This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," October 17, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: Well good evening and welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight."
With less than three weeks to go until the mid-term elections, violence is flaring up again. Republicans in both Minnesota and the State of Nevada have been assaulted, in effect, punished for violating the unwritten law, thou shall not oppose efforts of the Left to gain power.
Trace Gallagher has more on this developing story for us tonight. Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS: Tucker, in Minnesota, there were two separate incidents. First today, GOP Representative Sarah Anderson says she confronted a man for kicking down her campaign sign, and the man didn't like it. Watch
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH L. ANDERSON, MINNESOTA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MEMBER: He comes charging at me. And then gets between me and the car door, so I couldn't shut the car door. And I didn't want to just - I froze basically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: That's when she says the man punched her, calling her an anarchist and saying she should kill herself. Then, first-time candidate Shane Mekeland says he was at a restaurant in Benton County, Minnesota talking about campaign issues when he was blindsided. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHANE MEKELAND, MINNESOTA HOUSE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: This gal over here asked me something, and I was talking to her, and that's when this gentleman literally just punched me out of nowhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: Yes. Mekeland says he blacked out when he hit the ground, and medical records show he suffered a concussion. Police are investigating both attacks.
Meantime, another threat against Maine GOP Senator Susan Collins, who, of course, cast the key vote for Justice Brett Kavanaugh. This time, a letter was sent to Collins' home addressed to her husband, claiming it contained the deadly poison ricin. Parts of Collins' home and her dog are now in quarantine while a crime lab checks out the letter.
A GOP candidate running for Vermont State Legislator also got a threatening letter reminiscent of a mystery novel.
The letter to Deserae Morin was made up of words pulled out of printed material to spell quoting here, "We are hunting you. My comrades will kill you and the Constitution. Socialism - socialism is here. Open season for Republican death in Vermont." Morin says her platform of low taxes and small government apparently makes socialists want to kill her.
Finally, it's gloves off in the Nevada governor's race. A Democratic operative for a group funded by George Soros is in jail tonight after allegedly assaulting the female campaign manager of the GOP candidate. Kristin Davison says the attack left her traumatized and horrified.
Tucker.
CARLSON: Trace Gallagher for us tonight. Thank you, Trace.
Well you'd think that violence, physical attacks, and threats in our political system would shock all of us. But at this point, unfortunately, nobody is really surprised. It almost seems normal.
It was just last year that progressive activists tried to murder an entire field of Republican lawmakers practicing baseball. He gravely wounded one of them. Strangely, you didn't hear calls for gun control in the days after that happened.
And at this point, we've practically forgotten it ever happened at all. And so the cycle has accelerated. Using force against Republican officeholders and conservatives now seems like a feature of our political landscape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe survivors!
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS: It was a delight. Excuse me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Beto is way harder than you dude.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We believe survivors.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We believe survivors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame. Shame.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shame. Shame.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No borders. No walls. Sanctuary for all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No borders. No walls. Sanctuary for all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So what is this really about? Suddenly, this kind of rage is everywhere. You've seen tape like that for the past several months. But who exactly is it aimed at? What is the point?
Well Republicans, obviously, are the focus of most of it, conservatives, more generally, anyone else who descents from the one true faith of cultural Leftism. But really the target is the country itself.
The Left is angry at America. They say so all the time. This is not the Democratic Party you grew up in or that you remember if you're over 30. That party may have stood for some bad ideas, and it did, but there was never really a question about its fundamental loyalty to America or the people who live here.
The party of FDR and LBJ, even of Bill Clinton, was basically a patriotic party. It was an American party. Not anymore. In 2018, anyone who considers America a distinct physical place with meaningful borders and its own history and traditions and language and culture and values won't feel comfortable in the Democratic Party. Indeed, may not even be allowed in that party.
To modern Democrats, the leaders of the party, America is an economy with land attached. It's a massive private equity scheme from which they are benefiting. Its people are interchangeable human widgets to be discarded and replaced when their usefulness expires.
Was it always this way? Was this always what America was like, you might ask? Shut up, they'll explain. Before Obama got elected, America was truly a horrible place, a nightmare. Watch New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo explain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, D-N.Y.: We're not going to make America great again. It was never that great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: It was never that great, said the guy who inherited his job from his dad. Cuomo's remarks got some coverage on this channel but they were hardly unusual for Cuomo's party.
Before she founded the #MeSioux movement, Senator Elizabeth Warren spent a lot of time telling audiences what an awful country this is. Here's one example.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MASS.: The hard truth and then our criminal justice system, it's racist.
When I say our system, I mean all the way, I mean - I mean front to back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Racist, front to back. In other words, our laws and our police are illegitimate and they're immoral. Don't worry about violating or ignoring them.
Texas Senate candidate Robert Beto O'Rourke agrees with this. He recently told the crowd that police in America murder and imprison people solely because of their skin color. Now, that's factually untrue. It's ridiculous. And, of course, he didn't even try to prove it was true.
But it's also a slur on decent people of all colors who are trying their best to serve this country in law enforcement. O'Rourke's fellow democrats could have said something about this but they didn't. They're not allowed to. Nobody is. Defend America and you will be punished.
Former Congresswoman Mary Bono lost her job just this week as President of USA Gymnastics. What did she do wrong? Well she leveled a veiled criticism at Colin Kaepernick. That's unacceptable now.
Kaepernick makes millions denigrating our national symbols. He's a hero. Nike hired him. If you complain about that though, you're the villain, and you're out. Defending America is suddenly a firing offense on the Left.
Mark Salvas learned this the hard way. Salvas wasn't simply a loyal Democrat. He was the Head of Allegheny County Pennsylvania Democratic Party, also a military veteran. You think he'd be allowed to stick up for America once in a while, but no.
He made the mistake of writing this in a Facebook post. "I stand for the flag. I kneel at the cross."
Now, not so long ago, most Democrats would have nodded in agreement at that. Today, it's hate speech. And he lost his job. But tonight, their loss is our gain. And Mark Salvas joins us now.
Mark, thanks a lot for coming on the show. Did I misstate that? I mean did you have to leave your job running the County's Republican - rather Democratic Party because of those words on Facebook?
MARK SALVAS, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALLEGHENY COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well I was the Executive Director of the county party. And yes, basically that's exactly what happened because of that post, which I remind you was over a year ago that I posted that--
CARLSON: Right.
SALVAS: --I was asked to resign, yes.
CARLSON: So, you're a veteran. You say you stand for the flag and you were denounced as a racist for that.
SALVAS: Correct. The people who brought this to light tried to tie it to the NFL players taking a knee.
CARLSON: So I'm - look, I'm confused. I'm - I'm not a Democratic voter, never have been. But, you know, I've been here a long time. I've known a lot of decent patriotic Democrats.
It doesn't seem like that long ago it wouldn't have been weird for the Head of a Pennsylvania Democratic County party to say "I stand for the flag and kneel before the cross." Would it have been five years ago a crazy thing to say?
SALVAS: Absolutely not.
And - and I can tell you that even just last year, when the Pittsburgh Steelers decided to stay in the locker room instead of come out for the National Anthem, one player, Villanueva, who's an Army Ranger came out and stood by himself with his hand over his heart. And he was not considered a racist.
So this, even as much as a year ago, it would not have been unheard of to hear somebody, a leader in the party, defend the flag.
CARLSON: So, what - I mean you're the Executive Director - were the Executive Director of the party. You obviously know a lot of Democrats in your County, a traditionally Democratic county. What have--
SALVAS: Yes.
CARLSON: --what have your - your former co-workers said to you since this happened?
SALVAS: I haven't heard from any of them. I understand the party line is that it is a personnel matter and I can respect that. However, those that are elected officials or party members who are not tied with my direct sort of chain of command, if you will, I have not heard from any of them.
CARLSON: That's - that's shocking. What does this say to you about how the party's changed?
SALVAS: Well, it makes me wonder if there is room for moderate Democrats in the Democratic Party nowadays. There were some elected officials who said that they acknowledge that they've known me, and I'm not a racist. However, it was insensitive.
And unfortunately, if my patriotism, and standing up for family, friends, has become insensitive then I think we, as Democrats, need to stop and re- evaluate exactly what we stand for.
CARLSON: If standing up for the flag is considered racist then what happens to the country, do you think, going forward?
SALVAS: That's - that's a good question. I'm a little worried about that.
CARLSON: What are you going to do?
SALVAS: Well, I'd like to continue to bring this to light and continue to voice concern for this very issue. And then in the short-term, ironically, my son is going in the Air Force in 60 days, so I'm going to spend some time with him. And in the - and I will continue to fight this cause as long as I can and continue to clear my name.
CARLSON: God bless. And let - let me just say, again, I'm not a supporter of the Democratic Party, but I hope you stay in that party because I think it needs normal people. And so--
SALVAS: Thank you.
CARLSON: --you know, I hope you remain. Mark, thanks very much for sharing. That's a shocking story. Appreciate it.
SALVAS: Thank you.
CARLSON: What to make of this? We'll continue to break it down right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: In a video posted today on Twitter, Nation of Islam President and long-time Democratic Party stalwart Louis Farrakhan called Jewish people "Stupid." But then he clarified. He said this. "I'm not an anti-Semite. I'm anti-Termite."
You see what he's saying?
So Twitter, which bans people for far less has said it will not suspend Louis Farrakhan's account. By the way, we're not complaining about that. We have repeatedly opposed and will continue to oppose tech companies deciding what can and cannot be said in public, even when it's ugly and lunatic as that was.
But we're going to have more on this. What are the standards those companies use to ban speech? And who exactly is getting banned? We're trying to find out. We're going to bring you the results of that tomorrow.
Well whether you're in a political rally or simply out to dinner with your family, it is becoming accepted wisdom on the Left that anyone who disagrees is game for harassment. Even Hillary Clinton says that civility is pointless. How's this working, by the way, for America and the Democratic Party?
Jon Summers is former Communications Director for Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, and he joins us tonight. Jon, thanks a lot for coming on. So first tonight--
JON SUMMERS, FORMER SENATOR HARRY REID COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good to be back, Tucker.
CARLSON: --I want to get your take on the man we just spoke to, who was the Executive Director of Allegheny County Pennsylvania Democratic Party, not some random apparatchik, but he ran the party.
And he was kicked out because he said and I'm quoting now "I stand for the flag. And I kneel for the cross." What does that tell you that you can't say that as a Democrat in 2018?
SUMMERS: It bothers me frankly that this is something that he posted a year ago, and they hired him anyway. So again, it's not lost on me how old that post is, and they still chose to hire him. So, I think that's fine that they decided to hire him even after that post. Bothers me that they actually fired him a year later because of it so--
CARLSON: Well but wait, I'm - I'm confused. What do you mean despite the - what's wrong with that post? I - I stand for the flag. And I kneel for the cross. I - I think most Americans feel that way. What - why would that be a bad thing to write?
SUMMERS: Because we know that this is obviously something that goes against what Colin Kaepernick is standing for so - or kneeling for, as the case may be as we talk about the injustices done to African-American people. But I do think it's important to remember as we talk about this--
CARLSON: Wait --
SUMMERS: --incivility on the Left that the Allegheny County - County party is one of 67 county parties in Pennsylvania--
CARLSON: Well sure, right, look I'm not--
SUMMERS: --when a thousands of county parties across the country--
CARLSON: --OK, OK, look, I'm not saying - I'm not saying--
SUMMERS: --it's a little this is one--
CARLSON: --he's been nominated for - it's one--
SUMMERS: --small example.
CARLSON: --wait, but hold on, no, but let's - we can even take that out of this conversation and get to what you are saying, which is that this is troubling because, and I'm quoting you now, "It goes against what Colin Kaepernick is saying." Is Colin Kaepernick in charge of the Democratic Party? Isn't he like the--
SUMMERS: I'm telling that's not at all--
CARLSON: --football player or a Nike spokesman like who cares what--
SUMMERS: --what I - yes, that's not all what I said, Tucker.
CARLSON: --Colin Kaepernick says --
SUMMERS: What I said is that it bothers me that they decided a year later it was problematic, and it's probably because they got a lot of heat. I mean--
CARLSON: Right.
SUMMERS: --we know that the people who are involved in county parties both on the Republican and the Democratic side are the people who are involved in those are the most passionate activists--
CARLSON: Right. No, I agree. No, I get it--
SUMMERS: --that you can find. So, I suspect that that's a lot of --
CARLSON: --I get it. I get it--
SUMMERS: --what happened here.
CARLSON: --but I'm just trying - but leaving aside even the Allegheny County party, I just wonder is it - simple question, is it OK to say that? If I say, you know, I stand for the flag and I kneel for the cross, I'm a sincere Christian and a patriotic American, can I be a Democrat in good standing or am I a racist for saying that? That's the question.
SUMMERS: No. You - you should be a Democrat in good standing. It's a big tent that - that, you know, help that a lot of people are a part of and it should be a part of it. I'm bothered by the fact that they - that they father - bothered - sorry, having a hard time talking.
I'm bothered by the fact that they - that they fired him over this, particularly, since it was something that happened well over a year ago. They knew about this. If that was bothersome then, then they should have not hired him in the first place.
CARLSON: Would it be OK - and, of course, I agree with that - that part completely, though they may not have seen it. And I think the party's changing though that maybe really is the point.
But I'm bothered by this theme I have seen which is really not mistakable that anyone who says the country, you know, flawed, of course, had a Civil War over its flaws, continue to fight about its flaws, but basically it's a good place, better than any other place.
It's not an inherently racist country. Our justice system is not inherently racist. Cops aren't shooting people because of their skin color. That may happen. But in general, it does not happen. That's why so many Africans move here. If you say that, they're like what? White supremacist?
SUMMERS: They --
CARLSON: I mean I'm serious--
SUMMERS: There - there is no better--
CARLSON: --what is that about? Why - why the hate for America?
SUMMERS: --place than America.
CARLSON: Right.
SUMMERS: There is - well there is no hate. And there is no better place than America. I think we can all agree about that. But there are some problems that we have here. There is--
CARLSON: I agree.
SUMMERS: --institutionalized racism. We know we do have--
CARLSON: Really? So what - what is that?
SUMMERS: --situations where more African-Americans are pulled over by police officers than White people.
CARLSON: And that's--
SUMMERS: We know that. The data is there--
CARLSON: But - but - but hold on so--
SUMMERS: --to back that up.
CARLSON: --so - so that's--
SUMMERS: But that doesn't America--
CARLSON: We don't know that--
SUMMERS: --not great.
CARLSON: --actually. We don't know.
SUMMERS: Yes, we do.
CARLSON: We - we actually, no, no, hold on--
SUMMERS: It's not hard to find the data. Thing's called Google.
CARLSON: --no, no. It's hard to interpret what the data mean, actually. I - numbers are not the same as reality. They are a measurement of a phenomenon but they don't explain what the phenomenon is caused by. So actually, there's a debate about this. And to say institutional racism is not actually an explanation, it's a slur.
So but - but I guess, why is it that so many Democratic candidates - well how can Beto O'Rourke, not his real name, Robert O'Rourke stand up and say our just, you know, cops kill people because of their skin color, when that's just not true. It doesn't happen on a large scale, at all.
SUMMERS: I don't tell --
CARLSON: We know that's not true. Why does nobody say anything about that?
SUMMERS: Tell me how the--
CARLSON: What about all the Black cops out there?
SUMMERS: --tell me how the Chair of the GOP County Party in Kansas can get away with calling his opponent a radical socialist kickboxing lesbian who he wants to send back to the - to the - to the Reservation. So I mean - -
CARLSON: I don't even know what that --
SUMMERS: --you know--
CARLSON: --I don't even know what you're talking about. Someone said that?
SUMMERS: Yes, that's called Google and it's out there.
CARLSON: Yes, whatever.
SUMMERS: Fortunately, they fired him over that. But we do have very real problems here. And I think the things that you're pointing out are not just issues on the Left, but we see the - this - these sorts of attacks--
CARLSON: No. No, that - that's - that--
SUMMERS: --on the Right as well and that includes--
CARLSON: --that's just not true.
SUMMERS: --threats.
CARLSON: That - that's not true. Actually, people are not - look, yes there are wackos on the Right, for sure, obviously, but there are not a lot of people losing their jobs at companies across America because they're too Left-wing. That's just not happening right now. And you know it as well as I.
Kickboxing, huh? I'm going to look that up. Jon, thank you.
SUMMERS: You bet.
CARLSON: Great to see you.
SUMMERS: You too.
CARLSON: Treasury Department employee has just been charged criminally for leaking information related to the Russia probe. There are new developments in that investigation which is still ongoing, and tells you a lot about how our government actually works.
Well the Russia investigation is done, maybe more than anything else, to expose how the government works at a level beneath democracy, the level it feels entitled to dictate what the country does, regardless of what you vote for.
Call it what you want. It's discussed at great length in a new book called Ship of Fools, which is available right now. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Prosecutors have charged a senior Treasury Department employee with illegally leaking personal bank records of Paul Manafort and, his deputy, Rick Gates, to the press.
Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards is accused of leaking those documents to BuzzFeed, a semi news site which published them in a series of stories. Edwards is just the latest member of the bureaucracy to be caught betraying the public trust to empower the #Resistance.
Mollie Hemingway is Senior Editor of The Federalist and she joins us tonight. So Mollie, give us a sense of the scale of the crime here. These are bank record - why - why would she have access to their bank records and what sort of betrayal is it to leak them to the press?
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST: Yes. This woman was a Senior Analyst at the Treasury Department's Financial Criminal Enforcement - Crimes Enforcement Network. She had access to so many of these documents, which are very confidential about bank records, anytime there's suspicious activity that gets investigated by the Treasury Department.
She was found to have had - she was found to have put tens of thousands of them on a flash drive to be sharing them over the course of a year with a BuzzFeed reporter.
And one of the things that's interesting in the affidavit is it says that there's a - there's a co-conspirator involved who is her boss at the Treasury Department. We tried calling the Treasury Department's finance - FinCEN office and asking them which - which part of the office was she in, so we could determine who her boss was, and they wouldn't tell us.
So they are being very tight-lipped about this. But it is even a - she's a senior person, but it's even her boss as well that is implicated in this crime.
CARLSON: So leaks are common in journalism. This show is the beneficiary of many leaks, I'm proud to say, including even today.
But you don't share them with the public unless you think the public there's identifying reason for it, the public has an interest in this, there's a right to know. Is there any conceivable reason that the bank records of these guys should have been revealed to the public?
HEMINGWAY: She herself said when she was caught today that she was doing this as a whistleblower that she was sharing it with the reporter, so that they - these records would be safely kept with him. And she claimed that she did not know he was publishing stories about that. Well that doesn't - that doesn't stand to reason that that is a reasonable explanation.
CARLSON: No.
HEMINGWAY: She was - she was sharing a lot of information that supported this Russia collusion narrative. This idea that--
CARLSON: Russia.
HEMINGWAY: --this idea that Trump had - was a traitor who had colluded with Russia to steal an election. And the way that story has been fed has been through these types of selective leaks.
And it is - it has gotten a lot of people caught up in it who, you know, should not have had their government conspiring against them with the media to create this narrative. And it also probably shouldn't have taken a full year to know this was going on.
BuzzFeed stories were actually pretty clear that they were getting these suspicious activity reports, which do not come from a lot of places in the government. And they had been publishing story after story after story of these going back to October of 2017.
They weren't well-hidden who - where these - where this office was that was leaking it. And I'm actually kind of surprised it took so long for people to finally catch up with the people who were leaking.
CARLSON: Do you think there's any kind of behavior that can't be justified in - in terms of resisting Trump--
HEMINGWAY: Well that's what --
CARLSON: --that the Left wouldn't resort to?
HEMINGWAY: --we've seen this with this - this set of leaks and so many of the other sets of leaks that there is no norm, there's no - there's no line that cannot be crossed or violated in service of resisting President Trump.
And you have had a lot of people say it's crazy to think that there's a Deep State that would be conspiring with the media to - to undermine the President. And yet, you have stories like this. This is not the first person to be arrested for leaking or lying about leaking.
You had James Wolfe, the Senate Staffer who was sleeping with a reporter and sharing information with multiple reporters. You had Reality Winner who was sharing information. There are a lot of people who have not even begun to be caught such as the people who--
CARLSON: Right.
HEMINGWAY: --did criminal leaking related to Mike Flynn. And, in fact, I don't think the FBI has been doing a particularly good job of tracking these leaks. This one today--
CARLSON: Yes, I noticed that.
HEMINGWAY: --was really largely response - it was the Treasury Inspector General. So there's a lot to be done here if people care about having a government that makes sense and is not conspiring against the President.
CARLSON: Yes, and doesn't crush unpopular citizens because it doesn't like who they voted for. Mollie, great to see you tonight. Thank you--
HEMINGWAY: Great to see you.
CARLSON: --for that clear explanation.
HEMINGWAY: Thanks.
CARLSON: Well it's going to be 4/20 every day north of the border. Canada is legalizing marijuana nationwide. Potheads are psyched. How should you feel about it? It could be coming here. What would that mean for us? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Well Canada has become just the second country in the history of the world to fully legalize the sale of marijuana, as well as the recreational consumption.
Much like young Americans, young Canadians increasingly can't afford to buy homes or start families or even have cars. More and more of them are stuck living at home with their parents, whom they will make less than as they get older.
These are huge problems. No one's even thinking about how to fix them. But, at least, young people will be too high to notice, maybe they won't complain.
Is this idea coming to the United States? Of course, it is. Mason Tvert is a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. He joins us tonight. Mason, thanks a lot for coming on tonight. Does it--
MASON TVERT, AMERICAN MARIJUANA RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Thank you so much for having me.
CARLSON: --of course. Does it bother you when big business and government align to make young people more passive and compliant?
TVERT: Well it bothers me when government creates foolish laws that destroy the lives of countless young and older people alike, for using a substance that's objectively less harmful than alcohol. And, you know--
CARLSON: Right.
TVERT: --marijuana is out there, so rather than forcing it into the underground market, criminalizing people for using it, let's actually control it. Let's regulate it. Let's treat it more like alcohol and - and do what we can to minimize the potential harm around it.
CARLSON: Right. I mean we're not doing anything to minimize the harm around it, obviously, we're never going to do that. In fact, it's become more potent. And, by the way, I would concede that in a lot of ways alcohol is more threatening than marijuana, for sure. But it's also less deadening.
And that's kind of the point about marijuana. Government isn't in the marijuana business because it wants to minimize harm. It wants to make money in tax revenue, but it also wants to keep young people passive and stupid and less likely to complain and revolt when the economy they've created doesn't serve young people. You don't see this?
TVERT: I think it's actually kind of a - a - an absurd notion seeing as marijuana's long been associated with younger people revolting. I mean marijuana became popular in the 60s during the Anti-war movement and--
CARLSON: Hey Mason, do you - do you smoke a lot of weed--
TVERT: --has long been said to do something revolutionary--
CARLSON: --Mason? Come on now, come on now, I grew up in California. I know what marijuana is. It does not make you--
TVERT: No--
CARLSON: --more likely to do anything is the truth, as you know. I know firsthand--
TVERT: I think that's a foolish--
CARLSON: --and I know you do too.
TVERT: --stereotype. That's like saying everyone who enjoys--
CARLSON: It's not a foolish stereotype. It's reality.
TVERT: --that's like saying everyone who enjoys a cocktail after work with their friends is a lush. It's just not true.
CARLSON: Well I'm not - no, no, but I'm not, but hold on--
TVERT: There are countless productive people who use cannabis.
CARLSON: --I'm not arguing that.
TVERT: It's not a big deal.
CARLSON: Yes.
TVERT: I mean the last few presidents, the last, you know, we've had Supreme Court Justices, we've had countless businesspeople I mean it - it's not--
CARLSON: No, no, you're - you're totally missing it--
TVERT: --a problem for adults to use it--
CARLSON: --you're - you're totally missing it.
TVERT: --responsibly.
CARLSON: I'm not - I'm not arguing that. I'm not arguing it is a problem for people to smoke marijuana occasionally. I don't think it is. I'm not a prohibitionist by temperament at all, and I'm not a neo-Puritan unlike everyone on the Left. I'm just saying if you make it legal many more young people will use it much more often. This we know. It's true of everything.
TVERT: That's not what - no - well that's actually--
CARLSON: No, hold on --
TVERT: --not what we're seeing. If you look at--
CARLSON: Well it is what - I mean it is what--
TVERT: --if you look at Colorado, Washington--
CARLSON: --we're seeing --
TVERT: --Oregon, Nevada, every state--
CARLSON: --right yes. Spare me--
TVERT: --that's made marijuana legal has not seen an increase in teen use.
CARLSON: Really? That's not true, actually. And spare me the fake numbers--
TVERT: It's a - it's a fact.
CARLSON: --but let me - OK. It's actually not a fact by the way.
TVERT: Well talk to the state governments in each of those states.
CARLSON: OK. OK. But let me just ask you though, over populations, it is true that marijuana, and this is a clinical matter that has been studied longitudinally of a lot over decades, makes people less likely to act. It makes them more passive.
And I'm just saying if you were running a system that was not serving young people, serving them so badly, a lot of them became socialists, wouldn't you want them passive and spacey and out of it? And wouldn't you also want to collect the tax revenue and continue your alliance with creepy big cannabis companies? I mean that's kind of what's going on--
TVERT: Oh man I--
CARLSON: --right?
TVERT: --I - honestly, I think it's bizarre that you want the government to use this as a way to criminalize a whole population of people and control the people. You want it to be illegal--
CARLSON: But that is what they're doing--
TVERT: --you want it to be a crime for adults to use a substance less harmful--
CARLSON: No.
TVERT: --than one that's legal for you or me or--
CARLSON: No, no, no--
TVERT: --anyone to use.
CARLSON: --no, no, no, but what I'm - what I'm saying is marijuana already was effectively decriminalized in most place - not every place, and there are people--
TVERT: Well--
CARLSON: --who did jail terms for weed.
TVERT: --no.
CARLSON: No, yes.
TVERT: Hundreds of thousands of Americans--
CARLSON: OK.
TVERT: --are arrested every year--
CARLSON: No, that's not--
TVERT: --for marijuana because--
CARLSON: --no, no--
TVERT: --that's how it's been going on --
CARLSON: --yes, no. No one in most places is arrested for a joint. Look--
TVERT: OK. Talk to the FBI, Tucker.
CARLSON: --we had a Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in a lot of places. I have --
TVERT: Several hundred thousand--
CARLSON: --I have --
TVERT: --Americans are arrested every year--
CARLSON: OK.
TVERT: --for marijuana. They announced it.
CARLSON: But you could--
TVERT: It's a fact.
CARLSON: --but hold on. You could very easily, in effect, decriminalize it for small amounts without legalizing, which means every time I walk through Times Square, someone is hitting a vape or smoking a joint, which is what it is now. I'm saying it's a totally different thing, as you know. But big companies--
TVERT: It's illegal in Times Square. Don't you see--
CARLSON: --want to profit from this.
TVERT: --what you're saying is that it's illegal in Times Square. The point is the approach does --
CARLSON: I'm saying it's already been decriminalized--
TVERT: --not anything --
CARLSON: --as you know, like in New York City and - and Washington D.C., it's legal and people smoke it on the street. People smoke more--
TVERT: It's not legal to smoke it on the street. And if you do--
CARLSON: --when there's less of a sanction.
TVERT: --you're going to get cited just like you would--
CARLSON: You're wrong.
TVERT: --it you were drinking--
CARLSON: You're totally wrong. You know--
TVERT: --a beer on the street.
CARLSON: --I thought you did this for a living. That's not true. You don't get - nothing happens to you--
TVERT: Tucker, I will give you a million dollars--
CARLSON: --when you smoke weed in New York.
TVERT: --if you - if you can prove it's legal to use marijuana on the street--
CARLSON: No. It's not - no, but you're not--
TVERT: --in New York City or D.C.
CARLSON: --you're missing my point. It's not enforced. As you know, de Blasio said to cops, I just talked to him about it. It's not enforced, now. That's better than legalizing it. The only thing that will do is--
TVERT: This is the most--
CARLSON: --make it more common--
TVERT: --absurd thing I've ever heard. You're denying the facts--
CARLSON: It's not a --
TVERT: --it's a fact that thousands--
CARLSON: --no, you're denying reality.
TVERT: --and thousands of people are arrested in New York every year--
CARLSON: Look--
TVERT: --for marijuana possession. It's just a fact. And - and I just don't understand--
CARLSON: What you are doing - you're - what's - what's --
TVERT: --like you think it's this conspiracy to dumb down--
CARLSON: --no, it's not a conspiracy.
TVERT: --America.
CARLSON: Well it's literally that but it's also a conspiracy for people--
TVERT: That's funny.
CARLSON: --like you to get rich from selling it. Let's be honest. This is big corporations--
TVERT: So--
CARLSON: --trying to get rich from getting kids to smoke more weed, and I'm sure you've got a piece of it. Don't give me that personal freedom garbage. This is another--
TVERT: So, do you think that - do you think alcohol should be illegal--
CARLSON: --corporation trying to profit--
TVERT: --do you think it to be illegal --
CARLSON: --no, of course, I'm not saying it should be illegal--
TVERT: --do you think - do you think Coors and Anheuser-Busch--
CARLSON: --we're already here --
TVERT: --are - are evil corporations and that they're - they're just out there to destroy--
CARLSON: Yes, I think that people who put--
TVERT: --the world and make money?
CARLSON: --no, not to destroy the world.
TVERT: You - do you think that?
CARLSON: But I think people have pushed--
TVERT: --you think that - you think that--
CARLSON: --out --
TVERT: --alcohol should be illegal and that--
CARLSON: No, I'm not saying it should be illegal. I'm saying--
TVERT: --that these companies should--
CARLSON: --there's a middle way.
TVERT: --not be there to provide--
CARLSON: Yes. I'm not - I'm not flacking--
TVERT: --a product that's --
CARLSON: --right, yes. A product, it's just a product, no, it like destroys people. I've seen it. Anyway, we're out of time. I wish we could keep going because you know--
TVERT: Anytime. Please have--
CARLSON: --what I'm saying is true.
TVERT: --me back.
CARLSON: Good to see you.
With the fall election nearing, we're taking a closer look at the candidates that Democrats have put up in key races across the country.
Up next, we'll take a look at the man they've chosen to be the next Governor of Florida. He's ahead in the polls, apparently, which would make you nervous once you hear the details. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Well recently, you've probably seen quite a few of the usual chintuggers on television denouncing Saudi Arabia for the disappearance and probable death of Journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Trump Administration, they're telling us, isn't doing enough in response to this. Why? Well, of course, because Trump loves dictators. He just does, loves the dictators.
It's not really true. The real reason that Trump is being soft on the Saudis, if he is, in fact, being soft is because the people who surround him are pushing him to do that. Neo-cons love the Saudis because the Saudis oppose Iran. It's that simple, and nothing that's happened in the last week is going to change that.
Now, we're not here to endorse Saudi Arabia. It's obviously a corrupt medieval desert theocracy. But we should pause for a moment and point out the hypocrisy from our own press. Saudi Arabia has been in the news for a long time like a 100 years.
And none of them ever seem to care about Saudi implication in 9/11, Saudi government funding radical Islamic ideology around the world, funding insurgents in Syria, radical Imams in the West, they barely even covered the Saudi - Saudi military campaign in Yemen, which has been horrifying.
And then, twice in the past two years, this country, the United States bombed Syria, even though no apparent American interests were at stake there. Why did we do that? Well in part because Saudi Arabia pushed us to do it. And you know what the media said? They loved it. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA: It was required to take direct military action to degrade the use of - of chemical weapons by the murderous Assad regime.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very clear to me that this President after using such rhetoric on Sunday has to take strong - stronger military action than we did last year.
JAMES ANDREW HIMES, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FOR CONNECTICUT'S 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, DEMOCRATIC PARTY MEMBER, NEW DEMOCRAT COALITION CHAIRMAN: We have a leader who is now a war criminal supported by the Iranians and the Russians. That demands a strong and risky response.
If the West won't stand up when a leader uses gas multiple times against his own people, we live in a very dangerous world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: You know what you just heard? You just heard the Saudi line on foreign policy. And all those little robots were repeating it uncritically, as they have for decades. Now they're whipping around and saying that Trump is sucking up to the Saudis because he's got a soft spot for strongmen.
Well, really? If you're concerned about sucking up to strongmen what do you make of what the media and the Left more broadly has done with the biggest and most heinous and powerful, by the way, dictatorship in the world every single day? That would - of course, would be the Chinese government.
China has murdered far more people than Saudi Arabia even considered beheading. The press doesn't care. And, in fact, as that - they whine that the President - our President has been too hard on China. Boohoo.
So someday, in the very near future, when China surpasses the United States in the size of its economy and military power, they'll be ready to bow down to their new overlords just like Kent Brockman on The Simpsons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRY SHEARER, FICTIONAL CHARACTER VOICE FOR KENT BROCKMAN, THE SIMPSONS: And we'd like to - ah--
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ah--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah--
SHEARER: And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Yes. Sugar caves, that's just in the cartoon. In real life, he'll be working in a Foxconn Factory. Have fun.
Well continuing our coverage of major Democratic candidates in the lead-up to the mid-term election, tonight we take a closer look at the gubernatorial candidate in Florida.
His name's Andrew Gillum. He's the Mayor of Tallahassee. He's currently ahead in the polls, amazingly. And if elected, he has an agenda that Florida has never seen before.
So, Florida has more than half a million illegal immigrants living within the state's borders. His response to this is to describe immigration enforcement of any kind as immoral. He's called for abolishing ICE, for example. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY CO-ANCHOR, CNN: Ron DeSantis, the Republican nominee, had a statement last night about you, Andrew Gillum. He says you want to abolish ICE. You do, correct?
MAYOR ANDREW DEMESE GILLUM, TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA: We want to replace ICE with the Department of Justice.
BERMAN: OK. So--
GILLUM: An entity that has not been tarnished in the same way as - as ICE has.
BERMAN: So - so again - he - so that - he - he says you want to abolish ICE, you say you want to replace it. That's basically the same thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Yes. That's basically the same thing. And he's not embarrassed of it. Why would he be? He also has long-standing ties with a group called the Dream Defenders. It's a radical Left-wing group based in the State of Florida.
Dream Defenders have denounced the very existence of, well, let's say, police and prisons, and called for the elimination of national borders. They have also called America, "The planet's biggest bully."
Gillum's response has been to brag about sneaking food to the Defenders when they occupied the capital of Florida. Gillum is also a big fan of radical, genuinely radical, billionaire George Soros. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES DAVID TODD, AMERICAN TELEVISION JOURNALIST, CURRENT MODERATOR OF NBC'S MEET THE PRESS, HOST OF MTP DAILY ON MSNBC, NBC NEWS POLITICAL DIRECTOR: --you were supported by two billionaires who came in and helped your campaign. And - and largely your campaign early on was funded by them, George Soros and Tom Steyer. How do you square sort of a populist, progressive campaign that wants to get big money, you know, among other things, get big money out of politics, get dark money out of politics, and yet it's billionaires that have to prop up your campaign?
GILLUM: Well, I'll tell you, I - I'm obviously deeply appreciative of - of Mr. Soros, as well as Mr. Steyer, both men whom I've known for some time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Well he's not shy about it anyway. And although, it has nothing directly to do with running the State of Florida, Gillum thinks that Trump is a racist, racist, who must be impeached.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GILLUM: This President is wrong for Florida on almost every issue. And, as Governor, I will fight against each and every one of his wrong-headed, racist and sexist policies.
Donald Trump should be impeached now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Racist. That guy could be running the State of Florida. Not a small thing, it's not a small state.
Lisa Boothe is a Fox News Contributor. She's been following this race closely and she joins us tonight--
LISA BOOTHE, FOX NEWS CO-HOST, OUTNUMBERED, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S VOICE SENIOR FELLOW: Hi, Tucker. It's kind of--
CARLSON: --for an update.
BOOTHE: --terrifying, isn't it?
CARLSON: Well little bit considering that, you know, half the population of Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey is now living there to get away from the lunacy. And then, out of nowhere, Andrew Gillum looks like he could be the next governor. So very quickly, did we mischaracterize that? I don't want to be unfair.
BOOTHE: No.
CARLSON: And does he really have a shot to win?
BOOTHE: He - he does. Look, the - the race is within the margin of error, so there's still hope for Florida. So if you're a Florida - Floridian at home, there's still hope there. But look, the guy's a socialist. He hasn't outright called himself that, but he's embraced the endorsement of Bernie Sanders.
There's literally no daylight between his policies and Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez outside of the fact that she would essentially be irrelevant as one of 435 whereas he would be the Governor of Florida, as you mentioned, an important state.
This guy, as you mentioned, supports abolishing ICE. He supports single- payer --payer healthcare system. He wants to raise taxes on job creators in the state by a billion dollars, making the tax rate higher than New York and California.
So, all those businesses that have flocked to Florida to try to get away from higher taxes are going to be heading in the opposite direction. And I think the most troubling, Tucker, is the Dream Defenders group.
As you mentioned, this is a group that wants to abolish the police that wants to abolish prisons. They believe in a border free world. So, I mean this is a very radical and dangerous group, and he signed their manifesto. He signed their pledge, the freedom papers.
CARLSON: It just - it scares me for what it says about the country, if someone like that wins. Lisa, thank you very much for that, I appreciate it.
BOOTHE: Thank you, Tucker.
CARLSON: Well Google, the most powerful monopoly in the world, says it will not work with the U.S. Pentagon for ethical reasons. But there's no problem helping the dictatorship of China repress its own people. Not making that up, unfortunately. That story's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Well tech monopoly, Google, recently refused to work with the United States Pentagon. It cited ethical concerns for refusing to do that. Whatever ethics the country has though do not keep it from working with China's fascist government.
The CEO of Google confirmed recently that Google is, in fact, working on a censored search engine that will help the Chinese government repress its own people. Potentially, it could allow the government to track who is using it, who is making those searches, controversial ones.
Well Roger McNamee has watched the evolution of the tech sector from the very beginning. He was an early Facebook investor. He's the - also the author of the book Zucked, and he joins us tonight.
Roger, thanks a lot for coming on.
ROGER MCNAMEE, ELEVATION PARTNERS FOUNDING PARTNER, ZUCKED AUTHOR: My pleasure, Tucker.
CARLSON: So the - well leaving aside whether it's right or wrong to help Google - to help China repress its own population, should a company that is willing to do that have control of all of our data in this country?
MCNAMEE: Tucker, I think you're absolutely right to focus on this issue. The - the problem you have here is China's an enormous market and Google apparently cannot resist the temptation to do business there.
And the problem is you can only do business on the country's terms, which require not only censorship but reporting anyone who makes searches that are considered inappropriate by the government.
And the Google employees, I think, are very concerned about this. I think there's a lot of internal dissent. But I think that the management team, for whatever reason, is determined to go ahead with this. And I don't think Google, 10 years ago, would have done this. I think this is--
CARLSON: But is that --
MCNAMEE: --a new thing.
CARLSON: Is that really the - you know, it's a big market. I mean that'd be like saying, you know, I'm selling Fentanyl to kids but like a lot of kids want Fentanyl, so like--
MCNAMEE: Absolutely --
CARLSON: --I should sell it to them.
MCNAMEE: I - I don't think there is any other explanation for it. I mean these people are looking at this as they are bigger than any one country. They - remember, Google's mission has always been to have all of the world's information, right, to control all the world's information?
And so they view China as a huge part of the world and they want to control all of it. I mean I - I think they would tell you this has been their core mission. And, in my mind, it's completely inappropriate. I just I - it really bothers me.
I know it bothers a lot of employees at Google. And I don't know how this is going to turn out. But I hope in the end, push back, from you and from others are going to make them back off of this.
CARLSON: So, Google is, among other things, you know, one of the most technologically advanced companies in the world. This technology is far more sophisticated than anything the Pentagon has. So why wouldn't, at some point, Google become a threat potentially to the U.S. government? Why shouldn't our government be worried about this?
MCNAMEE: Well I - I - I am worried about it. I'm particularly worried about artificial intelligence because Google's obviously demonstrated a complete commitment to doing business in China on - on Chinese terms.
And they have put themselves forward to our government is the leading artificial intelligence developer in the country, and they want the government to finance Google to develop more artificial intelligence for our national security.
And in my mind, it is completely inappropriate to be doing the same thing for China they're doing for us, I mean, for the very reasons you're describing. It doesn't make any sense at all.
CARLSON: So we've only got 30 seconds left, but I - I just want to know, why are American lawmakers mute in the face of these obvious threats to U.S. then?
MCNAMEE: Well, to be clear, I think there are a lot of lawmakers who are concerned about it. I think that right now, for whatever reason, Congress is focused on other issues, and this one is gigantic.
And you know there was a hearing in Washington and Google did not show up. And this was not the core focus. But it was issues like this one, and Google chose not to go as though they are somehow immune from having to testify in front of our Congress.
And - and, in my mind, it's just completely inappropriate. And that stuff's got to stop.
CARLSON: When you're that big you can do what you want, I guess. Roger McNamee--
MCNAMEE: No, actually you shouldn't be allowed to do it your way. I'm sorry.
CARLSON: I agree. I totally agree.
MCNAMEE: This - this is America. You got to - you're either on the team or you're off the team, you know.
CARLSON: That's the attitude that they don't have. Thank you.
MCNAMEE: Yes.
CARLSON: God bless you for saying that.
MCNAMEE: Take care.
CARLSON: That's it for us tonight. We'll be back tomorrow 8:00 P.M., to the show that is the sworn, and cheerful, enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink. DVR it if you haven't already. Tomorrow is going to be a great show. We have an investigation underway into censorship online, and we'll tell you what we found.
Meanwhile, Sean Hannity, live from New York. Hey, Sean?
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: All right, Tucker. Hey, great show as always. I'm looking forward to that report.
CARLSON: Thanks.
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