This is a rush transcript from “The Ingraham Angle," September 10, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
INGRAHAM: All right. I am Laura Ingraham. This is The Ingraham Angle. From Washington tonight in moments, Candace Owens will tell us what the congressional black caucus has gotten all panicked about? And I'm going to take you also inside the privileged lives of some of the country's most deranged rioters. You won't believe what they look like. But first, Dems declare war on fun. That is the focus of tonight's Angle.
Does Joe Biden look like he is having fun to you?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It seems to me that there is things can and should change, because for the first time, unions are respected more.
My father was around the General Motors agency, he didn't own it, but he ran it. And there's cars and cars and cars. Everything they've done has been designed-- the fact is that Wall Street investors didn't build this country.
We're only about, I don't know, how many days out, but less than two months. This idea of "Slow Joe," anyway, I shouldn't laugh about it because - anyway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: OK. That's just from the last few days. He kind of reminds me of an elderly person who is being dragged around by relatives to events that he neither has the energy nor the interest in attending. He just looks miserable, and his handlers and backers want the rest of us to be miserable, too.
Pelosi, Schumer, Cuomo, De Blasio, Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland, Lori Lightfoot in Chicago, how much joy have they been spreading lately?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Sad time. So much going on in my state of California, and then we have the sadness of Kenosha.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The Republicans are the enemy of the good.
MAYOR TED WHEELER (D-OR), PORTLAND: They are not wanted here. We haven't asked them here. In fact, we want them to leave.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Any school that goes over 100 COVID-19 positive cases is going can be closed down to do remote learning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: At some point, all of these characters who are pulling the strings in the Biden puppet show, they forgot that our declaration of independence guarantees not just life and liberty, but also the pursuit of happiness. Now, those rights are inalienable, meaning government can't take them away, or at least shouldn't be able to take them away.
Yet everywhere you look in blue state America, they are trying to keep you from living, from exercising your freedom, from deciding your own path to happiness. Oh, sorry, unless you are rioting against Trump and systemic racism, in which case, you are free to set fires, beat people up, harass diners and restaurants, or harass suburbanites as they sleep.
Now, I actually remember when California was fun. Under liberal Gavin Newsom, though, they have gone from surfing USA to shut in USA. Remember the hustle and bustle of New York City? Broadway, the gallows, the New York City marathon, the hop in restaurant scene. How many 'I love New York' t- shirts are those vendors selling these days?
Democrats are like perpetual bad parents. They treat everyone like children and ground us for absolutely no reason at all. And these super-spreaders of despair absolutely hate the fact that Americans in red states refuse to submit and they have chosen to live their lives, to go to school, to play sports, to go to work, and attend church on Sunday.
The latest lie of the anti-fun coalition is from a study claiming that the Sturgis motorcycle rally last month in South Dakota was a reckless COVID spreading event that resulted in 250,000 cases. Well, in reality, state officials could only trace 260 cases to the biking event, and egregious and oft-repeated lie goes unchecked.
But the media, they don't care about pesky facts and irritating inconvenient data. They merely exist to echo these kinds of malicious falsehoods to damage Trump and his allies. And they do all they can to ensure that fun is no longer an option for Americans. So why are they doing this? Because it's the opposite of Trump's plan.
Just look at how much fun Trump and his voters were having tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Open up your state, madam governor. Open up your state. And tell your governor to open up your state. Let's play Big Ten football, right?
Does anybody want to have somebody from Antifa as a member and as a resident of your suburb? I don't think so. Say darling, who moved in next door? Oh, it is a resident of Antifa. No, thank you. Let's get out of here. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, when you looked at the faces in the crowd, these people were there because they wanted the freedom to pursue their own happiness, and they were enjoying themselves. But Democrats, they hate this scene. These are people living their lives. They want to make all your decisions for you. It is all about power and all about control.
They've worked hard to shut down schools, shutdown sports, and they have proclaimed now that football is not essential. Well, parents and players in Connecticut, my old home state, disagree.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(Chanting "Let Us Play")
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Yesterday, these high schoolers and parents finally decided enough is enough and delivered a powerful message to liberal governor Ned Lamont. It's too bad they can't all move to Texas. We'll talk about that issue later on in the show.
And as for school itself, well, the LA County Public Health Director, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, gave up the entire game about what they are doing in schools in this newly unearthed audio recording about when schools might see in person learning again. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BARBARA FERRER, DIRECTOR, LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH: We don't realistically anticipate that we would be moving to either tier 2 or to reopening K-12 schools at least during - at least until after the election. It seems to us a more realistic approach to this would be to think that we are going to be where we are now until we get, after - until we are done with the elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Can you believe that? They are now admitting, she probably didn't know that was going to get broadcast. They are admitting this is all about politics until the election. I hope you in LA are happy with your leaders.
While we believe, though, in the pursuit of happiness, they believe in the pursuit of guilt. Both sides believe in sin, I guess, but only one side believes in forgiveness. God may forgive you, but AOC never will.
Remember this old '80s film classic?
(BEGIN MOVIE CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If our lord wasn't testing us, how would you account for the proliferation this day of this obscene rock 'n' roll music, with its gospel of easy sexuality and relaxed morality?
(END MOVIE CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Well, Hollywood was portraying a Middle American Christian town as anti-fun, anti-dancing. But now these liberal governors like Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer, and of course a big Biden ally, who are against dancing, no large gatherings, keep your distance, kids, 6 feet, 8 feet, 10 feet. In fact pretty much everything in a less ideal world comes with a lecture these days. Hey, kids, let's watch the local sports team.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREGG POPOVICH, HEAD COACH, SAN ANTONIO SPURS: I think I'm just embarrassed, as a white person.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So on behalf of the National Football League.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we, the players.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would like to hear you state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the National Football League.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to understand, because I'm white, I have white privilege.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Let's go see a show, or maybe a movie.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN LEGEND, AMERICAN SINGER: His instinct is always to stoke the fires of racism and bigotry and xenophobia.
SPIKE LEE, AMERICAN FILMMAKER: I don't expect this guy in the White House to say anything to heal the nation. He's incapable of doing this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Let's read Harry Potter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Radcliffe went on to encourage fans of "Harry Potter" not to let Rowling's comments ruin the series for them. He wrote, "To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I'm deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: They are even going after J.K. Rowling. Who are these people to lecture us on anything? They've lost most moral authority on most issues, and they've done so, for instance, when they sell out to the Chinese Communist Party, or they became fanatics for abortion and gender morphing.
Joe Biden has tethered himself to the new church of radicalism, which seeks to enforce its dogma on America by any means necessary.
Imagine being audited by Biden's bureau of cancellation and condemnation. Oh, it's coming. We can't give them that power, it would be absurd. Right now, you can escape New York and California and move to free states, where you can retain your freedom to find your own happiness. Under President Biden, though, there will be no escape. Only fun-free domination, and that is the 'Angle'.
Well, as part of the Left's campaign to punish Americans, Senate Democrats today blocked another much-needed COVID relief bill. Democrats want you to feel the pain, choke you off from all relief all the way until the election.
Here to respond as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Congressmen, the anti-fun party, I never thought I would say it, the Democrats always wanted to portray themselves as the anti-prudes. They are going to let you be free and determine your own destiny, but that is completely out the window in these blue states, including your own.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I see it every day. But you know what's interesting, they don't want anybody to have fun or nobody could do anything, but they don't want to live by those rules. You watch Nancy Pelosi, no one can get their hair done, but her. You watch Governor Pritzker of Illinois, no one can go anywhere, but his wife. Or in Michigan, the governor says you can't put the boats in, but her husband wants to.
But you've hit it on the head tonight. If you believe in an optimist, or if you believe tomorrow is going to be better than today, they won't allow you in the Democratic party. They want to make sure everything is shut down until after the election. Somehow, science works after that time. But what the Senate did today, and the people have to understand, yes.
INGRAHAM: Congressman, I just want to ask you then I want to get to your point, I'm sorry to interrupt you. I want first to get your comment on that just-unearthed audio from a friends over at KFI radio. Barbara Ferrer in LA County, I guess the health director there is saying that schools can't foreseeably or conceivably open until after the election. How do you tie COVID until the election, unless it is all political at this point?
MCCARTHY: Yes, it's only - once the election passes, science will say COVID goes away inside her mind. I don't understand that. They don't believe in this, and if you watch, everything has to stay shut down until the election. But what's the sad part is, Joe Biden says he will continue to shut everything down. And if you watch what he is doing, look what the Democrats did today.
The majority in the Senate actually voted to pass a COVID bill to help America, but the Democrats despise this president so much, they want to inflict pain. They would rather see America suffer than watch the president succeed at something. So they are going to bring more pain onto this country just because they despise him.
And what's interesting, remember what they called us last time, deplorables, and now they believe we are the enemies of the state. And it is not just me, it's you, it's everyone who believes in the pursuit of happiness, who believes and you watch the contrast between the President's rally and four people sitting around Joe Biden, which America do you want to live in?
INGRAHAM: No, Congressman, Trump tonight was in his element, right? He gets his energy off crowds.
MCCARTHY: He was on fire.
INGRAHAM: I'm telling you, this was the best rally.
MCCARTHY: It does.
INGRAHAM: I've seen in, I don't know how long, probably all year, for sure. But he was having fun, he was very substantive on China, on NAFTA, which Biden has lied about again today. And it was very substantive--
MCCARTHY: Yes.
INGRAHAM: --yet very upbeat, and I think people want to see that joy again from their political leaders, the common sense on the virus and the economy and foreign policy. But joy, we are supposed to have freedom to pursue our own happiness. The Democrats want to shut that down.
MCCARTHY: If you put that rally up with a roundtable with Joe Biden and you put no sound, people could pick easily where they want to be. But remember, Joe Biden has been in Washington more than 47 years.
And this is a true fact, Joe Biden has been in Washington so long, when he first went to the Senate, he served with people who were born in the 1800s. And now he claims that President Bush tricked him in voting for NAFTA? Well, that was a lie, because it was under Bill Clinton, and he voted for it. Every time he says he's opposed fracking, and now he supports it. He doesn't know where he is at any given time.
INGRAHAM: We thought John Kerry was a flip flopper in the 2004 election, right? This takes flip-flopping to a new level. We actually have the videotape. Congressman, Republicans are trying to get relief to the American people, Democrats don't want to give it to them. Thank you for explaining this for all of us tonight. Great to see you.
And while Joe Biden's mental decline is painfully clear, is there a better way to campaign against the former VP? Well, my next guest says there is. It's a fact, for nearly 50 years, Biden has been playing working-class Americans for fools. So he will kind of happily slap people on the back than working men and women across the country, but when he is back in D.C., well, he snuggles up to the lobbyists and the political hacks that end up destroying the livelihoods of the middle class and shipping those jobs to China.
Joining me now, Dinesh D'souza, conservative author and filmmaker and the producer of two films coming out in the coming weeks, Infidel, we are going to talk about that next week in Trump card.
Dinesh, why focus on Biden's grift, why not, and just his frailty? There are two big issues here, his mental decline, but his actual record that is well-established.
DINESH D'SOUZA, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Although we tend to focus on his mental incompetence, which is very visible and obvious to see. Over most of his career, Biden has actually, in the area of corruption, demonstrated great competence.
And this competence has been the way he has orchestrated the corruption, pretty much everywhere he went under the Obama years, he would take a family member with him. And this is a tale of three Bidens, his brother Frank Biden, his other brother James Biden, his son Hunter Biden. So he took James Biden with them to Iraq, and James Biden got a contract, a federal contract to build 100,000 homes in Iraq, contract worth $1.5 billion.
Then, Biden was made point man by Obama for Costa Rica. He went to Costa Rica, his brother, Frank Biden was in tow. And then Frank Biden subsequently got green energy deal contracts, even though none of these guys have any experience in these areas. When Vice President Biden went to China, he took Hunter Biden, while Biden was having official meetings, Hunter Biden was making deals on the side with the Chinese government worth $2 billion through the Shanghai free-trade zone to get all kinds of investments in the Chinese economy, including buying American companies and moving American jobs from places like Michigan to China. So, this is the actual long track record of corruption that has created gargantuan wealth for the Bidens.
INGRAHAM: Yes, here is what Trump said today, Dinesh, about Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It was revealed that a fund, partly owned by Joe Biden's son, Hunter, facilitated the sale of a Michigan auto parts producer to a leading Chinese military defense contractor. Biden spent his entire career selling Michigan jobs to China. China's military got American manufacturing jobs and the Biden family got paid a lot of money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Dinesh, isn't that the kind of story that needs to be told and retold?
D'SOUZA: I think it is critically important, because see, Biden knows that he is under disclosure requirements. If he buys stock, if gets a foreign contract, he is going to have to disclose it, but there are no disclosure requirements for family members. The Chinese have a long-standing practice of extending deals to family members in exchange for favorable treatment from foreign leaders. Biden recognized this. He surreptitiously became a part of it. So yes, I think this is a powerful theme that the Trump campaign should look at in the days leading up to the election.
INGRAHAM: And Dinesh, finally, on NAFTA, this was a very telling exchange between Jake Tapper and Joe Biden on his initial support of NAFTA. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When you ran for president and when Barack Obama ran for president, you both said you would renegotiate NAFTA, you didn't, he did. Does he deserve credit for that?
BIDEN: No. I think if you remember, he didn't - he was the one that pushed that particular one the past. The house amended the bill.
TAPPER: He renegotiated NAFTA and you didn't, is the point.
BIDEN: Because we had a Republican congress.
TAPPER: That's better, the USMCA is better than NAFTA.
BIDEN: It is better than NAFTA.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Dinesh, ten seconds.
D'SOUZA: Here you have a guy, Joe Biden, who quite frankly doesn't even know where he is. He floats around, he goes with whatever position he opportunistically thinks he needs to say, but I think behind what he is saying, the brain is at this point, completely a fog.
INGRAHAM: All right, Dinesh. Thanks so much.
And coming up, I am going to expose the faces of real privileged, those who are destroying our cities. Plus, a new generation of radicals is taking over the congressional black caucus, Candace Owens tells us what it really means. Up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YAMICHE ALCINDOR, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, PBS NEWSHOUR: White Americans are waking up to the privilege that they've had and saying that this is not right.
KARLA GONZALES GARCIA, POLICY DIRECTOR COLORADO ORGANIZATION: (inaudible) stop your privilege getting in the way for you to work with us for our liberation.
CHELSEA CLINTON, FORMER FIRST DAUGHTER: I think it's particularly important if they understand that as white voting privilege, because I want them to erode that privilege throughout their lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: I want you to meet one of the products of that kind of woke up bringing. Her name is Clara Kraebber, a white 20-year-old, whose parents, one of whom is a Columbia University professor, own a $1.8 million New York City home, and a second one in Connecticut.
Now, Clara reportedly attends Rice University, where tuition, room and board is a whopping $65,000 a year, nearly 60 percent more than the average black family makes in a year. All of which, Clara apparently reviles, because she has decided to help Black Lives Matter Marxist trash New York City in the name of racial justice.
So how does vandalizing businesses actually help black Americans? Well, I doubt even a committed anarchist like Clara would know the answer to that. All she seems to know is that she needs to atone for her privilege by destroying America, and she's not alone. The Left has a long, illustrious history of convincing rich, college-educated kids to go out and commit crimes.
So what do today's revolutionaries look like? Well, NYPD released mug shots of Clara and six other of her comrades, who were arrested last weekend after allegedly going on a storefront window smashing spree in the Flatiron district. Five of Clara's partners in crime reportedly also have privileged backgrounds.
First, there is Frank Fuhrmeister, a 30-year-old ad man who currently owns a stately home in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. He was charged with rioting and possession of a graffiti instrument.
Then there is Adi Sragovich, a 20-year-old student at the $72,000 a year Sarah Lawrence College. After she lost her phone rioting, her mother quickly bought her a new one. Got to make sure she can Instagram all the storefronts she destroys and smashes, I guess.
And then there is Claire Severine, is a fashion model, and her comrade at arms, Etkar Surette, used to summer in Europe. How lovely.
And finally, there is Elliot Rucka, the son of famous comic book writers, both of whom have TV deals. So do these sound like revolutionaries to you, or just privileged, poorly educated kids hell-bent on punishing the rest of the country over this concept they learned of white guilt?
They didn't get there this way on their own, of course, they are just products of bad parenting, bad schooling, and a poisonous ideology that has been propagated by the Left for decades. One that, for many years, has peddled the idea that America is just a vile, racist, and irredeemable country that needs to be torn down and remade. And now we are seeing the fruits of the Left's labor of hate.
And speaking of radical extremists, there is a rising generation of far- left Democrats taking over the congressional black caucus, really? Well, one of them is congressional candidate Cori Bush. She defeated the son of the CBC's cofounder, Rep. Lacy Clay, in last month's primary. And after her win, she had this message for her future colleagues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CORI BUSH, MISSOURI CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Yes, we have to expand the squad. We are bringing a different flavor, we're bringing our progressive values, and we're standing on what we believe, and we're bringing our experiences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Here to walk us through what all of that means in the upheaval that it will cause Candace Owens, founder of the Blexit Movement and author of Blackout.
Candace, how far will this drag people the CBC to the Left? The squad is getting a lot of people wins in this primary contest across America.
CANDACE OWENS, FOUNDER, BLEXIT MOVEMENT: Right. The civil war rages on and the far-leftists are winning. And look, it's a perfect bedtime story, a political bedtime story. First, they came from Donald Trump and the Republicans, and the Democrat Party leaders cheered. Then they came for our border patrol officers, ICE agents, and the Democratic Party leaders cheered, then they came for our Border Patrol, ICE agents, and the Democratic Party leaders cheered. Now they are turned around, the come for the police officers, Democrat Party leaders cheered.
And now, what's happening now? They're going for the Democrat Party leaders themselves, and they don't know what to do. And this is because they are realizing this is not the party of equality. This is actually the party of entitlement. These are kids that have lived through absolutely nothing but want absolutely everything, and they are ready to take it by any means necessary -- rioting, looting, burning things down, acting like toddlers. This is what happens when you infantilize an entire generation of young voters. And so in my opinion, they're reaping what they sell.
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Here's another future Congressional Black Caucus member, Congressional candidate Jamaal Bowman, laying out his agenda on MSNBC back in June.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMAAL BOWMAN, (D) NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: We need bold, urgent action, similar to the new deal that was implanted by FDR. We need a Green New Deal in this moment. Our democracy cannot be healthy and cannot thrive with this level of racism and economic inequality existing within all of America's institutions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Candace, Bowman says that Joe Biden is aligned with these views. Is he?
OWENS: Absolutely. Joe Biden is aligned with anything he has to say to get elected, even though if it's the exact opposite of what he said the day before. He'll align himself with these radicals in the same way that Nancy Pelosi falsely aligned herself with these radicals, like Chuck Schumer aligned himself with these radicals until they wake up one day and they realize these radicals don't want the moderates. We are watching a literal civil war happen amongst the Democrat Party, and they are not going to recognize this party by the end of this election. There are a bunch of refugees, political refugees that don't know what this party is and what it stands for. And let me tell you, I believe that in November, all of those people are going to be voting for Donald J. Trump.
INGRAHAM: And the corporate money, Candace, that has been pouring into Black Lives Matter, that's helping fund all of this.
OWENS: Where is the money going? Nobody can answer the question. When you donate to Black Lives Matter billions and billions of dollars, where does the money go? There is no campus, there is no school, there is no office, there's no corporate structure. How have they raised billions and not been forced to tell you where that money is going? It's remarkably suspicious. We have an idea of where it's going. We don't know why these people are able to protest from 9:00 to 5:00, seven days a week. Sounds like it's a full-time job to me, Laura.
INGRAHAM: We got to cut off the money, find out who is funding it and ending up in all of this destruction of the country. Candace, it is so great to see you tonight. Come back soon.
OWENS: Thanks, Laura.
INGRAHAM: And still ahead, why isn't the media telling the truth about what is going on with COVID in Europe? We're going to tell you.
And high school players and parents, I talked about this a little earlier tonight, are up in arms over blue states shutting down football. One of those players and his dad are here with me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you be prepared to shut this country down again?
JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives, because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, if the scientists say shut it down?
BIDEN: I would shut it down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: The idea that more lockdowns are the answer to COVID is a discredited fever dream. Case in point, the little reported news that the European Union has once again become the world's COVID hotspot. Yesterday, the E.U., plus the U.K., Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, reported 27,233 new cases, compared to just 26,015 in the U.S. And as you can see in the charts here, Europe's caseload is clearly climbing while ours is in decline.
Joining me now is Phil Kerpen, president of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. Phil, there is a couple of issues here, but the left held up Europe and its 90 lockdown as this paradigm of how it should be done. And then Biden went on to basically echo what Europe and promised lockdowns in the future. What would that do at this point to get control of COVID?
PHIL KERPEN, COMMITTEE TO UNLEASH PROSPERITY: It would have zero benefit in terms of controlling the spread of the disease, and it would be economically devastating yet again. And that should clearly be the lesson from Europe because everyone was saying a few weeks ago, look at how wonderful their hard lockdowns were. It was all worth it, even though they had mass devastation. And then you look and you say, well, no, the cases went right back up, anyway. It accomplished nothing for all that it cost.
INGRAHAM: But when you look at the Worldometer website, which is my go-to, the deaths in Europe, just like the debts in places like Arizona and Texas where they seem to have come close to herd immunity, if not already at herd immunity, they are very, very low compared to the peak. Every death is tragic, we mourn every loss of life. But that death and hospitalization rate, that's still the key metric, is it not?
KERPEN: It is, and that's really the good news about this second wave in Europe right now is it has much lower morbidity and mortality than we saw with the really bad wave in March and April. And that's certainly a huge, huge positive. And I think that is related to the fact that they are not in lockdown, that they're not in panic, that they don't have mass anxiety and disarray and people overflowing into hospitals with fear and anxiety, and maybe being put on ventilators when they shouldn't be or other mistakes being made. I think the president when he said you want to stay calm in a crisis and not panic, and it seems to me that we had the worst possibly response in both Europe and the U.S. when we were locking down and in disarray. And we're handling things much, much better now without that.
INGRAHAM: Barbara Ferrer, who is the L.A. County health director, was caught on tape at a conference call with nurses from various schools and other officials, when she was pressed about when schools could reopen, she says, oh, it is not conceivable until after the election. How is that a metric for determining when schools should open? What does that show us about all of this, Phil?
KERPEN: Laura, that is the most honest health official in America, because all of them are using this for politics. The school closures are -- they are extremely damaging to children. We are punishing and harming the people least at risk, at essentially, statistically zero risk from this disease there, at no greater risk in school than they would be at home, and they're at more risk from flu and more risk from car accidents. And yet we're punishing them. Why, other than to paralyze society and try to score political points. And the only difference between that health official and all of the other ones doing the same thing is she didn't know you are not supposed to say it.
INGRAHAM: Yes, Virginia, D.C., all these places, all these schools should be open five days a week. I think it's child abuse. I'm going to say it -- it's child abuse. Phil, thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
And as I mentioned in my "Angle," the left just doesn't want you to have any fun at all. The latest example, the decision by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference to cancel high school football this year despite a huge decline in new cases since May. In fact, only 89 new infections were reported in the entire state of Connecticut yesterday, and zero deaths.
Now, given these numbers, it's not surprising what happened next. High school players, coaches, and parents stormed the state capital -- it's about time -- to demand a football season.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Let us play! Let us play! Let us play! Let us play! Let us play! Let us play!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Joining me now is one of the players who kickstarted this entire movement, Josh Martinotti, senior at Lewis Mills High School, and his father, Greg Martinotti. Josh, there are those who will say football isn't essential, if there is any risk of any spread, it's too much risk, and you shouldn't go back on the field. What do you say to them?
JOSH MARTINOTTI, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR FOOTBALL PLAYER: Football is definitely essential to many players and all around the country. Football, it's bigger than a game. It helps you with your mental health. It's a good stress relief. It just means a lot more than just playing the game. It's really a brotherhood. And I just think you can't really take away something like that from a kid.
INGRAHAM: And Greg, we have breaking news tonight that the governor, perhaps, heard you all, and he's scheduling a meeting tomorrow with officials to reexamine when sports can open in the state. We hope that decision is in your favor. I used to play field hockey and softball and basketball in high school in Glastonbury, so I know how important sports are to young people. But what do you say to parents across the country who have been silent in the face of this lockdown of sports?
GREG MARTINOTTI, FATHER OF HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER: Just like anything else in today's world, you can't be silent. You've got to voice your opinion. Everyone has comments, concerns. Address it. Michigan addressed this about a month ago and they were able to get their state overturned and reinstate the game of football.
INGRAHAM: And josh, you're a senior. And I assume you want to go on to college, and how does this affect your and other players ability to perhaps play at the collegiate level, if you can't play football this fall?
J. MARTINOTTI: Well, my senior year would be a great year to get some added film to send out to colleges and help, hopefully. Obviously, our junior year is definitely the most important year in terms of that, and I already handled all my business in terms of that, but I was definitely looking to get some added film and help my chances playing college. And for all of the juniors at my school and all around the state, it's really tough for them, and they were looking to get their recruiting process started.
INGRAHAM: And everyone across the country -- I know, Greg, you know this, if you're the parent of a student athlete, that just requires so much dedication and resolve, and we should be encouraging more of that, not less of it. Greg, final thought?
G. MARTINOTTI: Absolutely. There's ways to mitigate it. Dr. Fauci even reported today, if there's case rates in green zones below less than five percent, kids should be back in school 100 percent, they should be back playing sports. Connecticut right now is less than one percent. All the students, all the athletes, they're masking up, they're practicing their social distancing. Football wears the most gear of all of the contact sports. Soccer, field hockey --
INGRAHAM: Well, gentlemen, there is a risk in football. There is a risk in any sports. There is risk in life. And I couldn't be more proud of you, Josh, for helping spearhead this effort in my old home state. And I hope everybody across the country is buoyed by what you did, and I hope for a good result from you. Go Lewis Mills, you guys take care.
G. MARTINOTTI: Thank you, Laura.
J. MARTINOTTI: Thank you.
INGRAHAM: And still ahead, a wounded army vet is demanding Democrats stop using his image to prop up their anti-Trump ads. He joins me in moments for an "Ingraham Angle" exclusive. You don't want to miss this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBY HENLINE, U.S. ARMY VETERAN: Stop using me for your propaganda, for your agenda. I don't know what Trump said, but I'm sure he didn't call me a loser. I didn't hear him call me a loser. Stop using my image.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: The man you just saw it Bobby Henline, an Iraq war vet, who did four tours of duty and is the lone survivor of an IED blast in 2007. You would think his admirable, his heroic service would earn him some respect from the left. But instead, they are using him as a pawn to try to hurt the president by pushing now a widely disputed and anonymously sourced story from "The Atlantic" that alleges the President Trump made disparaging marks about our fallen heroes.
Wounded war vet Bobby Henline joins me now exclusively. Bobby, what bothers you the most about all of this -- the Democrats using your image without your consent, or the fact they attacked the president with it?
BOBBY HENLINE, U.S. ARMY VETERAN: There is so much to this, without the consent, attacking the president with lies. It is just unnecessary. It's wrong in so many different ways. This is Mental Health Awareness month in September, and we talk about 22 veterans a day killing themselves. They did not know who that person was they used in that image. I saw their things, their comments. They didn't know who I was.
What if I was out having a depressed month, isolated because of COVID, my PTSD is kicking in, I'm drinking. I'm depressed about life. I'm looking on social media, and I see that the president called me a loser? How am I going to take that? I'm already in a depressed mood. They don't know what situation that veteran is in, and they just throw the picture out there like that, and they don't know how it's going to affect them. That could have been a veteran who just killed themselves last week. And here you just reminded the family about it, and you throw it out there, using it as a prop. There are so many things that could have gone wrong with this.
So, I'm glad they got my face out there. It's not something I wanted to do. I'm not a political person. I'm not a man of fancy words or anything. But it's wrong to do that type of thing, and we've got to get this stopped. And that is my main purpose, is you've got to look on there. People, if you see a post like that, and that person's name is not in the caption and they are not tagged on there, most likely they don't know about it. So please report it. Don't share that stuff.
INGRAHAM: And we are going to keep this -- I want people to continue to see you and the images of your tours and your heroism. But I have got to ask you, Tammy Duckworth, herself a wounded vet, a hero in her own right, responded to the bogus allegations against Trump. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): Apparently, I too am a loser and a sucker in Trump's book. But let me tell you, that's good company for me to be in, with men and women who laid down their lives to defend this great nation.
He doesn't understand honor and duty and loyalty because he himself has never displayed those types of actions himself in his own personal conduct. It is shameful that he is the commander in chief of this military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
INGRAHAM: Bobby, a lot of folks out there taking Tammy Duckworth's words as gospel.
HENLINE: No, don't. The sources are anonymous. Stop right there. Don't spread the lies anymore. If they were true, they would say, this is my face, this is me, this is what I heard him say. No one is coming out and saying that, even though General Kelly's assistant said it wasn't -- they were there. They said these words weren't said.
INGRAHAM: Bobby, Bobby, we are going to continue with you next week on the mental health awareness issue. Thank you so much for joining us tonight and thank you for your service.
HENLINE: Appreciate it, thank you. Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
INGRAHAM: Donald Trump gave supporters in Michigan tonight a rare glimpse of his soft side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: We love you! We love you! We love you!
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't say that, I'll start to cry, and that won't be good for my image. We don't want -- you don't want to see me cry.
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