The Great America Show - BIDEN $5T BBB FADES; DOCTORS SAY NO MASKS FOR KIDS

00:00:00.000 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Great America podcast with Lou Dobbs,

00:00:04.200 always in the fight for truth, justice, and yes, our American way of life.

00:00:09.220 And now here he is, the Peabody award-winning voice of truth, the great Lou Dobbs.

00:00:14.580 Welcome to the Great America show. Here we fight for truth, justice, and the American way.

00:00:19.860 And I thank you for sharing part of your day with us here. This new year is already upon us,

00:00:25.280 and there's no doubt our country is in, how can I put this delicately, a mess. A president who

00:00:31.460 clearly has no idea what he's doing to the nation, forcing open our borders as if he and the radical

00:00:37.540 dims were in some grotesque alignment with the Mexican drug cartels to propel their smuggling 0.96

00:00:43.500 operations on the southern border, to boost trafficking of sex, illegal immigrants, and

00:00:49.960 deadly drugs. Everything from marijuana, meth, heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl, without our border

00:00:56.480 patrol permitted to secure the border, they have a wide open border. The DEA, it seems, just waves as

00:01:05.160 the tsunami of lethal drugs pour across the border from Mexico. And don't doubt for even a single

00:01:12.080 second that the cartels have corrupted not just Mexico, but both sides of that border. All the

00:01:19.620 while, the Biden administration is seemingly trying to bankrupt the nation. Biden's Build Back Better

00:01:26.240 plan, a silly name for a silly enterprise for what would be the most expensive government program in

00:01:32.760 history. The president lied about its cost, but that's not unusual, is it? It was, he said, a massive

00:01:40.560 $1.75 trillion. But the truth is even worse. Estimates rise as high as $4.6 trillion. And for what?

00:01:49.260 A disaster for the nation. A nation that, if that bill were passed in the Senate, would mean this

00:01:55.400 country would be on its way to being a debtor nation in perpetuity. As things stand, Democratic

00:02:01.340 Senator Joe Manchin is standing strong in his opposition to the Biden monstrosity, and he's being

00:02:08.160 hailed as a hero for doing so. And no argument from me, but don't forget, there are other players in

00:02:16.020 this enterprise. And don't forget about the 50 Republican senators who opposed the bill and the

00:02:22.820 importance of their unity and principle in voting down Biden's Build Back Better bill. One of those

00:02:30.540 senators is Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. He serves on some of the Senate's most important

00:02:35.660 committees, the Budget, Foreign Relations, Commerce Committees. He's a great American. And Senator,

00:02:40.940 welcome to the Great America Show. Hello, Lou. Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you, Senator.

00:02:47.840 And I want to turn first to Joe Manchin standing against this bill. What is your judgment about

00:02:55.620 what will happen? Well, first of all, I'm very grateful that he is honoring his promise to, you know,

00:03:04.040 not vote for something that would spark inflation, to make sure that he maintains Senate rules so that

00:03:10.000 we have the filibuster, so we don't have a mere majority running roughshod over the rest of the

00:03:17.200 Senate. So I truly appreciate that. Sounds like he's going to hold firm, partly because of the bad

00:03:23.860 behavior of Democrats. I mean, if you wanted to bring somebody along, if you want to convince them

00:03:28.740 to join you, you wouldn't treat somebody as shabbily as Democrats have treated both Joe Manchin and

00:03:34.180 Kyrsten Sinema, it sort of boggles your imagination. I guess Democrats have such arrogance that they

00:03:41.660 think, you know, with the mainstream media in their back pocket, they can pretty well roll over anybody.

00:03:45.760 But we all ought to be very appreciative of the fact that Joe Manchin was not willing to be rolled

00:03:52.060 over by the Democrats. Yeah, I am very impressed. I've covered the senator for some decades now.

00:03:59.480 And I have to say, it's wonderful that he is the courage and the principle to stand up. He has done

00:04:11.100 the nation a great service, so long as he follows through on his declaration to stop it. It does,

00:04:19.760 though, Senator, cause me some worry when I think about all of the rhinos in your party, 0.91

00:04:24.760 who have betrayed the Republicans before, and in my judgment, also the nation. The name Romney

00:04:31.580 comes leaping to mind, as you might guess. Your thoughts about the unity of the Republicans and

00:04:37.920 whether they will have the guts and principle to stand against this monster of a bill?

00:04:44.920 Well, I don't have any doubt that, you know, we're going to remain unified against this massive,

00:04:51.400 about a $5 trillion spending bill. It also increased taxes by a couple trillion dollars. So we're very

00:04:58.220 unified on that. I think we're also unified against nationalizing federal elections and really

00:05:03.660 turning this into a permanent one-party controlled nation. So no, there's a fair amount of

00:05:11.680 unanimity between the Republicans on that front. You know, I always do caution people to be careful

00:05:19.080 about wishing for bipartisanship because, you know, one thing that you do see in bipartisanship

00:05:24.620 is that there's a lot of bipartisan big spending. And so, you know, there are some of my colleagues that

00:05:33.040 are a little bit more willing to engage with Democrats and also deficit spend, but not in this instance

00:05:39.880 right here. So I think you can really be confident in the fact that we're going to stay strong and be

00:05:45.260 opposed to build back better or build back bust and certainly opposed to tax increases. I mean,

00:05:50.280 we're the ones that passed the 2017 tax reform that made our tax system more competitive, combined with

00:05:57.980 a lower regulatory burden, really created the strongest economy in human history prior to the

00:06:05.320 Chinese virus getting in the COVID recession. So we actually were responsible working with President 0.89

00:06:13.400 Trump to usher in that great economy. I think we all learned from that and we support our own

00:06:19.180 policies and we wouldn't want to backtrack on that at all. Well, that is, I have to tell you that I am

00:06:25.960 reassured. I know the audience is reassured by your confidence in Manchin standing his ground and the

00:06:33.680 unity of the Republicans on at least this issue. You mentioned the China virus.

00:06:41.340 It's extraordinary, unprecedented impact. Well, I shouldn't say unprecedented because 1918 comes to

00:06:49.520 mind very quickly, but all but unprecedented plague on the country. We seem to be at this moment on the

00:06:58.260 cusp of perhaps an end to the pandemic. At this point, that's wishful thinking. I think at least on my

00:07:05.480 part, we have less pragmatic evidence to suggest it, but it is a milder form, this Omicron variant.

00:07:14.500 Your thoughts about first, where we are right now in this pandemic and Joe Biden, President Biden's

00:07:22.320 most recent comment that he doesn't see a federal role in this crisis suddenly.

00:07:27.540 Well, let me start by saying I've always felt there was a federal solution here and it's called

00:07:34.640 early treatment. Have our federal health agencies robustly explore and research and then

00:07:40.660 basically approve early treatment with cheap, generic repurposed drugs. And there's literally

00:07:47.560 a cornucopia of them. You know, I'm connected to the global network of doctors that are courageously

00:07:53.440 and compassionately treating patients successfully with these drugs, but our agencies have turned a

00:07:58.100 complete blind's eye toward it. So I completely disagree that the federal government doesn't

00:08:02.820 have a vital role to play. Unfortunately, the role they've played is they've not only ignored

00:08:07.580 early treatment, they sabotaged it totally in favor of vaccines. And by the way, you know,

00:08:11.880 Lou, I would never downplay the severity of COVID. Hundreds of thousands of people died.

00:08:17.340 Hundreds of thousands of people died that probably didn't have to, wanting, you know,

00:08:21.500 for the want of early treatment, but I was a big supporter of Operation Warp Speed and I'm the

00:08:25.860 champion of Right to Try. Right. But I think you have to look back at our response to COVID and just

00:08:32.560 sadly admit it's been a miserable failure. Well over 800,000 people now have died from COVID.

00:08:40.680 To this day, the NIH guideline for when you're diagnosed with COVID is basically do nothing.

00:08:47.640 Tylenol. I mean, they added monoclonal antibodies, try and get them.

00:08:51.500 Now the federal government's taking control over those things. So we still just send people home

00:08:55.500 afraid, scared, isolate yourself and hope you don't get so sick that we admit you to the hospital

00:09:01.780 where we don't do a whole lot more for you. This has been insane. It's been a tragedy. The freedom

00:09:07.320 Americans lose when they go to the hospital, that they can't see loved ones. Even though they're

00:09:12.980 begging for some of these cheap generic drugs and there literally is a cornucopia of them

00:09:17.840 available, hospitals won't administer them. So this has been a travesty and America has to wake up.

00:09:25.920 We can never let this happen again. I think our regulatory agents, our agencies are captured by

00:09:31.300 big pharma. There's so much about our response to COVID that makes no sense whatsoever. The fact that

00:09:37.880 we haven't recognized the power of natural immunity once you've had COVID, the fact that we completely

00:09:43.380 ignore the vaccine injuries. Now I have to sadly report, we surpassed over a million adverse events

00:09:52.300 reported on the VAERS system, the vaccine adverse event reporting system and over 21,000 deaths. Now

00:09:57.940 I realize the VAERS system does not prove causation, but when you have over 6,000 of those, 30% of the

00:10:05.860 21,000 deaths occur on day zero, one or two, it's certainly something I'm concerned about. I can't

00:10:12.500 imagine why CDC, FDA, NIH is not really looking into those deaths, into those adverse events and taking

00:10:20.480 them seriously. They just seem to be blowing it off. Can I hazard just one man's opinion here on why that

00:10:27.660 is? Uh, I believe that the leadership of the NIH, the CDC is tired. They're bureaucrats. They're not

00:10:35.780 doctors. They're public health officials. They're not providers or caregivers. Uh, and it really shows

00:10:42.380 up. Uh, I've talked to, uh, at least one doctor who said, uh, that, uh, she's tried to follow the party

00:10:50.120 line on the CDC and their recommendations and their guidelines. But this most recent decision in cutting

00:10:56.860 in half the quarantine time without, without requesting testing, uh, she said that broke her.

00:11:06.200 She's no longer on the party line, uh, because they make no sense. They have failed the American people.

00:11:12.240 And you have been very, uh, critical of Dr. Fauci. Here's a man who has stood atop the public health

00:11:19.140 apparatus, as well as the virology and infectious diseases quarter of our, our medical, uh,

00:11:25.740 community, uh, in the government. And my God, he's made mistake after mistake, reverse position

00:11:32.960 after position, and has done anything but inform the body of public knowledge. We don't learn anything

00:11:40.840 from him. Uh, and he seems to first set his own hair afire before he goes on camera on a predictable

00:11:47.520 Sunday show. Well, I have no idea why anybody would listen to Anthony Fauci at this point in time.

00:11:56.500 Um, he lacks from my standpoint, all credibility. Uh, he lost that credibility very early in the

00:12:02.200 vaccine. I was on a Senate conference call with him and this one, he was proposing these shutdowns,

00:12:07.080 which I was very opposed to. Uh, and I asked him, well, Dr. Fauci, are you taking into account the

00:12:12.940 human toll, the economic devastation you're recommending? And he, he just blew off the

00:12:17.680 question. Ah, Senator, it's not my department. Uh, you know, economic teams got to worry about

00:12:21.220 that. No, as a doctor, you have to treat the whole patient. Yeah. But the fact that he is just so

00:12:28.320 singularly focused on a vaccine, uh, not only ignored, but in many cases, our agencies have,

00:12:34.180 have sabotaged early treatment and these repurposed drugs. Uh, it's, it's been a total travesty,

00:12:40.280 but let's face it. He covered up his involvement in the funding of very dangerous research, whether

00:12:46.300 it's gain of function or not. I mean, they played that definition. It was very dangerous

00:12:49.940 research and they shared it with the Chinese. You know, they, they, they have to know that

00:12:55.760 anything you share with the top scientists in China is going to be shared with the top

00:13:01.060 military leaders as well. So, you know, I don't know exactly. Nobody's been able to prove,

00:13:07.080 you know, exactly what is the origin of the Corona virus, but I can certainly say it was stupid

00:13:13.380 to share that dangerous research with them. And so this is the same guy now that's been pretty well

00:13:19.820 put in charge of our response. And again, our response has been a miserable failure. There's

00:13:24.840 no way you can look at this and say, it's a success with that many deaths, trillions of dollars

00:13:30.120 of deficit spending, trying to respond to it. And it's not over. Right. You know, it just,

00:13:35.420 it just seems that some people don't even want it over because they like the control that they've

00:13:40.860 been able to maintain in the state of fear that they've, uh, fostered. You know, Senator, I think

00:13:48.580 you're absolutely right. And I think further that people at the local level, uh, in communities all

00:13:54.460 over the country now see it, uh, they have seen the left, try to take over school boards, uh, dismiss

00:14:00.920 parents and private citizens from school board meetings because they don't have the right, uh,

00:14:06.540 in their local communities to decide what their children are taught and how, uh, which is preposterous

00:14:12.780 since that is the foundation of one of this country's greatest and proudest achievements.

00:14:16.900 The public education system in this nation has been the greatest equalizer in our society

00:14:23.320 of all. And we have put it in the hands of, uh, basically two powerful, uh, overly powerful

00:14:31.280 teachers unions, the Democrats and the Marxist leftists have decided to indoctrinate rather than

00:14:38.040 educate. And there is no response from your party that is organized and meaningful, uh, at the, uh,

00:14:45.680 at the national, uh, state and local level. Yeah. Your thoughts about that.

00:14:50.640 Well, first of all, I've, I've always felt the foundational premise of America was a federal

00:14:55.440 system, you know, sovereign states, but government close to the governed where it's more effective,

00:15:01.200 where it's more efficient, where it's more accountable. So when I'm back in Wisconsin,

00:15:04.660 I'm talking to groups of people concerned about, as I am critical race theory, the teaching

00:15:09.660 is 16, 19 project, that type of thing. I just tell them, listen, if you don't want that taught

00:15:13.880 in your schools, don't let it be taught, you know, show up to school board meetings, like,

00:15:18.500 like the parents of Virginia and quite honestly, a growing number of States and make sure that your

00:15:23.560 school boards don't allow that to be taught. So there is an awful lot of power, but, you know,

00:15:28.620 unfortunately, and this is, you know, the, the liberal bias of the news media and our focus,

00:15:34.900 and this has been a blunder on the part of conservatives where we were so concerned about the federal

00:15:39.400 government growing and its influence, its negative influence on our lives. We started focusing on the

00:15:44.060 presidential races or U S Senate races. And we dropped the ball. We let the radical left take

00:15:50.260 over our university systems, our local governments, our school boards, you know, and, and, and too many

00:15:56.740 conservatives look to the federal government for solutions. What is the definition of insanity

00:16:01.300 doing the same thing over and over again, or relying on the same failed institutions over and over

00:16:07.260 again, to try and solve your problems. It's not going to work. So from my standpoint, we need to

00:16:13.480 devolve governing power back to the States, back to the local communities. It's really kind of going

00:16:18.800 back to the COVID travesty is the fact that we've put all our hopes in a solution coming from the

00:16:26.980 federal government. Now, again, because we have this, these federal agencies, medicine looks to them

00:16:32.760 for their guidance for, you know, how do we treat people? And we got no guidance other than the

00:16:37.880 vaccine. What should have happened is doctors should have been practicing medicine. The big tech

00:16:43.960 should have allowed the flourishing of discussion between doctors, as opposed to censoring them.

00:16:49.680 Dr. Pierre Corey testified before my committee on ivermectin. A month before that, we had Peter

00:16:55.800 McCulloch, Harvey Rears, George Freed talking about other repurposed medicines. That testimony,

00:17:01.680 Pierre Corey, eight or 9 million views got censored by YouTube. So what we should have had is a

00:17:10.320 flourishing of doctors, practicing medicine, trying different things in the middle of a pandemic,

00:17:15.020 sharing that information. And that's how we would have advanced not only medicine, but our response

00:17:20.760 for COVID. And literally, I believe hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved that

00:17:26.700 weren't. And that's, again, that's the tragedy of relying on an all-powerful federal agency or

00:17:33.140 federal government, when we should have been relying on our own common sense, doctors' own courage and

00:17:39.840 compassion, their medical training, and dealing with a very difficult situation. But we would have

00:17:46.100 come together. And again, there were advances made. You know, one testimony with Pierre Corey in May

00:17:50.500 revealed corticosteroids. And that was more effective than ventilators. So medicine has been

00:17:57.940 advanced, but the federal agencies have blockaded this, which is why it's such a tragedy, because so

00:18:05.120 many people could have been saved with treatment. And by the way, we're still not recommending

00:18:09.960 treatment. This is just bizarre. What other health condition? Don't we use the basic approach of

00:18:16.520 early detection, leads to early treatment, and produces better outcomes? Just for everything else,

00:18:23.120 that's what we try and do, except for COVID. Right. So, yeah, take the test and then do nothing. It's

00:18:28.980 bizarre. It is bizarre. And it is tragic. And it is showing massive dislocations within our society,

00:18:40.180 our way of life right now. And that is when big tech can censure a president of the United 0.82

00:18:46.300 States, when it can censure a United States senator, a member of the House of Representatives and

00:18:53.020 eliminate them, ban them for life. I mean, the New York Times would not have that power. They try,

00:19:00.620 but they would not have that power. The Washington Post would not. CBS, even CBS News doesn't have that

00:19:07.740 power. But it's given to unelected oligarchs in, you know, in Silicon Valley. This is madness by any

00:19:18.740 definition. And the Republican Party came out with President Trump's leadership, focusing on

00:19:27.220 bringing antitrust and anti-competitive enforcement to Silicon Valley, to big tech and social media,

00:19:34.060 which is what they really fear. And instead, we have an acquiescent public and a Republican Party

00:19:42.160 led by Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy. And my God, they are bereft of either energy, intellect,

00:19:52.740 or principle. I don't know which are, whether all. But right now, we're watching two parties that

00:20:01.520 are so poorly led that you wonder if, indeed, they really think they're still in America.

00:20:06.400 Your thoughts?

00:20:08.180 Lou, I'm not a real fan of either side in many respects. I really sprung out of the Tea Party

00:20:12.960 movement. I'm never involved in politics. I ran a manufacturing plant producing packaging material

00:20:18.280 for medical devices. So I came here and I'm pretty aware of the dysfunction. But I have to say,

00:20:24.140 my jaw has dropped when I see the depth of the dysfunction that is Washington, D.C., which is why I say

00:20:30.040 don't look to the federal government to solve your problems. Look to yourself. Let's rebuild the

00:20:36.580 foundational building block of any successful society, which is the family. That's what big

00:20:41.940 government is to destruction of. With all these big government programs, great society, you make

00:20:48.440 more people dependent on government, out of wedlock birth rates. It's devastated, the American family.

00:20:55.120 So, Senator, may I just say, I hate to interrupt you, but I am so moved by what you said. To hear

00:21:01.900 a United States senator talking about the fundamental importance of the American family,

00:21:09.620 it just, my heart overflows. Because this is, these are words of truth that I hope everyone listening

00:21:17.660 take to take to their hearts. Because we talk about lots of issues, whether it's crime, whether it is

00:21:24.880 the pandemic, you name it. But the family has so much power when it's given support and cherished

00:21:34.420 and respected, especially by the members of those families. I'm just delighted that you said that and

00:21:41.600 make that a fundamental premise of your political philosophy.

00:21:47.380 Well, you know, Lou, being a business guy, I like charts. And one of the charts I

00:21:51.820 used very early on in my term as a senator was one that showed poverty rates declining dramatically

00:22:00.320 from the 50s into the mid-60s. You know, we had a booming economy and people were lifting themselves

00:22:05.660 out of poverty. But then we instituted the Great Society programs. You know, people were still being

00:22:11.820 left behind. And then poverty rates flatlined. It's just right about 15%. But you know what skyrocketed?

00:22:19.920 Out of wedlock birth rates. Back in the mid-60s, probably on average, somewhere between 5% and 10%

00:22:24.980 of births were out of wedlock. Now, nationally, we're over 40%. In different demographic groups,

00:22:34.520 it's over 50% and over 70%. I mean, that is destructive to society. Why are we looking at 0.61

00:22:40.780 that? And gee, what caused that? You know, could it be the Great Society programs that made it possible

00:22:46.820 for, you know, single motherhood that actually discouraged fathers from being present in the home

00:22:55.000 because you wouldn't get the benefits then? I mean, you have to look at the cause and effect of these

00:22:59.600 things as opposed to just the intentions. I don't doubt, you know, good intentions, but you have to

00:23:05.860 look at the actual result of what big government has done to the family, to our society, to our country

00:23:12.580 moving forward. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, whose good intentions is it that you don't doubt? Is it big

00:23:18.940 business that has taken away over the course of the last 40 years? Pension plans that has said that it

00:23:26.260 can't be competitive so long as there are taxes on it, even though that our history shows that

00:23:31.860 corporate America was at its most successful, while tax rates on corporations were extraordinarily high?

00:23:40.480 Is it healthcare plans that no longer are Cadillac plans? You know, they're more like smart cars

00:23:49.080 for the consumer and behemoths for the federal taxpayers. It's, I doubt the good intentions,

00:23:57.680 frankly, of corporate America, of business round table, the chamber of commerce. And the Republican

00:24:03.840 party is just simply too close to those people that there would be any question about whether or not

00:24:11.720 Verizon and AT&T would delay firing up their 5G systems until the federal government was sure

00:24:20.440 that it wouldn't interfere with airline traffic. I mean, the arrogance of AT&T and Verizon in telling

00:24:28.160 the FAA that their interests were superior to the nation's. It's outrageous.

00:24:34.540 Well, again, I won't defend many of the things you're talking about there, other than to say at least

00:24:41.060 corporate power, business power is diffuse. There are thousands of businesses and there is freedom

00:24:46.500 of movement between, you know, businesses. If you don't like the way you're being treated by one

00:24:50.840 company, you can move to another one. And I would say part of the reason companies have been able to

00:24:56.260 shed things like pension plans is because the government has taken its place. Why do we have fewer

00:25:02.820 private education systems? Well, because you have a public education system that's free, supposedly free.

00:25:08.060 So, again, at government, you have to look at this holistically and the impact of government and growing

00:25:16.360 government. Government control generally has not been positive. So that's kind of a slightly different

00:25:24.740 perspective in terms of what you're talking about. But again, I'm not going to defend the fact that...

00:25:30.060 No, I'm not asking you to. I'm just saying the intentions of business have not in my... I'm just

00:25:37.000 simply, if you will, offering a counter view to what you've just said about their good intentions. I

00:25:44.480 think they've been far from that. Millions of jobs outsourced plants put... You know, we're talking about

00:25:50.520 supply chain disruptions. That's what happens when you put plants in China and Vietnam and Romania and

00:25:57.920 trying to arbitrage labor costs, environmental impact, and most of all, wages. We've been played

00:26:11.540 for fools and suckers. And the Republican Party, I think, has the opportunity to truly lead. I think

00:26:18.960 President Trump said that the Republican Party has to be the party of the working man and woman in this

00:26:25.780 country and their families. And I think you and I agree on just about everything. And frankly,

00:26:33.440 I don't mean to scare you by saying that, but I'm very pleased.

00:26:37.540 When I was talking about good intentions, I was talking about the good intentions of the people that

00:26:41.400 produced all these government programs. You know, not thinking about the cost and the mortgage of our

00:26:47.080 children's future. Those are kind of the good intentions I was talking about. But I agree. I think

00:26:52.480 Republican principles, starting with liberty and freedom, the freedom that allows Americans,

00:26:59.700 no matter where you are situated in life, no matter what you do, to dream and aspire and build and

00:27:05.340 create. That's what made this country great. And the government designed primarily to protect those

00:27:10.080 freedoms, not to solve all our problems, not to spend all of our money, not to tax all our money away,

00:27:15.980 but to defend our freedom, defend our nation, defend our borders. Again, we've lost focus to what

00:27:21.140 we established the federal government to do. And instead, as the federal government's grown,

00:27:26.320 it's taken on all these things that it hasn't, it's incapable of doing. And in trying to do these

00:27:33.600 things, it's destructive. It's, again, destroying, you know, destroying the American family or doing

00:27:39.200 great harm to it. I mean, that's, again, I'm not a fan of the federal government. I think you probably

00:27:44.100 noticed that here. I'm not a fan, quite honestly, of a lot of people serving here.

00:27:48.120 Um, there may, again, they may have, for you is all I can say, but the results are awful.

00:27:54.160 Yeah, it is awful. And, uh, you and I, again, are in a profound agreement. I want to just tell

00:28:02.040 you how much I've enjoyed our conversation and amongst the issues that, you know, that we talk

00:28:06.840 about, uh, whether it's abortion, right to life, uh, right, you know, uh, pro-choice. The fact is

00:28:14.960 since 1973, uh, we have eliminated 60 million Americans, 60 million. And that's a conservative

00:28:26.380 estimate while we are listening to our corporate, uh, uh, oligarchs, uh, and, and masters, uh, tell us

00:28:33.920 that they need more, more labor, uh, that they're 10 million short now, and there'll be 20 million

00:28:39.000 short next year. The mindlessness of public policy in this country has got to end. And it only ends

00:28:46.520 when we all come together and talk about the national interest, not a disparate and diffuse

00:28:51.320 idea of what is a, uh, multicultural perspective from, from Marxism, uh, to, uh, to the farthest

00:29:00.280 right. We govern best when we govern from the middle, we govern best when we govern rationally.

00:29:05.840 Uh, I, and I'm a, I'm a fire breathing, independent, uh, individual who believes in the same for,

00:29:13.400 for all Americans, uh, the collective, uh, the collective be damned. Your thoughts as we wrap

00:29:20.020 up, you always get, uh, the last word here, Senator. Sure. Well, I think you accomplish things

00:29:24.840 when you, when you concentrate on areas of agreement, you know, I mean, there's plenty of things that

00:29:29.440 divide us and no two people agree on everything, but figure out what we agree on in lieu to end on

00:29:35.300 a good note. Here's what I think most Americans agree on. We all want a safe, prosperous, and secure

00:29:41.500 America. We're concerned. We're concerned about each other. We want each other to succeed. We want this

00:29:47.560 nation to succeed. Quite honestly, we'd like people throughout the world to succeed, to have what we

00:29:52.780 have as well. So concentrate on that shared goal. And then you can start fighting about exactly how you

00:29:58.080 achieve that goal, but at least, you know, start there. And I think that's how, how we can make

00:30:03.240 good things happen. Cause, cause this country is, is vital. It is the shining sea and the hill.

00:30:08.980 It's, it's our solemn duty to make sure that we preserve it for future generations.

00:30:14.080 Amen. Absolutely. And I appreciate your, your perspective and your view. And I agree with it.

00:30:21.220 Uh, Senator Ron Johnson, thanks for being with us here on the great America show. You're a great

00:30:26.060 American and, uh, come back soon. We would be glad to, uh, God bless you. Stay healthy and, uh, same

00:30:34.360 back to you. God bless all best and happy new year. Senator Ron Johnson. We continue with the

00:30:40.980 great America show and just one moment. Please stay with us. The Supreme court is holding hearings on

00:30:47.760 president Biden's vaccine mandates for businesses, companies that have more than a hundred employees

00:30:54.120 and for all healthcare workers. As always, when anyone is talking about COVID vaccines, testing,

00:31:01.920 it doesn't take very long for the conversation to get downright irrational and often highly,

00:31:08.260 highly emotional. And what could be more irrational, uh, than the Supreme court to spend just a few hours

00:31:15.880 for hearings in a case that could affect millions, hundreds of millions of Americans,

00:31:21.900 a hundred million Americans directly. And by extension, that means all of us because our lives and our

00:31:27.660 work so intertwine a few hours for what could be an enormous expansion of presidential police powers

00:31:35.580 or an affirmation of our constitution and our individual liberties to take up COVID our health

00:31:43.340 vaccines, testing the politics and policies of it all. Joining us as a dedicated and highly respected

00:31:51.420 public servant, a man who has served the nation throughout his career with us now, Dr. Brett

00:31:57.340 Gerwa is physician and scientist. He's former assistant secretary of health, admiral in the public

00:32:03.420 health service and the U S representative to the world health organization in the Trump administration.

00:32:09.900 Dr. Gerwa was seemingly on television, as you may recall, nonstop as a member of the white house,

00:32:15.980 coronavirus task force, Dr. Gerwa, we, uh, we thank you for joining us and taking time to be with us

00:32:22.540 here on the great America show. Lou, it's great to be on with you. And I'm so happy to be on with

00:32:28.300 your listeners to hopefully give some common sense communication about where we are with this pandemic.

00:32:33.900 Well, we appreciate it. And, and let's, let's begin with first, uh, your, uh, your overview of where we

00:32:40.140 are at this moment. Uh, we, uh, frankly, we're two years into this, this, uh, pandemic, uh, this national

00:32:49.580 crisis, uh, but it doesn't certainly appear to me. And I know millions of, uh, uh, our, our audience,

00:32:56.220 it doesn't appear that we are two years smarter about it all that we have a knowledge base that is,

00:33:03.820 uh, two years from the origin of, uh, of the pandemic. Well, I can certainly understand that 0.80

00:33:11.300 and the confusing recommendations and somewhat chaotic leadership, uh, by the Biden administration

00:33:17.260 makes people even more confused, but I think we're in a much better place now. Remember back in March of

00:33:22.860 2020, um, when we were first facing, uh, this virus, um, we had, we didn't know how it was

00:33:29.820 transmitted. Uh, we had no vaccines. We didn't even have a hope of a vaccine. We had no monoclonal

00:33:36.100 antibodies. We had no intravenous therapeutics. We had no oral therapeutics. We had no testing. Um,

00:33:42.200 we have all of those things now. So we are much better equipped in this fight and vaccines have been

00:33:48.180 very successful. Now they don't last forever. We know we have needed a second dose and, and now a

00:33:54.420 booster potentially with Omicron, but what we're seeing right now as a result of all the work,

00:33:59.120 and that is, although we're having a lot of cases and we are having more cases than we ever had,

00:34:04.140 our rates of hospitalization have gone down dramatically as well as the deaths. And that,

00:34:08.980 those are two really, really important things. We can't just focus on the number of cases,

00:34:13.460 particular with Omicron, which is a much milder disease for almost everyone involved. We have

00:34:19.260 to work on those hospitalized patients and deaths and those have gone down. So look,

00:34:24.020 we are not out of this yet. We still have to be careful. Uh, I think the government needs to be

00:34:29.740 completely transparent, honest, and humble about what they tell us because we don't know everything,

00:34:34.240 but we are in a far better place. And I think we're in a far better place because of President

00:34:38.760 Trump's leadership and the leadership that we gave to the American people during our time.

00:34:43.460 I agree with you 100%, uh, that what you all accomplished, uh, in the Trump administration,

00:34:50.720 uh, in, uh, Operation Warp Speed, moving, uh, creating testing, uh, which you were the lead on,

00:34:58.300 uh, creating these vaccines and moving them in such a short order. No one, uh, everyone simply wants

00:35:04.860 to, it seems almost everyone wants to say, well, you know, the vaccines, there's just a, now a feature

00:35:10.840 of our life. They were a feature that was impossible going into it. And you all demonstrated

00:35:17.340 what can be done in a national emergency. And I think the nation knows you, uh, greatly. And I

00:35:22.620 know hundreds of millions of Americans who are alive right now. Well, well, you know, you know,

00:35:27.940 you know, the secret sauce, Lou, and that is the federal government has a role, but it doesn't solve

00:35:34.200 any problems. We solve the problem because we engage the best of America, private citizens,

00:35:40.320 private industry, the academic sector to all work together. And that really is the secret sauce.

00:35:45.620 When you see top-down federal mandates, that really doesn't solve anything. You have to engage

00:35:50.480 the American people, engage the great commercial sector, um, combine that with the government in a

00:35:56.120 rational way, uh, provide incentives, get rid of red tape, which president Trump was outstanding in

00:36:02.000 room. You would never tolerate bureaucracy or red tape. And that's why we have vaccines. 0.87

00:36:07.000 That's why, uh, before we left, we had already distributed 180 million of these rapid tests.

00:36:12.740 Uh, president Biden's talking about doing 500 million over three months, uh, a year and a half

00:36:17.720 later. We, we almost did that before we left. So, you know, that's the secret sauce. I am honored to

00:36:23.480 be part of that, but it's an American victory because we engage the best of America.

00:36:28.100 Yeah. You know, there's one, there was a time when this country was known for plain

00:36:31.500 spokenness, uh, authenticity, uh, and ingenuity, uh, and certainly resilience. That was the

00:36:38.780 definition of an American to most of the world. What they have witnessed, uh, is one thing what

00:36:44.780 they has, what has been reported by our national left-wing media. It diminished the, the immense,

00:36:50.380 uh, accomplishments under the Trump administration, uh, the leadership of Donald Trump, uh, the White

00:36:56.460 House task force, what you all did day in and day out and what you, uh, did in the interest

00:37:02.360 of the, uh, of this country's public health is just astounding. But the national left-wing

00:37:07.740 media, and I'm not even going to make this a question. I'm just going to say it. The left-wing

00:37:12.680 corporate led media and owned media, uh, have done this nation and, uh, such a disservice that it's,

00:37:20.580 uh, it's inexcusable and there should be shame across the, uh, entire media, uh, industry for

00:37:27.220 what they did over that period of time. And what this president did as a candidate, uh, you know,

00:37:33.100 is outrageous. So with that, I want to turn to the politics, uh, of the Supreme Court very quickly.

00:37:40.540 I know Chief Justice Roberts says there are no Bush or Trump, uh, justices. There are no, uh, Obama or,

00:37:49.780 say, Biden justices. The latter happens to be true because he hasn't appointed any.

00:37:55.380 But John Roberts today did something I thought unusual. He was basically targeting the fact that

00:38:02.580 the Congress has not acted on the coronavirus pandemic and our public health response while

00:38:11.620 the Biden White House is demanding really a, a serious expansion of quote unquote police powers.

00:38:21.540 Your thoughts on that issue? Well, first of all, let me say that I want to encourage everyone to

00:38:27.540 get vaccinated and to get boosted if you're eligible for that. Um, because it is our most important

00:38:33.460 defense against, uh, the pandemic. And I mean this particularly if you're elderly or if you have

00:38:39.780 comorbid conditions, you know, whether a 12 or 15 year old needs to get boosted,

00:38:43.940 I'm not going to talk about them right now. I'm talking about adults, particularly elderly and

00:38:48.580 those with comorbid conditions. But number one, um, I, I am not for the federal mandate because

00:38:55.220 number one, I don't think mandates work. Uh, American people don't like mandates, particularly

00:39:00.180 about vaccination or other health related issues. Um, and you joked about me being on the media

00:39:06.020 very often. And I'm still doing that because I believe to the bottom of my soul, to the deepest

00:39:11.780 part of my core, that our job is to give the best information possible to the American public

00:39:17.780 transparently and honestly, and let people make their own decisions for themselves and their family.

00:39:23.060 And that's what I think is the best way to go. If you mandate, I think it will be

00:39:27.300 counterproductive. I think you'll have people not taking the vaccine because of the government push.

00:39:32.020 Secondly, uh, I certainly don't believe, and again, this is not such a public health

00:39:37.060 matter, but the federal government, um, should not be in the position of mandating.

00:39:41.860 That's not the way we do public health. Sure. If you're a private business, um, you know,

00:39:46.900 that's a different thing, way down close to the people and people can make their choice,

00:39:50.900 whether they use that business or work in that business or not. But for the federal government to

00:39:55.300 take mandates, it's really just unprecedented in this way. And I did read the lower court's

00:40:00.580 rulings and they were very smart from public health. They said it wasn't justified because

00:40:05.940 they're lumping everybody in the same category. Uh, and clearly not all workers are in the same

00:40:10.580 category. Secondly, they don't take into account natural immunity. Now, natural immunity is important.

00:40:16.740 You know, it really is important. And there are people who have natural immunity, um, which is

00:40:22.820 probably as good as two doses of vaccine. Now, neither of them, neither two doses of vaccine or natural

00:40:29.220 immunity is going to keep you from getting Omicron. That's why it's important to at least get a

00:40:33.700 booster if you've had two or a vaccine dose, but you know, they don't take into account that. So

00:40:38.900 I thought the public health rationale from the courts that originally stayed this, um, was very sound

00:40:46.100 and was clear thinking sometimes clearer than the CDC. Uh, the CDC, uh, in this has been, uh,

00:40:53.620 uh, to put a, uh, one way, uh, let's say, just say erratic, uh, in their guidance. Uh, I was talking

00:41:01.300 with the doctor the other day and she said, uh, to me that she has been, uh, hewing the, uh, party line

00:41:09.860 when it came to vaccinations, when it came to, uh, public health, uh, dicta from the CDC. But she said,

00:41:16.740 uh, they broke her, uh, of her support for the CDC when they came out with this, uh, decision to have

00:41:25.540 the self quarantine from 10 to five, but not, not recommend testing your thoughts about that ruling.

00:41:33.620 Yeah. It, you know, I think the CDC got off on a bad foot very early because they started saying

00:41:40.340 what you can and can't do. And the CDC cannot tell you what you can and cannot do except under very

00:41:46.900 special circumstances like international travel. They really, their job is to make recommendations

00:41:52.500 and for the states and localities to either affirm or not affirm those recommendations and

00:41:58.100 for people to make their best choices. Um, the issue with the isolation. So, um, this was the,

00:42:03.940 this is the real crux of that. You know, if you have COVID, if you test positive for COVID,

00:42:08.980 um, they changed the isolation, um, from 10 days, uh, down to five days, uh, with no tests.

00:42:17.300 Uh, and there was a huge backlash against that. The rest of the world, uh, look, I am for reducing

00:42:22.820 isolation as much as possible because getting people back to work, keeping our economy strong,

00:42:27.460 having our first responders, our healthcare workers, our military back on the job is very

00:42:33.140 important. Our teachers, our teachers, amen brother, but we need to do that safely. So the

00:42:39.940 rest of the world, like United Kingdom says seven days with two tests, I think five days with a test

00:42:45.380 would be reasonable, but I, you know, I really believe the reason they didn't recommend that.

00:42:49.620 And they talked around the issue a hundred times, but it's because of the tests aren't available.

00:42:54.340 Right. That was really the issue because they didn't invest in testing between January and September.

00:42:59.700 Then they altered the recommendation. What kind of recommendation is this Lou? Um,

00:43:04.100 I'll give you an MD. If you, uh, if you agree with me on this one, what kind of recommendation is

00:43:09.620 that says, well, you don't need a test, but if you can get a test and you want one,

00:43:13.860 go ahead and do it. That's not a recommendation. You know, I mean, nobody would believe that. Right.

00:43:19.700 And look, this is pretty simple. And I don't know why they get torn around the axle so much.

00:43:25.220 Look, after five days, if you're not going to be in a high risk situation,

00:43:29.460 if you're not going to be around elderly, if you're not going to be in crowded places,

00:43:32.900 yeah, wear a mask and don't test. But if you're going to be a healthcare worker,

00:43:36.340 if you're working at Chick-fil-A, you know, if you're, uh, working in crowds,

00:43:40.820 if you're going to be around elderly people, yes, you should test and make sure that's negative. 1.00

00:43:45.540 And the government, instead of opening some website for free for all,

00:43:49.300 they should just send tests to people who test positive. The local, the local health departments

00:43:53.780 know who you are, not the federal government, but the local health departments do. Send the

00:43:58.340 test to people so they could test themselves out. This is very, very easy to do. I don't understand

00:44:03.780 why there's such a lack of clear thinking and leadership.

00:44:06.580 Well, I think part of the reason, if I may hazard it, and I, I'm not going to be able to get my MD,

00:44:12.340 I, I, because I do agree with you a hundred percent, but I, I'm, I'm going to, you recommended

00:44:18.660 humility. I'm going to stay humble on that. I, I'm not, uh, not qualified, never will be. I can't

00:44:25.460 even pronounce the, uh, the prescription names, let alone, uh, understand the science of the, and the

00:44:31.940 medicine. Uh, I, one of the reasons I don't understand it is, uh, the conflicting public accounts

00:44:38.820 and reporting on the issue. I, I'm still confused about whether or not a person, uh, who has been

00:44:44.820 vaccinated, uh, how, how big a deal that is in contracting the infection in later stages, that is

00:44:52.660 after the immunity dissipates, uh, from the vaccine, and can they carry the disease or can they not?

00:45:00.180 And I, I, to me, it's just a straightforward question that should have a straightforward answer.

00:45:04.900 Uh, you, you're right. And a lot of the data is, is not really forthcoming from the CDC. Um,

00:45:11.700 I hate to say this, but I look at Israel probably closer than I look at what the United States is 0.59

00:45:16.580 doing. And I also look at the United Kingdom. Um, Israel has been correct in about three months 1.00

00:45:21.220 ahead of us for most of the pandemic. Um, but where we are now with Omicron, um, if you were vaccinated,

00:45:29.380 or if you've had preexisting immunity, you probably have, um, good protection,

00:45:36.100 still good protection against hospitalization and death, but you have very little protection

00:45:40.900 against getting Omicron. Um, even, even boosted individuals, um, two vaccines and boosted, um,

00:45:48.820 you can still get Omicron much less chance. And the reason for that is because all of those mutations

00:45:54.260 you heard about with Omicron. So it really evades both natural immunity and two dose vaccine immunity.

00:46:02.900 Uh, so you can still get sick. Now, what you're seeing is, and people joke about it for people

00:46:08.820 who've been vaccinated, who've had Omicron before, uh, I mean, had COVID before is, you know,

00:46:14.260 they joke about it as being on the cold. And that really what it is for most people is it's a,

00:46:20.500 it's a minor sore throat. It's a cold. What we know is you don't lose your, uh, sense of taste or

00:46:26.980 smell, uh, with, with Omicron. Um, it is very unlikely, uh, to get in the lungs. We have good

00:46:33.300 biology that says it replicates in the nose and mouth, but it really doesn't get deep into your lung

00:46:38.740 tissues. So it, you know, the bad thing is it's very contagious. The good thing is that for most

00:46:44.740 individuals, um, it, it really is a minor disease. Now, when you have, uh, you know,

00:46:50.580 the official reports that we have 700, 800,000 cases a day, we probably have somewhere around

00:46:55.700 two and a half to 3 million cases a day because of the lack of testing and under reporting. So when

00:47:01.700 you have that many cases per day, even a disease that is low risk is still going to hit the elderly

00:47:08.980 and people with comorbid conditions and put them in the hospital. And that's what we're seeing.

00:47:13.220 Yeah, this is, I, I, I personally, uh, think that this is a disease that too often

00:47:20.020 is not described in a, in the most important way. This is a, uh, not Omicron, but coronavirus,

00:47:27.380 COVID-19 and its variants, uh, it's been a disease that affects people 50 years and older in quite

00:47:35.380 different ways than the rest of the population. And with, and, and the symptoms and the, the risk to

00:47:42.340 help intensify as one gets older, which is just frankly, I think true of just about every disease,

00:47:48.740 it seems. And I, because I'm in that older group, uh, everything gets to be a bigger, uh, concern and

00:47:54.260 risk as you get older. Well, you know, you're right. And, um, we see these patterns. If you take typical

00:47:59.700 influenza, the flu, it's primarily a disease of people over 65 or under three years of age. Um,

00:48:08.340 those are the people who wind up getting into the, into the hospital. Now, coronavirus,

00:48:13.220 we've been very fortunate thus far in that children, particularly normal children are at

00:48:18.660 extremely, extremely low risk. I'm not talking about a child who has cancer or has a neurodevelopmental

00:48:25.540 delay and maybe in a wheelchair and has poor lung function. You know, these people are a very,

00:48:30.740 very high risk and you have to be very serious about them. And it is true that normal, healthy

00:48:35.460 children can become sick with coronavirus, but it's at a, an extremely, extremely, uh, low risk

00:48:43.700 to them if they're normal, healthy children. And I wanted to share a statistic that, uh,

00:48:50.660 sitting here in front of me that supports what you're saying about, uh, the Omicron, uh, virus.

00:48:57.300 And that is, we've had about a, uh, the most recent day, uh, was 700,000 cases, 700,000 cases.

00:49:06.500 That sounds like a lot, but three days before that, it had been a million cases. And as you say,

00:49:11.780 uh, the numbers may reasonably would be much, much higher than that, but the deaths that were reported

00:49:20.420 were fewer than 2000 from that, those huge numbers, you know, and that's right. And we have to look

00:49:27.460 very closely because the data are coming out now that, um, it was just published from Los Angeles

00:49:33.380 this morning that about two thirds of the people up to three quarters of the people who are in the

00:49:39.380 hospital and test positive for COVID are not there because of COVID. They're there to get their heart

00:49:44.980 surgery or got hit, you know, in a, by a car. Um, and they just happened to test positive. So

00:49:51.060 what we're seeing in the hospital is probably at least half the hospital numbers and maybe up to

00:49:56.180 three quarters are there with COVID as in a diagnosis that's made just because everyone's tested

00:50:03.780 as opposed to being in the hospital because of COVID. And that is absolutely 100% in the opposite

00:50:11.140 direction than what, what it was in the earlier part of the pandemic. When about 80 or 90% of people

00:50:17.620 who were in the hospital with COVID were there because of COVID, not just the testing positive.

00:50:23.380 And that's a very important, uh, distinction to make, uh, and thank you for doing so.

00:50:30.340 How is it that we ended up with a, with a set of vaccines that were 96 and 95 and 89%

00:50:39.140 effective, uh, in the testing at the onset of the pandemic and the introduction and the

00:50:46.340 intervention of these vaccines. And then suddenly we're losing their efficacy and dropping to the

00:50:52.100 point that we, for example, Moderna for that, for that shot now to be recommended four times,

00:51:00.100 I've never heard of a vaccine in which you got four shots in a year. Uh, it's just, to me,

00:51:06.820 it's just crazy. Yeah. Well, give us, give us your thinking on that. Yeah. So, um, when the

00:51:14.260 original trials were done, obviously, uh, we didn't wait a year or 18 months to see how long

00:51:21.460 it lasted. We knew that over 60 to 90 days, people were 90, 95% protected. And, and remember where we

00:51:29.700 were before these came out, uh, you know, the, you know, the tragedies among nursing homes and,

00:51:36.820 right. And, and, and sick people. So we knew that it would work in the short term. We didn't have a

00:51:42.900 long-term follow-up. Now, most vaccines, uh, now it may not be four in a year, but most vaccines you

00:51:50.820 have to give in a series that could be over one year or two years or three years that goes for childhood

00:51:57.620 vaccines as well as adult vaccines, like even the shingles vaccine, you know, you can get that

00:52:02.420 after six months. So it is not unusual for us to need, uh, vaccines that are six months or a year

00:52:11.620 apart for your immune system. Your immune system is very smart. Even though you get that vaccine,

00:52:17.220 uh, on day one, your immune system is still working on that months later, creating better,

00:52:24.180 stronger B cells, stronger antibodies. And when you hit it at six months or four months or five months,

00:52:30.260 you get a really increased response. And that's what we expected. So I would say having to get, uh,

00:52:37.060 uh, a booster dose was, was clearly something that all of us thought would be possible. Now with

00:52:46.100 Omicron, the reason why people make it a, may need a third or even a fourth dose is because it's,

00:52:55.140 it's a really different virus, right? Um, we still have very good immunity to the native Wuhan strain,

00:53:02.340 even to Delta, but Omicron has so many mutations, um, that, uh, you know, you've got to fill the tank up,

00:53:10.580 your immune tank up in order to really protect yourself against it. And that's why it's so unusual

00:53:17.140 to maybe need potentially need a fourth dose. And they're doing that in Israel with elders,

00:53:22.660 right? They're not doing it with young people because we really want to, you know, if I could

00:53:27.300 take those thousand deaths down with zero, that's what I want to do. Um, and the people who are dying

00:53:32.500 or either those who are unvaccinated and never been, um, uh, never had COVID before,

00:53:38.500 or there are people who might have been vaccinated or had COVID, but they're elderly and over 65,

00:53:44.260 but really over 75 and people with, we say, comorbid conditions, right? Bad obesity, hypertension,

00:53:51.860 heart disease, diabetes, um, you know, problems like this really, uh, make you a prime target. So,

00:53:59.700 you know, it is possible that in the United States, as with Israel, because of Omicron,

00:54:04.900 um, select people may be recommended for a fourth dose. And I want to ask you too, about

00:54:13.300 President Biden announcing to the governor's association that he didn't see there a federal

00:54:19.940 solution for the pandemic, which was pretty striking since he's the guy who's been in charge.

00:54:25.700 And now he seems to have reverted to the, to the, to the mean, and is now saying that he wants to defeat

00:54:33.060 the virus while other public health experts, including some of his own advisors, former

00:54:39.140 advisors are saying, this is a, this has now an endemic, uh, virus, and we're going to have to

00:54:46.660 live with it. Your, your judgment, if you would. Well, it's kind of hard to know what the administration's

00:54:52.660 doing because, uh, on the campaign trail, they're just going to shut down the virus. They're not going

00:54:57.780 to shut down the country. See how well that went. Um, secondly, all we heard is the federal government

00:55:03.940 wasn't doing enough under the Trump administration. When we really were, we, you know, we sent hundreds

00:55:11.220 of billions of dollars to the States. Um, we developed three vaccines. Um, we had a warp speed

00:55:18.500 for testing. We had zero tests. And at the end, when we left, we had 170 million per month and already

00:55:24.660 had delivered 180 million rapid tests throughout the country. Um, every week governors got a 20 to 30

00:55:32.340 page, uh, recommendation list down to the county level sent by Dr. Burks, uh, and the task force

00:55:39.860 doctors that recommended, didn't tell them, but recommended, uh, what they needed. Uh, remember

00:55:46.660 rear admiral pull up check, sending PPE to every single hospital, to every single nursing home. We sent

00:55:52.820 testing to every single nursing home. So the bottom line is the federal government has a role.

00:55:58.100 It's federally supported and that's what we did, but it's got to be run by your governors and it's

00:56:02.980 got to be executed locally. Uh, president Biden doesn't seem to get it that putting up a mass

00:56:09.140 vaccination site in the middle of Los Angeles is not as good as having 500 pharmacies in Los Angeles,

00:56:16.260 um, in federally qualified health centers, giving out the vaccine. That's the way this works. So

00:56:21.940 I stand by this, this has to be federally supported. It has to be state led and it has to be locally

00:56:28.660 executed. It's a very simple formula. When the federal government buys a strong arm to mandate,

00:56:35.140 uh, to try to tell people what they can and cannot do is going to be doomed to failure. And that's what

00:56:40.500 you've seen. Yeah. When I, when I first heard that he said this to the governors, I thought,

00:56:46.260 finally he gets it. Biden finally understands how this country works, uh, when it works best,

00:56:53.620 uh, our federal system, our, our states with their unique and sovereign powers.

00:57:00.660 And the next thing, because it's absolutely deleterious and antithetical to everything

00:57:05.780 the left stands for, he had to retract it. And now we're back to, he's going to defeat the virus.

00:57:12.260 Do you think indeed that it is endemic and that we will certainly have to live with it?

00:57:18.820 Yes, we will. Um, and, uh, you know, I, I say, I said before that I'm, I'm always humble in my

00:57:26.260 conclusions. So, you know, nobody has a crystal ball, but this virus is not going away. Um, it is

00:57:33.780 going to smolder. What we need to do is make sure that we minimize the severe consequences of the virus.

00:57:40.900 Right. And we do that by all of the above, right? We do it by vaccination. We do it by having the

00:57:47.460 tremendously successful oral pills from Pfizer and Merck, which will really change the landscape.

00:57:56.580 Again, it's not a substitute for vaccination, but it really can help if you, if you're getting sick,

00:58:02.340 uh, particularly elderly or prone to hospitalizations, these are tremendous.

00:58:06.180 Our monoclonal antibodies, we need more of them because, uh, two of the major ones do not work

00:58:12.180 against Omicron. Um, the GSK does work, but yes, we're going to have, I, you know, I wish it would

00:58:18.820 go away, but it's not, it is going to smolder, but we can live with this and we can't ruin our children

00:58:25.220 by keeping them out of school and ruining their future. We cannot ruin our economy. We cannot ruin

00:58:31.620 our preparedness both militarily and from a law enforcement standpoint because of this virus.

00:58:38.340 We have to persist. We have to be resilient and we can live with this with minimal consequences

00:58:43.860 moving forward. That is the mindset. And you're seeing a lot of people who are typically quote,

00:58:49.860 on the left. And I mean, really on the left now saying this, that this is what we have to do. We're

00:58:55.380 not going to defeat it. It's not going to zero. And if you think we're going to get it to zero,

00:58:59.300 you will destroy our country as we know it to get it that way. And that is unacceptable.

00:59:04.820 Let me go through just a few practical issues. If I, if I may here, doctor one,

00:59:10.740 do mass work or don't they, are they critically important or aren't they, are they for the person

00:59:16.660 wearing the mask or are they for the community in which they live? So, uh, let me give you,

00:59:24.180 first of all, we would know the answers to these 100% of the CDC actually did the right studies

00:59:30.100 instead of, uh, only cherry picking the data to support their conclusions. And I think they've

00:59:35.380 really done that, but let me give you sort of my bottom line, uh, with Omicron, um, masks are not

00:59:42.980 very helpful unless it's a surgical mask or an N95. Um, the kind of single layer cloth masks that,

00:59:50.020 that worked reasonably well early on. And when I mean reasonably well, maybe it gives you 25 or 30

00:59:56.020 or 35% protection. It's not very helpful now, but if you do have a relatively high quality mask,

01:00:03.460 and that's something that the CDC knows, but it doesn't make it in their recommendations,

01:00:07.620 uh, meaning a surgical mask or an N95 KN95, um, it does provide, uh, a degree of protection. It is not

01:00:16.100 100%. Look, when I'm outside, I don't wear a mask. When I go to the grocery store, I don't wear a mask.

01:00:22.020 Um, I don't, I'm vaccinated. I'm not going to be, you know, rubbing up against someone for 15 minutes.

01:00:28.820 I just don't. If I were in a very crowded, you know, um, a very crowded indoor space with poor

01:00:35.780 ventilation, um, you know, that would be a time, particularly if you're vulnerable,

01:00:40.900 that you should wear a mask. And I should say that if you have COVID and you choose to leave at five

01:00:46.260 days, like the CDC recommendations, um, it's a really good idea for those five days to wear a

01:00:52.100 surgical mask or an N95, because about 30% of people, if you look at the numbers at day five,

01:00:59.140 are still going to be infectious. And we don't want to leave on day six or seven and infect people. So

01:01:04.420 that's a really good idea. If you're not going to test to make sure you're negative,

01:01:08.180 make sure you wear a high quality mask after the isolation and, and are mass dangerous to children?

01:01:17.700 So I don't support masking in young children. Um, the U S uh, first of all, there's,

01:01:23.940 and when I'm talking about young children, I'm talking, you know, 10 or 11 years old and younger,

01:01:28.580 um, the entire world essentially says, if you're under five, don't wear a mask. Um,

01:01:34.740 the harms outweigh the benefits and, and look, uh, a two year old is not going to keep a mask on

01:01:41.060 in the right way. And it's just, you know, it's kind of barbaric and we know that there are risks.

01:01:47.460 Um, six to 11 year olds, um, most of the world. And I agree with this. Um, if, if there are

01:01:54.180 situations where it's crowded, wear a mask for a short time, and then, you know, take it off if they

01:01:59.140 want to and if they can tolerate it. Once you get to be teenagers, you're more like adults. So,

01:02:03.940 um, let me just summarize it. Um, I think forcing children under five to wear masks.

01:02:11.700 Um, I don't know any, uh, modern country in the world right now that supports that. And the WHO

01:02:19.300 specifically prohibits it in its recommendations and six to 11, um, never shown to be beneficial.

01:02:26.900 I think it should be up to a parent and their child and the situation that they're in. Um,

01:02:32.340 you know, this should not be mandated, but let me tell you that children need to be back in school

01:02:36.340 physically. And I hope we talk about that. I know you touched on it. Um, the idea of keeping

01:02:41.140 children out of school, uh, for more times, uh, more time is going to cause irreparable harm.

01:02:47.460 And it's harming the most underserved in the community. So we're going to see

01:02:51.780 the divide between the rich and poor grow even greater because the great equalizer,

01:02:57.860 our school system is now off to the sideline, taking a break. And we cannot afford that in our

01:03:03.140 country. Yeah. You've just said the magic words to me. And that is something that I believe throughout

01:03:09.940 my life, because I'm a product of public schools. Uh, I believe that public schools are the great

01:03:15.060 equalizer in our society and have been throughout our existence as a nation and what we are permitting

01:03:21.540 the teachers unions to do to those public schools and the left to, uh, to overwhelm our local school

01:03:30.020 boards to the point that they can actually say in a meeting that you're a domestic terrorist parent of

01:03:35.540 the children that you are, uh, uh, a threat, uh, to, to the national good, uh, as citizens wanting to

01:03:43.860 decide what will be taught in your schools. And meanwhile, it is the left. It is the places where

01:03:49.940 the teachers unions are strongest that are shutting their doors and destroying the school year for

01:03:58.020 millions of, uh, children who's most of whom I would hazard are, uh, underprivileged, uh, underserved

01:04:07.060 by the system and who are now a year short and a year further deprived of the opportunity for the

01:04:14.660 the greatest education in the world. Absolutely. And I, you know, I, obviously I don't agree with much

01:04:20.900 from president Biden right now and much of his cabinet, but even president Biden and his secretary of

01:04:26.820 education, um, are saying the right thing. And that is children need to be physically back in school.

01:04:33.140 Now, again, why doesn't he, why doesn't he mandate it, Admiral? Why doesn't he mandate that?

01:04:38.900 He's such a fan of mandates. Well, I think you're going to have to ask,

01:04:42.420 I think you're going to have to ask him that. Uh, but, uh, again, uh, you know,

01:04:46.980 I'm not big on federal mandates one way or the other. Um, but the federal government has,

01:04:52.900 has provided $120 billion or more to schools, you know, to upgrade their infrastructure. All teachers

01:05:00.500 can get vaccinated. Um, and, and there is really good evidence that children are actually safer

01:05:05.620 in school from COVID than they are when they're not in school because they're not going, you know,

01:05:10.260 in their basement being locked up. They're having social activities. They're spreading the virus in

01:05:15.140 much less controlled ways. And remember, they're not learning. They're becoming socially behind,

01:05:20.660 intellectually behind physical abuse is not getting diagnosed. Children with special needs

01:05:26.020 aren't getting their services. We're not even getting good school meals and nutrition. All these

01:05:30.820 things will add up to, uh, you know, it, it, it just makes me shake. I'm so worried about the children

01:05:38.020 who are going to be victimized by bad policies, not so much by COVID, but by the bad policies that

01:05:44.100 surround COVID. Well, the left, the left has made so many mistakes in this and the radical Dems,

01:05:53.060 the democratic party, what their purpose is, is beyond me because they know of the harm that they're

01:05:59.700 causing, they know of the developmental, uh, deficits they're creating for all of, for all of the children

01:06:08.100 who are deprived of that time and, and their schools, uh, because of the national, uh, you know,

01:06:15.860 federation of teachers or the, uh, you know, the list goes on. It's either the NEA, the federal,

01:06:22.740 uh, the federation of teachers, uh, all of the powerful unions that are having their way

01:06:28.660 and bullying their way and their local school districts into another vacation. It's horrible.

01:06:35.540 It is disgusting. And, uh, I, that might be one mandate that I would,

01:06:42.660 and that is to put those teachers back in those schools. And if they don't,

01:06:46.900 then, uh, replace them immediately. Well, I, I, I would certainly like to build on common ground

01:06:52.500 because at least by his words, president Biden wants children back in school. And so does the secretary.

01:06:58.260 And I think this is something that, um, that certainly the Trump administration agrees with.

01:07:03.940 And I think most of your listeners to get children back in school. So if we all agree on it, let's

01:07:08.900 really make it happen. Let's join together because look, you know, I'm 61, you know, I've had a blessed

01:07:15.460 life beyond belief. I don't plan to die tomorrow, but you know, the future is our children and that has

01:07:22.020 to be a priority right now, starting this minute, uh, our children securing their futures and keeping

01:07:29.060 the country that we know and love and are privileged to live in the same for them, that they can grow up

01:07:36.100 and live in the best country in the world. And I think the best country, you know, ever in human

01:07:41.220 civilization because of our freedoms and our principles. Well, I couldn't agree with you more.

01:07:46.900 And I think most Americans would agree with you. Absolutely. We are, uh, we have to be

01:07:52.820 straightforward about this. We are engaged in a great conflict in this country. It is not physical

01:07:58.820 at this point. It is, it breaks into violence occasionally on our streets, but the truth is

01:08:04.420 we are in a great conflict and it's a confrontation over what is reality and what is the future. And unless

01:08:10.420 the Republicans in this country, wake up to the damage done by, by the left and the purpose of

01:08:18.980 that damage, uh, it will continue. And we won't have the country that our founders intended and so

01:08:25.780 many sacrificed to preserve that you are one of those who's, uh, sacrificed much and served much,

01:08:33.940 we thank you for your service to this country. Admiral, we thank you for being with us here

01:08:38.020 on the great America show today. We've learned a lot. I'm going to, if I may, uh, leave as we

01:08:43.540 customarily do, uh, you to have the last word, uh, as you see fit. And again, my thanks.

01:08:52.900 So I guess what I would say at the end is, um, I'm starting to see polls, which are really

01:08:58.820 concerning me about America is less optimistic about this year than they were last year. And I

01:09:04.900 want to tell everyone there is all the reason for optimism. Again, um, our administration brought

01:09:11.380 vaccines, brought medicines, brought antibodies, uh, to the, to the most part, uh, the Trump plan

01:09:19.060 is being carried on by the Biden administration, uh, in terms of getting vaccines out and getting

01:09:24.580 those out. We're now seeing a change where, although there are lots of cases, you know,

01:09:30.420 millions of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are low. So I want the American people to be

01:09:35.140 optimistic. Um, this is the time for optimism. This is the time to join together. This is the

01:09:40.980 time to protect our children. This is the time to grow America, to grow our national security,

01:09:46.340 to grow our economy and to keep our freedoms and liberty. We cannot just give away our freedoms and

01:09:51.860 liberty, um, because we are told to be frightened or we're told to be afraid, or we're told the sky is

01:09:58.900 falling because it's not. I see a good year ahead. Um, I see this becoming endemic and manageable,

01:10:05.060 and I see America, um, really rising again, uh, to its, to its position of world leadership,

01:10:12.100 uh, a position that we deserve, uh, because only America could provide the enlightened,

01:10:17.780 spiritually guided, uh, the liberty type of leadership that this world needs.

01:10:23.300 Amen. Admiral. We thank you very much, doctor, for being with us here. Uh, and thanks for that,

01:10:31.060 that, uh, optimistic, uh, and I think positive. And, uh, I couldn't agree with you more. Again,

01:10:38.260 all I've done for the time we've had together here is agree with you. And I, I, that makes me feel

01:10:43.860 better about myself. So thank you. I'm now in addition, far more optimistic. Thanks to you,

01:10:49.540 Dr. Giroir. Thank you. Thank you. Join us again tomorrow for the great America podcast.

01:10:55.300 Stay in the fight. Truth, justice, and the American way will prevail against all enemies, against all odds.

The Great America Show - January 12, 2022

BIDEN $5T BBB FADES; DOCTORS SAY NO MASKS FOR KIDS

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