‘The Five’ on California cities – Fox News

This is a rush transcript of "The Five" on February 9, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino along with Judge Jeanine Pirro, Geraldo Rivera, Jesse Watters, and Greg Gutfeld.

PERINO: It's five o'clock in New York City, and this is THE FIVE.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIVEK MURTHY, U.S SURGEON GENERAL: I'm deeply concerned as a parent, and as a doctor, that the obstacles of this generation of young people face are unprecedented and uniquely hard to navigate. And the impact that's having on their mental health is devastating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO (on camera): The Biden administration admitting mandates are hurting America's school kids, but it is still refusing a full return to normal. That dire warning from the surgeon general about children's mental health not swaying the White House and some Democrats to unmask kids.

New York the latest state to end an indoor mask mandate for businesses but not for schools. And while Dr. Fauci says we are almost passed the, quote, "full-blown" stage of the pandemic, the CDC director is not ready to move on from masks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: We've always said that these decisions are going to have to be made at the local level, and that policies at the local level will look at local cases.

At this time we continue to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial transmission. That's much of the country right now in public indoor things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO (on camera): And even though blue states are ditching mask mandates and the media is getting on board, the White House is not ready to budge either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: People are tired of masks. I would say not even if you look at the polling, though. There's also a huge chunk of people who still want masks. When you are in a high transmission area which is everywhere in the country, you should wear a mask in indoor settings, including schools.

There are states who have rolled back their mask guidelines, that have given more flexibility to communities. They're different. It's not uniform whatever state has done. And certainly, we continue to advise and recommend abiding by public health guidelines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO (on camera): They are not giving her a lot to work with, Jesse.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: Dana, I've never been this confused about what's going on. I had to write this all down because even I couldn't remember it. So, Democrat governors have full statewide mask mandates, and other Democrat governors just have mandates in schools, and other Democrat governors are lifting mask mandates in schools. And the White House agrees with all of that, but if a Republican governor does not, then that they don't agree with. All right. So, we have that.

Now this is where it gets really complicated. So, what specifically does the White House support? Well, the White House says they are listening to the CDC. Well, what does the CDC say? The CDC says they still support masks, yet masks hurt children.

And then they ask well, who should the American people listen to, the CDC or the governors? And the CDC says listen to the governors. OK? It gets better. And then you ask the White House well, White House, what if the governor says no mask but the CDC recommends mask, what should the people do? And the White House says listen to the CDC and also listen to the governor.

They can't understand what they are doing themselves. They say they are following the science and the science is changing so the Democrats are changing with the science, but Republicans didn't follow the science but got to the science before the Democrats?

PERINO: Yes.

WATTERS: So, it looks like the Republicans were right the whole time.

PERINO: I can see why you are confused.

WATTERS: Yes. It's very complicated.

JEANINE PIRRO, FOX NEWS HOST: Yes.

PERINO: I want to ask Greg about this. Because Sean Patrick Maloney is a Democrat in charge of trying to reelect House Democrats. And he basically had this tweet here. Democrats' plan to fight COVID is working. Cases are down and vaccines are widely available. Now it's time to give people their lives back. With science as our guide, we are ready to start getting back to normal.

GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS CO-HOST: You know, I said this yesterday that they're trying to look like they are leading the parade rather than chasing it. Because it's the people that are chase -- when he says we're going to - - it's time to give people back their lives, no. The people actually are taking it back.

WATTERS: Right.

GUTFELD: You can't give it to them. I mean, this is a bona fide public moment where the American public knew that the government wasn't going to give up -- give up anything because they're too scared. So, the public had to exert their will, and it's all over the world.

Now you are seeing it in every country. And it's amazing. This is true democracy. People are voting with their feet and with their faces, because they knew that -- they saw how the government work. The Democrats always love to ask in any kind of issue what about the children? What about the children? When it's climate change, what about the children? Nutrition, what about the children. But not here. And the reason is it's guilt by association.

Who's with the children? The rubes, the domestic terrorists, the white supremacists, the other people. Right? So, you can't be on the same side as them even if they are correct. So, this is what happens when you smear entire groups, with like one bad apple you see a confederate flag, you go, they're all racist.

So, right now, they are being stubborn, they would rather just look like idiots and be triple vaxxed, you know, double masked, wear a plastic face guard -- which I call the Pelosi, rather than just actually live a free life the way everyone else is.

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: I like it.

GUTFELD: However, I want to make a point. It's absolutely necessary and helpful to change your mind based on data. Right? There's nothing wrong with that, there's nothing wrong with being late, but you should think of the possibility for that before you mock the dude who got there before you. When you make --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: When you call them Neanderthals.

GUTFELD: Yes. When you call them Neanderthals or just idiots or whatever, and then you change your mind. If you think there's a possibility, you're going to change your mind, maybe hold off on mocking the guy who was brave enough to go first, because he was. He was brave enough to go enough and you're all now following him.

PERINO: And you know what else the Democrats are following, Geraldo? It's the changing political signs. They got information that said that the American people were way passed it, that they understood what Omicron -- it was not as deadly, but that it's better to be vaccinated, so you don't go to the hospital. Now cases are dropping and people are moving on and all of a sudden, the Democrats are like, yes, me too.

RIVERA: Well, I think that Greg, for all his eloquence, which way too political a spin on it. I understand the politics, but your point, Dana, is the working point, that's the active point. Omicron killed COVID. Everybody got COVID.

PERINO: Yes.

RIVERA: Everybody who was vaccinated, it was like this, is that all there is?

PERINO: Yes.

RIVERA: And then now, suddenly, with people with the herd immunity spreading, and everybody now having tasted the poison and lived. Now, they want out. Everybody wanted out from the get-go.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: They had to be forced, Geraldo. That's not a political point. That's a real point. The government had to be forced to do this, or else they'd still be clinging to this like some of the -- the White House is still clinging.

RIVERA: But I think why make that political? Why not say Omicron --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I'm not making it political. I'm telling you what I think.

RIVERA: Omicron happened. Omicron changed the field?

GUTFELD: Yes.

RIVERA: Omicron changed the whole reality.

(CROSSTALK)

PIRRO: Well then why is the CDC saying you still need to wear a mask if Omicron --

RIVERA: Because everybody is trying to spin --

PIRRO: No, because it is political, Geraldo. It is absolutely political. When Youngkin was elected, it was ground zero for parents and children. Everyone said this guy is the villain. So, when New Jersey Governor Murphy says no masks for kids, he is a hero, but Youngkin was a villain. OK?

This is the left recognizing that this is an election year. It's 2022. They are going to lose like crazy in November. John Hopkins came out and they said look, the closures, the lockdowns, the masks made virtually no difference in our society. So, let's get this over with.

And when the CDC comes out and they said, well, Rochelle Walensky says, quote, "we've always said the decision should be made at the local level."

WATTERS: She does.

PIRRO: This woman doesn't have the backbone to say what she thinks!

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: It's about Omicron --

PERINO: Can I ask you something, judge? Given that the surgeon general testified today about the very dangers for children and mental health, would parents have some sort of a collective action --

PIRRO: No.

PERINO: -- against them for not taking the masks off?

PIRRO: No, the only collective action they have is at the voting booth. You know, the damage, --

RIVERA: I agree.

PIRRO: -- and I have said this before, history will not look kindly upon us for what we have done to our children. For these teachers to not be masked and for the kids to have to be masked when the kids are the least vulnerable and the most susceptible to the psychological/emotional damage is a crime. It should be actionable, but realistically it's not.

RIVERA: I have to make one last statistical point. If you had Omicron and you -- and got well, because everyone got well but just about who -- if you are vaccinated, double vaccinated and boosted and you got Omicron that was a nonevent in your life, other than an inconvenience, and maybe you couldn't compete in the Olympics. That's what changed. A year ago --

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: In your life!

RIVERA: A year ago -- a year ago, no one knew where this was going.

GUTFELD: I did.

RIVERA: They were just trying. Give them the benefit of the doubt. They were just trying to make the best of a horrible situation.

PERINO: Well, and we have vaccines.

PIRRO: The benefit of the doubt when they wouldn't even tell us where it came from or that they were funding --

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: They didn't know!

PIRRO: -- gain of function. They were funding gain of function when we were trying to figure it out when China wouldn't help us out. Look, this has been political --

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: We'll see what history says about that, I don't know.

GUTFELD: Here's the deal.

PIRRO: I know.

GUTFELD: Dana?

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: Which one of you is going to nominate me for the Nobel Prize? Because who said on this show, February 1st was going to start.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: I mailed it -- I mailed it yesterday.

GUTFELD: And look at this. It is -- it has unfolded like a glorious production, a giant dream!

PIRRO: Like who knows?

GUTFELD: I don't even think I belong on television anymore.

RIVERA: We're already given you the MVP over Tom Brady from your high school.

PERINO: All right.

RIVERA: Enough.

PERINO: Up next, a squad member claims defunding the police is not the problem, even during a crime wave.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS (on camera): It's defund forever for the radical left as President Biden and other Democrats desperately try to get away from the movement that is political kryptonite. Squad member Cori Bush, whose own car got riddled with bullets during the crime wave is refusing to stop using the slogan ahead of the midterms, saying quote. "Defund the police is not the problem. We dangled the carrot in front of people's faces and said we could get it done, and that Democrats deliver, when we haven't totally delivered."

Meantime, the liberal crime free for all continues. Who needs to worry about Biden inflation, when you can just steal to your heart's content? The New York Post capturing this guy nabbing 10 steaks from the Trader Joe's.

I don't know, judge, if my ride got riddled with bullets, I might think twice about defunding the police.

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'The Five' on California cities - Fox News