This is a rush transcript from “The Ingraham Angle,” January 28, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: I’m Laura Ingraham, and this is The Ingraham Angle from Washington tonight. Now, one year and the Democrats coast-to- coast already don’t want to appear at any campaign events with Biden. So, what’s going on here and speaking of the president, he has become the master of distraction. Raymond Arroyo has all the details in Friday Follies.

But first, the streets of New York City turned blue today as New York’s finest turned out in massive numbers to honor one of its brothers. 22-year- old Officer Jason Rivera, who was murdered in a Harlem ambush just one week ago. His partner 27-year-old Wilbert Mora was also shot, and he died three days later.

Now, Rivera’s funeral brought thousands and thousands to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where his young widow addressed the mourners and they all seem to feel a combination of grief and anger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINQUE LUZURIAGA, WIDOW OF SLAIN NYPD OFFICER JASON RIVERA: I couldn’t believe you left me. Seeing you in a hospital bed wrapped up in sheets now hearing you when I was talking to you, broke me. Today, I’m still in this nightmare that I wish I never had. Full of rage and anger, hurt and sad, torn. Although I gained thousands of blue brothers and sisters, I’m the loneliest without you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Oh my gosh, it’s just heart-breaking. And then toward the end of her remarks came in absolutely stinging indictment of the city’s new Far Left District Attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUZURIAGA: The system continues to fail us. We are not safe anymore. Not even the members of the service. I know you were tired of these laws, especially the ones from the new DA. I hope he’s watching you speak through me right now. We promise that your death won’t be in vain. I love you to the end of time. We’ll take the watch from here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Joining me now is New York City Councilman Joe Borelli. Joe, it’s good to see you tonight. But this was just – I mean, there have been so many heartbreaks in New York over the past couple of years. But those words from Officer Rivera’s widow, were just, it was almost too much to take.

JOE BORELLI (R) NYC COUNCILMAN: It’s difficult to even hear them now hours later and not bring a tear to anyone’s eye. But I hope America does hear what she have to say. Because that is a real New Yorker. That is what real New Yorkers believe. And this powerful woman gave us a window into her kitchen table conversations with her husband, a New York City Police Department, a person of color, a person who lived in Manhattan his whole life. And they were scared about those bail reform laws. They were scared about the laws and the prosecution policies of our DA Alvin Bragg.

And unfortunately, everyone but the Albany legislature and people stuck in the bubble of the state capital just have to realize that these things need to be changed. They cannot go on in perpetuity.

INGRAHAM: Oh, the DA Bragg responded to those words from Rivera’s widow. In a statement this afternoon, Joe saying that his office is going to vigorously prosecute cases of violence against police officers. But doesn’t he realize that the permissive policies, this social justice leaning policies that he’s advocated help contribute to this attitude of, I can do anything to a police officer and get away with it.

BORELLI: Well, this is why his statement is garbage. If this perp didn’t shoot and kill those police officers, he probably would have dropped some of the charges against this guy. If he was charged with only a gun. That’s the type of prosecutor Alvin Bragg is. Just ask Alvin Bragg, he’s the one who’s telling us, he’s not going to charge people with gun crimes and fully prosecute them according to the law. So, it’s just lip service from people like him. And unfortunately, that has real world consequences. Every single police action whether it’s a domestic violence response like this, or a traffic stop has the potential of going south.

And if police officers are not going to be protected by the law, if the prosecutors are going to go after the people, then we have to reconsider whether it’s even worth the risk of sending cops in the first place. And it’s unfortunate that we’re having this conversation in the wake of the death of two of our finest people.

INGRAHAM: No, it’s open season on law-abiding New Yorkers and the men and women in blue. But here’s what the most vocal critic of law enforcement in the entire city is doing. She’s grappling with all of this at this moment, the New York Times notes that Councilwoman Christian Richardson Jordan, 35, has equated the policing system with slavery and emphasize her deep compassion for not only the fallen officers, but also for the man who the police said killed them.

The greatest way to honor the loss of life on all sides. loss of life due to gun violence, she said is to try to turn all of this into more funding for community programs and so forth. She’s still for taking money away from the officers and the law enforcement itself.

BORELLI: She’s a complete disgrace. And kudos to some of my Democratic colleagues who’ve chimed in on her as well. I mean, she’s someone who represents this neighborhood. Officer Rivera lived in this neighborhood. He’s from Northern Manhattan. He’s one of her constituents just like everyone else. And to mention his name, to mention the name of Wilbert Mora in the same sentence, almost equivocating it with the man who killed him is a new low for some people that I thought couldn’t possibly go lower. And yet here we are. People like this have no place in office. I’m happy to disagree with people all the time. And there’s some decent people I disagree with. This person is not one of them.

INGRAHAM: No, Joe, thank you for being here tonight. And of course, these brazen attacks against police aren’t isolated to this deadly ambush in New York City. In Houston last night, three police officers were shot by a man with a very long rap sheet. Now this occurred just days after Houston constable was killed. It was essentially execution style by Oscar Rosales, an El Salvador national who’s here illegally and wanted for murdered in his own country.

So, how did he get into the country? How did this happen? And how many other violent felons are slipping across our border in this wonderful era of Joe Biden? Here now as a man as groups dedicated to finding that out, Stephen Miller, President of America First Legal, former Trump senior adviser. Stephen, along with Texas, you’ve just filed a lawsuit about the resettlement of illegals that’s taking place across the country. But Texas obviously isn’t spared from any of this. A lot of them do stay in Texas.

STEPHEN MILLER, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, so we are proud to partner with the great Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas, and seven other courageous state AGs filing a lawsuit against Biden’s newest program to accelerate illegal immigration into the country. What Biden is proposing and in fact, implementing right now is allowing the illegal aliens already here, to bring in their foreign relatives to join them in the United States, fully approved by the United States Department of State. This is chain migration for illegal aliens. And you’re going to see as a result of this, more crime, more death, more devastation, more suffering, all purposeful, all intentional.

This administration, when it comes to the border, it’s not just allowing the border crisis to happen. It is creating it, it is perpetuating it, it is expanding it for the sole reason that their objective is as much illegal immigration as possible.

INGRAHAM: Well, when you see the carnage that’s left behind in the wake of an open border, and we obviously talk about the drug cartels, we talk about the increases in violence, horrific violence, death, I mean, the Left always says, oh, you’re being anti-immigrant, you’re racist. You just don’t like immigrants. No, no, no, we love our people. Stephen, we love the people of this country. We want them to be safe. They don’t deserve this. That’s the point. And that’s the point we have to make time and again, to all these people and to voters who could change this dynamic.

MILLER: Well, I mean, this is an attack on all American citizens, including, of course, millions of Hispanic American citizens, who disproportionately by the way, serve our nation in uniform as Border Patrol agents and ICE officers, Hispanic American citizens volunteer in droves, to defend our borders and to enforce our immigration laws and to remove illegal aliens, and who’s stopping them from doing that? Joe Biden. So, in every sense, in every sense, Joe Biden is waging war on citizens, including Hispanic American citizens.

I don’t care where you come from if you’re a part of our national family. If you are a U.S. citizen living here, as part of our community today, illegal immigration is an attack on you and your family. And that’s why my group, America First Legal, Ken Paxton and others are suing this administration in court, because Joe Biden has violated his oath of office. He has violated the constitution, and he has repeatedly violated the laws of the United States. And sadly, there is a trail of blood to show the consequences.

INGRAHAM: This is an impeachable, a series of criminal acts. I mean, I’m sorry, but I think this is a criminal conspiracy to undermine U.S. immigration law. And I think it’s undermining our sovereignty. Stephen, 2 million people at least have come into this country illegally and probably a lot more. But we wish you the best of luck and this lawsuit.

MILLER: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: Thank you for joining us tonight. And as the country is being torn apart, Biden is already looking toward the midterms. There’s just one problem, one year into this presidency, his own party is shunning him. So, when Biden visited Pennsylvania earlier today, two of the three leading state Democrats, Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who’s a leading Senate candidate and State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, likely Dem nominee for the governorship kept him at arm’s length. This isn’t unique though to Pennsylvania.

Earlier this month, Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, she’s a leading candidate for governor, she skipped a chance to appear with Biden at that big voting rights event. And she was discussing her signature issue. They were discussing a signet signature issue there and she still didn’t show up.

And last week, Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke said he didn’t need or want Biden anywhere near his Texas gubernatorial campaign. Steny Hoyer, the number three Democrat was pressed on this earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With Biden’s poll numbers dragging since then, do you think your front liners should be running as Biden Democrats?

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD): I want every Democrat to run as Democrats who deliver and point to the record.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: OK. Joining me now Lisa Boothe, host of The Truth of Lisa Boothe and a Fox News Contributor. Lisa, I guess the question now is who exactly is Joe Biden’s constituency if none of these people want to campaign with him?

LISA BOOTHE, THE TRUTH WITH LISA BOOTHE HOST: Yes, I mean, look, he’s really this man with on an island by himself, right? He’s burned all his bridges. And because – the reason why – look, this is a guy who campaigned as a moderate. He tried to project the fact he’s a moderate. But he’s alienated those moderates by pushing a progressive agenda. I mean, he’s really been one of the most progressive Left-wing presidents we’ve ever seen in history.

But then he’s also lost those progressives because he’s failed to deliver on promises, and his agenda, things like build back better, as well. As you know, the voting rights which is really just to try to keep Democrats in perpetuity. So, he’s just burning bridges left and right. And then the more unpopular he gets, the less sway he has to try to get anything done. And this limited window before the midterm election. So, he’s really governed moronically and shot himself in the foot and now everyone’s basically giving him the stiff arm trying to keep him away from because he’s completely toxic.

INGRAHAM: Well, another House Dem exiting the party, it looks like. House Democrats exit list grows to 29, Lisa, as Congressman Jim Cooper of Tennessee announced his retirement this week. I mean, they’re dropping like flies in the Democrat party. You don’t have to run anywhere. They’re just dropping out themselves.

BOOTHE: Laura, you know politics. This number is insane. 29 Democrats at this point, we have months to go before November. I mean, to put this in context, this is way more than we saw in the 2010 election, I think there was only 17 in total. Republicans picked up 63 seats in the House, that midterm election. It’s also tied with the record set in the 1994 Republican revolution, Republicans picked up 54 seats in the House.

And then again, Laura, we’ve got months to go until November. So what Democrats are saying, it’s not worth it, right. It’s not worth it to seek re-election, or they’re trying to look at another seat that they can run for that might be, a little bit better for them. But we’re at a crisis point, or Democrats are at a crisis point. I mean, it’s a tsunami coming.

INGRAHAM: Well, James Carville, who knows a thing or two about elections, has a warning for Democrats against lurching too far to the Left, a little late for that, saying 6 percent of adults in this country identify as progressive only 11 percent or 12 percent of the Democrats identify as progressive. So, someone like Manchin is closer to the mainstream than a lot of these people think and pretending like he isn’t won’t help the cause.

So, Lisa, this sliver of Far-Left activists who have an outsized influence in the Democrat party. I mean, they got Stephen Breyer to retire and announced it earlier than he wanted to. That’s how much influence they have in the party.

BOOTHE: Well, they have enormous amount of influence, but what Biden has really done is blown himself up by just governing so moronically, I mean, look, this is a guy where he’s been acting like he has some sort of mandate when they barely have a majority in the House and they’re 50-50 in the Senate, so he doesn’t have the numbers to try to get these big progressive policies done. And so, what he’s done is, he alienated independence, he’s alienated moderates and now he has no sway with them. I mean, do you think Kyrsten Sinema or Joe Manchin care what Joe Biden has to say, Absolutely not. He’s toxic into their state.

So, he’s really created this scenario where he has no friends left, and he has no power. And they have months to try to right the ship and I just don’t see it happening. And I think that’s – I think that’s why they’ve really been trying to push or nationalize the elections, not because they have the numbers to do it, but they’re teeing up the midterms as being illegitimate.

INGRAHAM: Oh, yes, they’re doing that. They got George Soros just announced 125 million to a new Super PAC to help pro-democracy candidate, this is laughable. Lisa, good to see you tonight. Thank you so much.

And even as the media and medical establishment fess up about masking kids, the COVID fanatics running our schools are bullying parents and students into submission. Will they succeed? We’ll explain it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Now, recently, have you noticed this some in the regime media, they’ve been desperately trying to move Democrats off their COVID mandate agenda? What’s obvious, I think that they see some potential political fallout, they want to avoid. So, first in the Washington Post, then the Atlantic, and finally the New York Times, Michelle Goldberg. Well, she finally relented, saying let kids take their masks off after the Omicron surge. Otherwise, I fear that, at least in very liberal areas, school masking will persist indefinitely.

But the COVID bullies running school districts well, they’re not listening. For instance, Montgomery County, Maryland just announced the return of virtual learning and the creation of pods. If you want to do pods, you can. Parents can have their kids in these little subgroups. But parents want their kids in class and a neighboring Prince George’s County kids mask mandates. Well, they’re not going away. Michelle Goldberg right here, the school CEO saying, I don’t think that off ramp will exist. I think this is how our life will be for a while. That means forever, by the way.

So, our question tonight, where the heck is Republican governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan. Joining me now is Bethany Mandel, Montgomery County resident and editor at Ricochet, Bethany, liberals are beginning to kind of put up the white flag here. They’re saying the political fallout and some are saying to fall out with their own children. But why is Larry Hogan who supposedly a middle of the road Republican allowing Far Left county executives to destroy kids’ education two years into this?

BETHANY MANDEL, MONTGOMERY COUNTY MOTHER: I’ve been wondering that for a long time, I have been screaming for Larry Hogan to step in on any number of issues in this county. This county has gone so far to the Left while the state has sort of veered back on the on the ramp of normalcy. And Larry Hogan wants to be president. And I think what a lot of people loved – I know, right? What I think a lot of people loved about Trump and love about DeSantis and now Youngkin is they fight, they see injustice and they fight for what’s right.

And Larry Hogan is just you know, he’s another one of these Republicans that cares more about being liked and cares more about being nice and personable and getting on the Sunday shows than actually doing his job.

INGRAHAM: Well, The Washington Post is reporting the cases, if you care about case counts are plummeting in DC and in Montgomery County, but instead of having a set of metrics that would automatically trigger the lifting of mask mandates, the Montgomery County council pledged to meet weekly as the Board of Health to assess the necessity of the regulation.

Bethany, I said this two years ago, almost now, they will never give you an objective metric, because they want to hold on to this as long as they can.

MANDEL: Yes, they love it. They are so power hungry, and they’re so drunk on it. I have a weekly standing date where I just go on Zoom and I yell at the Montgomery County Council, and they grow now when they see my face. They just like slump in their seats, and they look at their cell phones and I yell at them about that too. But they finally admitted that they think that the masks in public places, not in schools, they will absolutely not have a conversation about schools, but they think that masks in like Target could come off at the end of February maybe.

But they keep on changing the metrics. And so, they decided that when 85 percent of the county was vaccinated, then that’s when we could get the masks off. And then when we got too close, it just it wasn’t sorry, we’re just not safe enough and they’re constantly changing goalposts and metrics is what the Montgomery County Council is best at.

INGRAHAM: Bethany, the teachers don’t want to go back to school. These county execs want to sit in their Fuzzy Slippers at home on Zoom, never leave their house as long as you know they have their weekly or monthly pay check. They don’t care. This is the way – that’s the way it’s going to go. Bethany maybe not yell at them, but maybe just participate and get lots of women, lots of other friends–

MANDEL: We are.

INGRAHAM: To participate with you. So, mama bears got to unite. resist this stuff. Keep fighting. Bethany, thank you. And a sign of a true bully is that when someone finally stands up to him or her, they try to inflict more pain. The Left’s COVID tactics are no different, case and point. Now after the small rural Alsea school district in Western Oregon voted to defy the state’s universal mask mandate, the Oregon Department of Education retaliated by denying them federal COVID relief funds.

Joining me now is Mark Thielman, Superintendent of the Alsea School District and candidate for governor. Mark, now they’re taking money away for COVID relief that you could use to keep the school clean and disinfected and so forth. What?

MARK THIELMAN, ALSEA SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT: Well, Laura, first of all, it’s an honor to be here. And I would like all the viewers to know, it’s a true irony of the progressive Left that they’ve stepped in to freeze federal funding to a tiny little school district in rural Oregon as a state agency. There is no boundaries for our leaders here in Oregon. We are at the new war, or cultural war front. Here, Oregon is the next Virginia and somebody’s got to step out and stand in the breach. So, my school board said, enough is enough. We had one – we had a local hospital announced that paper and cloth masks are no longer allowed in the hospital because of their low efficacy, it’s slowing Omicron that pretty much did it because we have students, middle school and high school and they all have these things called cell phones. And they got a news alert that said, these masks don’t work.

And man, it was rough keeping kids in masks after that. And how do we argue with good science? If our medical people are saying they don’t work, why are we still wearing?

INGRAHAM: Well Mark, they want them all to wear n95 respirators or hn95, I mean this is not about the mask, it’s about, you’re going to listen to them and your town, your district is more conservative obviously than the coastal parts of the state. But I have to highlight something, an interesting point made in your school districts’ regulation for the mask mandate.

The Alsea School District has successfully remained open during the 2020- 2021 school year without a single case of COVID trace of the classroom as the source. So, you guys have done a fantastic job. But the state doesn’t like you, and they want you to hurt. They care so much about kids.

THIELMAN: And I’m sorry, let me just say it this way. So, we worked with our state legislators to get what was called a small rural exception so that we could stay open at the beginning of the pandemic. And we decided to stay open K through 12 instead of the K through 3 like the state was recommending. And we looked at all the science, we made great decisions, we made good – we used good judgment. And we showed the state of Oregon that schools to be open during COVID safely and the full weight of the government came down on my hand. And I did not roll over because I have a duty to serve our parents and our students in Alsea.

We had students committing suicide, we had students disconnected. We had drug epidemics going on in the state. And for me, and my community and my school board, I was having none of it. And we were the ones that pushed back on the governor. And she was forced through a long series of back and forth–

INGRAHAM: So, they’re retaliating, we get we get the picture, they were retaliating against you, you guys were like South Dakota in your state, like you did the same thing that South Dakota and Nebraska did. You didn’t shut down. Hey Mark, we congratulate you. And thank you for not even correcting me when I mispronounced Alsea. Thank you very much.

All right. Biden has a new distraction tactic and Minnie Mouse; she gets to make over Raymond Arroyo has it. Friday Follies next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEVIN CORKE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to FOX News live. I’m Kevin Corke.

Millions of Americans are bracing for a massive nor’easter that’s barreling towards the east coast from Virginia to Maine. National Weather Service issuing blizzard warnings for at least eight states. The governors of Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland all declaring states of emergency. Thousands of flights have already been canceled. Up to two feet of snow and up to 75 mile-per-hour winds are expected in parts of New England.

Utah Senator Mitt Romney has tested positive for COVID-19. The 74-year-old Republican is asymptomatic. Both he and his wife, who tested negative, had been vaccinated and boosted. This now makes 67 members of Congress to test positive for COVID-19 since mid-July amid a surge of cases fueled by the Omicron variant. He will isolate and work remotely in the meantime.

That’s going to do it for this update. I’m Kevin Corke. Now back to more INGRAHAM ANGLE.

INGRAHAM: Of course, it’s Friday, and that means it’s time for Friday Follies. And for that we turn to FOX News contributor Raymond Arroyo. Raymond, there was a lot of personal Biden news coming out of the White House this week.

RAYMOND ARROYO, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Laura. The White House staged several of these events which we’ll get to shortly. But it’s moments like this that help explain the White House strategy. This is from that Build Back Better event with CEO in tonight’s Freestyling Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Joe, where are you? Come here.

(MUSIC)

BIDEN: When I went to Dearborn driving, you know, I was up there. I don’t know, man. I think the press thought I was crazy. I enjoyed it so much going up in your new E.V. factory, and that hummer.

A real breakthrough began last year when Mary — excuse me, Mary — I said it again. And Jim, Jim Farley (ph).

OK, I’m looking for a job, Mary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARROYO: You can see why. After that display, Laura, these executives were probably hoping not for a Build Back Better, but for a Biden yack better initiative. It’s moment like that that erode public confidence in the president. And frankly, that’s what’s destroying his poll numbers. To combat all of this, the White House has launched what I call operation distraction, which kicked off in Georgetown. We were watching this together.

INGRAHAM: Yes. You know how those eldercare facilities gather the residents into vans. It’s very nice. It’s usually a weekly outing, maybe to the grocery or to the mall go. Joe Biden had an outing to Georgetown the other day. He visited a shop. He bought some ice cream.

ARROYO: Yes. Curiously, that ice cream, Laura, that he’s waving around, that’s Jeni’s. That’s the same boutique brand that Speaker Pelosi keeps in her freezer. I thought that was an interesting parallel. But this presidential outing was supposed to underscore the success of his COVID relief for businesses. The only problem is Biden is the only one actually getting out in D.C. Open Table, the reservation service, reveals that D.C. reservations are down 59 percent from two years ago, and other blue cities experienced similar double-digit drops.

INGRAHAM: My gosh, 48 percent.

ARROYO: Terrible.

INGRAHAM: Manhattan, 64. But don’t you notice this, though, Raymond, so many of our iconic restaurants, they got all this money to try to save them, but then they all went down the tubes anyway. So many of them are just gone.

ARROYO: They closed up. It’s terrible.

INGRAHAM: Never coming back.

But don’t worry about small businesses or inflation, Raymond. None of that matters. Cue operation distraction part two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are rumors that the first family was considering adopting a cat.

JILL BIDEN, U.S. FIRST LADY: Yes, that is true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that true? Can you confirm that?

JILL BIDEN: Yes, he’s waiting in the wings — she. She is waiting in the wings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was this your idea, Mr. President?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, but it’s easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

ARROYO: Today the White House announced, Laura, that the new cat Willow has moved into the executive residence. I got hope Willow has more longevity than Biden’s dog Major, remember that thing, and that Willow doesn’t start clawing at the White House staff or the Secret Service, God bless her.

INGRAHAM: I’m still trying to unpack Biden’s, remember, he got out of the shower, then he tripped on the dog, and then the cat. You know there will be a cat drama because that’s just going to happen.

ARROYO: Without a doubt.

INGRAHAM: But I want to move on from the cat to a very famous mouse, Minnie the Mouse, Minnie Mouse, is getting a makeover? No, no, no. They’re exchanging her polka dot dress with a Hillary Clinton style, Kamala Harris pants suit, OK. Raymond, what is it?

ARROYO: This story is getting totally blown out of proportion, Laura. Minnie is not becoming a mousy Hillary Clinton or Angela Merkel. They are just giving her a new costume for the 30th anniversary of Disneyland Paris. It was designed by Stella McCartney. Let’s face it, this is a cheap attempt for Disney to push a licensing deal with Stella McCartney on the rest of the world. Minnie is only going to be wearing this outfit for a month. But they’re always putting these characters in different seasonal outfits, so it’s no big deal. And it’s Disneyland Paris. Let’s not lose sleep over this one.

INGRAHAM: I thought when you first told me about this, you said something, there was a wardrobe transition. I thought it was another transition for Minnie. I was like, that’s really off the —

ARROYO: No, no, just a month-long costume change. She’ll be back to the polka dots soon.

INGRAHAM: OK.

ARROYO: Finally, Laura, the National Portrait Gallery has announced their Portrait of a Nation honorees for 2022. Each will have a portrait hung in the National Gallery. Now, according to the gallery’s director, the honorees were chosen for their efforts to address social justice, health and wellness, economic inequality, equity and inclusion. They include Dr. Anthony Fauci —

INGRAHAM: Naturally.

ARROYO: Restauranteur Jose Andres, and sportswoman Serena Williams. We await the Laura Ingraham edition to the portrait gallery.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: that will be a long way. Raymond, are they all going to have masks on in the portraits? Because that’s only appropriate. You and I know Jose Andres a little bit. He is a colorful character. He does a lot of good things for a lot of people.

ARROYO: He does.

INGRAHAM: But I think they should all wear masks. It shouldn’t just be Fauci. Is that actually the portrait? Is that the portrait?

ARROYO: No. These are our renderings. They haven’t been released yet.

(LAUGHTER)

INGRAHAM: Or maybe, Raymond, we could offer our own renderings of each of the characters. Let’s make this real equity because we’re not painters, but we identify as painters. So let’s — we can submit.

ARROYO: We have until next November, so we will get working on that right now.

INGRAHAM: All right, Raymond, thank you. Have a great weekend.

ARROYO: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: Now the left attempts to ban an American classic. And one University of Chicago professor goes to battle against the racial arsonists at his college. The details in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this country, our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1960. Of course, it remains one of the most important American literary works of the 20th century. Oprah Winfrey once declared it our national novel.

So why is today’s left hellbent on banning it from schools? A Seattle area school board just voted to remove the novel from its ninth-grade curriculum. The school board spokeswoman saying that the students who shared their experiences and thoughts with the board were especially compelling, and their reasoning that there are other novels that can teach similar literary conventions and themes without causing further harm to students.

Joining me now, Cynthia Garrett, education activists, found of the Cynthia Garrett Ministries, author of “I Choose Victory.” Cynthia, this is really – – the word “iconic” is overused in modern language. It becomes trite. But this truly is an iconic novel. And it won the British literary, in 2006 the British declared it as one of the most important novels of our time. Race relations, gender roles, all of it tackled in this book. What is going on here?

CYNTHIA GARRETT, EDUCATION ACTIVIST: Laura, and if you know Harper Lee and her heart for writing this book, and her father who was an attorney who the Atticus Finch character is loosely based on, you would understand that this is laughable, laughable. These were not horrible people. These were people who were invested in what happened in the sought. We have all been invested in our past. We have all gotten through it together.

And I guess I just have to say that ignorance is not bliss. And education, Laura, in my opinion is the 21st century civil rights struggle for African Americans, and it is about time that we really woke up and got on the right side of this struggle and realize that what the Democrats are doing is really trying to disguise this love and protection of us from feeling awkward and uncomfortable by basically erasing our past.

INGRAHAM: What does that say about the struggles of those who truly suffered in the civil rights movement, for students to proclaim their damaged from reading the book. They’re being told they’re damaged, are they not? They’re being propagandized to.

GARRETT: Yes, they are. And I’ve got to tell you, Laura, I don’t know if you remember “Roots” by Alex Haley.

INGRAHAM: Yes.

GARRETT: I was in high school when “Roots” came out, and let me tell you something. We were all shocked. We were all uncomfortable. It was awkward for blacks and for whites, I remember. And I also remember looking at some of my white friends and having such compassion for them because they were mortified.

And so I find this sort of namby-pamby, mollycoddling of these kids to be something that is actually, in my opinion, it comes from teachers who, they are not smart. Laura, listen, I don’t know if I was every talked about this, but I was sexually abused as a little girl. There are a lot of days I want to erase a large part of my childhood because of what happened to me, but I can’t. And now there are a lot of days where I wouldn’t even want too because those events, while they were horrible and difficult, they helped shape the power and the strength that I walk in today. They taught me to choose victory, and they taught me to take responsibility for the fact that I’ve got to get me through those awkward moments. And if we didn’t —

INGRAHAM: They don’t want anyone — incredibly powerful, Cynthia. They don’t want individual responsibility. They want the government to be the mother, father, the caretaker. That is a road to absolutely loser-dom and dependence. Cynthia, great to see you tonight.

After the death of George Floyd, the University of Chicago started to consider funding an entirely new department that was dedicated just to Critical Race Theory. But the university was so cowed that they thought this didn’t even go far enough. So they put forth and even more insidious idea, the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity.

My next guest, a professor at the school, has been one of the few brave enough to stand up against this, saying in a speech to the school’s council, “It promotes privileges, interpretations of history, modernity, contemporary social institutions, and events external to the university that are predicated on an ideology as much as a subject matter.” That’s a mouthful.

Joining me now is Dorian Abbot, an associate professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago. Professor, explain that little paragraph that I just read.

DORIAN ABBOT, UCHICAGO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR: My argument is that a department shouldn’t be oriented around this. And so just to give you a sense, I think studying race is a valid and useful thing to do, but I would want to see the department in addition to some scholars using and teaching and CRT, there was also a retrospective on Thomas Sowell’s work. They would invite speakers like Glenn Loury and Tom McWhorter. And they would consider hiring someone like Wilfred Reilly. And so there would be a range of opinions. I would consider that a nonideological sort of department, and that would be the ideal way to study race at a university like the University of Chicago.

INGRAHAM: Professor, I want to remind our viewers that you have been the target of mob outrage over being outspoken on these issues. MIT canceled a lecture you were supposed to give back in October on climate science because of your opposition to the diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda, is that correct?

ABBOT: It was a lecture on which exoplanets might be able to have life on them based on their climate. And you are correct.

INGRAHAM: The didn’t think that was valid because of your view so DEI?

ABBOT: Yes. Everybody at MIT is not guilty for this. There were some people in leadership who I think made a bad decision. And there are many excellent scientists at MIT who aren’t responsible for that. But ultimately the issue was I object to certain aspects of DEI, and that made me a notorious thought criminal.

INGRAHAM: University of Chicago, I have so many friends that went to that law school there and went undergrad there. It’s such an amazing academic institution with such a rich history. What the heck is happening. What happened to the free exchange of ideas, Professor?

ABBOT: I think many of us there are still fighting for the free exchange of ideas. We have a group called U Chicago Free with 30 or 40 members from parts of the ideological political spectrum who are trying to defend the Chicago principles in the Kalven Report and the idea that the institution should remain politically neutral, and that everyone should be able to express their opinions on anything, even if it offends someone else.

INGRAHAM: Professor, we’ll be following this. Thank you so much.

ABBOT: Thank you.

INGRAHAM: Up next, the governor of West Virginia delivers a cheeky message to one of our least favorite celebrity snobs. The Last Bite explains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

INGRAHAM: Last month, singer, actress, and unrepentant liberal Bette Midler described West Virginia as poor, illiterate, and strung out. Isn’t she nice? Last night, the state’s Governor Jim Justice, delivered the perfect response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JIM JUSTICE, (R) WEST VIRGINIA: Absolutely too many people doubted us. They never believed in West Virginia. They never believed in West Virginia. So from that standpoint, baby dog tells Bette Midler and all those out there, kiss her hiney.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

INGRAHAM: I’m sorry, but that was funnier than pretty much anything Bette Midler has done. She used to be a funny standup, crude, but funny standup comedian. But, well, that was appropriate.

Everybody, have a wonderful weekend. Spend time with your family and friends. Cherish what you love about this country and all of our blessings. Remember, your USA made Freedom Matters gear is on the website LauraIngraham.com. Proceeds for this month donated to the Center for American Liberty, founded by are great friend doing amazing work, Harmeet Dhillon.

My favorite — they don’t want me to wear this because it messes up my hair, I guess, but my cozy Freedom Matters hoodie. See it. I get all the compliments on this. So, get this on the website. All for a good cause.

Remember, it’s America now and forever. Greg Gutfeld is next.

END

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