This is a rush transcript of “Special Report” on November 23, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
BRET BAIER: Let’s bring in our panel now, former education secretary Bill Bennett, Guy Benson, political editor at Townhall.com, host of “The Guy Benson Show” on FOX News Radio, and Charles Lane, opinion writer for “The Washington Post.”
Guy, what do you make of this, and Rashida Tlaib’s answer about the legislation and all of this falling at this time?
GUY BENSON, POLITICAL EDITOR, TOWNHALL.COM: Boy, that answer, if you can call it an answer, from Congresswoman Tlaib was eyebrow raising. I’m not sure she had really thought through the legislation that her name is on that she has cosponsored. And even under just cursory questioning about basic things like, hey, you really want to empty the prisons, all federal prisons in 10 years? She was like well, maybe, I don’t know. It was a weak performance, I think, to put it kindly.
As for this new push on bail reform from AOC and that press release that just came out, read the room a little bit. This is not great timing for that given what happened in Waukesha, apparently. And I think the American people are in favor of criminal justice reform but not being soft on crime and letting dangerous people walk the streets, and that can have really tragic consequences as we’ve just seen.
BAIER: Yes, I want to turn now to the decision on President Biden to release the oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Bill, take a listen to the energy secretary, a little Q and A that also raised eyebrows today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There’s very serious about this. I’m curious if you know how many barrels of oil does the U.S. consume per day?
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, ENERGY SECRETARY: I don’t have that number in front of me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some suggest it’s about 18 million, which would suggest you are releasing less than three days worth of supply from the petroleum reserve. Why is that enough?
GRANHOLM: Well, what we are doing, plus what other countries may be doing, which will be less than what we are doing because we have the largest amount of Strategic Petroleum Reserves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: One, Bill, it was that she didn’t know the barrels that were used per day, but the other was how significant this is.
BILL BENNETT, FORMER EDUCATION SECRETARY: Yes, kind of hopeless and hapless.
Look, this will last maybe two, two-and-a-half. OPEC can lower its production, so prices can remain the same. In any case, it’s a very, very temporary thing. There is a problem with the Biden administration right now that’s getting acute, and that is keep saying things are getting better, things are OK. You think things are bad, don’t believe your own eyes. Don’t believe what you see at the gas pump. Believe me. This is what happens in authoritarian countries, and it’s a very dangerous road, a very dangerous road to take.
BAIER: Chuck, your thoughts?
CHARLES LANE, OPINION WRITER, “WASHINGTON POST”: Well, I think we did have a president in the previous four years who did quite often what Bill just, and that was, as he says, a symptom of authoritarianism. As for the gas prices thing, I’m shaking my head over this issue. I’m shaking my head over this issue, 11 — the vast majority of the cause of gas prices, the global price of oil, this petroleum release won’t affect it any. But I wouldn’t say that this is Joe Biden’s fault either, because even if he ended the gas — the oil leases and so on, that has a trivial marginal effect.
Probably the worst thing for Biden is to create the implication that he does have some control over the price of gasoline by taking this measure, which probably in the end will demonstrate he doesn’t have any control over it.
BAIER: Go ahead, Bill, you can respond.
BENNETT: No, I was just going to say instinct here to go back to Trump is just so telling onto me. This guy is creating a disaster, and he is reversing all the policies of Trump. Whatever one thinks of Trump, he wasn’t destroying the country in the way that this administration is. Whether you are talking about the border, whether you are talking about China, whether you are talking about the price of oil, it’s really quite extraordinary what’s going on.
LANE: Bill, bill, you said this authoritarianism, and the last president, the last president inspired a mob, a mob to attack the capitol, Bill.
BAIER: One at a time.
BENNETT: There we go. We will have our January 6th. I know that you guys are putting into that, January 6th. But when you look at the policies of the previous administration compared to these policies, the country was in a lot better shape, a lot better shape.
BAIER: All right, guy, weigh in here about, the concern about gas prices, inflation, and how it’s affecting this administration.
BENSON: Well, it’s not just gas prices. It’s also heating homes. That’s going to become an acute issue all over the country as the weather gets colder. And there are a lot of nonpartisan experts who say that is an area of inflation that’s really going to bite a lot of people, and they’ll be seeing it in their monthly bills, month in and month out, on top of petroleum and pain at the pump, as the cliche goes.
So I think that there is some real danger and risk politically for the White House to be at least trying to spin this in a happier way, some happy talk. Things are getting better. If on some key metrics things may in fact, get worse over the course of several months.
And I would just add the Granholm performance that you just played, Secretary Granholm. That exact answer and that response to those questions under a Republican administration would be widely ridiculed. It would go viral, be in all the late night shows. We will see if any of them have it, except for maybe Greg Gutfeld. I doubt it.
BAIER: I don’t think they will. But Congressman Dan Crenshaw did weigh in on Twitter. He had this to say after the Secretary Granholm Q and A there. “File this one under, quote, “not qualified to be Energy Secretary.”
Chuck, they’ve got a lot of problems on a lot of different fronts. We spent a lot of time in this show with expanded time talking about foreign policy. And it seems like China will dominate a lot of things, big things for months and possibly years to come.
LANE: I was a little surprised that General Kellogg was so confident that President Putin doesn’t intend to invade Ukraine. I hope he is right. But what it points to is that on sort of both edges of the Eurasian landmass, over one side with Taiwan and other with Ukraine, we have two reemerging great powers acting very aggressively at the same time. And that is inherently a threat, and it’s something that you have to be concerned about that the United States under any president, but especially this one, would be able to handle that at the same time. And yes, you are absolutely right, Bret, that whole complex of issues surrounding those two countries, but especially China, are going to be front and center.
BAIER: Go ahead, Bill, real quick.
BENNETT: What does China have to do for us not to play ball with them? They sent this virus over and around the world. They have got this young tennis player now in hiding. They have cheated and lied and stolen all sorts of property from the United States, and still we play ball with them. They are a threat to us. And this president has said not one sharp word to the Chinese, not one.
BAIER: All right, panel, thanks so much. Happy Thanksgiving to you.
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