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'The Ingraham Angle' on America's shrinking energy independence

Guests: Tom Cotton, Tony Kinnett, Chris Bedford, Raymond Arroyo, Monica De La Cruz, Horace Cooper

This is a rush transcript of "The Ingraham Angle" on October 5, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Always check out foxnews.com, hannity.com for the very latest news information you need, anyplace, anytime, anywhere. In the meantime, let not your heart be troubled, we're thrown into the war early. I'm told there's a reason, I don't know what it is. But I'm told.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Well, you know, we pride ourselves here at THE INGRAHAM ANGLE for having a really crack investigative team. Because that's just what, that's what we do. And we understand that you had made a claim a few nights ago, people remember that you have never had a mustache any you just had no mustache.

HANNITY: I'm like well clean, I did not have sex with that woman at the single time.

INGRAHAM: Let's not go there. Alright, 'The Ingraham Angle' has uncovered several pieces of photographic evidence that indicates otherwise. OK, so this is when you are in your Geraldo kind of phase, which I don't think work for you, he can rock it. Now, this is when you decided to go more for like an old timey like an old carnival barker look that was like, late 18th. And this is kind of a Hulk Hogan homage. So that one.

HANNITY: That's rough.

INGRAHAM: That was like a half full Manchu thing. And then finally, well, that's really when you are feeling quite full of yourself. That's, that's when you're.

HANNITY: That's not that often.

INGRAHAM: Well that's when you're like.

HANNITY: I try to stay humble.

INGRAHAM: Yes, it's like a three ring circus in the studio. You know, you got you got a lot going on. And so that's when you're just like. So, I have to say we found the evidence. You look pretty with Mustache.

HANNITY: All right, so evidence you know, this is now a fair play. This was game on, because I have pictures of your hairdos in the 80s.

INGRAHAM: No. Those are priceless. And let me just say home turns anyway are going to make a comeback.

HANNITY: I think you're going to make probably will make a comeback, you probably would read about that. All right, Tousia, well done, but there will be retribution. Just stay tuned.

INGRAHAM: OK, thank you. Well, this is why we do the shows. Hannity, thank you so much. Thanks for being a good sport.

HANNITY: Have a great show.

INGRAHAM: All right. I am Laura Ingraham, this is 'The Ingraham Angle' from Washington tonight. Thanks so much for being with us. Despicable Joe, that's the focus of 'Tonight's Angle'.

All right. Just when you think the White House couldn't be more shameless, they surprise you and take shamelessness to the next level. Now, unless you think that everything in politics is just a reaction to Donald Trump, you're wrong. Let's start tonight back in 2008, when Republicans saw the political power of the then global warming crowd, and they thought saw it growing. So supporting Obama, against Biden, Obama and Biden against McCain and Palin. Well, Sarah Palin revealed who Biden really was by goading him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: The chant is drill, baby drill. And that's what we hear all across this country in our rallies because people are so hungry for those domestic sources of, of energy to be tapped into.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And in response, Biden did what Biden still does, he deflected? And then he just lied.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: John McCain has voted 20 times against funding alternative energy sources. And thanks, I guess the only answer is drill, drill, drill, but it will take 10 years for one drop of oil to come out of any of the wells that are began to be drilled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK, think about how stupid his point was. So we shouldn't have drilled because, more drilling doesn't deliver oil. What overnight? Well, notice the Democrats don't have that same concern about the long timelines for solar and wind, no, no concern there, so no infrastructure required there. Then after eight years of Obama's onerous energy regs, after he signed the disastrous Paris Accords, the Democrats hit a major roadblock with the election of Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT: For over 40 years America was vulnerable to foreign regimes that used energy as an economic weapon. Americans quality of life was diminished by the idea that energy resources were too scarce to support our people. Well, the truth is that we have near limitless supplies of energy in our country, powered by new innovation and technology we are now on the cusp of a true energy revolution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And 18 months later, just as he pledged, the U.S., exported more oil than we import it. That was for the first time in 70 plus years. So think about this, in other words, Trump achieved what Richard Nixon had promised, what 40 years earlier, Presidents going back that far. It's astonishing. We had energy independence.

The left and Democrats were miserable though. Gasoline for cars was cheap. Heating oil was reasonable. And we had a glut of natural gas. America was strong and secure because, we didn't just have energy independence we had energy dominance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have nearly 100 years' worth of natural gas and more than 250 years' worth of clean, beautiful coal. We are a top producer of petroleum, and the number one producer of natural gas. We have so much more than we ever thought possible. We are really in the driving seat. And you know what, we don't want to let other countries take away our sovereignty, and tell us what to do and how to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: And five years later, with Trump gone, that's exactly what's happening. Other countries are controlling our destiny, our economy, because Joe Biden's green goblins have sabotage our energy independence.

So now OPEC is in the driver's seat. Oh, along with Russia, of course. Thank you very much, Joe. Joe Biden is literally begging some of the most despotic regimes around to pump more oil again, let's remember the steps that got us here.

Biden's own administration took out an early hit on the oil and gas industry driving down production, which of course drove up energy costs. Then they started funding a proxy war against Russia, and launched meaningless sanctions against Russian oil, which only further stoked energy prices. And now Biden and company they're fine with high gas prices. In fact, they want high gas prices. But they knew the issue was hurting them politically.

So they recklessly tap the strategic petroleum reserves, which did artificially drop the price of gas. Well, that ticked off the Saudis and OPEC and Russia. So they simply responded by saying, OK, Joe, Two can play at that market manipulation game, we're going to cut our production by 2 million barrels per day.

In other words, everything Biden did backfired, and we're left holding the bag. His oil play will go down as one of the most costly, most craven and most despicable political maneuvers in recent American history. And now, Biden and company they're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Americans are about to get hammered. They're even worse than before. And recession is now a certainty. But it's not Biden's fault, of course not. After all, he bragged repeatedly during the campaign of all the great relationships he had forged with foreign leaders around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does this the U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's a short sighted decision. It is its own purported, its own its own purported self-interest, that OPEC+ made the decision upon. And so we see it as a mistake on this particular decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Wow, she's kidding us. You mean nations act in their own self- interest? Wow, this is actually a revelation to these people. Do they not remember what other countries did during COVID? Remember, they hoarded their own PPP, PPE. But before you panic, if things look really bad, let's face it, just remember, Biden has an energy savant in place at the Department of Transportation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right, we're in a transition and transitions are complicated. We need to manage this transition in a smart way. But we can't afford to drag our feet and there's certainly nothing to be gained by trying to stop this progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: This is progress. Now, Boy Wonder's trying to South Bend your thinking on what will be a desperately sad time for so many Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. None of these people care about your economic pain, none of them. They're fine with you having a lower standard of living, because to them, it's all collateral damage.

It's all collateral damage along the road to the green nirvana. They will not change their policy. This is their policy. But the most, most loathsome action of all is the fact that they're playing games with our national security, because they're sucking down our oil reserves that are supposed to be there for true emergencies. Now, look at this chart. This is where Biden has taken us to the brink. This is beyond dangerous. And there's no end in sight to what they're going to try to do to claw back public support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN DEESE, DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES: Use all of the tools at our disposal to have adequate supply of energy globally. Those actions including our historic use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to release a million barrels of the day into the market has had an impact. Oil prices are down significantly from where they were earlier in the summer. And as a result, gas prices are down as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Liars, prices are going up, the American people are going to suffer and there's no wonder that 70 percent of them now say the next generation won't have the same quality of life that they had. But you can feel it right. Americans are increasingly pessimistic, and the Democrats just do not care. They only pretend to and then they take dangerous steps like the SPR release. They only do that around election time. But after the election, if they somehow managed to keep the majority.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

INGRAHAM: A world of pain, and that's the 'Angle'.

Joining me now is Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, author of the upcoming book, 'Only The Strong' Reversing The Left's Plot To Sabotage American Power. Senator, we have just over 400 million barrels left in this Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the administration today made it clear they have no plans of stopping their release of more oil. Explain why this is so dangerous.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): Well, it's obvious why they're doing that, Laura, because they've got an election in 34 days, and the price of gas has gone up by quarter in most places around the country, once again, touching up against $4 and $5 a gallon. But I think you put it well. And as I write in 'Only The Strong' the Democrats plan is decline my design. We don't have $5 gallon gas in this country by accident. It's not an unintended consequence.

It's not bad luck, or the evil machinations of oil company executives or OPEC. It's because Joe Biden and progressive Democrats want gas to be that expensive. They want you to get out of your gas guzzling SUV or minivan, they want farmers to have to stop using diesel for tractors and other farm instruments. They think that you're going to be able to replace all these things with electric vehicles, which by the way, really are coal powered, or natural gas powered or nuclear powered vehicles, because the electricity has to come from somewhere.

And it doesn't come from the sun when it's not shining or the wind when it's not blowing. And at root, Laura, what this really is, just gets back to the far left anti-capitalist views. I mean, energy literally powers our modern economy. You know, our founding fathers didn't have much different quality of life than Jesus disciples did. And that's because 1800 years on the sources of energy were the same. It's only in the last 200 years, with fossil fuels versus coal, and then oil and gas. And then you add nuclear power into that mix that we've achieved true energy.

INGRAHAM: All right, Senator, what are the reasons? Yes, let me just jump in here because people want to know what next. So let's say you guys do manage to, you know, get that seat. And you take the majority, maybe you take a couple of seats, you take the majority in the Senate, what can Republicans do to stop this madness, if anything, once you reclaim the majority?

COTTON: Well, at a minimum, we can use our spending power, which we got to do pass every year, to force the Biden administration to take certain actions, whether it's permitting new pipelines or other oil and gas developments, issuing new permits and having new lease sales. We did this in the late Obama era. Once we went back the senate and the house in 2015 for instance, we lifted the 40-year old ban on oil exports.

Going back to the Jimmy Carter era, speaking of Democratic presidents who intentionally tried to hobble American energy. These are things that steps that we can take to restore America's oil and gas production, that we can encourage more drilling, more production, not only for our own energy needs for those of our allies and partners all around the world. Again the Biden administration, the Democrats are doing this on purpose. They recognize the political danger of it, though, that's why they're taking such risky steps like this.

INGRAHAM: Well they know this is the only reason.

COTTON: This is only recent releases.

INGRAHAM: Yes, it's beyond obvious. That's what they're doing. Which brings me to my next question. Again, if the Republicans take the majority, can we expect hearings in the Senate that probe whether the motivation for releasing millions and millions of barrels from that SPR and potentially endangering the American people in a time of emergency, whether that was done for political reasons who was involved in that decision making? To me, that's a really important question. I'm not saying it's necessarily an impeachable offense, but it's pretty damn important that we find out why that was done.

COTTON: Yes, Laura, I think we need to get to the bottom of it. I think we know what we're going to find out in the end. I think it's the political czars throughout the administration reporting back to the President and his political allies or political aides in the White House.

INGRAHAM: Well, that can't be allowed.

COTTON: Again it's not the strategic petroleum.

INGRAHAM: That can't be allowed.

COTTON: Well it's not a strategic petroleum reserve, it's not, it's not the political.

INGRAHAM: Right.

COTTON: Petroleum reserve, and the reason why they're releasing this oil and gas they recognize even though they want gas to be at $5 gallon they recognize that this is a unique pain point for most American families. And they got to at least appear to be taking actions 34 days for an election. That's why they're also blaming OPEC and blaming evil oil companies for trying drive up the price of oil in this country. But that directly translates back to their own failed energy policy.

INGRAHAM: Well, I think its fraud.

COTTON: And just imagine, if you have a Hurricane like Hurricane Ian. Yes.

INGRAHAM: Right. I mean there.

COTTON: Just imagine, if you have a Hurricane like Hurricane Ian.

INGRAHAM: Well, they're defrauding the American people. That's not their oil to play with. That's our oil collectively. And they're playing politics with just that one issue. I mean, that is a Republicans have got to get to, I don't think we can assume anything, I think it has to be proven that this was a calculated political move, which is endangering the future of America. And I want to know who was responsible. I want to see the emails. And I think you guys are perfectly positioned, if you get the Senate to take charge of this matter, because we can't let this happen again, this is too important. Senator, I can't wait to read your book. Thank you so much.

Now, on top of what they're doing to our oil reserves, they're trashing our schools. This tonight from Illinois, a new report by the group West Wirepoints, reveals that children in Illinois schools aren't performing at even the most basic level, and it's hitting minorities especially hard.

Now statewide in 2019, even before the pandemic, just 36 percent of all third graders were reading at grade level, 36 percent. Now that goes down to 27 percent for Hispanic students and 22 percent for black students.

Now it gets worse when you look at the cities and Decatur 17 percent of Hispanic third graders and 2 percent of black students read at grade level 2 percent. And in Chicago, 2021 stats reveal less than 11.8 percent of Hispanic third graders, and only 9.7 percent of black students read at grade level. This is again, you keep saying it can't get worse. That's worse.

Joining me now is Tony Kinnett, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Chalkboard Review. He's a former Indiana teacher who was fired after he exposed the nonsense was going on with CRT at the schools. Tony, when you hear people say that Democrats care about the kids that racism is keeping kids back. What are they doing via the teachers unions in the schools to cause this to happen?

TONY KINNETT, CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHALKBOARD REVIEW: Well, clearly the idea of using the exact same progressive policies over and over again, to attempt to teach reading and math in a way that is not actually shown to improve reading or math scores for any student based on any research that we've done.

Trying that again and again, and accept it expecting some kind of different result is the definition of insanity. And now we are seeing these children pay the price for that kind of incompetence. And quite honestly, it's a shame to see that some of the biggest schools in our country are doing the largest amount of harm to our students who need this material the most.

INGRAHAM: Well, you hear the word equity thrown around a lot, right? So we're going to have equitable outcomes. But the more you look into what that means, and we have some news out of D.C., which we're going to get to, but it just means lowering everybody's learning, reading, proficiency, and DCs already horrific scores, and they continue to go down. Now the share of students who passed the math exam fell 12 percentage points from 31 points percent before the pandemic to 19 percent in 2022. That's the lowest ever recorded in D.C. So their focus, yes.

KINNETT: Which is incredible and when you consider how much. It's incredible when you consider how much those districts spend per student, they spend $30,000 a year per student, and they can't even get their students to read at grade level. Chicago is now approaching $30,000 per student per year. It's incredible.

INGRAHAM: Well, and a friend of mine, who actually teaches in the D.C. public school system, who's fantastic. She said, Laura, the sad thing here is that the big focus for the last two years was whether kids were going to be had the mask properly fitting or whether they were social distancing, not whether they were actually learning anything. And meanwhile, you have Educational Fascist, Randi Weingarten spouting off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI WEINGARTEN, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS PRESIDENT: Our future depends on our young people, being educated, being critical thinkers, knowing how to be resilient and build relationships and be the kind of community that actually makes a better more sustainable, more peaceful world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oh my god, what a poltroon. Selling out the kids for what she calls sustainability and she has a hold stupid cardboard pencil that says invest in teachers. What I mean, how is this not like a national outcry cried just about this fact?

KINNETT: I mean this is the same Teachers Union President that held a flag saying that she supported Ukraine and the Ukrainian flag was upside down in the Union advertisement. She has repeatedly claimed that she has tried to get students back into schools, where according to recent memory that all of us have a she was going on national television during the COVID pandemic, begging schools to keep close, she was actually exposed for working behind the doors with the CDC to change the guidance in order to keep kids out of schools longer. And that's why enrollment rates are dropping as quickly as they are.

INGRAHAM: Yes, Tony, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

KINNETT: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: Now the liberal media keep kind of dismissing this idea of the red wave. But we have numbers that may say otherwise. Chris Bedford is here. We'll go up to the big screen next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: All right. We're 34 days out from the election. So we wanted to bring you some top races that The Angle is keeping its eye on. So tonight, I'm doing something a little different, and we're hitting the big board for our retaking America segment.

Joining me now is our friend Chris Bedford, Executive Editor for the Common Sense Society. Chris, great to see you tonight. Let's start in the Senate where Republicans need just one seat to take control. So what can you tell us about Wisconsin where GOP incumbent Ron Johnson is facing a challenge from this pretty radical guy Mandela Barnes.

CHRIS BEDFORD, EXECUTIVE EDITOR FOR THE COMMON SENSE SOCIETY: There have been a lot of folks in D.C. and New York who've been trying to pretend that Wisconsin's in a lot of trouble Ron John's in trouble. I've never really bought it seems like they're high in their own supply with that one. The Mandela Barnes is a perfect example of someone who's charismatic, handsome, young, absolutely looks the part of a politician, but the Democrats didn't look under the hood. He's pretty radical. And Wisconsin as a back and forth state. It was went for Obama, it went for Trump. It went for Biden. This is not someone who can really run as a radical leftist. And that seems to be a problem he's running into now. And as the Republicans define him while he's plummeting.

INGRAHAM: So you're talking about the extreme views. Let's go through some of them here. He favors eliminating cash bail, and today with the crime. How's that flying?

BEDFORD: It's not we were in Wisconsin, reporting right before the 2020 election. And there's one thing after, after the whole summer and everything to put aside professing your innocence or attack or joining some political cause in your window, but it's another thing when they're burning down Kenosha. It's another thing when the hotel staff in Milwaukee has to say move your car away from our hotel because riders will be here tonight, and they'll destroy it.

People were extremely upset. Now the Democrats might have been able to pull it out because there was some distaste for Donald Trump, especially among some of the suburban women voters. But despite Democrats best efforts, Trump's not on the ballot, his policies are on the ballot and right now releasing criminals half in the prison population releasing rapists and murderers. Well, that's not a very popular position anymore.

INGRAHAM: Anyway we're talking about hundreds of rapists and murderers combined. All right, his radical views now they're extreme, but are they really out of step with Wisconsin, which is kind of hard to peg? This kind of tells the tale, does it not?

BEDFORD: Absolutely. I mean, this is this is the difference between Ron Johnson been able to define his opponent and not. I mean, at this point, that senator has been releasing advertised advertisements said just take his Mandela's ads, and Ron John talks over them and says, this is what he stands for. You see him hitting a baseball and acting like a normal Wisconsinite. But in reality, his policies are for cutting the police. He says America's an awful founding and awful country says the green new deal should come to Wisconsin.

INGRAHAM: A typical Democrat.

BEDFORD: A typical Democrat, and a not typical Democrat state.

INGRAHAM: All right, let's turn to the house where incumbent Democrat Henry Cuellar is battling this newcomer Cassie Garcia in Texas is 28th district. Why is this interesting? And why should we be focusing on this race?

BEDFORD: So Cuellar is basically the last prolife Democrat left. He's someone who's been yelling at the President about the border. He's a nine term Congressman running against an openly conservative, Former Crew Staffer. And this is a place.

INGRAHAM: Ted crew staffer.

BEDFORD: Yes, Ted crew staffer. And this is a place that used to be the future of the Democrats plans, the Rio Grande Valley, they wrote books about how the demographic change in America was going to usher in a democratic supermajority forever. And this is ground zero for that not working out. Democrats keep on attacking the border. These people are living this nightmare. And it's really hurting Democrats down there. He's had some support from Democratic leadership who've tried to bail him out a little bit. But in general, this is showing the continuing trend of Democratic voters, Hispanic voters turning on the democratic.

INGRAHAM: So this primary that he had was so close, it went to a runoff, and then a recount. And then he may have lost if the Democratic leadership didn't step in, to help him even though again, he's at odds with the Democrat leadership on most of these big issues, like semi-automatic ban of weapons on whether the border is secure. So why do they want him to win if he's not going to just be a rubber stamp for their fall?

BEDFORD: So he's over for I think he's about 40 percent against the President on the Democratic Party, but that 60 percent is helpful, and they know that the Rio Grande is changing. They know that is going more and more red, and the woman who ran against some young woman is a radical left winger, young one, the Democrats said hold on a second, there's no shot, she's going to win an actual general election and maybe we can get some concessions from Cuellar if we come in for to try and help them. But it's never good for an incumbent to almost barely scrape by in a primary before agenda.

INGRAHAM: Remember like a couple of years ago when they said well, Beto O'Rourke is going to be at the forefront.

BEDFORD: It's Beto.

INGRAHAM: Oh sorry, Beto flipping Texas to Blue. I mean that was, I think we saw that headline so many times. Is that even --

BEDFORD: They are still doing think pieces. Now we have Mandela, the new Beto of Wisconsin. It's the same story.

INGRAHAM: Let's stay in south Texas, though, where GOP Congresswoman Mayra Flores is battling that Democrat Congressman Vicente Gonzalez. That's the 34th district. She is running for her first full term after she won the special election. We all reported on it. This really does seem like a Hispanic wave in some sections of the country for Republicans.

BEDFORD: Yes, she's, I think, the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress for this special term. She's the first Republican in history elected to her old congressional seat. Now because of rewriting, these two incumbents are forced to face off against each other. And I think she's got a real shot. And again, she's another person, she's not -- the other Democrats in Texas kind of run to the right of maybe Republicans in Massachusetts. It's not a particularly leftwing state at the local level. But all these Democrats are still in trouble. They're getting rightwing challengers. And what we see generally in the Rio Grande Valley is going to show it. Today the "Cook Political Report" came out and said this is actually leaning towards Mayra for the first time. So all this, the whole summer of Joe Biden has got his aviators back, that seems to be puttering out in real time.

INGRAHAM: The number one state that could be a bellwether for an absolute Republican wave would be what? Let's say a gubernatorial race. If it went Republican, which would presage a Republican wave?

BEDFORD: Oregon.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: I was going to say --

BEDFORD: It's wild that state might go Republican.

INGRAHAM: It's got to be pacific northwest. If that goes red, then all bets are off for the Democrats.

BEDFORD: And I'll go back to Oregon. It will be safe again.

INGRAHAM: Great point. Chris, great to see you. Thank you so much.

Now, the sex lives of beloved children's characters, why are they now being revealed? And a big city mayor has a new answer to her rampant crime problem, a musical refrain. That means it's Raymond Arroyo. He's going to bring us all, all the details. "Seen and Unseen" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: It's time for our "Seen and Unseen" segment where we explore the cultural stories of the day. And for that we turn to the author of "The Wise Men Who Found Christmas" Raymond Arroyo. Raymond, great to see you and be in studio together.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Nice to be together.

INGRAHAM: Now, there is a new streaming movie with a big sexual reveal.

ARROYO: It's a "Scooby Doo" movie.

INGRAHAM: I was going to say that, because it was funny, funnier the way - -

ARROYO: OK.

INGRAHAM: Velma has apparently a new love interest?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And as promised, here are your Scooby snacks.

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jinkies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: That's right, the big headline is Velma is officially a lesbian. Zoinks. Now, I am a Scooby Doo fan. I grew up watching the original on TV, loved the guest stars and the mystery and the silliness and the monsters and the mysteries. I took my kids to see the movies. I never once, not one moment, thought about the appetites of any member of the Scooby gang. And so this is really offensive on the level that we are disrupting these beloved characters.

INGRAHAM: There's no innocence. You can't have a moment of just fun without an agenda.

ARROYO: I am waiting for them to tell us that Scooby in Shaggy shared more than a Scooby snack in that Mystery Mobile.

INGRAHAM: They Shaggy-ed up, or shacked up?

ARROYO: Well, whatever it was. But what other beloved characters are they going to sexualize next, Laura? I guess there is that new "Blue's Clues" movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feel the music. Follow the clues and make dreams come true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: That's not actually Blue. It's another little character, a rainbow puppy. But my problem with this is, and we have seen it, it's been creeping in increments, beloved characters of childhood.

INGRAHAM: They're not allowed.

ARROYO: The adult values are being imposed on them.

INGRAHAM: They're not allowed.

ARROYO: Laura, there was a Winnie the Pooh movie that just came out not long ago where Winnie the Pooh and Piglet are serial killers, because Winnie the Pooh entered public domain. There he is. And he's a serial killer with Piglet. The horror of all of this is, people who didn't create these characters are manipulating them and maiming them in the public imagination. That's my biggest objection here. And if they wanted to get to the history of Velma, "The New York Times" said she is canonically a lesbian. When Hanna-Barbera created here, it was a spinoff of a character on Dobie Gillis from the 50s. This is a real far cry from the original.

INGRAHAM: I never was into Scooby Doo.

ARROYO: I loved Scooby Doo.

INGRAHAM: That's a boy's cartoon. I don't think girls -- you are not even allowed to say that anymore, sorry. But I was just like --

ARROYO: I liked it.

INGRAHAM: I was kind of --

Speaking of characters, you have an update on New Orleans Mayor Latoya --

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: Easy there. Easy there.

INGRAHAM: Cantrell, who spent thousands of dollars for lavish travel expenses.

ARROYO: That's right. After initially resisting the city council's calls to reimburse them for those first class travel tickets to France, she's given in. She is going to repay $30,000. This probably has more to do with the recall movement underway in the city than any sudden shock of conscience, Laura. She's also allegedly squatting in a city-owned apartment without paying rent, as we reported the other day. But she appeared on GMA3 yesterday, and when asked why crime is at an all-time high in her city, LaToya Cantrell is adopting the Barbra Streisand defense. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS: We are seeing a spike in domestic crimes and violence, meaning it's less random, but more people who know people.

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People who need people.

CANTRELL: People hurting people in our city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Are the unluckiest people in the world, appreciate. Laura, New Orleans now, we've already in nine months surpassed the murder rate in 2021, in 2020. We have 500 shootings and 220 murders. And we are sitting around palavering to "Good Morning America"? I'm sorry. This needs sober addressing right now. And to quote, run around reciting Barbra Streisand lyrics isn't helping. And I don't know what she was trying to say.

INGRAHAM: People who need cheaper apartments. People who need rent control apparently.

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: I guess. Auditioning for "Funny Girl" will not help.

And Laura, I thought we should check in with the other crime capital of America, Chicago, where there were 30 shootings last weekend, and two just week at a police station, by the way. Mayor Lightfoot seems to be hard at work at the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, baby don't you want to go. Come on baby, don't you want to go back to that single place, sweet home Chicago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: Can you even believe? This is her official TikTok?

INGRAHAM: I will never feel the same way about that wonderful song.

ARROYO: Karaoke in the loop is no solution to the murder rate in Chicago. These cities are bleeding out, and these mayors are entertaining themselves in France and, I guess, doing singalongs. None of this is working.

INGRAHAM: Sadly, it's sweet home Louis Vuitton when they took all those purses.

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: I still remember when they went in for the purses, they actually didn't pick some of them. They knew the styles they wanted. Remember, they took the one of the shelves.

ARROYO: You don't want last season. You want this season.

INGRAHAM: No. We want the multicolored Louis Vuitton.

ARROYO: And today in the midst of this enormous hurricane cleanup in Florida, and our hearts and prayers are with our friends there, Joe Biden created another big effing deal during a conversation with a mayor. Listen closely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You were raised the same way. No one f- with a Biden.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: No one effs with a Biden? Russia effs with him, South Korea --

INGRAHAM: OPEC.

ARROYO: OPEC, Jill, and the Easter Bunny. I don't know what he's talking about, but he's talking.

INGRAHAM: And everyone who discovered his plagiarism, for them, too. Raymond, great to see you.

ARROYO: Great to see you.

INGRAHAM: You know things are bad for the Democrats when even Al Sharpton starts to make a little bit of sense. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: The Democratic Party and President Biden does have some things they could be using that they've done, that has benefited clearly black and Latinos. But it's not connecting. So you are seeing this, as the polls indicate, Latinos and black men go the other way because they are not getting their message to the ground in the way they should.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I don't know what track record of success he's referencing, but you know things are bad for the Democrats when even Sharpton is trying to reach for some way of justifying it all. But his solution? Well, to focus on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: The thing that is making this competitive is the Supreme Court decision on women's right to choose and the fact that Donald Trump won't leave the stage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Well, Reverend Al, if that's your strategy, then keep it going, because you are going to kiss the Hispanic vote goodbye. New data from the Pew Research Center shows that abortion ranked seventh in the list of top issues for Hispanic voters. The number one issue, like for everybody else, is of course something he even won't talk about, the economy.

Joining us now is Monica De La Cruz, who is a Texas congressional candidate, and Horace Cooper, National Center for Public Policy senior fellow, author of the new book, "Put Y'All Back in Chains, How Joe Biden's Policies Harm Blacks." Monica, what are voters telling you about these issues? Do issues like January 6th or climate change, are those the issues that are motivating them today?

MONICA DE LA CRUZ, (R) TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: What's motivating Hispanics here in south Texas is the economy and the outrageous inflation that is driving up prices, driving up gas. People are suffering down here. They are having a difficult time putting food on the table, and they are stressed. And that's why we are seeing Hispanics in south Texas not just walking away from the Democratic Party but running away by the thousands.

INGRAHAM: Now, an interesting poll from NBC News, Telemundo, and "The Wall Street Journal" shows that congressional preference among Latinos who identify as conservative had Democrats up 10 points, nine points 10 years ago in 2012. Today, 73 percent of conservative Latinos prefer Republicans. Horace, that is a once in a generation shift, if people can follow that.

HORACE COOPER, PROJECT 21 CO-CHAIRMAN: Absolutely. What we are seeing is if you offer the voters your January 6th investigation or your LGBTQ priorities, or your climate change, it doesn't affect them. It doesn't touch them. And it doesn't address their needs. Basic conservatives, whether they're Latino, whether they're black, whether they're white, there are certain issues that they care about, and these are not among them. They repel them. But because they won't drop them, they are running them off.

INGRAHAM: Yes, they go back to abortion and January 6th. That's pretty much it. They have Abortion, they like pot. Abortion, pot, porn, and January 6th. That's kind of it.

COOPER: You need to freeze when it gets cold.

INGRAHAM: Right, exactly, and climate change.

You know the Democrats are in trouble, Monica, and it looks like even CNN is starting to see trouble. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Crime is an issue that Republicans love to talk about. You see it in a tone of their ads. Why? Because which party do you trust more on crime? Look at that, Republicans at plus 23 points.

The more that voters care about crime, the worse it is for Democrats.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Monica, he was trying to flick it off with a vocal inflection there, but is it a surprise that voters should care about their own families' safety? That is somehow a shock to some of these commentators.

DE LA CRUZ: Well, that just goes to show how out of touch the Democratic Party is with voters in general, but specifically Hispanic voters. Hispanics believe in law and order. They want a strong border. They believe in strong laws and us enforcing that. We are seeing this here at the border where we have a large Border Patrol sector right here in Texas 15. We want law and order.

But this is also a humanitarian crisis when it comes to our border security. We're seeing these illegal immigrants being taken advantage of by the cartels. And it's just sad that the Democrat Party refuses, refuses to knowledge the crisis that's happening here and how it's affecting not only our border communities but our entire nation.

INGRAHAM: Cori Bush was on "Good Morning America" and she defended her slogan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're one of the few Democrats now who still says that let's defund the police. Are you worried at all that that could hurt some of your colleagues going into the midterm elections?

REP. CORI BUSH, (D-MO): The thing about defund the police is we have to tell the entire narrative. People hear defund the police, but you know what they'll say. Say reallocate, say divest, say move. But it's still the same thing. We can't get caught up on the words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Horace?

COOPER: She is stuck on stupid. She absolutely doesn't get what the issues are that the American people care about.

INGRAHAM: They are still doing defund the police, Monica. Just having the word said on television and a nod by a member of Congress, and they think that January 6th is going to drive people to the polls? Monica, real quick.

DE LA CRUZ: Laura, it just comes down to this. They just don't care about what Hispanic voters and what voters in general think and feel.

INGRAHAM: Well, but Liz Cheney is going to save them.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Monica, Horace, great to see you both.

Space cadet Kamala returns to earth -- well, maybe not -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Kamala Harris may not know how to solve the border crisis, but she does know this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, (D) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I love Venn diagrams. I just love Venn diagrams. You know the three circles, right. Sometimes there are more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK, Venn diagrams.

I finally want to end tonight with a huge thank you and a happy anniversary to our fabulous director, Mike. He has been with us for four years this week. He's a major reason why this show looks as good as it does every night, even when I have coughing fits. He works tirelessly to get it all done no matter what crazy stuff we throw at him at the last minute. So Mike, thank you. Happy anniversary.

That's it for us tonight. Thank you for watching.

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