Fox News "The Ingraham Angle" - Transcript: Interview with Byron Donalds
Interview
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Joining us now is Florida Congressman Byron Donalds. Congressman, you actually got into it with one of your colleagues today, who chastised you for not wearing a mask. What happened?
REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): I was actually just trying to get onto the floor to vote, he was going through one of the metal detectors, which by the way is still a dumb thing to have in front of the house floor. But that's another story for another day. He was going through the metal detectors, turned around, saw me, and was basically like you're being selfish for not being vaccinated. That's why we're all having to wear a mask. Stop being selfish. And I looked at him, like, mind your business. Why are you worried about what I'm doing? Worry about yourself. You've been vaccinated. Congratulations. Take care of yourself. Leave me alone. Mind your business. Why are you worried about what I am doing?
But the truth of the matter is that the left has completely gone off the rails. They're not paying attention to the science. They continue to pay attention to political science. And unfortunately, they're in power and elections have consequences.
ARROYO: Yes. No. I think this is a scene we're going to see and are seeing play out across the country. Congressman, Chris Cuomo had you on his show to discuss your decision not to take the vaccine, and this is how it went.
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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Byron Donalds is not going to take it, because he doesn't care what Biden wants. You think that's a good message for people to hear?
DONALDS: Well, the first thing is my message was never about Joe Biden. The message is about me and my own personal health.
CUOMO: I'm not getting vaccinated because I don't want to--
DONALDS: Hold on, Chris. Let me finish.
CUOMO: Hold on. I want to read your words. I want to read your words. Byron - I know you don't get to cut me off, it's my show.
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ARROYO: Why do you think he didn't want to hear what you had to say, Congressman? Why the bullying.
DONALDS: Because he's wrong. He was wrong last night. Many of his consistent viewers who, you know, I went to college with called me and let me know that personally. He's wrong, the left is wrong.
Look, even look at what the CDC came out with today. They said that, oh, we have to go back to masking if you're vaccinated. Lo and behold. The study that the CDC is using is a study that failed peer review, is a study out of India that deals with a vaccine that is not available in the United States.
So they are playing politics over there at the White House instead of giving the information to the American people. And when the information comes out to the American people, people can make decisions for themselves. People like Chris Cuomo, the member of Congress, whatever his name is, that I got into it with today, they are just in this warped view that everybody has to follow their lead. Everybody has to follow their protocol in order to get through COVID-19.
But the truth of the matter is, we're mostly through it now. People need to govern their own health care, make personal decisions for themselves, and actually learn how to live life while making sure we manage the pandemic like we've been doing for the past several months.
ARROYO: Now, I'm going to throw you to Laura Ingraham, who I think is back online. Laura, you there?
INGRAHAM: Raymond, I think we should just do this together at this point. There's a wicked thunderstorm.
All right, Congressman, there's a wicked thunderstorm in DC. And so stuff's going on and off. And this is live television. And Raymond did a great job filling in. But I have to point out this. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, ok, he's from George Washington University. He is sounded off on the CDC mass guidance issue.
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JONATHAN REINER, DIRECTOR, CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION LABORATORY AT THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Do you really think that CDC has changed mask guidance for vaccinated adults to use Dr. Walensky's words because of rarely a vaccinated person may transmit virus to an unvaccinated person? No, they changed guidance to do the right thing which was to force basically unvaccinated people to be vaccinated and to mask up.
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INGRAHAM: So congressman, even their allies are complaining, and it sounds like they're making decisions then. Not based on science? I mean who can follow this?
DONALDS: The only science the left cares about is political science. They have a problem. They have weaponized the media to just count gross cases, while ignoring actual statistical data, which is what is the amount of hospitalizations per capita? What are the deaths per capita? What does that look like in a post vaccine world? The media still reporting on. This is if we're still back in last summer, not understanding the fact that the metrics have completely changed.
And so this White House is trapped in this because they put out these arbitrary goalposts just to make Joe Biden look good. People didn't comply with what Joe Biden wanted to do, and now they are scrambling. The reality is this -- hospitalization rates per capita are still very manageable. Deaths per capita are actually down compared to the amount of cases that we are seeing go up because the people who are getting affected mostly are unvaccinated people who are not in the vulnerable age areas of being plus 65 or having other health abnormalities. That's where we are.
What CDC and the White House should be doing is collecting more information, releasing that to the public with guidance for the American people, not mandates, not authoritarianism like they are doing right now.
INGRAHAM: Congressman, great to see you tonight.
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