-Fox News host
Brian Kilmeade said it's not the government's job
to protect people from COVID. Meanwhile, Donald Trump
and a former Fox News host, Bill O'Reilly,
were having trouble selling tickets
for an arena tour. For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look." ♪♪ As COVID cases surge once again thanks to lagging
vaccination rates and the highly contagious
delta variant, the Biden administration
is desperately trying to get as many people
vaccinated as possible. Some local governments,
like Los Angeles County, are also reimposing
indoor mask mandates to curb the surge in cases. And now the latest COVID news
has created some tension on the set of "Fox & Friends." This morning, Steve Doocy
strongly urged viewers to get vaccinated
while Brian Kilmeade insisted it's not the government's job
to protect people. -But listen.
If you didn't get a vaccination, that's your choice. And if you did like I did and and they did
and maybe you did, then you should not wear a mask,
and if you didn't -- If you want to go cliff diving
this weekend, you don't have to check with me. It seems a little dangerous,
but I'm not going to judge you. And if you go ahead
and put yourself in danger, if you feel as though
this is not something for you, don't do it,
but don't affect my life. -99% of the people
who are dying from COVID are unvaccinated. -That's their choice.
-They don't want to die. So they are -- The administration
and the government is saying we need the mask mandate
to protect the unvaccinated. -That is not --
That's not their job! It's not their job
to protect anybody. -Yeah, if the government
was supposed to protect you, they'd have a department for it, like the Department of Defense
or something. By the way,
that is the most animated I've ever seen Brian Kilmeade. Usually he just sits there
like that teddy bear they always find in the wreckage
after a house fire just sitting there shell-shocked with his unblinking
black button eyes. Also, to address
your cliff-diving analogy, unlike COVID,
cliff-diving isn't contagious. And if it was contagious,
I would never leave the house because I'm scared
of catching COVID, but I would be terrified
of catching cliff-diving. I mean, I can't even imagine
being in a Starbucks and some thrill junkie
behind me sneezes, and the next thing I know,
I'm in a flying squirrel wingsuit in Brazil
while some guy named Lalo fastens a GoPro to my head
and tells me, "You're about to finally live!" And my wife calls and says, "What are you doing?!
You hate heights! You got dizzy when you filmed
the show in our attic!" And all I can do is scream
back with tears in my eyes, "I don't know
what's happening to me!" Also, yes, it's everyone's
choice to get vaccinated, but you're in
a position of influence. At the very minimum,
you have a moral responsibility to give people
accurate information about life-saving vaccines,
and you also have an opportunity to tell people
they can protect themselves and their loved ones
and their communities by getting vaccinated.
Why wouldn't you take it? If there was a deadly rash
of Sharknados plaguing the country,
would you tell people they're dangerous
and to stay away? Or would you say,
"Look, go ahead and fight the Sharknado with
your bare hands if you want. I'm not going to tell you
what to do." There's been a lot of attention,
rightly, on the role social-media
platforms like Facebook have played in amplifying
anti-vax misinformation. But while we're talking
about Facebook, let's not lose sight of the fact
that Rupert Murdoch, who got vaccinated
in December of last year, currently pays people to lie and
fearmonger about the vaccines on a daily basis for ratings. If you watch Fox News,
you probably think Joe Biden is going to send an army
of Antifa super soldiers to your house to strap you down, inject you with the vaccine,
and steal your hamburgers. In the case of Facebook,
one of the main problems is that Facebook is just
too big and too powerful. It's designed
to spread misinformation. That's the core
of the business model. It should be broken up,
which progressives like Bernie Sanders
and Elizabeth Warren have already called for. No private company should be
that big and powerful, especially one where your
grandma can accidentally post her Google searches
as Facebook updates. Why did she write the words
"lawn bowling shoes size 9"? Amid all of this,
it's worth noting that these people
wield outsized influence compared to their
actual popularity. Trump and his movement
have never commanded majority support
in elections or polls. A vivid explanation
of that came last week when Politico reported
that Trump is having trouble selling advance tickets
for his upcoming speaking tour with conservative pundit
Bill O'Reilly. So far, the pace of purchases
has been slow compared to other acts,
arena officials say. In Orlando, where the duo
is hosting an event at the 20,000-capacity
Amway Center on December 12th, a box-office employee
for the arena said, "There's still
a lot of tickets open." The person added,
"We have concerts that are doing
a lot better than this." I'm sure they do.
First of all, it's in Orlando. There's a wealth of theme parks. Why go to a Trump/O'Reilly
history tour when you can learn more
about US history at the Hall of Presidents
or even Space Mountain? Hell, even SeaWorld
would probably be a better use of your time. Either way, you're
gonna be in a splash zone. Who the hell wants to go see
a so-called history tour with a disgraced
former cable-news host and a man who was just
quoted as having said, "I think it would be hard if George Washington
came back from the dead and he chose Abraham Lincoln
as his vice president. I think it would have been
very hard for them to beat me." [As Trump] Now, of course,
that all goes out the window if they're riding a T-Rex. If Washington and Lincoln are on the same ticket
riding a T-Rex, I'm worried about my chances. [Normal voice]
A history tour with Trump is like the opposite
of a Ken Burns documentary. Let's remember Trump thought Frederick Douglass
was still alive and thought the Civil War
happened for no reason, saying -- and this
is his exact quote -- "People don't ask that question,
but why was there a Civil War?" Yeah, why don't people
ask that question more? For years, people have just
shrugged off the Civil War. I remember when
we got to it in history class and my teacher said, "The Civil
War was, like, so random." [ Laughter ] Now, apparently,
that report touched a nerve because, in response,
O'Reilly threatened to sue the Politico reporter. O'Reilly
said it was bull [bleep] that ticket sales for Atlanta
have been lackluster. But when asked how many tickets
have been sold at the venue, he said he didn't know. "I don't have that
information," he said. "I do grosses.
I'm not the ticket counter." O'Reilly threatened
to sue the reporter, saying, "You put one word in there
that's not true, I'll sue your ass off,
and you can quote me on that." It's nice to know O'Reilly
hasn't chilled out even a little bit,
given all that time to relax after
you were [bleep] canned. I guess part of me thought
when you get forced out and publicly disgraced
the way O'Reilly did, you might take up yoga
or meditation, although even if he did, he'd
probably still do it angrily. "Now, let's move
into child's pose and everyone say your mantra.
Bill, do you have a mantra yet?" -[Bleep] thing sucks! [ Laughter ] "Maybe you should try Pilates.
You have a Pilates energy." Also, I just want to say I hope O'Reilly
doesn't threaten to sue us because we cannot afford it. We can't even afford
a MC Hammer sample. All our money goes to pay Wally
for his extra lines. -Hey! That's not true!
I'll sue your ass off! And you can quote me on that!
-All right. Geez. Now, we should say
the shows are in December, so they have plenty of time and could very well
end up selling out. Who knows? But so far,
it's not going great. The website Mediaite
pulled up the seating map for the Orlando show. Let's just say there were
still a lot of seats left as of Friday morning.
Yikes! We have more people
in our audience, and we don't have an audience. Trump and O'Reilly
would have a bigger crowd if they did their history tour on the Coney Island-bound
F train. But it makes sense
that ticket sales are slow because even the people
who go see Trump don't want a history lecture. They want him to get up on stage
and say crazy [bleep] about celebrities
he met in 1982. [As Trump] "Steve Guttenberg.
Met him at Studio 54. Nice guy. Hated my guts.
'Police Academy.' Remember the guy
who made the sounds? Whoosh. Beep, beep. Zing. It was like the chain saw
was in the room. Lawn mowers?
Couldn't he do lawn mowers? You bet he could. We love the funny sounds,
don't we, folks?" So, people aren't flocking
en masse to Trump's arena tour,
at least not yet. In fact,
Americans are reporting that they're generally happier
and more hopeful now that Trump is no longer a constant presence
in their lives. New CBS poll has found that six months into President
Biden's administration, Americans are less apprehensive
about the year than they were
at the start of it, with 64% saying
the US handling of the pandemic is going well,
compared to just 35% at the end of Trump's term. I guess it's not surprising that
people are less apprehensive now than they were during
Trump's presidency, given that waking up
every morning and looking at your phone
in the Trump era was like opening a shower
curtain in a horror movie or a metal cupboard
in the galley of an abandoned spacecraft
in a science-fiction movie. "Well, I'm on
a floating spacecraft with no signs of life. I might just see if they have
any dehydrated milk left. And I'm dead!" Now, obviously, there are
still major crises swirling. COVID cases have risen
in all 50 states, doubling in recent weeks,
as the highly contagious delta variant becomes dominant
and vaccination rates lag. And yet with all that going on, the GOP remains fully enthralled
to a disgraced former president who oversaw a cataclysmic
response to the pandemic and never once achieved
majority support. In fact, they're still
deeply committed to the cult of personality
of Trumpism, as this Fox interview
with Lindsey Graham on Saturday shows. -You know, there's a lot
going on in America today, and I understand that you played
golf with President Trump and had dinner with him
over the last few days. And I know also that
Congressman Kevin McCarthy joined him for a meal or two.
What's going on? What's happening
with the president? -Well, his golf game
is just incredible. He's busting his driver and knocking the pins down
with his iron and putting like a wild man.
I mean, I'm not joking. I've never seen him
play this well. But the president's
worried about our country. -Oh, is he?
Sounds real concerned. [As Graham] "Donald's
playing 36 holes a day. He walks the whole course, carries everyone's clubs
on his back, hits 600-foot drives,
putts from the tee, and hit a ball so hard,
he killed a whole flock of geese and the ball still went
straight into the hole. But Donald's also real concerned
about this dental variant or whatever it's called." I mean, do you guys
not have any shame at all? I know you have to constantly slather praise on Trump
on television so he'll see it and
you'll stay in his good graces, but have a little self-respect. [As Pirro] "I understand
you saw the president at a make-your-own-sundae bar put something together
that looked restaurant quality!" [As Graham]
"Oh, it's true, Jeanine. I think a lot of us, when
faced with the wealth of options at a sundae bar,
get overwhelmed. We tend to forget that
not all flavors go together. We can make the mistake
of putting on too much hot fudge or too much caramel sauce,
but the president, well, you could have
photographed his sundae for the Friendly's menu. It was that good. Cherry balanced right on top." Polls have consistently
shown the majority of Americans are relieved to have
moved on from the Trump era and have no desire to go back. There's a huge
temperamental difference between Trump and Biden, and voters clearly appreciate
the change of pace, given that Biden's
approval ratings have consistently been much
higher than Trump's ever were. Even the people who voted for
Trump didn't really like him. They talked about him
in the way sports-radio hosts talk about the type of manager
they want for the Yankees. "Boone's a nice guy, but we need
a [bleep] to get in there and kick some butt! All right.
Let's take some calls! Cigarette-smoking cockroach,
you're on WFAN!" [Gravelly voice] "Hey, Mad Dog.
First time, long time. What's up with his Mets bullpen?
We need some fresh arms. Is John Franco available?
I'll hang up and listen." [ Laughter ] The Biden era's, of course,
a stark change from the Trump years, a change
most voters approve of. For one thing, we no longer have to bear the collective
national indignity of watching the president
whine and moan and throw red-faced
temper tantrums while standing
next to world leaders who are so befuddled
and embarrassed, they all do that thing
where they turn and glance at the camera like
the exasperated dad on a sitcom. Remember when Trump shook Shinzo
Abe's hand for 19 seconds, and by the end,
Abe looked like he'd just eaten an extra-spicy wing
on "Hot Ones"? Speaking of "Hot Ones,"
now that Eric Adams is likely to be our new mayor,
can his first act be to change the pronunciation
of New York City to the way Elizabeth Olsen
said it after eating 10 spicy wings? -New York Cit-ay. -If there was a show
where Elizabeth Olsen ate spicy foods and sassily
said the name of cities, that would be my favorite show. The Trump/world leaders dynamic
was perhaps most notable with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel. Whenever she did a press
conference with Trump, she'd look directly
at the camera like she was doing a couch
testimonial on "Modern Family." [As Merkel]
"Well, he got so excited to play golf with his friends,
he forgot my birthday again. And he forgot to fix the step!" And Trump would inevitably
make it weird by trying to drag her into
whatever his latest mass was, like the time he claimed
for some reason that they fire people quickly
in Germany. -When somebody treats
our veterans badly, we can fire them so fast, almost as fast as they
fire people in Germany. We'll get rid of them. And I will tell you,
we're getting choice. We're putting choice in
very, very strongly. -My sense was that, in Germany, like in most
Northern European countries, it's not easy to get fired. That's why so few people
in the hospitality business over there
are, you know, hospitable. That and the fact
that you asked for a side of barbecue sauce
with your crepe. And why are you
pulling her into this? Trump's like a stand-up who tries to get
the audience involved. "Women love to shop.
Am I right? This lady knows what
I'm talking about. Right, ma'am? You love to shop.
Don't you, ma'am? Could you maybe take
that phone call later, ma'am? I'm trying to do crowd work.
What's that? You're calling to get a refund? A refund for what?
These tickets?" Now, let's compare
Trump's meeting with Merkel to the one Joe Biden had
at the White House, the last trip
Merkel will make to DC before leaving office. -Chancellor Merkel
has been here frequently
over the past 16 years. Matter of fact, she knows
the Oval Office as well as I do. But on a personal note,
I must tell you, I'll miss seeing you
at our summits. I truly will. -Mr. President, dear Joe,
thank you for the invitation. Thank you for making it
possible to talk to you. It's my first visit since 2019. And I'm so much -- so happy about
the personal exchange. We have seen again today that we're not only partners
and allies, but we're very close friends. -Wow. We're one
Diane Keaton appearance away from an early 2000's
Nancy Meyers movie. All that was missing
was two big ol' wine glasses. Normally when two people
that age discuss a long personal history,
they're "On Golden Pond" or, as it was titled in Germany, "Auf dem Schimmernden
Stillgewasser der aus Erinnerungen besteht." Yet, we're in the midst
of yet another wave of surging COVID cases,
and we desperately need everyone's help to convince
as many Americans as possible to get a vaccination,
and yet Trump and his loyalists and the GOP and on FOX
remain more committed to lying and fearmongering
and advancing their own petty political goals, despite the fact
that a majority of voters say they're happy to have
moved on from the Trump era. Asking us to go back to that
is like saying... -Do you want to go cliff diving? -This has been "A Closer Look." ♪♪ God's Love We Deliver
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