PERINO: Democrats apparently running out of Republicans to attack so they’re turning on each other. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been battling back and forth with Nancy Pelosi. And now, AOC is suggesting that Pelosi’s criticism of her and other freshman Dems is racist. AOC is saying the persistent singling out — it got to a point where it was just outright disrespectful, the explicit singling out of newly elected women of color. Despite that smear, Pelosi isn’t backing down but neither is AOC.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Singling out four individuals. And knowing the medium we’re operating in, knowing the amount of death threats that we get, knowing the amount of concentration of attention, I think it’s just — it’s just worth asking why.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think she has racial animus? Is she racist?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. Absolutely not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PERINO: Of course not, Greg. She just said that they didn’t really mean it.
GUTFELD: I really wish — I know that Juan might disagree with me. But I want the best for the Democrats, I really do because I think that every party — I do — every party benefits from a strong competitor, right? And they always get better. I know you don’t believe me. I don’t want this to happen. I don’t want them to eat themselves alive.
But in woke culture, it’s not about cooperating or uniting. It’s about delineating. I’m not a person like you. I am X,Y, and Z. Color, orientation, gender, disability, all of this becomes — you know, this intersectionality game of who’s better. Who’s more oppressed? And to win, you have to label everyone else intolerant, so what you’re left with is the tiniest party.
And it’s a movement — this whole thing is based on narcissism, right? Who can be the most woke and get the most attention? And it’s at the expense of your allies. So, AOC insults — it’s no question, when you said that she was — she was targeting women of color, she was saying she was being a racist. So —
PERINO: But then she said that she’s not. So what about — what about that, Juan, in terms of — you know, she pushes on Nancy Pelosi and then she pulls back. Well, Nancy Pelosi is trying to deal with her member management problem.
JUAN WILLIAMS, HOST: Well, I think this is bigger than Nancy Pelosi. But let me just say, I think she’s very clear this is actually not a claim that Nancy Pelosi was racist. And, boy, was there blowback from Nancy Pelosi’s caucus in terms of blacks and Latinos saying this is crazy. Look at how diverse this caucus is, and that’s because of Nancy Pelosi.
And there was blowback in terms of some of the comments made about moderates, especially southern Democratic moderates, Dana. And some of those Southern Democratic moderates, guess what? They’re black. And they said, wait a minute, what are you talking about, right?
So I think she’s getting blowback within the caucus. But I think that part of this is that, you know, people are reluctant — we’re reluctant to talk about generational divides in our country. We like to talk about race, you know. We can talk about —
GUTFELD: I think that’s the opposite.
WILLIAMS: No, I think —
GUTFELD: We love talking about generations. We hate race.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: By the way, they went after Mayor Pete, too. They went after Mayor Pete.
WILLIAMS: No, hang on, hang on. Let me finish this point. They don’t — I think we as a country do not say, hey, you know what, there’s a huge generational divide in the country, and a huge generational divide among Democrats, with the younger part of the country right now. It’s mostly Democratic, heavily diverse in terms of race, immigrants, and the like. And the older part of the Democratic Party is more — I think it’s diverse but —
GUTFELD: But they love Bernie. The young ones love Bernie.
WILLIAMS: Correct. What is that point?
GUTFELD: My point is, generational — I mean, you’ve got the younger progressives are flocking to Bernie, not to Mayor Pete. So it’s not generational is what I’m saying. Let me explain it again.
WILLIAMS: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAMS: I think the younger people might, in fact, like a Bernie, or like the more progressive politics and the like. But they are really angry that the older folks, as they see it, don’t respond to the bullying, to the punching that comes from President Trump. They say, hey, how come you guys don’t fight like President Trump. And why don’t you punch back? The older crowd is saying, hey, I know how to count votes on the House floor.
PERINO: Right.
PERINO: I know how to win elections. All you guys do is talk about clicks on twitter.
PERINO: Yeah, she talks about — Nancy Pelosi called them the squad.
JESSE WATTERS, HOST: The squad. That elevates them by giving them a nickname. So I don’t know if that was the best technique. Juan, the older Democrats tried to stage a coup against the president. I think they’ve been fighting the president pretty damn hard the last two years. But I also strongly disagree with Greg. I want to see the Democratic Party destroy itself. I want to see eat itself alive.
They’ve uncorked this bottle — this virus, this identity politics virus, and now it’s eating them. And now they’re upset about it. Oh, really? You guys are upset because the last five years, anytime you criticize Barack Obama, racist. You criticize Omar, oh, Islamophobic. You criticize the captain of the U.S. soccer team, sexist and homophobic. So, you know what? The chickens have come home to roost, to quote the pastor of Barack Obama.
And it’s sad because the only time you play the race card and the gender card is because you don’t have any cards left to play. And that’s what you said right here when you cited this Democratic lawmaker. She sounds like a Republican. She — William Lacy Clay, excuse me, male Democrat from Missouri. What a weak argument talking about AOC because you can’t get your way. And because you’re getting pushed back you resort to using the race card? That’s unbelievable to me.
So that’s what Republicans have been saying for so long that it’s a weak response when you can’t persuade to make an argument. And I will say lastly, they haven’t been singled out. They singled themselves out. They were the only four people to vote, while 240 others voted the other way. And they’ve all been lightning rods since they got in. They’re always getting all the attention. Nancy hasn’t singled themselves, they’ve done it to themselves.
PERINO: Can I make a point? I’m going to make a point. So, the squad only has four votes right now, but they don’t need that many more votes in order to cause Nancy Pelosi real headaches. It would take about 18 votes for them to not be able to pass things. So, if people get increasingly frustrated with the establishment. That could happen.
EMILY COMPAGNO, HOST: And that’s why I think it’s important for somehow there to be a balance of energy. And to me this entire thing is like — you know when you go out to dinner with another couple and they get into an argument in front of you. They’re bickering. It’s just — it’s too achy. It makes everyone uncomfortable. And to me —
GUTFELD: I enjoy that.
WATTERS: I enjoy it, too.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
COMPAGNO: Like, do it at home. Because, to me, it’s like a sorority squabble. And more than generational, it’s a maturity difference, too. I agree the squad singled themselves out. It’s like they showed up on the first day wearing the same t-shirt and now are aghast at the thought —
PERINO: What was it? On Wednesdays we wear pink?
COMPAGNO: Totally. And so — but I think, importantly, moving forward, that Pelosi has to prove to her centrist district that AOC and the squad are not setting the agenda. And then also, however, she needs to harness that energy like I said in the beginning because otherwise she can lose the speakership if the Democrats do hold the House or maintain the House moving forward.
So somehow they have to figure it out. But to me it’s better done behind closed doors, strategically, rather than playing out like a reality show.
