTER OF TRANSPORTATION: We've developed quite a big network of high speed trains and when you have a competition between the rail, the high-speed rail and the planes, the rail wins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, why should this be a government decision? Because they don't like the free market. That's why.

Now, beware anytime a Democrat uses children to push an unpopular, unwise policy proposal. And just as with COVID, school closures were for the kids safety, ditto for electric school buses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every day, more than 25 million children and thousands of drivers ride to and from school on diesel buses breathing toxic fumes. Making the switch from diesel to electric is about improving the health and well being of our children, of our future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: No pause there. Now, if that stupidity doesn't scare you, just remember who will be in charge of the Biden-Harris EV plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINA MCCARTHY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL CLIMATE ADVISOR: National climate advisor.

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, SECRETARY OF ENERGY: I'm Jennifer Granholm. I think I'm the good friend she's referring to. I am the secretary of energy. And this classy Class 8 truck is a Kenworth fuel cell vehicle that we are about to ride in.

So, are you not excited? We have a deal, a bipartisan infrastructure framework deal.

MCCARTHY: We do and it's awesome.

GRANHOLM: It is awesome.

MCCARTHY: It's big and it's beautiful.

GRANHOLM: And it's bold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, I know what you're saying here. These are incredibly smart and talented people. And they're not alone. Now who knew a former Rhodes Scholar could have such foresight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: The people who stand to benefit most from owning an EV are often rural residents, who have the longest distances to drive. They burn the most gas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And now, being from South Bend, Indiana, does he actually not realize that farmers often need to drive long distances for which a battery is not always practical. Or maybe the farmer should all travel on something a little more creative? Cool.

Can you imagine Joe on that contraption, by the way? He's busy reading scripts that other people wrote for him, including a recent litany of things that you'll get if you buy an EV after the so-called Build Back Better passes, including a $4,500 tax credit if the vehicle is assembled domestically with union labor.

Another obvious pay off to the unions, which one of the smartest innovators on the planet Elon Musk doesn't much like. He recommended that Biden kill the bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: I would say, honestly, I would just can this whole bill. Don't pass it. That's my recommendation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But the billionaires at the World Economic Forum in Davos believe that they do know best. And they spoke openly earlier this year about a wholesale transformation that is necessary among independent nations across the globe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2021 will be a critical year to re-establish trust in our ability, to shape our common future in collective and constructive ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The recovery cannot be a mere restart. So reconstruction must be transformation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Capitalism that works for everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: But a true resetting of capitalism requires smashing the United States and also will mean that everyone's standard of living here will necessarily go down as prices for energy go up. That means wasting billions on things like building EV charging stations across five military installations every year.

Now, aside from being completely in over his head, Biden openly revealed the goal. To fight climate change, he wants to get as many cars off the road as possible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We will take literally millions of automobiles off the road, off the road, saving tens of millions of barrels of oil, dealing with cleaning up the air. This is not hyperbole. This is a fact. These are facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, here's another fact, Joe. Let me be clear. I like Teslas a lot, I love biking, like the bike lanes. But I also like traditional combustion engine vehicles and driving wherever I choose. The government has no right to tell us what to do on either front. Picking winners and losers, no way. Because they declare another emergency, no thanks.

The coming lockdowns may look a lot different, but the effect will be the same. You have less freedom and a lower standard of living. All because the government decrees it as such. We must never allow this to happen in our country and Joe Manchin, he should hear from every concerned voter in West Virginia, vote for this Build Back Better boondoggle and your career in office is over.

Politicians who are supporting this climate agenda must be beaten at the polls and beaten badly. We don't want to be California with the rolling blackouts, huge crime spikes, economic losses and shrinking population. We will not be locked down again, not by a COVID emergency, and not by a climate emergency. And that's the 'Angle'.

Joining me now is Dinesh D'Souza, host of the 'Dinesh D'Souza Podcast'. Dinesh, people think this couldn't happen here. Could it? And what do you think?

DINESH D'SOUZA, "THE DINESH D'SOUZA PODCAST" HOST: Well, it could happen here. And it would be tragic, because the car has been the symbol, not just of geographical mobility in America, but of social mobility.

A century ago, most Americans lived in small towns, and they lived most of their life pretty much where they were born. The idea that you can go someplace else, go to the city, look for a job, create a family, settle somewhere else, the car symbolizes all that. And what's interesting about it is, this attack on cars is on the idea of the freedom embodied by cars. This is not new.

Woodrow Wilson, more than 100 years ago, when he was president of Princeton, attacked the idea of the automobile, which was just beginning to be seen on streets in New York and New Jersey. And he basically goes, this is a rich man's toy. We can make do with the horse and carriage. We don't need cars.

Of course, Henry Ford happily didn't listen to him, went ahead and made the Model T. And so this great social revolution that has equalized chances and prospects around this country. That's what the car symbolizes, and that's what the left hates. Because the car ultimately allows you to be free, and allows you ultimately also to be free of government control.

INGRAHAM: And you can move and you can get out of a situation in a car. If it's not an electric car, and there's gas available, you fill your tank and go. But if you're plugged in, and you have to plug in, Dinesh. And for some reason, the grid has to be paused, or temporarily shut down, you're not charged, you're not going anywhere.

D'SOUZA: I mean, there's an element that was - sort of, chuckling as I was listening to the clips you were playing, because there's - if you step back from this as an element of comedy to all this. I've been trying to convince somebody, Hey, listen, I want you to stop driving your car, because the temperature of the Earth is changing. Well, yes. How much is it changing? Well, it's changed about a degree, a degree and a half over the past 100 years.

And so it's really not obvious how that translates into, Hey, you got to stop driving your car. So there's a level of kind of surreal insanity in what these politicians are saying. But they say it with urgency and gravitas. And they try to intimidate the ordinary guy into thinking you don't understand. But, of course, we do.

INGRAHAM: And by the climate czar, Dinesh, is downright giddy at the prospect of destroying our energy industry. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: If you don't think that electric vehicles is the future, get with it, folks. We need to move quickly, and we need to move fast in an equitable, sustainable, smart, convenient way. Because once you do, you ain't ever going back to fossil fuels. That's all there is to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Dinesh, doesn't that by the very logic of what she's saying or illogic, mean that America's standard of living is going down, under any calculus under what she's saying?

D'SOUZA: It does. And it also means something else. It means that we're seeing an attempt to create a great transfer of power away from the entrepreneurial, innovative private sector toward the government. This is a point that Elon Musk stressed, when he said that, Listen, it's entrepreneurs who know how to allocate capital. Government is notoriously bad at doing that. And yet government is determined to transfer the decisions about capital allocation away from the people who have proved they know how to do it into the hands of people who are manifestly inept at it.

INGRAHAM: Dinesh, great to see you tonight. And the left's had such a ball using the pandemic to seize all this control of your life and our economy. They're already planning for the next pandemic.

'The New York Times' is calling the "Omicron variant a dress rehearsal for the next pandemic", adding, "It's also a call to action: Whatever progress we have made is not enough."

My next guest along with this show, warned you long ago that this was about control, not really about public health. Joining me now Alex Berenson, author of 'Pandemia', which is in stores now. Alex, they're prepping for the next pandemic, and I joked on Twitter that - was it 2022? Or we going to wait for the presidential election? So it has to be universal mail-in ballots forever.

ALEX BERENSON, 'PANDEMIA' AUTHOR: Yes. And, look, Laura, I want to say something about 'Pandemia', which is thank you, and you, Tucker, a handful of other people. 'Pandemia' right now is number three on Amazon Kindle, which means it's the best selling non-fiction book in the United States right now. And the second-best selling book is Robert F. Kennedy's book.

And to me, what this says is people are aware that they are not getting good information for most of the media, and they're desperate for sources. And they know they've been lied to over the last two years. They know they've been misled. They know almost everything that public health authorities have said is not true. And they are, as you said, the authorities, I think, I hate to say they're disappointed that this is coming to an end. But it's hard not to have that feeling sometimes when you hear that they're already pivoting, looking for the next - whether it's Omicron, or the next pandemic to scare people with.

And so, we really do need to be aware of all the lies that they told us and all the misstatements and all the misjudgments that were made in the last two years. So that when it happens again, if it happens again, we will be ready to, sort of, stand up.

INGRAHAM: Well, the CDC Director (ph) Rachel Walensky, she was on CBS today talking about the new normal, Alex. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAYLE KING, CBS NEWS HOST: We're not really going to get an all-clear, are we? We just have to face the fact that we're going to have to live with this. True?

ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: I think that that's probably true. But what I would say is we have a lot of control and power to do that as we come together, as we get vaccinated, as we do those prevention things that work to protect one another and ourselves and our family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Alex, isn't this just a clear signal that the mask mandates, vaccine mandates, lockdowns, that's their new normal? That's what they prefer. That's the world they prefer to live in.

BERENSON: Well, I mean, it's - it's deeply ironic. Read 'Pandemia', none of it worked. Nothing worked. The lockdowns didn't work, the mask mandates didn't work. Vaccines at best were a short-term fix and their efficacy is already faded to close to zero, which is why they're desperate to get you boosted. It's not clear that that works. And the consequences of all this stuff has been real and devastating to the United States.

And it is astonishing that none of these people will admit any of this. And they're happily telling you what a good job they did when anybody with eyes can see that the response has been disastrous, both in the United States and worldwide.

INGRAHAM: And Dr. Fauci, Alex, is still lashing out at the unvaxxed for his own failed policy prescriptions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Why hasn't it gotten any better in terms of the overall death toll? And does it surprise you?

ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NIAID: Well, it doesn't, because there were two things that are converging here, Jim. One is we're dealing with Delta. Superimposed upon that if we had optimally implemented a vaccine program, those numbers would have been down. We've got to be doing better than that if we really want to get this thing over with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Alex, quickly, we had no vaccine all last year, but lower deaths. So how is it still the unvaccinated's fault?

BERENSON: Is he aware of what's happening in Europe where vaccination rates are essentially complete, for most of Western Europe, for adults? They're having huge spikes in cases, lots of deaths. The vaccines just don't work for very long. And the sooner they admit this, the better off we'll all be. But they just won't do it.

INGRAHAM: Alex, we appreciate it. Congrats on the book. And we'll see you soon.

BERENSON: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: All right. You may have heard that some of my communications from January 6 were handed over to Liz Cheney in the January 6 committee. You may also have heard the twisted characterizations of those text messages. Well, it's time for me to set the record straight as only I can do. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): According to the records, multiple Fox News hosts knew the president needed to act immediately. "Mark, the President needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.", Laura Ingraham wrote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, this sent left-wing media hacks into spin and defame mode. Now, of course, the regime media was somehow trying to twist this message to try to tar me as a liar, a hypocrite, who privately sounded the alarm on January 6, but publicly downplayed it.

Now, that big lie was peddled by The Washington Post's Aaron Blake, who grossly mischaracterized what I said in an attempt to smear me as some January 6 denier. But he wasn't alone. CNN's chief propagandist Brian Stelter joined in on this smear fest writing, "They all knew the truth right away. By the night of January 6, Ingraham was spouting conspiracy theories about Antifa and excusing the peaceful patriots who, let's be clear, paraded into DC based on a lie she pushed over and over again."

Well, the lie that he's talking about is that the election was stolen from Trump through mass voter fraud. A conspiracy theory that I, in fact, did not push. And as for the Antifa bit, I was referring to other accounts that were reported that day, which we later clarified as not substantiated. Well, another inconvenient fact those little men left out.

Had they bothered to actually watch what I said the night of January 6, or read any of my public tweets from the afternoon of January 6, well, then they couldn't have denied the truth. Now, first, here's the opening of this show on the night of January 6.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Earlier today, the Capitol was under siege by people who can only be described as antithetical to the MAGA movement. Now, there were likely not all Trump supporters, and there were some reports that Antifa sympathizers may have been sprinkled throughout the crowd. We'll have more on that later.

But the point remains, if you were a Trump supporter hoping to display your support for the President, Well, today's antics at the Capitol did just the opposite.

Those who breached the Capitol Hill security today, whoever they were, they were criminals. I've been to literally dozens of Trump events and the criminal actions we saw today do not represent this movement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Now, does that sound like I was downplaying it to you? Now, here are my tweets, public tweets, Liz, from earlier that afternoon. 2:37pm. "Security breach at the capitol is disgraceful. The president needs to tell everyone to leave the building. Now."

2:44 pm. "Anyone who thinks this is going to grow the MAGA movement is delusional. It hurts the movement, the Trump legacy, and of course, the country."

2:53pm. "The president should order U.S. troops, meaning National Guard, to secure the Capitol immediately."

3:14pm. "When there is any big crowd there will invariably be bad actors mixed in. But blame will be laid at the feet of the White House if Capitol not cleared quickly."

Now, this is all public record kids, obtainable through a quick Google search. You heard of that? But, of course, it isn't what they wanted. It never will be. Both publicly and privately, I said what I believe, that the breach of the Capitol on January 6 was a terrible thing. Crimes were committed. Some people were unfairly hounded and persecuted and prosecuted. But it was not an insurrection.

To say anything different is beyond dishonest, and it ignores the facts of that day. And as a practical matter, there's this inconvenient truth. Democrats actually listened to Liz Cheney and the Lincoln Project and have gone all in on this January 6 narrative for the entire year of Biden's presidency.

Lots of good that's done them. The more they talk about January 6, the stronger Trump and the GOP are becoming in the polls. So why does the party want to become an echo chamber of MSNBC? What happened to bringing the country together? What happened to shutting down COVID? And by the way, has anyone seen MSNBC's ratings? They're all so out of touch.

This afternoon, that network literally ran a segment about how the U.S. media is tougher on Biden than it is on the GOP. The entire January 6 campaign has become one of revenge and defamation of false characterizations and false equivalencies. Their entire focus was portraying all Republicans as January 6 rioters. That's what the Democrats wanted.

All Republicans, they say, are white supremacist. That's essentially what they want to say. They want Trump barred from ever-serving in public office again. People like Liz Cheney will soon lose her Wyoming primary. Adam Kinzinger quit before the voters could oust him. But they'll both end up probably as MSNBC commentators. They'll both become Democrat lackeys like Nicole Wallace, Bill Kristol, the whole crowd. Largely irrelevant, with no real constituency, but pretty handsomely paid.

So the real big lie is the expansive narrative of January 6 that these clowns have made the center of their political existence. So it's time to face facts, shut down the false narrative, and treat Cheney and her clack the way the American people treat them, by tuning them out.

Joining me now is Byron York, Fox News contributor, Washington Examiner, chief political correspondent. Also with me, Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, who's the House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member.

Byron, let's go to you first. My tweets, I think is one of the first people on Twitter who were known to be supportive of President Trump to really put that message out there, I believe. I might be wrong, but I think I was one of the first. Did they get to look at any of the public statements on this?

BYRON YORK, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Obviously not. The important thing is they were public. And now that we know since yesterday what you said in private text to Mark Meadows, we can evaluate the text and say who can disagree with a word of the text that you sent? It would've been much better for everybody if President Trump had followed that advice immediately and made a forceful call for people to leave the capitol immediately. That was good advice, and you and other people, including the president's son, were giving it to him.

That's a separate issue from this reflexive, opportunistic, anti-FOX criticism that you were talking. And today is just another day in that. It's a new example, but there will be something else next week and the week after that. It's just another effort to go after FOX.

INGRAHAM: And Congressman Jordan, what's amazing to me is the regime media spins this courtesy of Cheney. Psaki, of course, and the White House picks it up today, so of course she just repeats what all the other liars said. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's disappointing, and unfortunately not surprising that some of the same individuals who are willing to warn, condemn, and express horror over what happened on January 6th in private were totally -- in private, were totally silent in public, or even worse, were spreading lies and conspiracy theories and continued to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Congressman, this is just shameless, and it's not working, more importantly.

REP. JIM JORDAN, (R-OH) HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE RANKING MEMBER: It's not working. But the real takeaway here, Laura, is what they are doing to a good man. Understand, I said this on the House floor, make no mistake, what they're doing today is trying to put a good man in prison, because do we really think that Merrick Garland, the same guy who took all of five days to go treat parents as terrorists because some leftwing political organization wrote the White House and asked him use the Patriot Act to go after mom and dads, do we really think he is not going to put Mark Meadows in prison? For what? For putting a good public servant.

This is crazy. You think about, it we weren't allowed to know who the anonymous, so-called whistleblower was during impeachment, but they get to eviscerate executive privilege, something that's been around since George Washington asserts it in 1794. This is crazy what the Democrats are doing.

And the American people, I think, get it. But unfortunately, the hard left who controls the Democrat Party, the things they're saying, they're going to keep doing this kind of stuff if we don't stop them. So we have to speak out and make sure this next election, I think it's coming, I think the American people are going to say time out to all this garbage, all the bad policy, and the things you're doing to violate the Constitution and sacred principles and precedents we've had in this country since the very first president.

INGRAHAM: Byron, the executive privilege question regarding certain communications is a little bit murky. We'll see where the court goes on that. But I will say this. This strategy of following Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, I tweeted earlier tonight, do you think Obama or Clinton would have been that stupid to follow those two anywhere for strategy or inspiration?

YORK: There are some worries in the Democratic side about what is going on here. And there's actually a connection between the haste that you see in their pursuing this executive privilege case. And of course, Mark Meadows has the strongest case as he was the White House chief of staff at the time. If anybody has a case for executive privilege, it would be Meadows, and one could wait for the courts to finally, for there to be a final decision.

But the haste that you're seeing among Democrats does reflect a worry that they're going to stretch this investigation into next year. Of course, it's meant to ultimately damage former President Trump and the Republican Party. But the worry is it will damage Democratic fortunes in the midterms as well because if we know anything right now, it is that voters are concerned that the economy. They are concerned about inflation. They are concerned about their standard of living. That's the issue next year, and they are worried about on the wrong side of it.

INGRAHAM: This is just a loser strategy. It's good for the Republicans. It's terrible for the Democrats in the country. But I guess we're just going to have to deal with it the way it is. Congressman and Byron, thank you.

The White House continues to make lame excuses for this lagging economy Byron just mentioned. Senator Tom Cotton is here on how Biden is attempting to wiggle out of the mess he created himself. Stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: -- price index, it measures inflation at the wholesale level, was up 9.6 percent year over year as of November, growing at the fastest rate ever measured. But don't worry, because the White House has a very convenient scapegoat for rising prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president, the secretary of agriculture, have both spoken to what we've seen as the greed of meat conglomerates. The prices are higher. That is in his view and the view of our secretary of agriculture because of, you could call it corporate greed, sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Meat conglomerates. Senator Tom Cotton is with us from Arkansas. Senator Cotton, I've heard a lot of things before, but now it's the meat conglomerate, darn it.

SEN. TOM COTTON, (R-AR): Yes, Laura, they are blaming everyone for this record inflation when it just goes back to Democratic policies. We've had this pandemic for two years. We didn't have record inflation in 2020. We only had it in 2021 when the Democrats are in charge spending trillions of dollars to make sure that there is more money chasing fewer goods because of all the lockdowns and the capacity restrictions you still have in Democratic government states. First it was oil and gas companies. Now it's meat conglomerates. Maybe next week it's going to be the elf on the shelf when there aren't enough Christmas presents under the tree.

INGRAHAM: The elf on the shelf, did you have to bring that up, Senator?

OK, so there was a DNC holiday party tonight. Neither of us happen to have been invited, but Biden was there, and he was feeling pretty bold.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Who won as a unified Democratic Party, more unified than ever.

(APPLAUSE)

BIDEN: Now we look at 2022, I want to tell my Republican friends, get ready pal. You're in for a problem. And we need to stay unified. We have to keep making the case, and if we do, I believe we're going to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Senator, last time I checked Democrats are having greater doubts about Joe Biden than ever before. Independents, they're off the charts against Biden's job approval. So does he know a poll, something about a poll we don't?

COTTON: Yes, the Democrats are to be unified in a massive historical defeat next November if they continue to pursue this massive and reckless tax and spending bill. We just learned on Friday that if you eliminated all the budget gimmicks, it would be $5 trillion of spending, Laura, $3 trillion of new deficit spending. It would do things like give amnesty to illegal immigrants. It would devastate faith-based and family-based childcare. It would implement major parts of the Green New Deal to make it more expensive to drive pickup trucks and SUVs while rich people are getting tax breaks to buy electric vehicles.

And of course, it would continue to add more fuel to the fire of inflation that's hurting so many families. The American people spoke pretty clearly last month in places like Virginia and New Jersey, Long Island, Minneapolis, even Seattle. If the Democrats don't wake up and hear it, they're going to face a massive defeat next November.

INGRAHAM: Now, I thought I had heard it all until tonight on MSNBC where they tried to point out that the real problem with Biden's agenda is they are not getting enough credit from the media for all of their accomplishments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAI KOMANDURI, DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST: He literally has not seen a good headline in, I would say, maybe six months. And the reality also is the press is simply covering Joe Biden the way his opponents would want him to be covered. Nothing positive that Biden has done has gotten any coverage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Senator, what positive has Biden done? Sorry, but I actually was trying to think of that today. I couldn't think of much.

(LAUGHTER)

COTTON: I'm sure MSNBC's tens and tens of viewers all across the country will believe that.

(LAUGHTER)

COTTON: But for the rest of us, it's just a matter of looking at the scoreboard and they used to say in football games. The scoreboard doesn't lie. Look at the disaster and humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan earlier this year, or record inflation. In November, Joe Biden said he was going to do something after it was announced we had record high inflation in 30 years. And he did. In December we now have 40 year record highs of inflation.

Or look at the crimewave that continues to crash across the country. Now you've got leftwing looting mobs going out, they first rob from Home Depot all the crowbars and the hammers, and then they use those to go rob the jewelry stores and the electronic stores.

The facts don't lie. Joe Biden and the Democratic Party this year have delivered failure after failure after failure. That's why the American people aren't buying what the Democrats are selling.

INGRAHAM: Senator, I have to ask you really quickly about Liz Cheney and her off-the-wall obsession with text messages to Mark Meadows. I don't know if you saw me earlier, but I read all my tweets, my public tweets that day, January 6th. They totally match what I said to Meadows and what I said at night. But she is like a woman obsessed. Have you checked on her lately? Have you chatted with her on text messages? I want to see her text messages, Senator.

COTTON: Laura, I did see what you said earlier in the evening, and I saw what Sean Hannity said, and the same is true about Brian Kilmeade. You were apparently texting Mark Meadows to encourage him to try to get the violence under control. That's exactly what you and Sean and Brian and so many of us said on January 6th, that we cannot tolerate any kind of rioting or violence or chaos. That is the same things that we said throughout 2020 when you had leftwing BLM mobs rioting in our streets and looting and committing arson. I don't really understand the media's obsession today with you and Sean and Brian and others saying privately exactly said publicly on January 6th of this year.

INGRAHAM: Senator, thank you. I appreciate it.

And in moments, an update to the story, the transgender university of Pennsylvania swimmer, it seems her teammates aren't exactly OK with what's going on there. So stay there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIA THOMAS, UPENN TRANSGENDER SWIMMER: The team has been unbelievably supportive since the beginning. Teammates and coaches as well. I feel very supported and treated like any other member of the women's team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Thomas' teammates actually don't feel the same about having a biological male on the team. One of them telling "OutKick," "Pretty much everyone individually has spoken to are coached about not liking this." A second saying her teammates feel so discouraged because no matter how hard they work, they put in, they're going to lose.

Joining me now is Selina Soule who is a student athlete at Florida Atlantic University, and Christiana Holcomb, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom. Selina, as someone who's gone through these female swimmers at UPenn are facing, you went through it on the track for track and field, what is your response to what you just heard from the transgender athlete?

SELINA SOULE, STUDENT ATHLETE, FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY: It is very frustrating that this has happened in another sport in college. But I am very proud of those girls for talking to their coaches, and I encourage them to go public even more than being anonymous, and ask for fairness to be returned to their sport.

INGRAHAM: Christiana, these swimmers are actually, in my mind, are afraid of speaking out publicly. Look at what they did to celebrated author J.K. Rowling. They tried to shun her and she is a multi-billionaire, incredible talent, liberal, by the way, on most issues. But they'll slice and dice these girls, right?

CHRISTIANA HOLCOMB, ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM: It's absolutely disgraceful that woke ideologues are silencing women like these University of Pennsylvania athletes who are saying no to men in their sports.

But Laura, you and I both know this is happening across the country in other contexts as well, women trying to say no to men in their private spaces, their homeless shelters, and even their prisons. So we need reality based laws that reflect that men and women are different. And so I commend these young moment who are standing up and pushing back against men competing in their sport.

INGRAHAM: Christiana, when you think about how hard, and I know. I was an athlete, a pretty decent one, and how hard it is to compete against other women, young girl athletes. It's very difficult. But now you're competing against biological male athletes who actually swim as men, biological men. Just on an athlete level, Selina, how does that feel?

SOULE: It is very frustrating and demoralizing experience because no matter how hard we girls train we will never be able to beat someone who's biologically male, no matter how many hours and hours we put it, it will not matter because there is no way that we can compete with them physically.

INGRAHAM: You were a top runner in the state of Connecticut, my old high school, Glastonbury High School. And then didn't you lose a couple of your records to these biological male athletes?

SOULE: I did not lose any of my school records, but there were state records held by other girls that were broken. I believe it was 15 state records that were broken between the two of them.

So the statewide records broken, even worse. Ladies, we'll be following this. We'll be tracking it. Thank both of you tonight.

And updates on the Meadows contempt vote that's happening right now. We'll bring those to you in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: We have a historic jump in prices for Americans. We have gas prices through the roof. We have people despondent around Christmas. They're worried about their kids, their kids' future. And this is what these bozos in the House are doing. This January 6th committee sham continues even at this hour. These Democrats, Liz Cheney, they don't care about inflation, they don't care about how difficulty your life is. They want to hold Mark Meadows in contempt because they think it's going to hurt Trump, and they're worried that he is going to come back, I guess, beat them all again.

That's it for us tonight. Never forget, show that you know what's at stake by buying your U.S. made Freedom Matters. All the proceed go to the Big Oak Ranch this month. Gutfeld, next.

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