In today’s politically charged climate, discussions surrounding the integrity of our justice system have become increasingly prevalent. Recently, Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, a former attorney general, voiced serious concerns regarding the alleged corruption within the FBI and Department of Justice, as well as the impact of politicized judges on the fabric of American democracy. This blog post aims to delve into the assertions made by Schmitt, examining the veracity of his claims and the broader implications they hold for our nation. By unpacking the nuances of his statements and assessing the evidence presented, we strive to provide a clear and factual overview of this critical dialog. Join us as we fact-check the claims, investigate their context, and explore what they mean for the rule of law in America.

Find a fact check of this transcript on CheckForFacts

Transcript:

[00:00:00,000]: So you were attorney general of the state of Missouri for four years and you’ve been in the Senate for three Yeah almost three almost three

[00:00:08,659]: What job was more powerful

[00:00:11,439]: Well I think the the Senate is sort of the the apex of how you can affect a number of things But the Senate in many ways is kind of broken the way it’s currently constituted and yeah it’s it’s the you know Proclaimed to be the world’s most deliberative body but it’s a lot of its kabuki theater Yes honestly but um but I think in the time in which I served as Attorney General when you had a Democrat president you could affect a lot of things by challenging the the Extremism we saw from the by the ministration in court and win and you didn’t need to ask him by his permission for that you could Just make that decision

[00:00:43,639]: You didn’t need 50 other people to vote for it

[00:00:46,500]: So So I think for me at that time it was just it was a critical Moment in our country’s history and I just happened to be in that position at that time And you got to remember too

[00:00:58,159]: I think if you take a step back President Trump was out of office and so this responsibility sort of fell to a Relatively unknown group of people to kind of hold the line which is why you know the the last line of defense and how to beat the left in court is the title of the book because I felt like we were really holding the line for the country until reinforcements could come and thankfully they came with President Trump You It’s just interesting and you were principled and very aggressive which are the two I think qualities necessary to succeed In it really in any job But the reason I asked the question is because serving in the Senate is you know It’s the highest level for a legislator you travel to any country in the world You go through the you know diplomatic airport terminal you get a motorcade

[00:02:05,580]: I mean it’s a big deal to be a US senator But it does seem like the center of gravity has shifted from the legislative branch To the courts

[00:02:15,460]: I mean it does seem like Courts have more power than voters

[00:02:19,460]: I’m not Will you flush it out a little bit

[00:02:21,880]: Yeah I’ve had both jobs

[00:02:22,720]: Yeah

[00:02:22,839]: No I think It is a and one of the reasons why I wanted to to write the book was to number one Lay out the landscape because in that job you saw I saw The threats that were coming from all directions from the highest levels of government and the censorship enterprise that was created by Biden and big tech companies To the local Superintendent that somehow got bought into this training that you divide every classroom by race through critical race theory So you got to see that entirety of the landscape

[00:02:56,220]: Yes and take action at tail in detail and and take action and that is what I loved about the job is if you were Committed to taking action you can make a difference and that was happening in the court So so to answer your question I think conservatives for a long time have viewed the courts as sort of the Where the left wins where they Cement their policies because judges sort of make it up as they go along

[00:03:21,639]: I do think there’s an opportunity now Especially after Trump’s first term when he appointed 200 plus federal judges and now in the second term We’re gonna have more members of the judiciary the view the law as it is not how they want it to be But that also requires people to step up and push back and you know you just think of the wins that we were able to have like Preventing a hundred million people being forced to be vaccinated Because OSHA which was a you know An agency created to make sure forklifts beep when they back up somehow created this rule that a hundred million people had to be Vaccinated to keep their jobs

[00:03:58,339]: You just think of the guy that’s like swinging the hammer

[00:04:00,919]: It just wants to feed his family He had to do that to keep his job

[00:04:04,100]: It’s totally insane

[00:04:04,820]: So we went to the Supreme Court on that we won Of course the student loan debt forgiveness case Missouri had a Little known loan servicing agency called mo Hila that gave us standing to sue our argument was look Well he was this loan servicing agency If you eliminate all the student loan debt which he wasn’t allowed to do by law that might go out of business Therefore we had standing to bring suit to challenge Biden’s action and we won the Supreme Court said yeah Joe Biden and the Secretary of Education didn’t have any authority to wipe away a half a trillion dollars worth of debt so we took that the Supreme Court when we had some wins on the border wall to stave that off as Long as we could even though ultimately this mass migration plan that that Joe Biden had came through but I think probably the biggest example was You know we intuitively knew that something was happening inside the Biden administration to suppress speech and we filed that lawsuit in May of 2022 and We sought discovery first before we sought a preliminary injunction That was an important like strategic decision and the judge granted it and because of that we saw all of the emails We saw all of the text messages This vast censorship enterprise that had been created was exposed and this was before Elon Musk buys Twitter It’s before you had the congressional hearings and I think you know being able to Draw attention to that and flesh out the truth through our court system was a really important thing to do so yes I think this is a front that we have to fight in and That’s what this is

[00:05:38,600]: This is sort of like hey We took on when when school districts were forcing five year olds to wear masks all day long We sued 65 school districts in the state of Missouri and we won When when the biggest cities in St In Missouri we’re forcing people to wear masks all day long and closed businesses

[00:05:54,940]: We sued and we won When we took on ESG We launched an investigation against some of the biggest banks in the world who controlled nearly half of the assets in this country We opened up an investigation because we were saying that their their their actions violated antitrust laws

[00:06:10,559]: They backed away so really the story I think is There requires a lot of courage Right to go do this stuff But if you do it you find out that when you’re in the arena what people are really looking for is Authentic leadership right

[00:06:26,079]: They can people can spot a phony and If you really believe this stuff and you’re fighting for the people the kid who’s wearing that have to wear the mask or the deaf student who couldn’t learn we would get you know reports of these things were happening in school districts that you can fight for those people and As attorney general I was able to go do that and we were able to score some big wins and also It lays out I think a playbook for the future Because this isn’t the last of it

[00:06:49,480]: You already see the you know the left wing lawfare Machine coming out to try to stop President Trump’s agenda which is inherently disruptive of the status quo which is a good thing So they want the status quo to come back We want things to change and you’re gonna need people who are aggressive to defend those things too It’s also a really sad story

[00:07:08,980]: I want it because it none of this should have to happen I want to ask you about the details particularly of the censorship regime in a moment But first it just it seems like an attorney general and an ideal society would be fighting crime Yeah not trying to push back on social policy changes made in the courts Like that’s the legislative branches job because it’s the most democratic arm of government obviously so it reflects most precisely what the people want How do we get to a place where

[00:07:39,640]: Every big social change from abortion to gay marriage to censorship to cover all of this stuff is Determined in the courts and where the hell is Congress right

[00:07:49,959]: Well Congress has abdicated its responsibility to a lot of these administrative agencies over the decades right

[00:07:55,859]: and so honestly some of the court actions that you take on like You know this is a little bit in the weeds But the Chevron deference that existed were essentially the court said yeah we’re gonna defer to these agencies because they’re the so called experts Well that got blown up and that’s a good thing now in Congress Congress actually now has to write laws that are more prescriptive We should we should do that but Congress has abdicated its responsibility for a couple of reasons but most notably I think because They’re able to say many congressmen are able to say I voted for this greatest bill in the world But I can’t believe what the EPA just did

[00:08:25,660]: Well that’s not good enough anymore I don’t think right you’ve got to rein in the authority of these agencies that have gone Completely rogue and it kind of starts with Woodrow Wilson in this progressive era

[00:08:35,460]: Yes

[00:08:36,020]: It’s it’s it’s hypercharged by FDR And then this monstrosity by the way which has existed and grown in Republican and Democrat administrations over the years One of the things I think that’s most most exciting about what President Trump is doing is he put together this group of disruptors to disrupt that and so But look at the hue and cry that comes out in DC when you’re trying to like pare down the size of government people lose their minds and why again the courts are gonna be really important here because President Trump and the exact whoever the executive is certainly has article two core powers to control programming and personnel right and The Democrats don’t want him to go do that now The good news is he’s by and large won these cases there might be a district court case here there But that ultimately makes as it makes its way to the appellate courts the Supreme Court President Trump is winning on this front So again I think it’s a testament to the idea we have to be willing to fight whether it’s in the legislative branch in the executive branch or in the article 3 branch for The things that we hold dear in this country because they’re constantly under assault by the left

[00:09:41,859]: That’s for sure It’s pretty obvious now that this country is getting weaker than ever mean the population is unhealthier That’s what Maha is about trying to counteract this long term trend

[00:09:53,080]: That’s Culminated in a disaster Americans are so unhealthy

[00:09:56,080]: We can’t staff the military and it’s really really sad

[00:09:58,520]: Why is this happening

[00:09:59,799]: Maybe because sick people are easier to control whatever the reason there are answers to it One of them is joy and blokes

[00:10:07,020]: They are revolutionizing supplements with smart supplements are personalized for you They’re based entirely on your genetics your biomarker data

[00:10:15,440]: They’re not guessing So they use labs advanced labs that measure up to 110 key biomarkers Then their clinicians design a precision supplement plan that’s updated as your body changes So it’s not just off the shelf vitamins

[00:10:31,080]: It’s much more precise in there for much more effective So there are about three billion Possible combinations and the effect is you get exactly what you need and you get nothing that you don’t need you also get 60 To 30 minute consultation depending how much time you need you get access to expert guided hormone care including testosterone Optimization for both men and women longevity medicine cutting edge peptide therapy and you get it all from home Right now new customers get 50 off all diagnostic labs plus 20 off all products and therapies You also get a free 15 minute health coach consult and the effect is the desired effect stronger sharper more energy You get it right away go to joy and blokes JOI and blokes com

[00:11:18,059]: Slash Tucker root cause medicine

[00:11:20,400]: It’s the way health care ought to be but the net effect is to Convince people in a way that was not true when I was a kid that the courts are political even even the highest court is fundamentally a political body which maybe has always been true but it does seem a little scary when everyone thinks that because I Mean it used to be if there’s Supreme Court you know decision you have to abide by it whether you like it or not Yeah but if people think it’s all just partisan then Maybe they stop obeying

[00:11:48,599]: Yeah but I think that’s again why

[00:11:51,200]: And I reference this in the book when I was sort of coming of age when I went to law school People were still talking about this thing called the living Constitution which is a fiction right it should be in Scalia was the first one who wrote with this sort of dramatic prose about originalism and I think that’s our best hope moving forward is the Constitution means exactly what it says nothing more nothing less right

[00:12:14,340]: It shouldn’t be the Supreme Court shouldn’t be this super legislator Which is what the left is traditionally wanted you take Roe versus Wade for example right

[00:12:22,539]: they sort of invented this right out of whole cloth and Took that decision away from the people as this is supposed to be decided in the states by Legislatures and now we’re kind of back to that

[00:12:32,099]: So my hope is that as you have a more conservative court it’s not about our Ideology winning because somebody’s wearing a red jersey or a blue jersey It’s that Congress passes laws and those laws are interpreted as they are written Not making stuff up as you go along and I think that’s what we need to get to is return to that That’s the only way you’re gonna have credibility But the Democrats you know when Chuck Schumer is saying you’re gonna reap a whirlwind and you have these hearings about you know Trying to on the Supreme Court We know especially they target Clarence Thomas

[00:13:03,380]: They really despise him for a variety of reasons But he is you know now I think like the sixth longest serving Supreme Court justice of all time But but they want to undermine the courts because ultimately they want to pack the court and that’s if they ever really I mean if you Play this out Tucker if they ever had What we have right now which is a Republican or a Democrat House Democrat Senate Democrat president They would pack the Supreme Court

[00:13:28,719]: They would make DC a state maybe Puerto Rico

[00:13:30,880]: They would federalize our elections They would have amnesty I mean they are they are in this now for a total power grab and I just want to make sure there’s judges that view again view the laws It’s written out how they want it to be

[00:13:44,900]: That’s all you can ask for you See what has happened in Brazil Bolsonaro lost a couple of years ago to a socialist Lula convicted felon and Everyone imagined that Lula would you know move the country hard left

[00:13:56,580]: Which I think you’d like to do but it’s really been a Supreme Court justice Who has made all the major decisions in Brazil ever since

[00:14:05,440]: I mean basically that country is run by a single Supreme Court justice in a way

[00:14:10,059]: That’s a you know it’s a dictatorship

[00:14:11,919]: Yeah How how does that not happen here

[00:14:15,200]: Well I think it’s we’re we were perilously close to that happening here through lawfare right you just think of what and We can get into it on the sort of the Russia hoax stuff but what that did it gave all the folks on the left a sort of a reason or a cause to undermine not just The president of the United States but to spy on a on a candidate like they did I think justice should be coming for the people that are involved Brendan Clapper Comey there should be indictments that come because what they did to this country Not just for those four years But it extended when Trump was of course out of office and they tried to put him in jail for the rest of his life bankrupt his entire family The hunter Biden laptop part of the FBI was very well aware

[00:15:02,559]: I mean we took the deposition in Missouri versus Biden of Elvis Chan Who admitted that they had months and months of monthly meetings pre bunking that story telling them there was a Russian hack and leak operation Yoel Roth who was the integrity person at Twitter said they specifically mentioned the hunter Biden the laptop The FBI had the laptop in November of 2019

[00:15:24,840]: They had it all along but they were claiming it was a Russian hack and leak operation So how do you get there

[00:15:29,140]: Well you have a system that’s captured by people Who were obsessed with taking President Trump down and then they never wanted to get back in office and they can’t believe it I think what you’re seeing right now this sort of Weird phase the Democrats are and they can’t believe he actually pulled it off

[00:15:44,099]: They can’t believe that he’s back They’ve literally thought he had him buried right

[00:15:47,659]: Yeah we are in this weird phase where the Democrat The Democratic Party really doesn’t seem like a factor in The national conversation in American politics all the real fights are between you know our intra Republican fights Publican versus Republican but that’s got to be just a just a period right that we’re in

[00:16:05,440]: Yeah that’s why I think um It it would seem it’s to your point it almost I think the tendency would believe that all of this and now that we’re on the other side of the fever dream That this was all inevitable right that that what we’re seeing all the things that are taking place the dismantling of some of these things You know going after USA ID Having a Justice Department that’s not going after Catholics because they’re traditional Catholics or parents because they show up to school board meetings I think it’s an important reminder which is you know a big part of the book too is just how close we were to losing it all I to me people say power Corrupts I think power reveals More than anything else you see the true nature of people when they have power how they handle it and I think particularly during kovat People who never should have had that kind of power had it and they wielded in ways that people could have never imagined in this country And then you look at the law fair you look at what they were willing to do To dissent to silence dissent

[00:17:08,859]: This is all happening

[00:17:10,079]: Not some other place but here and We have to be vigilant and standing up against that because you know these things we like to think that majorities are forever

[00:17:17,819]: They’re not Right it’s forever and so in many ways it’s sort of a playbook of how you push back What what strategies you employ to go do that and you have to be aggressive and you have to I Think that my biggest takeaway from my time as Attorney General is You have to be willing to be in that arena take the criticism and you know fight for the things that you believe in And I think that is um you know that I asked judges now I’m on the Judiciary Committee when judges come forward I ask less about I mean I want to know what their judicial philosophy is That’s very important

[00:17:49,959]: But to me I think the next phase the next line of questioning

[00:17:53,420]: That’s most important moving forward Is do you have the courage when people are outside your home

[00:17:58,500]: When you’re being threatened When people at the cocktail parties in Washington may not want you to do something

[00:18:03,920]: Will you rule the appropriate way

[00:18:07,780]: That’s what we need more of why would that be a concern well I think we’ve seen Yeah the other way right we have and I don’t think it’s from a lack of decency on the gaming Kony Barrett is an indecent person or like some closet lefty or sandwich on Roberts They’re just afraid like everybody and they want you know they don’t want to be Snarled at when they go to the Chevy Chase Club for cocktails or whatever

[00:18:31,199]: I mean there’s there’s people And so how do you identify the brave ones Clarence Thomas is brave right

[00:18:37,219]: Yeah

[00:18:37,520]: Well he is brave

[00:18:38,660]: Yeah I think um Obviously some maybe some positions that they took

[00:18:42,660]: I mean I’ll just you know Some of the judges that in some of these cases That are that are cited in the book Um You know Basically in the Missouri versus Biden case when we got favorable rulings not only the district court the appellate court I mean really went on a limb and said this is the most egregious violation of the First Amendment We’ve seen in American history when you look at the sprawling expanse of the agencies that were captured by this Okay So would you mind telling that story just from beginning to end because I think even people are interested in the topic may not fully appreciate what happened So the by demonstration comes in and on the third day The third day in office start to begin to hammer this home now there had been Semblances of this that predate the by demonstration in that the FBI for example We took the deposition of Elvis Chan who he was the FBI guy in Northern California

[00:19:36,800]: That’s that’s working with the big tech companies

[00:19:38,680]: Okay even in the Trump administration They were where the FBI was working with Democrats staffers to connect with big tech companies to look for things to censor Under the guise of Russian disinformation right

[00:19:51,880]: This was this was the thing again It’s it’s kind of a legacy of what that hoax really meant for the country That foundation was laid down for a lot of folks in the administrative state or the deep state Whatever you want to call it as a way to undermine an agenda under the guise of this is misinformation or disinformation So when Biden comes into office All these agencies that are galvanized you’re mentioned actually very ironically Tucker Carlson was mentioned Alex Berenson was mentioned RFK jr Were mentioned in these emails about people promoting vaccine hesitancy or these sort of things that they wanted to stamp out So you couldn’t have a debate right

[00:20:28,920]: You couldn’t have a debate about things

[00:20:30,479]: They just wanted those voices silenced deplatformed and so How do you do that

[00:20:37,339]: Well it is so Obviously unconstitutional every child knows that well this well that’s correct The government can’t do it and they shouldn’t be able to outsource it either which is what was happening So they’re out so outsourcing their censorship to some of the biggest companies in the history of the world And so we had some sense of this

[00:20:54,439]: So here’s a company We’re always excited to advertise because we actually use their products every day

[00:20:59,780]: It’s Meriwether farms Remember when everybody knew their neighborhood butcher you look back and you feel like oh there was something really important about that Who cut your meat and at some point your grandparents to the people who raised their meat so they could trust what they ate But that time is long gone

[00:21:16,959]: It’s been replaced by an era of grocery store mystery meat boxed by distant beef corporations None of which raised a single cow unlike your childhood

[00:21:27,099]: They don’t know you they’re not interested in you The whole thing is creepy The only thing that matters to them is money and God knows what you’re eating Meriwether farms is the answer to that They raise their cattle in the US in Wyoming Nebraska and Colorado and they prepare their meat Themselves in their facilities in this country

[00:21:44,239]: No middlemen

[00:21:45,500]: No outsourcing

[00:21:46,699]: No foreign beef sneaking through a back door Nobody wants foreign meat

[00:21:50,959]: Sorry We have a great meat the best meat here in the United States and we buy ours at Meriwether farms Their cuts are pasture raised hormone free antibiotic free and absolutely delicious

[00:22:00,939]: I gorged on one last night You got to try this for real Every day we eat it go to Meriwether farms dot com slash Tucker use the code Tucker 76 for 15 off your first order That’s Meriwether farms dot com slash Tucker But can I say yes I mean there are lawyers involved in every decision that the executive branch makes so White House counsel signs off on that

[00:22:24,719]: Sure Yeah Yeah and by the way in a weird quirk of history um James Baker Who was the um general counsel for the FBI

[00:22:37,359]: Yes Uh goes and after he does his stint at brookings goes is the general counsel for twitter so One hand washes the other they were more than willing to work with the biden administration to censor points of view on that platform Um so you have people who were in this kind of ecosystem all along That were uh didn’t take much convincing but the biden administration knew That they needed to silence this sort of level of dissent

[00:23:04,020]: Um it was you know it was hunter biden laptop It was it was certainly um during covid any kind of questioning of election results or whatever I mean all this stuff was on the table and what they did was is they worked as we took the deputies you know this sort of plays out um but jensaki’s at the podium if you recall saying We’re flagging things that we find offensive for facebook joe biden is threatening to take away section 230 protections What’s section 230 protections

[00:23:31,359]: Those are basically In the 1990s when the internet becomes a thing in the telecommunications act they say that these are platforms that can’t be sued Unlike publishers who can be sued publishers are supposed to be more arbiters of what you can say

[00:23:45,920]: It’s why cnn gets sued by By by president trump for false things but like twitter Facebook those are considered platforms

[00:23:54,180]: They’re immune from lawsuits

[00:23:55,119]: So joe biden starts threatening section 230 protections They start threatening investigations

[00:23:59,579]: So if someone libels you on social media You can sue the person but you cannot see the company that hosted it Whereas if someone libels you in a newspaper or television channel you can sue the newspaper or television

[00:24:09,579]: That’s right Okay and so section 230 protection is a billion multi billion dollar sort of subsidy in some ways Now I happen to think look if that’s if you’re if you’re actually having this platform where people can express their point of view That’s a great thing

[00:24:22,459]: Amen but that’s not what was happening right through immense pressure from the government They were censoring all sorts of things all sorts

[00:24:30,060]: How do they do that

[00:24:30,939]: how does the president or his staff exert pressure on say facebook or Google or twitter so they had direct lines of communication They had a secret portal where executives from these social media companies could communicate directly with high ranking white house officials rob Faraday who was the deputy communications

[00:24:48,459]: Um guy in the biden white house was in constant communication berating these people um Telling them that’s not good enough

[00:24:55,619]: You need to do more Let me assure you this is coming from the highest levels of the administration those sorts of things Were constantly streaming at the uh at the social media companies And then you also had as we took the deposition in that case Of the of people from the cdc they literally the cdc were just giving them lines that they should censor So the government Is saying censor these exact phrases

[00:25:21,099]: Right the the that is exactly what’s there’s giving this off to the social media companies if this is uttered We want you to silence these people you want to platform these people you want me to downgrade throttle these sort of posts um We had um the deposition

[00:25:36,619]: Is that illegal

[00:25:37,459]: No it’s not legal So if it’s illegal Then that by definition means it’s a crime and aren’t crimes supposed to be punished

[00:25:44,439]: Yes they should be absolutely um But we you know we sued the government Um to show censorship a lot of social media companies have been sued before in other cases Um but those ended up in the northern district of california never to be seen again What was unique about our case the missouri versus biden case we sued You know white house officials

[00:26:03,900]: We named them you know personally we named um All these agencies Um and we got to take their depositions sisa which is an agency I know you’re familiar with but maybe maybe in your audience probably of all audiences would know is the cyber security infrastructure um uh administration um security uh administration their job Reportedly was to make sure that you know cyber you know Our our infrastructure is you know resilient against cyber attacks They were very much involved in something called the election integrity project Where they outsourced their censorship to stanford and the university of washington to flag certain posts that would then be given to um social media companies to censor Um the cdc was involved with it sisa was involved with the fbi of course played a role with the pre bunking of the hunter biden laptop Um which they knew was actually real

[00:26:58,119]: They knew it was real They had it in their possession And then they pre bunked it and then when it came out they never actually said when people were asking is this legitimate

[00:27:05,660]: They never actually said no we have it So they were very much a part of this um operation to silence millions of american voices and I think For me the First Amendment

[00:27:17,468]: How many people have been fired at the FBI for that

[00:27:20,288]: Um I don’t know the answer to that

[00:27:21,828]: Right around zero

[00:27:23,228]: And this is the kind of accountability

[00:27:24,768]: Like what the hell is that

[00:27:25,748]: And that’s something that as we talked to you know Cash Patel in his confirmation hearings it’s certainly something that we talked about

[00:27:31,448]: He’s very well aware

[00:27:32,488]: I think having somebody like that who was on the other side of it is a good thing but we certainly need to have more accountability

[00:27:39,868]: But these people it’s just the scale of it was immense

[00:27:45,948]: And it really wasn’t exposed until we filed the lawsuit again

[00:27:49,588]: And then when Elon Musk buys Twitter now X they did the Twitter files and you saw even more of it right

[00:27:56,048]: Like how these people were in charge of this stuff is insane

[00:27:58,888]: What’s interesting from just like a corporate governance point of view like let’s say I’m Mark Zuckerberg

[00:28:04,348]: Seems pretty liberal but not maybe a liberal activist

[00:28:07,928]: But you spend four years getting attacked for censorship when and you never say actually well he did ultimately say but he didn’t say for years I’m only doing this because the Biden people are pushing me to do it

[00:28:21,048]: Like these companies were hurt by this weren’t they

[00:28:25,308]: Yeah I think the Zuckerberg and the Facebook example is really interesting because if you go back in time if you get in the DeLorean here a lot of people blamed Facebook for President Trump’s election

[00:28:41,228]: Remember this

[00:28:42,148]: Yes

[00:28:42,288]: And I think then in the next election cycle whether that was sort of internalized or not Zuckerbucks materializes so Zuckerberg is funding a lot of the voter turnout privately funding election operations which is kind of crazy in 2020 and then gets sort of you know whether completely voluntary or steamrolled by threat of investigation is part of then Facebook very much a part of this censorship regime that existed

[00:29:12,608]: And now Zuckerberg seems to be like red pilled I guess

[00:29:17,188]: I don’t know

[00:29:17,988]: I don’t know how much of this is sincere from these big tech companies or it’s just because President Trump won

[00:29:24,268]: Time will tell

[00:29:25,448]: But it does feel like my hope is that censorship is in retreat a little bit now and that this renaissance you’re seeing that you talk about a lot in your show the First Amendment and free speech and how important that is to the fabric of this country it really is the beating heart of our Constitution the ability to say things that you might find incredibly offensive or even dangerous

[00:29:46,488]: Your ability to defend someone else’s right to do that is really at the core of this American experiment

[00:29:51,968]: And we have to fight for that every you know tooth and nail

[00:29:54,988]: And so that lawsuit I mean just think of the time I was blessed to have a good team

[00:29:58,768]: John Sauer was my solicitor general in Missouri

[00:30:01,588]: He’s now the solicitor general of the United States Four people the first four district judges that have been nominated in Missouri all worked in my office

[00:30:13,048]: There’s another guy who worked in my office who’s now

[00:30:16,368]: The first four all worked in your office

[00:30:20,348]: I think again why that time period was instructive I think there’s a forging that happens in that time of crisis

[00:30:29,928]: And when you come together and you fight the good fight and you come out on the other side there’s a lot of important work to do

[00:30:36,788]: Interestingly also I think RFK Jr is a part of that

[00:30:39,608]: I mean he was one of the guys originally censored

[00:30:42,728]: Now he’s on the inside

[00:30:45,588]: And then another guy who was actually a plaintiff in Missouri versus Biden Dr Jay Bhattacharya who’s now the head of NIH

[00:30:52,908]: He’s on the inside now

[00:30:54,348]: So again I think the Democrats are just

[00:30:56,708]: They can’t believe this is actually what happened

[00:30:59,068]: But the rebels are now kind of are doing some good things I think on the inside

[00:31:03,868]: Dr Bhattacharya was one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration which essentially said something so controversial like there is a thing like natural immunity that can exist for COVID

[00:31:14,628]: They tried to wreck their careers

[00:31:16,468]: Anthony Fauci himself tried to wreck their careers

[00:31:19,348]: He was a well accomplished Stanford professor and now he’s running NIH

[00:31:26,028]: I think there’s a lot of great symmetry to all that

[00:31:30,348]: I believe in forgiveness and mercy

[00:31:33,848]: I think they’re essential to our humanity and we should pursue them

[00:31:38,008]: But also justice is important too

[00:31:41,008]: And why not treat all of these guys like Biden treated the J6 defendants

[00:31:44,748]: I don’t understand

[00:31:45,588]: How was Fauci wandering around Washington still and working at Georgetown and taking the biggest federal pension

[00:31:54,048]: I don’t understand that

[00:31:55,368]: Yeah the Fauci candles the light has dimmed

[00:31:58,428]: The light has dimmed but he’s still around

[00:32:00,768]: And I will tell you that that day it’s one of the last things I did as Attorney General because I was just elected to the Senate and we had this deposition of Anthony Fauci scheduled at the NIH headquarters and took the deposition of Anthony Fauci

[00:32:14,168]: The security in there was I mean only in the White House has I seen security like that

[00:32:17,488]: So Fauci walks in you know shake hands

[00:32:21,888]: Jeff Landry who was the Attorney General from Louisiana now governor had a copy of RFK Jr.’s The Real Anthony Fauci out on the table which I’m sure he did not appreciate

[00:32:32,288]: And probably hadn’t read

[00:32:33,748]: Probably had not read

[00:32:34,948]: You probably heard about 8 Sleep

[00:32:37,868]: Lots of people are talking about it

[00:32:39,168]: It is a company with one mission improving your sleep

[00:32:43,288]: And it’s changing the way people do that the way they get a good night’s rest

[00:32:47,768]: We just got word that their team is launching a new product

[00:32:50,828]: It’s called the Pod 5

[00:32:53,168]: It’s an original and innovative mattress cover plus a blanket that uses precision temperature control to regulate your body’s sleep cycles and give you the perfect sleep which really really matters

[00:33:03,568]: It can range all the way from 55 degrees to 110 degrees meaning that you’re covered no matter what

[00:33:10,288]: It’s like electric blanket to the next level but also a cooling blanket

[00:33:14,688]: So it makes you sleep better

[00:33:16,848]: Temperature has a massive effect on the way you sleep

[00:33:19,848]: By the way it also detects And then it adjusts your bed position to reduce or completely stop it

[00:33:28,988]: So there are a lot of ladies in America who are going to be grateful for this product

[00:33:32,868]: Everybody who works here will tell you because they all use it that there’s no better way to be alert productive and happy than by sleeping well

[00:33:39,988]: And 8 Sleep really does help

[00:33:42,668]: Visit 8Sleep com

[00:33:43,868]: slash Tucker

[00:33:44,468]: Use the code Tucker to get 350 bucks off your Pod 5 Ultra

[00:33:48,628]: If you don’t like it you return it within a month

[00:33:50,328]: That won’t happen

[00:33:51,488]: We think you’ll love it but you can if you want

[00:33:55,508]: 8Sleep com

[00:33:56,388]: slash Tucker

[00:33:57,848]: That deposition took all day long

[00:34:00,288]: And you get in that kind of setting you get a real sense of a person

[00:34:04,528]: And he said I don’t remember I recall like 174 times which says a lot for a guy who proclaimed to be the science and knew everything

[00:34:12,368]: Suddenly he couldn’t remember much at all

[00:34:14,868]: But when he was confronted with some of the actions early on in COVID again I think you know there’s a the Czech writer Milan Coderre writes that the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory versus forgetting right

[00:34:30,488]: And so I think it’s important to remember these things

[00:34:32,688]: Very early on when it was pretty obvious that this came from a Chinese lab called the Wuhan Institute of Virology what was the Jon Stewart thing when he confronted Colbert

[00:34:47,528]: I mean it’s one of the maybe few smart things he’s ever said

[00:34:49,908]: It’s like maybe it wasn’t a bat who mated with a penguin

[00:34:52,448]: Maybe it was this virology lab with the name on it in Wuhan

[00:34:56,608]: But anyway it was very obvious early on because of the secretive funding

[00:35:04,468]: Basically let’s take a step back

[00:35:05,588]: In 2014 the United States basically said we’re not going to participate in gain of function research anymore

[00:35:10,548]: It’s very dangerous

[00:35:11,568]: Basically hyper charging viruses that can sweep through the world just to find a vaccine that might stop it

[00:35:20,768]: Seems like a bad idea

[00:35:22,348]: It sure does

[00:35:22,928]: So we don’t do that anymore in this country but through the EcoHealth Alliance it’s funded and it’s being done in Wuhan which did not have by the way the safety protocols necessary to do this kind of work

[00:35:33,028]: Apparently not

[00:35:34,488]: So unleashed on the world China lies about it

[00:35:36,648]: The World Health Organization which is bought and paid for by the communists in China they lie about it and then all of a sudden you have this global pandemic

[00:35:44,328]: Fauci knows immediately the problem here and it could come back to him

[00:35:50,008]: And so in the deposition we find out he sends his chief deputy over to China to see what they’re doing with the Chinese government

[00:35:58,228]: And he’s a big fan of these lockdowns

[00:36:00,648]: Big fan

[00:36:01,388]: Comes back and reports back to Fauci all these lockdowns are really working

[00:36:04,588]: And so Fauci then has this idea that that’s what he’s going to create in the United States

[00:36:08,928]: It’s also interesting when he was asked about the efficacy of masks

[00:36:12,348]: He was such a proponent that everybody should wear a mask all day long even when you’re outside

[00:36:17,468]: A friend of his emails him and says this is like in April of 2020 hey I’m getting on a flight

[00:36:24,168]: This COVID thing is a thing

[00:36:25,688]: Do I need to wear a mask

[00:36:26,548]: He’s like of course not

[00:36:27,688]: Masks are totally ineffective

[00:36:28,568]: You don’t need to wear a mask

[00:36:29,968]: So like masks off right

[00:36:32,968]: But it’s very telling

[00:36:34,188]: And he meant to undermine anybody who disagreed with him

[00:36:39,128]: Participated in studies

[00:36:40,888]: He authorized studies

[00:36:42,308]: He pretended to have nothing to do with that this was from a wet market and not from a lab that he knew was a lie

[00:36:48,708]: And you just think of the damage that was done

[00:36:52,708]: Actually the first time that I ever met RFK Jr I was at a conference in Utah

[00:36:56,468]: This is in probably the summer of 2021

[00:36:59,368]: And he was familiar with some of the work that I’ve been doing to push back on COVID tyranny and these excessive regulations

[00:37:06,668]: So we had a conversation

[00:37:07,848]: He was talking to a few of us and he reminded me of something

[00:37:09,628]: This has been years since I even thought about something called the Milgram Experiment which was done at Yale in the 1950s or the 1960s where essentially people are brought into this room and there’s a guy in a lab coat and a clipboard and tells them that there’s somebody on the other side of the wall and when they get an answer wrong we need you to flip the switch to give a little pain

[00:37:31,608]: And the number of people that would do that even when there were cries in the other room and maybe even someone dying on the other side the willingness of some people to continue to do that because of this authority figure in the white coat

[00:37:44,868]: It haunted me

[00:37:45,328]: When he told me that story and thought about it it haunted me throughout all of this and kind of strengthened my resolve to really push back because in those moments you need people who are willing to stand up and fight back right

[00:37:56,828]: But yeah Fauci was sort of he was heralded as literally some sort of saint like figure

[00:38:03,568]: He had candles and I think some of it was they wanted to make Trump people were really obsessed with making Trump look bad

[00:38:10,448]: The Democrats want to capitalize on this crisis make him pay because you also forget Trump was cruising going into that COVID

[00:38:16,888]: I mean he was on his way to winning I think decisively in the fall of that year and they used COVID for everything it was

[00:38:24,188]: Fauci was sort of this who undermined President Trump used this as alternative figure this whole weird trust the science thing happened then of course you have the summer of 2020 the summer of love and you see all these sort of Marxist organizations rally to create ultimate disruption and then you have the election you have Mark Elias out there trying to undermine all these election integrity measures that have been put in place even in blue states forever

[00:38:49,028]: I mean just think of the level all this stuff happening at one time

[00:38:52,288]: It was a crazy time

[00:38:53,508]: That whole period of time was a crazy time

[00:38:56,228]: It’s unbelievable

[00:38:56,548]: And so that’s what you sort of document some of these things that in Missouri for example we beat back all three of Mark Elias lawsuits to weaken our election integrity laws but he was successful other places and so you just had the whole of kind of the left coming for all the things that we care about

[00:39:12,408]: Borders free speech freedom of movement you know all these sorts of things that you kind of take for granted were up for grabs

[00:39:21,168]: When you talk to Fauci when you deposed him for eight hours you said

[00:39:25,688]: Yeah

[00:39:25,888]: Did you get the feeling he was lying

[00:39:27,868]: Is he a good liar

[00:39:28,928]: He’s pretty yeah he’s a good witness

[00:39:30,928]: I’ll give him that

[00:39:31,768]: He was a good this isn’t his first rodeo he’s been in front of Congress

[00:39:34,808]: He’s very smooth

[00:39:36,648]: But there’s just too many inconsistencies

[00:39:39,008]: Did he seem I mean short of like a sociopath most people when confronted with inconsistencies in their story get uncomfortable

[00:39:46,808]: And a deposition is a place where you definitely confront people

[00:39:49,448]: Yeah the only time he got really uncomfortable I would say is when we continued to question him his authority

[00:39:54,588]: He didn’t like that

[00:39:56,048]: You said this now wait a minute did you change your mind on this

[00:39:58,848]: You know you get to that kind of line of questioning

[00:40:00,568]: He didn’t like people he’s not used to that

[00:40:02,648]: He wasn’t used to that at all

[00:40:03,468]: And by the way I also think another telling moment of that deposition was after the lunch break we came back and the court reporter sneezed and he looked at her and asked her to put a mask on asked her if she had an upper respiratory virus

[00:40:15,848]: She had COVID will you put a mask on

[00:40:17,568]: She put a mask on

[00:40:18,348]: I mean this is by the way November of 2022

[00:40:23,708]: This isn’t like March of 2020

[00:40:26,308]: And this is the guy that was in charge of our nation’s health

[00:40:31,028]: So but I think COVID became a time where these weird masks became like it was the ultimate virtue signal almost like having the stupid sign in this house we believe out in your front lawn thing right

[00:40:43,588]: It became like a way of distinguishing people who were a problem

[00:40:50,028]: The othering that happened in our society is really dangerous

[00:40:54,468]: And I think families and friendships were destroyed over all this

[00:40:58,128]: That’s the kind of power this little guy wielded

[00:41:01,368]: And he’s not been held to account yet

[00:41:03,348]: What do you think the real story was

[00:41:05,928]: Like where did COVID come from

[00:41:08,048]: We assume it came from the lab

[00:41:10,168]: Do we think it was intentional or unintentional in its release

[00:41:14,248]: When do we think the Chinese knew it was circulating among the population

[00:41:19,288]: And to what extent was it a joint creation of the US and China

[00:41:22,908]: Well it’s in the book actually

[00:41:25,928]: The last line of defense

[00:41:27,368]: I feel a little awkward doing that

[00:41:28,468]: I’ve never actually done it

[00:41:29,788]: But it’s actually so the first chapters really kind of go back in time because I think to give context for all the other crazy things we had to push back against it was really important to go back to that moment of when this thing first happened and remember that there was like police tape around kids playgrounds

[00:41:47,248]: They were bulldozing skate parks on beaches

[00:41:51,068]: The level of insanity that took hold it really is wild

[00:41:56,948]: And hopefully we never experience that again but I think it’s important to document those excesses and what people were willing to do to hold on and aggregate and exercise power

[00:42:04,308]: I mean people who literally would county executives and mayors were telling people that you could live your life today or not

[00:42:09,848]: It’s insane what was going on

[00:42:13,028]: But really my first and actually on your show announced the lawsuit

[00:42:17,848]: We sued China

[00:42:18,908]: We sued China in April of 2020 for unleashing this pandemic on the world and I think and ultimately there’s a judgment out there for 24 billion that Missouri has that can go by the way seize farmland now

[00:42:29,368]: So my successor Andrew Bailey is going to have that opportunity and I think he’ll do it

[00:42:33,568]: But anyway I think through our research through public and then of course we wanted to get to discovery which is why we filed the lawsuit was that in November and December of 2019 patient zero enters the hospital

[00:42:49,228]: This is how I see it

[00:42:50,688]: And patient zero likely came from that lab

[00:42:54,788]: that and of course you get to different strains down the line

[00:42:59,848]: It’s left less lethal as any virus is

[00:43:03,208]: But initially that’s where it happened

[00:43:05,808]: It happened in Wuhan and it came from the lab

[00:43:11,828]: a very closed society with communist dictators who have concentration camps wanted to deny its existence for a while

[00:43:22,788]: But within you know by December Dr Li I think is his name Dr Li was on WeChat and said this is what’s happening

[00:43:33,388]: Like this is a virus that came out of a lab and people are dying

[00:43:39,368]: He had to recant that of course and then mysteriously died a couple months later but it was kind of this whistleblower and the Chinese people actually celebrated this guy for blowing the whistle

[00:43:49,028]: So anyway so China discovers that this is a thing

[00:43:52,168]: It’s a very lethal and widespread virus

[00:43:55,348]: Do you believe the release was accidental

[00:43:57,388]: I don’t

[00:43:58,088]: I don’t believe it was on purpose

[00:44:00,428]: I mean it could be but I don’t think so

[00:44:02,088]: I think it got out accidentally

[00:44:04,048]: But the cover up then is almost worse than the crime of course right

[00:44:07,308]: Because then and one of the problems with China is they want to be considered one of these countries on the world stage but then doesn’t do the things that like a country would do to kind of notify everybody

[00:44:16,768]: So what they do then is they close all the flights internal flights in China in and out of Wuhan but they don’t stop the international flights interestingly

[00:44:25,968]: So you can still fly internationally in and out of Wuhan but you can’t fly within China out of Wuhan

[00:44:30,628]: They immediately become not they were the largest net exporter of PPE PPE personal protective equipment

[00:44:38,228]: They immediately become the biggest net importer of PPE

[00:44:42,188]: So they know something’s going down and this is in like January ish

[00:44:46,108]: And then finally they kind of have to with the World Health Organization sort of holding their hand let the world know that this is out there

[00:44:53,468]: And then the story of course is well this wasn’t something we created

[00:44:56,568]: This came from a bat mating with a penguin or whatever the example was or some wet market theory

[00:45:02,368]: And then what’s really interesting is President Trump takes the action you would want him to take he closes flights coming in and out of China

[00:45:12,908]: Right

[00:45:13,488]: I remember that

[00:45:14,268]: Remember that

[00:45:15,228]: That outbreak of racism

[00:45:16,268]: Yeah like all of a sudden that was a xenophobic act

[00:45:19,208]: You know what I mean

[00:45:19,988]: Like and then Nancy Pelosi is on the streets of San Francisco in Chinatown saying everything’s fine here

[00:45:28,868]: Come here

[00:45:29,348]: This is fine

[00:45:29,988]: Like it was this Trump derangement syndrome where even if it was the right thing to do people would take the opposite point of view

[00:45:38,208]: Right

[00:45:38,768]: So he shuts down the flights and because he understands that there’s a problem

[00:45:46,968]: But by this point you said Fauci knows that the virus came from that lab

[00:45:52,008]: Yeah

[00:45:52,568]: To what extent was Fauci implicated in the creation of the virus

[00:45:55,668]: Do we know

[00:45:56,908]: Well by all accounts he wanted the gain of function research to continue and it was funded through an NGO imagine that the EcoHealth Alliance

[00:46:07,628]: Yes

[00:46:07,988]: So the money still flowed but no one would ever be able to really track it

[00:46:12,008]: Can we say definitively that U S tax dollars helped create COVID

[00:46:15,888]: I believe that

[00:46:17,328]: I mean whatever you think of COVID a lot of people did die of it

[00:46:22,368]: Yeah

[00:46:23,088]: Millions of people died of it I think

[00:46:25,208]: Yeah one of the great sins Tucker is that there was never any distinguishing between a super vulnerable elderly person with comorbidities

[00:46:34,108]: There’s a different way of dealing with that scenario than a five year old healthy kid

[00:46:38,688]: Of course

[00:46:38,708]: No of course

[00:46:39,348]: And it’s also it would be good during a pandemic to have treatment for your population

[00:46:43,108]: Right

[00:46:43,508]: Not discourage treatment

[00:46:44,488]: Of course

[00:46:44,968]: All true

[00:46:45,848]: I guess I just want to linger on the fact you just endorsed it that U S tax dollars were used to help create this virus that killed millions of people

[00:46:55,448]: And I feel like the fact that no one has been held accountable there is I mean I don’t why

[00:47:03,428]: That’s a good question

[00:47:04,268]: I think that there ought to be I think that there ought to be hearings

[00:47:09,848]: I think Fauci should be at least at least brought before Congress at this point right

[00:47:14,928]: At least

[00:47:16,168]: Why hasn’t he been

[00:47:17,168]: I don’t know

[00:47:19,728]: Not on the committee

[00:47:21,068]: I certainly would love to see that happen

[00:47:23,468]: And I think that there ought to be accountability and this shouldn’t go away

[00:47:28,568]: Do you think that too many people were implicated in it

[00:47:31,148]: Maybe

[00:47:32,308]: It feels to me like this was very much a sort of an inside operation because the government in fairness the United States government said we don’t want to do gain of function research anymore

[00:47:48,548]: But we did through the funding that flowed through the EcoHealth Alliance right

[00:47:53,028]: That’s how everything works

[00:47:54,488]: They can’t do censorship so they outsource it

[00:47:57,608]: They can’t assassinate people so they outsource it

[00:47:59,988]: I mean everything

[00:48:00,788]: Well and think about what we just went through and I don’t want to go back to this but look at this USAID stuff

[00:48:07,408]: I just led the rescissions package to claw back 8 billion plus of that which is the ridiculous stuff like transgender sex surgeries in Guatemala and DEI trainings in Burma and Sesame Street in Iraq all this ridiculous stuff that the American people are rightly pissed off about

[00:48:27,148]: There’s no line item in the budget for that

[00:48:29,048]: There’s no line item for that

[00:48:30,468]: It’s just the money goes to this Institute for Peace or all these BS names that exist out there and they do a bunch of crazy stuff

[00:48:37,148]: And then you have to kind of go on the back end and pull it back

[00:48:39,968]: And my hope is that when you have an administration like the one we have now and I do think they’re kind of getting a handle on this

[00:48:46,788]: They paused a lot of the funding

[00:48:48,448]: They’ve eliminated USAID altogether

[00:48:50,508]: They’re bringing it into the State Department

[00:48:51,808]: That’s progress

[00:48:53,208]: That’s a good thing to do

[00:48:54,368]: But you’ve got to stay vigilant on this because there’s a lot of people in the administrative state that think they know better

[00:48:59,248]: They’re the expert and they don’t care what a senator or congressman or even what the people believe or think

[00:49:04,168]: They know better

[00:49:05,348]: And that’s the kind of thing that has to be ultimately disrupted and dismantled completely

[00:49:10,748]: And that’s one of the reasons why I think my experience as AG now in the Senate that’s my focus

[00:49:17,568]: Like I don’t you know that’s what I want to do

[00:49:20,328]: I want to get rid of all that stuff that people hate back home

[00:49:23,928]: So but anyway yeah I think that so he sends his deputy over there

[00:49:28,688]: He’s a big fan of lockdowns

[00:49:31,068]: Comes back and begins to undermine President Trump

[00:49:36,288]: You know when President Trump talks about this having come from a lab you know he’s already a xenophobe because he’s restricted travel

[00:49:43,948]: Now he says it’s from a lab

[00:49:45,008]: That’s ridiculous

[00:49:45,848]: Everybody piles on about that

[00:49:47,088]: And by the way it’s true

[00:49:49,028]: So I think that this combination of Trump derangement syndrome and this obsession with power and the left I mean they couldn’t have believed their luck to have a pandemic that they could move all the things that they wanted to move on

[00:50:02,968]: Sure

[00:50:03,188]: And I mean it certainly reduced the United States relative to China on many levels but economically most obviously it really gravely damaged the US economy and you know we’re still dealing with it

[00:50:16,408]: But I guess I just can’t get past this question of how did the virus come to be and who paid for it and the downstream effects are history changing and terrible for the United States and terrible for the families of those who were killed et cetera et cetera

[00:50:32,608]: But like somebody did that

[00:50:34,408]: And I don’t understand how Republicans can control all three branches and we don’t have an answer

[00:50:39,508]: Yeah

[00:50:39,708]: I think ultimately the Department of Justice should take a look at this stuff as they should on the Russia hoax

[00:50:48,828]: I think there’s a lot of it’s a target rich environment

[00:50:51,728]: Let’s just put it that way

[00:50:52,748]: I think of the places that they could go

[00:50:56,648]: Yeah

[00:50:58,888]: Yeah sorry

[00:50:59,648]: It’s just it feels like since it’s been five years that we’re going to get to a point where it’s like never gonna

[00:51:06,208]: Yeah

[00:51:06,208]: No I know

[00:51:07,408]: Right

[00:51:07,868]: Which is by the way one of the reasons we filed that lawsuit was it felt like if you could get into discovery phase which again you’re suing a foreign country

[00:51:15,528]: We were able to slide into one of the exceptions you know there’s the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act which generally means you can’t sue foreign countries

[00:51:22,408]: But we I think one of the clever things we did here is we’ve said no this falls into the commercial activity exception to that

[00:51:28,168]: Meaning if you’re going to be controlling hospital systems over there and you’re going to be controlling PPE the flow of it you fall into one of these exceptions and the judge agreed

[00:51:38,628]: But I think the other thing for me that became clear is the epicenter of the global supply chain network runs through China right

[00:51:47,908]: That became very obvious

[00:51:49,768]: Yeah

[00:51:49,768]: Right

[00:51:50,028]: And so like for me my son has epilepsy right

[00:51:54,488]: He relies on multiple seizure medications every day to stay alive and it occurred to me well you know 90 of our pharmaceuticals 80 of our pharmaceuticals come from somewhere else mostly China

[00:52:08,568]: The raw materials for it

[00:52:10,768]: Including the seizure meds

[00:52:11,488]: Uh huh

[00:52:11,968]: Yeah

[00:52:12,168]: Oh wow

[00:52:12,588]: So think about it

[00:52:13,468]: What if China just decides to stop producing that stuff or poison that stuff

[00:52:22,108]: One of the reasons why I’m a big proponent and believe I think it’s good for our economy too is we got onshore a lot of the stuff that was 30 years ago said to be done somewhere else

[00:52:30,268]: To take that specific example so the seizure medications for epilepsy including the ones your son takes they’re not made in the United States

[00:52:38,228]: No they’re sourced

[00:52:39,088]: I mean all the source materials for the most part of not just anti epileptic seizure meds but most things that people take on a daily basis are derived from China

[00:52:49,248]: Yeah but not just vitamin C or even you know but drugs that you will literally die if you don’t have them

[00:52:55,488]: Those would seem like priorities

[00:52:56,668]: How hard would it be to have those drugs specifically made in the U S

[00:53:00,188]: Well I think President Trump has identified this as a priority

[00:53:03,548]: It’s certainly something we’ve talked about

[00:53:05,448]: I think for whatever reason that stuff went somewhere else like so many other things

[00:53:10,708]: But that has to be brought back home

[00:53:12,988]: At a minimum countries that aren’t communist regimes that want to throw people in concentration camps and have global dominance right

[00:53:24,628]: But we should do that stuff here

[00:53:25,868]: It’s a national security issue

[00:53:26,948]: Like by the way the critical minerals that we rely on to make fighter jets and iPhones like this stuff we’ve got to bring that stuff back home

[00:53:36,648]: And I think you’re seeing that play out in some of the trade deals and the investment that’s happening now

[00:53:40,848]: But yeah that occurred to me

[00:53:42,848]: And I also think one of the wake up calls here which everybody kind of had a breaking point with all this Mine was probably the realization of how reliant we were on China for things and one of the reasons why we moved forward on the lawsuit

[00:53:55,517]: But also if you recall Tucker this letter that over a thousand public health officials signed during the George Floyd protests remember this

[00:54:05,937]: They’re saying everybody had to stay home

[00:54:07,737]: Remember this was you couldn’t people were protesting anything else

[00:54:09,957]: They had to stay home

[00:54:11,157]: But if you’re going to attend a Black Lives Matter protest the rules didn’t apply to you anymore

[00:54:16,497]: For members of the Democratic Party’s militia the youth wing yeah

[00:54:20,937]: That was like I think for a lot of people that I’ve talked to who weren’t in the thick of it they actually have lives and families that are outside of this stuff

[00:54:28,057]: When they saw that that you got a license to go out and protest quote unquote systemic racism you could go do that but you couldn’t protest something else

[00:54:38,657]: At that point it was very obvious what this whole thing was about

[00:54:41,497]: And you saw I think the entire apparatus of the Democrat Party these NGOs bricks are being delivered by mysteriously by organizations when the sun set

[00:54:54,177]: I mean all this stuff was meant to sort of create the kind of untethering that’s necessary for something much bigger

[00:55:01,457]: And they were all in on that

[00:55:03,977]: Just worry that people are losing all confidence in the system

[00:55:07,577]: And when people I know who are moderate and sensible well educated smart will believe anything at this point just absolutely anything

[00:55:16,257]: And the reason they’ll believe anything is because so many things they believed in turned out not to be true

[00:55:22,037]: And there was zero accountability and has been zero accountability for really anything other than January 6th that I’m aware of

[00:55:29,817]: And I just wonder if the people in making the laws and crafting the regulation in Washington understand that the whole system at some point becomes at risk because the population’s like I don’t believe anything

[00:55:41,717]: Right

[00:55:42,037]: Well I agree with you

[00:55:44,317]: And one of the reasons why when President Trump was creating his cabinet and going through the confirmation process he put together a team

[00:55:57,557]: And by the way this isn’t going to happen overnight

[00:55:59,357]: I think this confidence that you’re talking about this lack of lost confidence lack of confidence in institutions is a real thing

[00:56:05,917]: And by the way in many ways rightfully so right

[00:56:08,237]: When you have law enforcement agencies that are weaponized not just against their chief political rival but against the American people we ought to there should be a loss of confidence

[00:56:17,937]: But what comes next is how do you regain the confidence

[00:56:20,717]: It has to be accountability right

[00:56:23,317]: And so that’s what needs to happen

[00:56:25,537]: Not vengeance or revenge

[00:56:26,657]: I don’t think that’s a good thing at all

[00:56:29,077]: And by the way not to do the same thing that they did to target a political opponent because Exactly

[00:56:33,937]: But rather to say you did something that was terrible for our country which basically relies on self governance and accountability

[00:56:42,837]: I mean at the end of the day right

[00:56:44,237]: That’s the ultimate thing

[00:56:44,977]: People in Missouri can send me there

[00:56:46,737]: They can send me home

[00:56:47,577]: They can send me back

[00:56:48,457]: There’s some level of accountability that comes with the way our constitutional republic

[00:56:53,057]: But when you get to all this other stuff that’s below that which is why the administrative state is so dangerous because they’re not accountable to anybody

[00:56:59,337]: They know it

[00:57:00,537]: And you have to rein that in and disrupt it and dismantle it in many ways

[00:57:05,157]: And again I think part of what drove me to uncover a lot of the things as AG was that and now in this new role it’s to help finish that job

[00:57:14,117]: But you really do need an administration that believes that too

[00:57:17,217]: And I don’t think we’ve had I can’t think of any administration in the last hundred years that is invested in rooting that out as this one

[00:57:24,677]: I agree

[00:57:25,217]: I just you know there’s a lot of emphasis on you know people who are criticizing BB on college campuses and everything which is fine

[00:57:35,837]: But I’m getting to the point and I know a lot of the people you know I run DOJ and I really like them and think they’re decent people and I agree with them on most things

[00:57:46,977]: However like the BLM riots COVID censorship like you got to get to the bottom of this Epstein

[00:57:55,717]: Sorry to say it

[00:57:56,497]: I know no one wants to hear it but it’s just not because I care that much about Epstein

[00:58:00,197]: It’s like the perception however that some people are above the law is the most corrosive possible perception in any society

[00:58:07,697]: Yeah

[00:58:07,937]: No I agree

[00:58:08,737]: And I think I think you just take this Russia gate stuff

[00:58:14,177]: Here’s another great example

[00:58:15,857]: I think you know it’s so corrosive is the right word of how it infected so many aspects of law enforcement what they I mean think about it all the time that the FBI is spending trying to protect Hunter Biden and you know get Trump out of office or going after parents or Catholics

[00:58:36,077]: Like the FBI is supposed to like go after the bad guys right

[00:58:39,477]: Like help clean up the streets in Washington DC or in St

[00:58:42,937]: Louis or in New York or wherever

[00:58:45,837]: Like think of all the resources pulled away to go do all this other bullshit that the Biden administration wanted to do

[00:58:53,257]: It really is a tragedy

[00:58:55,037]: And so I do think that there’s some opportunities coming up for the justice department to go do that

[00:59:00,797]: And the Russia gate thing is front and center

[00:59:02,477]: Just think of the idea that Hillary Clinton who by the way was working with the George Soros organization to come up with this ridiculous theory to deflect from her emails right

[00:59:15,377]: Her email scandal they needed something on Trump and they concocted this thing out of thin air that he was some Russian asset or had some was in bed with Putin on stuff

[00:59:24,837]: And then they sold that to the intelligence agencies that bought it and then convinced the president of the United States Barack Obama to spy on the guy who was running for president who happened to be a Republican

[00:59:36,357]: And then they continue to lie about and still by the way continue to lie about it to this day about their role in undermining not just like our system of like that two people are running against each other

[00:59:47,397]: And that’s when the American people get to decide they did everything for a five year period to undermine his not just his agenda but his presidency

[00:59:55,557]: And then the same group of people then are weaponized and they go get Jack Smith who’s like everybody knows in prosecutor world is just like a hired gun

[01:00:05,057]: Like you go you put you make him special counsel when it’s like show me the man I’ll show you the crime

[01:00:11,077]: Soviet style justice

[01:00:12,697]: That’s exactly what that was

[01:00:13,897]: And it was happening in this country and they’re down in Mar a Lago going through the first lady’s underwear drawer trying to find probably stuff related to crossfire hurricane probably and maybe some other stuff

[01:00:26,417]: But it was just about settling political scores with guns

[01:00:31,477]: And then you have you know Fannie Willis’s deputy meeting with the White House counsel

[01:00:36,177]: So why is a state why is a state prosecutor in Georgia meeting with the White House counsel’s Why would they be doing that

[01:00:45,457]: Why would the number three person from DOJ go to the New York district attorney’s office to help out with the prosecution of President Trump

[01:00:52,617]: Why is all this happening

[01:00:54,617]: The minute President Trump’s original sin to them was that he ran at all that he came down the escalator

[01:01:00,497]: Yes

[01:01:00,697]: And he was such a disruptive force that they were willing to throw to save democracy

[01:01:05,157]: They were willing to destroy democracy

[01:01:07,877]: And so now and the reason why I’m I feel committed with the job I had getting back to what what job would you rather have

[01:01:14,197]: I think it’s important to have people in the United States Senate and Congress who want to see this project through that they want accountability restored

[01:01:21,777]: They want people to actually not believe their government is weaponized against them

[01:01:26,857]: Like it’s a tall task given the sins of the last eight years but it’s important for this for the public to last and to stand and for our kids and grandkids

[01:01:35,317]: I couldn’t agree more

[01:01:36,617]: I mean you know you’ve got more relevant law enforcement experience

[01:01:40,997]: A lot of people running DOJ already say that but it’s true

[01:01:44,877]: I hope that you’re in contact

[01:01:46,437]: I won’t even ask you put you in an uncomfortable position but I hope that you’re in contact with them

[01:01:49,937]: And I hope that you will convey the following message to the extent that you don’t bring to light the truth and affect justice

[01:01:58,057]: People start to think well maybe you’re in league with the bad guys too

[01:02:01,137]: I mean I don’t you know which I think is unfair

[01:02:03,257]: And I like the attorney general and I like the FBI director and Labongino and all that

[01:02:07,877]: But like it I think it’s fair to ask at a certain point like why aren’t you prosecuting anybody for any of this stuff

[01:02:14,897]: And what’s the answer

[01:02:16,137]: Well we’re really busy

[01:02:17,157]: Really

[01:02:17,397]: Are you really that busy

[01:02:18,197]: I don’t know

[01:02:18,477]: You know what I mean

[01:02:19,077]: And maybe you’re in it on it too

[01:02:20,857]: And I don’t think they are in on it

[01:02:22,677]: I don’t think they’re bad people

[01:02:23,797]: I’m not alleging that but a lot of people will start to think that very soon unless they act

[01:02:29,337]: And I hope you will pass on that message

[01:02:30,757]: I will

[01:02:31,157]: And I think what people are looking for is action

[01:02:33,997]: There’s no doubt

[01:02:35,217]: Yeah

[01:02:35,737]: Is it hard to I mean you would know since you’ve been involved in it all but just as a process matter is it hard to say you know we know that Clapper and Brennan were involved in illegal activities

[01:02:47,197]: Let’s get an indictment

[01:02:48,317]: Like how hard is that

[01:02:49,537]: Well yeah

[01:02:50,337]: I mean I think the issue is that it’s possible some of the statute of limitations may have run on a lot of the crimes

[01:02:57,097]: However not necessarily on a conspiracy on an ongoing conspiracy and there’s also no presidential candidate immunity

[01:03:06,477]: Hillary Clinton doesn’t have immunity

[01:03:08,317]: Now Barack Obama likely does ironically because of the U S versus Trump case where John Sauer who’s now the Solicitor General who’s my Solicitor General argued successfully before the Supreme Court that official acts you know you can’t have ongoing you know so there is a such a thing as presidential immunity that was established

[01:03:24,957]: So Barack Obama may have presidential immunity while he was in office

[01:03:28,417]: I don’t know if he you know engaged in activities after he was out of office who knows

[01:03:33,437]: Certainly James Comey doesn’t have immunity

[01:03:37,377]: Clapper doesn’t have immunity

[01:03:39,277]: Brennan doesn’t have immunity

[01:03:40,657]: So I think you know this is going to go where the facts lead and I think that the most likely if there was something to pursue it’s likely an ongoing conspiracy to defraud the American people and that is a crime

[01:03:53,317]: So we’ll see but there can and probably should be well let me say definitely should be indictments

[01:04:01,437]: Dan Bongino who’s taking a lot of crap for the Epstein thing but I can verify since I know him well is a good man decent man but he said in public and also in private that the FBI is way more corrupt than he had any sense of

[01:04:16,117]: He didn’t know

[01:04:17,517]: He said that

[01:04:18,737]: And how hard is it

[01:04:20,597]: Why is it so hard to clean up the FBI

[01:04:24,277]: Well I guess you could say you kind of need to know what is the known knowns known unknowns and unknown

[01:04:33,377]: I think you’ve got to figure out who the people are

[01:04:36,417]: But nobody’s got a right to be a insubordinate FBI agent

[01:04:44,097]: They have no authority apart from the president’s authority and the president’s authority derives from elections

[01:04:49,297]: Right

[01:04:49,777]: Because it’s authority conferred by the people as expressed by voting

[01:04:53,497]: It’s also interesting too

[01:04:54,657]: They have no authority at all

[01:04:56,677]: Right

[01:04:56,937]: Well take the Civil Rights Division

[01:04:59,697]: I mean Dylan I think he’s doing a great job

[01:05:04,537]: A number of those and that perhaps was maybe the most corrupt division out there the Civil Rights Division

[01:05:09,717]: Right

[01:05:10,057]: She’s my former lawyer and I can say she’s tough

[01:05:12,097]: Yeah she’s tough

[01:05:13,377]: And I think there’s a lot that we’re going to see from I just had a hearing I chair the subcommittee on the Constitution of the Judiciary Committee

[01:05:19,657]: We just had her come in and say hey what are you thinking about doing

[01:05:22,037]: Like what are the things that are on your list of things to do

[01:05:26,797]: I think she’s obviously universities have been a topic of conversation but I also think in corporate America they ought to be ready because this discriminatory DEI stuff flies in the face of federal law

[01:05:39,437]: The Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s were meant to protect people from racial discrimination

[01:05:44,497]: And there are people being racially discriminated against right now

[01:05:48,597]: And by the way these struggle sessions that exist like Coca Cola you know would have a seminar you know saying basically from the moderator how can you be less white

[01:06:00,597]: I mean this is insanity

[01:06:02,277]: How can you be less black

[01:06:03,657]: How can you be less Jewish

[01:06:04,557]: It’s ridiculous

[01:06:04,597]: How can you be less Hispanic

[01:06:05,977]: Like what the hell is going on

[01:06:07,837]: By the way our military I’m on the Armed Services Committee

[01:06:10,917]: We would ask I would ask questions all the time

[01:06:13,097]: We would try to and that went a little underground once it was exposed

[01:06:16,557]: But this idea of dividing the room our military is this great supposed to be this great meritocracy

[01:06:21,017]: Anybody from any background can go serve

[01:06:22,577]: You can have a ticker tape parade in New York City as being a war hero

[01:06:26,197]: It doesn’t matter where you came from what your race is

[01:06:28,277]: We celebrate that

[01:06:29,597]: This idea of dividing the room by race and who’s the oppressor and who’s the oppressed is insane

[01:06:34,017]: But I think that Civil Rights Division is a good example

[01:06:36,497]: I think they’re going to pursue some things that the prior regimes didn’t pursue

[01:06:41,037]: And I think that will have an important effect on behavior as well

[01:06:45,397]: You do think that

[01:06:46,197]: I do

[01:06:49,197]: Do you have confidence in the Attorney General

[01:06:51,037]: Yeah listen I think President Trump’s put a good team around him and I have a ton of respect for Pam Bondi

[01:06:56,377]: I do

[01:06:56,877]: What do you make of the Epstein thing

[01:06:59,437]: I think that more needs to be done on transparency

[01:07:02,797]: There’s no doubt about it

[01:07:03,637]: I think any of the credible information that can come out should come out

[01:07:06,157]: I will also say the Southern District of New York had those files

[01:07:14,897]: James Comey’s daughter was the lawyer handling this in the Southern District of New York

[01:07:20,537]: Weird how that works

[01:07:21,317]: Yeah so I don’t know what that means

[01:07:23,897]: But I do think that more transparency would be a good thing

[01:07:29,697]: You often hear I mean now you’re in a position to receive classified information I’m sure you have meetings in the fabled SCIF from time to time

[01:07:39,597]: We often hear you know we can’t tell you that for reasons of national security reasons of privacy whatever all these different reasons

[01:07:47,657]: We have more than a billion classified federal documents like why

[01:07:53,637]: Yeah there should be I agree with you and I’ve heard you talk about this before there’s just way too much stuff that’s hidden behind what’s so called classified

[01:08:00,797]: A lot of that stuff should never be classified in the first place

[01:08:03,257]: It’s sort of a great way to never have to have transparency with the American people

[01:08:09,877]: And by the way contributes to this lack of trust that you’re talking about

[01:08:13,077]: I think the more information you can get out there the better

[01:08:16,377]: And by the way I do find it hilarious

[01:08:18,077]: We have these sometimes we have these all senator briefings

[01:08:24,637]: And it’s all nothing comes of it like there’s nothing new that wasn’t already leaked by somebody in the Pentagon to the New York Times the day before

[01:08:34,397]: Now some of these you can get in there and ask on a by the way not necessarily the top level person but somebody that’s actually doing the work you can ask them some questions in a much more private setting

[01:08:44,577]: But some of this stuff is just a way to hide behind

[01:08:48,077]: Interestingly Chris Wray once mentioned that we can’t gather information the same way we did prior to the lawsuit

[01:08:54,917]: He was referencing Missouri versus Biden because the FBI was very much a part of the censorship regime where they were flagging stuff and calling it Russian disinformation and working with the big tech companies

[01:09:05,117]: And he was sort of annoyed that his practices were being curtailed because the court said you can’t do that anymore

[01:09:11,417]: He’s very for me having been the guy that filed it and then now sitting when he said that was really an interesting turn of events

[01:09:19,837]: How many senators are former AGs

[01:09:22,677]: There are probably five on the Republican side there’s maybe four there’s probably about the same on the maybe on the Democrat side

[01:09:31,877]: How much is spent on your average Senate race

[01:09:36,077]: Oh I mean I would imagine it ranges from 20 million to then you get into yeah right

[01:09:45,717]: Hundreds

[01:09:46,037]: Like 200 million in Montana where there’s like literally one of the least populated states

[01:09:52,957]: A very important state but was important for them to take the majority

[01:09:55,817]: How about just pay off everyone’s mortgage and call it a day

[01:09:57,977]: It might have been cheaper

[01:09:59,937]: So and then but the AG races I mean this is a long way of making a short point which is an AG seems like every bit as important a job as being a US Senator

[01:10:10,477]: It’s a very important job

[01:10:11,597]: For sure

[01:10:12,317]: And I think the rest of us are just waking up to that kind of how much is spent on those races

[01:10:16,777]: Oh a fraction of that

[01:10:18,177]: Right

[01:10:18,557]: Fraction of that

[01:10:19,117]: And then you get into races where you know we’ve got you know red states or blue states but red states and it’s really about the primary and that’s even less expensive

[01:10:28,317]: And someone like Dana Nessel in Michigan I think did more damage to the state than that kind of the Botox governor ever thought about doing

[01:10:37,137]: Like Dana Nessel is like a truly poisonous anti Christian dangerous person

[01:10:42,597]: That’s my read on her anyway

[01:10:43,877]: I don’t know her

[01:10:45,757]: And she kind of gets ignored and everyone beats up on the governor the hapless governor

[01:10:49,757]: Well what’s interesting about that is we kind of took a page

[01:10:52,597]: So during COVID you know Cuomo had instituted a like a tip line essentially to tell on your neighbors

[01:10:59,638]: And I think Tim Walz did this actually too

[01:11:01,237]: Oh for sure

[01:11:02,797]: They had this tip line where you’d snitch

[01:11:04,917]: They’re on tattletales

[01:11:05,857]: Yeah

[01:11:06,117]: Like you’re outside barbecuing without a mask on and all of a sudden the police shows up

[01:11:09,797]: I mean I think this happened in Minnesota

[01:11:11,657]: So we kind of turned it on its face when we sued the 65 school districts in Missouri

[01:11:17,537]: We said we’re going to have a tip line not for the suppression of rights but to vindicate people’s rights

[01:11:21,897]: We had a tip line of parents reach out to us of what schools were still forcing their kids to wear masks all day long

[01:11:27,557]: And I’ll tell you Tucker in some of the dark lonely moments of this fight when you know now it seems very settled like that was a terrible thing to be doing to kids

[01:11:35,237]: But back then not everybody I would get interviewed by reporters locally in Missouri who were still in their cars because they couldn’t go in the studio with masks on asking me questions about you’re trying to you know sue a school district for not

[01:11:47,537]: Why do you want to kill the kids

[01:11:48,317]: Right

[01:11:48,657]: Exactly

[01:11:49,037]: Those are the questions that they would be asking

[01:11:50,457]: So many kids died of COVID

[01:11:51,517]: Right

[01:11:51,758]: So the stories we got coming in were just devastating

[01:11:55,197]: There was a kid in one school district who because she refused to take her mask off was meant to sat on a stage by herself in the cafeteria to eat lunch by herself away from the other kids

[01:12:12,537]: We got emails from a parent of a deaf child

[01:12:17,837]: So this is just killing my kid

[01:12:20,138]: I can’t see any you know can’t pick up language the way that normally picks up language

[01:12:24,897]: The extent to which these adults who should have known better were just willing to do all this it’s just it’s terrible

[01:12:32,797]: Like it’s terrible

[01:12:33,638]: And so I think again you just never let that happen again

[01:12:37,177]: And and by the way these are the same people that say well once we have a vaccine that things will change

[01:12:41,258]: That didn’t change anything

[01:12:42,258]: And by the way it didn’t affect transmissibility of course but then you were censored for saying that even though it was true

[01:12:48,697]: So again the sins of that era should you know not be forgotten because we can’t let it happen again

[01:12:55,557]: Well they also are the basis of the society we’re living in now

[01:12:58,998]: It changed everything

[01:12:59,797]: It changed people’s attitudes toward each other toward the state changed the economy changed the culture up and down spiked the suicide rate shortened the life expectancy increased drug and alcohol addiction exponentially

[01:13:12,998]: I mean like things fell apart

[01:13:15,357]: Yeah

[01:13:15,977]: Now I think the one one thing particularly from there I think you’re seeing this with a lot of younger especially males who came up during that era and by by the way writ large kids of that of that generation now that grew up with that are much more conservative than any generation that preceded them

[01:13:32,777]: Because I think they saw some of the they saw what was happening to their their social networks their what their schooling

[01:13:39,057]: And I think it’s part of the reason why you’re seeing kind of especially young men who are also being told that you’re the reason why everything is terrible

[01:13:47,517]: I would disagree

[01:13:48,258]: I don’t think they’re conservative as much as they’re radical

[01:13:50,837]: I think they’re way more radical than Republicans understand

[01:13:53,577]: I think they’re really radical

[01:13:55,557]: I don’t think they’re going to vote for Democrats anytime soon but I mean I think that their views are so different from your average 75 year old Republican Senator

[01:14:04,897]: Yeah

[01:14:05,077]: Oh I would agree with that

[01:14:06,378]: A hundred percent

[01:14:07,437]: Is there an appreciation of that

[01:14:09,537]: I don’t know that everybody sees that Tucker

[01:14:11,857]: I feel like I try to be a voice for that because you know and I ran I ran statewide three times in six years in that era

[01:14:20,998]: In Missouri you get a real sense of kind of what’s really going on if you spend the time getting around talking to people

[01:14:26,097]: And that’s my sense of it too

[01:14:28,878]: So you’ve been you’ve held three elected offices

[01:14:31,837]: Yeah

[01:14:33,277]: Treasurer AG Senator

[01:14:34,977]: Well I was in the state Senate before that actually

[01:14:37,097]: Oh gosh

[01:14:37,477]: Yeah

[01:14:37,857]: When I was 31 years old or whatever that was

[01:14:41,878]: Yeah

[01:14:42,457]: I yeah I got into it’s interesting

[01:14:45,378]: Everybody has their own path

[01:14:47,998]: For me it wasn’t anything I was thinking about

[01:14:51,357]: And then my son Steven was born in 2004 and was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called tuberous sclerosis which there’s tubers that form in different organs including his brain which has affected his development

[01:15:06,138]: And he has epilepsy seizures nearly every day

[01:15:10,157]: He’s nonverbal

[01:15:11,297]: Steven will be 21 here in a few days

[01:15:13,957]: But seeing him go through that including a four hour seizure and being in the ICU for over a week I kind of went through this process

[01:15:20,857]: As a child

[01:15:21,758]: Oh yeah

[01:15:22,237]: As a two three year old

[01:15:23,617]: And he would have them every few months that we would be in the hospital

[01:15:26,998]: And in the four hour seizure they were on the last medication they could give him

[01:15:31,397]: You had to wait 20 minutes

[01:15:32,537]: And I remember there was like a red digital clock on the wall that had the seconds ticking by and had to wait 20 minutes before they could try a new med and he’s seizing the whole time

[01:15:41,657]: And all I could do was be there with him and pray

[01:15:44,057]: Jamie had to my wife had to leave the room and I would just pray the whole time

[01:15:48,917]: And the last one worked they were about ready to induce a coma so we almost lost Steven that day

[01:15:54,957]: But it’s something

[01:15:56,138]: But anyway you go through for me

[01:15:58,097]: How did you keep your family together

[01:15:59,717]: Like how do you you have other children

[01:16:01,937]: Two yeah

[01:16:02,517]: Then we two we later had two daughters Sophia and Olivia who were great

[01:16:06,998]: But we did you know we wanted to have more kids

[01:16:09,937]: I think those things Tucker you go one of two ways with your faith and your family

[01:16:13,817]: And for us it strengthened our family my wife and I

[01:16:18,057]: And even my faith I went through a process of discernment

[01:16:23,677]: I’m Catholic was educated by the Jesuits

[01:16:26,557]: And there’s this process of sort of like trying to figure out what you want to do with your life

[01:16:29,697]: And that was an inflection point for me

[01:16:31,677]: And I wanted to do more than what I was doing

[01:16:33,677]: I made partner in a law firm

[01:16:34,957]: That was great

[01:16:35,477]: I was building career and a family but I felt like there was something more to do

[01:16:39,577]: So I was called

[01:16:40,037]: Why would that strengthen your faith

[01:16:41,417]: It doesn’t seem like an obvious response

[01:16:43,357]: If you grew up Catholic you go to Catholic schools

[01:16:46,697]: And then the tough really the toughest thing that can ever happen to a man happens to you

[01:16:52,657]: And so why wouldn’t you say well you know God has abandoned me

[01:16:56,277]: There is no God

[01:16:57,017]: This is too horrible

[01:16:57,837]: Why would that strengthen your faith

[01:17:01,417]: I think it certainly gives you a perspective on what the things you can control and what you can’t control

[01:17:07,138]: And so much of I mean think of the original sin really

[01:17:10,638]: It’s just trying to become God in the Garden of Eden

[01:17:15,617]: And I think that it look there’s a mourning that never totally goes away

[01:17:22,937]: When I go to a baseball game or something like that and see a dad with a son that’s about Stephen’s age or kids go off to college and do those sorts of things that Stephen will never get to do

[01:17:31,957]: Stephen will never be married and have kids

[01:17:34,397]: And that’s tough as a dad

[01:17:35,977]: That’s really tough

[01:17:37,197]: But I would say that from that I’ve gained a much greater perspective on the things that are important the things that are real

[01:17:45,597]: And he’s a happy kid

[01:17:47,317]: And there’s when you see him when he sees you or sees me if he were here right now he’d be walking around he’d give you a big hug and that kind of thing

[01:17:56,677]: But the minute that I see him or wake him up in the morning he’s just got this just look of joy on his face

[01:18:03,498]: And I people have asked me you know what do you think heaven is like

[01:18:11,117]: Heaven is that to me that second or two where I feel that just intense unadulterated unconditional love for my boy times eternity

[01:18:22,117]: That must be what it’s like where all this other stuff that’s not important isn’t important

[01:18:29,177]: And that’s the closeness you have with God your Creator forever

[01:18:34,267]: And so Stephen has taught me a lot of things

[01:18:36,297]: And it was my inspiration to enter all of this and still is

[01:18:40,657]: I’ve heard I have known parents with a child with Down syndrome say something similar that for all of the you know obviously the tragedy and the sadness and the difficulty that there’s something about the child that just emanates radiates joy

[01:18:57,597]: I think he’s our Demi and I have talked about I think he’s our little angel that teaches us all the time

[01:19:02,517]: And I think there’s an innocence there with Stephen and our job is to love him and protect him

[01:19:14,498]: And there’s something you know kind of unique about that

[01:19:19,057]: So I think for me it’s just going to be sorry this is like the what is it the Jerry Maguire movie the Rod Tidwell Roy Firestone moment where I cry or something

[01:19:30,057]: It’s all right

[01:19:31,427]: No but I it’s hard to explain Tucker

[01:19:34,258]: It’s such a touchstone for me that it’s what’s really important

[01:19:41,177]: And so I there’s something that also that I try to think about is this indifference

[01:19:49,857]: And what I mean by indifference is it’s not you don’t care about something

[01:19:54,857]: It’s that whatever and St

[01:19:58,157]: Ignatius Loyola talks about this

[01:20:00,057]: Whatever comes your way you make the most of it

[01:20:04,777]: And there’s a certain freedom that can come from that again that I think Stephen has taught me

[01:20:10,657]: But for this experience with Stephen I don’t know that that’s how I would view things

[01:20:15,197]: And so in that way it’s a blessing even though it’s hard you know that sometimes like you know when we went to the inauguration when I got sworn in as the 2000th U S Senator my whole family went my parents had never been to the Capitol

[01:20:31,097]: I had only been there a couple of times

[01:20:32,517]: I mean I was in Missouri and we Stephen we don’t fly

[01:20:36,057]: So we drove we drove from St Louis to Washington

[01:20:40,597]: And looking back on that I keep thinking oh man that’s a lot

[01:20:43,557]: The ride there with my kids in the backseat and my wife and I listening to music that we listened to in college for the 12 hour drive

[01:20:52,577]: That that was an experience I wouldn’t have had right without Stephen having the condition that he has

[01:20:58,477]: So there’s a lot of blessings that I take from it

[01:21:00,817]: I think

[01:21:01,777]: So you drove 12 hours across the country with three kids and you found that a blessing

[01:21:06,797]: Yeah

[01:21:08,137]: Thank God for Stephen

[01:21:09,697]: No I mean that’s just so

[01:21:11,357]: No it does sound ridiculous doesn’t it

[01:21:12,877]: No it sounds wonderful

[01:21:14,017]: It sounds

[01:21:14,977]: No it sounds wonderful

[01:21:15,957]: No so

[01:21:16,437]: And if you count it as a blessing then that says something about you

[01:21:18,757]: So it’s perspective I guess

[01:21:20,017]: But anyway that’s a long way of me getting to answer your question which is yes then I ran for office and then I felt like there was more to do

[01:21:26,857]: And then and so here I am

[01:21:30,997]: So what’d you think

[01:21:31,717]: So you said you’d only been when you were sworn into the Capitol a few times

[01:21:35,237]: Then you’re in this famously cohesive not to say clannish body of a hundred senators

[01:21:43,417]: Like what did you think of it

[01:21:46,437]: What’s the old line

[01:21:47,377]: You get there and the first few months you say how did I get here

[01:21:49,717]: And then after that you say how did these people get there

[01:21:51,737]: Right

[01:21:52,297]: No

[01:21:53,017]: I have immense respect

[01:21:54,837]: I mean I think I’ve always

[01:21:56,957]: Look I love America and I think our founders were genius and inspired divinely inspired by the system that was created that ultimately this checks and balances separation of powers all of it was meant to protect individual liberty right

[01:22:08,997]: They saw the excesses of government ironically a lot of things we’re talking about we fight back against

[01:22:14,457]: That the best way to guard it was you had faction versus faction right

[01:22:17,797]: You had all these things sort of playing out

[01:22:19,317]: To guard it not bestow it

[01:22:20,377]: Correct

[01:22:20,817]: And our rights don’t come from government they come from God and the government’s job is to protect those rights that we’re born with

[01:22:26,537]: The ability to speak your mind the ability to defend yourself the ability to petition all these things

[01:22:30,697]: So I come at it from that perspective

[01:22:34,257]: So I treat it as such like I think it’s a very important role that you play and I think our system is important and designed to protect this very important experiment but ultimately human dignity and flourishing

[01:22:46,817]: And so that’s how I come at it

[01:22:48,097]: Look are there things about it that are frustrating

[01:22:51,157]: Absolutely

[01:22:51,637]: Like my first two years there when Chuck Schumer was in charge you hear about this world’s most deliberative body

[01:23:01,177]: The worst thing that I learned is that there isn’t as much like people think Mr Smith goes to Washington and you’re on the floor

[01:23:07,417]: There’s just that there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to be on the floor to offer amendments to find unique coalitions that might exist there that people wouldn’t expect

[01:23:17,177]: That didn’t happen

[01:23:18,637]: And that was frustrating

[01:23:20,077]: And I think what is important now that we have the majority is that we have more of those opportunities

[01:23:26,537]: When I was very thankful to handle President Trump’s rescissions package I didn’t put any limits on amendments

[01:23:33,497]: I didn’t tell anybody don’t offer the amendment or we’re going to box you out

[01:23:36,117]: Offer the amendment

[01:23:37,017]: Let’s vote on it

[01:23:37,717]: Let’s see where people kind of land

[01:23:40,397]: So I think that was one observation

[01:23:41,897]: The other one is that interestingly in my class that came in we were elected in 2022 it was very much a generational turnover from the people that we were following in those offices

[01:23:55,697]: And there’s a bit of a bonding

[01:23:57,557]: I mean J D and I Vice President Vance and I became very good friends

[01:24:03,897]: We shared a lot of common experiences in life and viewed the world similarly

[01:24:07,897]: And other people in the class Ted Budd and Katie Britt and Pete Ricketts you don’t get to share that life experience with many people

[01:24:15,917]: So we go to dinner once a month and talk about not legislation you’re working on but real life stuff about our kids and the things that are important

[01:24:24,577]: And so I was lucky I think that I came in with a group that was about the same age and had same cultural references and things like that

[01:24:32,157]: But the average age of the Senate is you know several hundred 60

[01:24:40,337]: Yes 67 and a half or something like that

[01:24:42,857]: Yes

[01:24:43,177]: So you know and like I play on the congressional baseball team I’m you know the one senator that that starts because for whatever reason which by the way that I got to you know meet a lot of House members that I would never have met otherwise

[01:24:57,477]: I mean I think people think the House and the Senate are like working together on all this stuff

[01:25:01,057]: I mean you have relationships but being at a baseball practice at five forty five in the morning four forty five Missouri time there’s a bit of a bonding that can happen with that

[01:25:10,357]: So you get to know people

[01:25:11,657]: And so I just try to meet people where they’re at

[01:25:14,397]: And I think if you you know you work hard I have deeply held beliefs that I’m going to fight for as we’ve talked about

[01:25:20,957]: But that doesn’t mean you have to be an asshole along the way to everybody

[01:25:24,037]: That’s that’s not me

[01:25:25,597]: So so I’m just trying to be as effective as I can for the cause

[01:25:30,437]: Is the Republican Party changing under Trump

[01:25:33,217]: Yeah I believe so

[01:25:34,197]: I mean I think you look at the people who’ve been elected since say 2018 ish

[01:25:38,957]: Right

[01:25:40,197]: The Senate is meant to be you know it’s a third of the Senate is up every two years in the House

[01:25:45,877]: The entire House of Representatives can turn over in two years theoretically

[01:25:49,077]: Right

[01:25:49,837]: The Senate is designed to be that way

[01:25:51,477]: But I do think I do think it’s changing

[01:25:53,697]: I think President Trump I think one of his great contributions to the Republican Party is that it has given people the confidence to fight

[01:26:07,017]: I think that that’s a good thing

[01:26:09,297]: I think that’s right

[01:26:10,097]: Right

[01:26:11,117]: Because I think that no longer can we deny that we’re up against some benign force out there

[01:26:15,937]: I mean there are people on the other side that have a very different vision of this country than we do

[01:26:21,417]: And you better stand up and fight for it

[01:26:23,697]: And I think he’s given us great cause to do it

[01:26:25,877]: I mean you just look at this comeback and it’s just sort of like it’s historically I mean we’re living in a very historic moment

[01:26:31,397]: We’re talking about it in real time

[01:26:32,777]: But when people look back I mean he was in office out of office came back

[01:26:36,297]: That’s only happened one time

[01:26:37,497]: Nobody alive now has ever seen that came back and against a backdrop of people trying to throw him in jail bankrupt him and assassinate him

[01:26:44,837]: And he’s back

[01:26:45,737]: And I think the difference now I wasn’t there in the first term but there is a definite recognition and recognition even of some who don’t who aren’t as aligned as I am with President Trump that he earned it

[01:26:58,757]: And that his policy agenda and his nominees should get a fair shake

[01:27:02,257]: I don’t know if that was true the first time

[01:27:03,677]: I don’t think it was true the first time

[01:27:05,857]: But the Senate is changing

[01:27:07,117]: And I think there’s an you know take foreign policy perspective

[01:27:09,937]: I think there’s an ascending view that I subscribe to which is sort of American realism

[01:27:14,697]: It’s much more restrained diplomacy

[01:27:17,177]: If you have to move on something that’s a legitimate threat to your core national interest you do it swiftly decisively

[01:27:23,517]: But this kind of meandering foreign policy where you can be everywhere all at once all the time that sort of predated the last decade I think that’s a that’s not the future

[01:27:34,417]: But it’s still an ascending view

[01:27:36,397]: But I do think the Senate is changing

[01:27:37,877]: And I think President Trump has sort of led the way on that

[01:27:41,677]: And I think just look look at the conversation we’re having now about trade

[01:27:45,357]: A lot of these things that were you know after the Cold War ended and Soviet communism was was defeated in that way there was never really an adjustment

[01:27:55,857]: Like in many ways Europe and Japan we allowed them to get back up on their feet whether it was protection through NATO or these disastrous trade deals

[01:28:05,217]: But they had a purpose at the time was for them to get up and be able to stand up on their own two feet

[01:28:09,837]: Well that time is over

[01:28:11,537]: I mean in many ways right like we shouldn’t have ridiculous trade deals

[01:28:15,017]: So President Trump wielding tariffs to get a better deal

[01:28:17,357]: That’s working

[01:28:17,997]: We’re getting record investment trillions of dollars in this country

[01:28:20,717]: And then also you know look at NATO now

[01:28:22,557]: Like they’re actually like we’ll see if they actually do it

[01:28:25,737]: But one of the reasons why I went to the Munich Security Conference I don’t have the same foreign policy view of most people that go there

[01:28:33,357]: But I wanted to tell them the truth not what they wanted to hear

[01:28:35,997]: I think so many like the adulation and the red carpet that gets rolled out and you’re treated as American whatever over there hero to some like that

[01:28:43,897]: That wasn’t my purpose

[01:28:44,617]: I wanted them to understand that there’s a shift happening

[01:28:46,737]: We are pivoting

[01:28:47,357]: We’re going to protect the homeland

[01:28:48,857]: We understand China the 21st century is going to be defined by this great competition with communist China

[01:28:53,137]: We have to win that fight

[01:28:53,977]: And you need to stand up on your own two feet and much more than you ever have before

[01:28:57,817]: And I think it’s important that more people deliver that message

[01:29:00,437]: So I do think that’s part of the transformation of the Republican Party right now and also rooted

[01:29:06,097]: And I’m very comfortable in this place now because I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood

[01:29:09,557]: My dad worked seven days a week in the midnight shift

[01:29:11,917]: This ability to connect with working people to fight for them not the corporate interests but the people who are working hard who just want their kids to have a better life

[01:29:21,757]: And then they’ve been vilified for so long

[01:29:23,397]: They’ve been looked over in so called flyover country for too long

[01:29:26,997]: Their time is now

[01:29:28,097]: And I think President Trump has a very unique way of connecting

[01:29:31,157]: And as I said earlier I think what people want right now more than anything is authentic leadership

[01:29:34,937]: And so it’s an incredible time to be there

[01:29:38,277]: And I think this is where it’s headed

[01:29:41,457]: And I’m just grateful to be a part of it

[01:29:43,817]: As honestly or sort of impartially or non emotionally as you can can you describe where you think the Democratic Party is going

[01:29:51,817]: I don’t think they’ve hit rock bottom yet actually

[01:29:54,677]: And I think that you look at the people that are filling up the arenas it’s Bernie Sanders it’s AOC it’s this Mondami guy who’s literally a communist running

[01:30:04,037]: He’s going to be the mayor of New York probably looks that way

[01:30:08,237]: So I think they’re still searching

[01:30:10,337]: They don’t have a message

[01:30:11,357]: They don’t have a messenger

[01:30:12,217]: They’re still obsessed with President Trump with Trump Trump derangement syndrome

[01:30:15,637]: They’ve sort of learned nothing from the last go around with all this

[01:30:22,397]: And you know just things that used to be I mean there used to be kind of a by the way a Washington consensus isn’t always it’s usually a bad thing

[01:30:33,777]: You but there used to be kind of a belief that borders were important

[01:30:37,737]: Yeah

[01:30:38,637]: I don’t think they believe that anymore

[01:30:39,817]: I think if you really press the rank and file Democrat in Congress it’s it’s it’s they believe in mass migration

[01:30:47,237]: They don’t think that that lines on a map

[01:30:49,377]: They think that lines on a map are arbitrary

[01:30:51,437]: They’ll never win with that

[01:30:52,337]: Right

[01:30:52,517]: I know

[01:30:52,937]: And I don’t think they’ll get away from it

[01:30:54,137]: So I think you saw some self reflection after the election but they’re falling back into the same migration has made everyone’s life worse

[01:31:00,677]: Yeah it has

[01:31:01,617]: And I think that you look at the Overton window on that now versus 10 years ago when President Trump came down the escalator

[01:31:09,797]: Yeah it’s pretty dramatic

[01:31:10,877]: It is dramatic

[01:31:11,557]: In a good way

[01:31:12,117]: Right

[01:31:12,357]: So I think that oftentimes we get caught up in the the daily news cycle

[01:31:18,017]: What is the thing of the day

[01:31:19,797]: But if we take a step back and we look at how the Republican Party has been transformed how the country is sort of woken up from this fever dream we talk a lot about in the book like I think that’s all positive

[01:31:29,617]: Yes

[01:31:29,937]: There’s more work to do but I’m optimistic

[01:31:32,177]: I think that’s wise

[01:31:33,357]: You’re taking a bigger view of it

[01:31:35,637]: And a lot has changed a lot

[01:31:38,337]: And it’s good

[01:31:40,277]: Here’s my warm

[01:31:41,717]: By the way quick

[01:31:42,797]: The other thing that’s different when I was growing up it was in college in the 90s

[01:31:48,257]: This political correctness thing was sort of beginning

[01:31:50,577]: And I saw it

[01:31:51,637]: And sometimes I would take classes knowing that I would I was even a contrarian back then because I loved a good debate and I’ve always been pretty conservative

[01:32:02,257]: I always was a little jealous of liberals in that they kind of had the high ground on free speech

[01:32:08,997]: Oh yeah

[01:32:09,297]: You know they were right

[01:32:11,117]: And I’m glad now and particularly proud of the work as we’re talking about in the book of I think we have taken that mantle now

[01:32:19,377]: They’ve abandoned it

[01:32:20,357]: They don’t believe in it anymore

[01:32:22,037]: It’s all about power and control

[01:32:23,777]: And I think if we maintain this path of fighting for people’s right to say things even if you don’t agree with them is a very important thing for us to maintain the connection with this new coalition that’s been created in the Republican Party

[01:32:37,737]: So the number of people who believe that on either side is really small because speech is of course a threat to the people in power no matter what side they’re on

[01:32:45,697]: That’s why liberals went from being you know big donors to the ACLU to to you know controlling Facebook

[01:32:52,437]: So because they took power

[01:32:54,937]: So like nobody nobody wants to be challenged

[01:32:56,757]: I think only the truly principled I think are in the group are willing to accept challenge to their power you know without trying to shut people up

[01:33:06,897]: My concern is that Mamdani who I think is a you know I don’t think much of him

[01:33:12,837]: However I think his main appeal may be quality of life worries that people have

[01:33:19,717]: And I’m do you think I know this has been a big issue for you but there aren’t that many of you actually in the Senate talking about people’s lives like somebody in power needs to address declining quality of life in this country or else there will be a lot more Mamdanis

[01:33:36,937]: Yeah I agree with that

[01:33:38,177]: And you know I think especially for young people who are you know they’re coming out of college with a lot of debt

[01:33:47,377]: They don’t you know they may not be able to afford a house or have a family you know the way things are tracking until they’re in their 30s

[01:33:54,097]: Somehow that’s a very different America

[01:33:56,457]: And not a better one

[01:33:57,297]: Not a no I agree with that

[01:33:58,597]: And I think part of it is understanding the moment that we’re in

[01:34:02,177]: And you think about you know the ability to have a one income family and and like that very difficult to imagine now

[01:34:10,537]: And for a lot of people and and people can choose to do it or not do it

[01:34:14,057]: But you ought to have be able to have the option

[01:34:15,317]: I think a lot of opportunity hopefully will come for bringing manufacturing back

[01:34:20,137]: There are twice as many people that work in government than have manufacturing jobs in this country

[01:34:25,377]: I think the number was 90 000 factories have left the United States since NAFTA

[01:34:32,077]: Yeah like that’s dramatic

[01:34:34,077]: And I think that Perot was right

[01:34:35,857]: There was a giant

[01:34:36,757]: And by the way what’s interesting about Missouri you know I’m in Maine with you

[01:34:42,697]: Maine and Missouri have a connection because the Missouri Compromise of course Missouri and Maine came in at the same time although Missouri took a little bit longer

[01:34:50,297]: And on the state seal there’s a belt buckle that holds the seal together

[01:34:54,317]: And it was basically telling the federal government that we we were retaining our independence and we may leave because you’re screwing us over

[01:35:01,357]: So like we would unbuckle the buckle

[01:35:04,357]: And not that I’m not advocating for that

[01:35:06,177]: I’m just saying even back then 40 years later they found out no one’s allowed to right

[01:35:10,397]: But like no but the point is it’s like this

[01:35:13,337]: Even back then Missourians were skeptical of a government telling them how to live their lives a thousand miles away

[01:35:19,897]: So I think that that it’s an it’s important for us to kind of forge this path where we are providing more opportunity for people

[01:35:28,017]: But Missouri’s always had this kind of independence streak

[01:35:29,897]: If you look at the states where Perot did particularly well it was in a place like Missouri Pat Buchanan somebody that I listened to growing up

[01:35:37,477]: When I was my dad it said my dad worked seven days a week in the midnight shift

[01:35:40,737]: It also meant that he was home like after school

[01:35:44,117]: So he could go to my games and played a lot of sports

[01:35:46,717]: Or we would watch Crossfire on the one television when you had one television living room

[01:35:51,517]: And I would watch Jack Kemp and Pat Buchanan kind of thing away

[01:35:54,397]: And they were fighting for the little guy

[01:35:56,457]: Oh yeah they were fighting for the little guy

[01:35:58,297]: And you had Ronald Reagan you know of course then trying to build this coalition too

[01:36:01,397]: Anyway the punchline is Perot was right

[01:36:06,477]: This giant sucking sound was real

[01:36:09,257]: Letting China into the World Trade Organization was a huge disaster

[01:36:13,837]: But it doesn’t need to be that way

[01:36:15,197]: And I think that’s the hope with advanced manufacturing that we can bring those jobs home

[01:36:19,597]: It won’t look the same as the 1960s

[01:36:22,117]: It won’t be an assembly line in Detroit in that way

[01:36:25,237]: But you just think of I just think people are looking for more opportunities

[01:36:29,057]: And I think the people that I grew up around you know their parents were truck drivers or cops or factory workers

[01:36:37,337]: And I didn’t know any lawyers growing up not one

[01:36:40,217]: But I thought the law gave structure which kind of and people real people normal people to pursue their dreams whatever that was which is why that’s what I pursued

[01:36:48,397]: But the people I grew up around they got dealt this double whammy which was their jobs went overseas

[01:36:55,897]: And then as they’re looking for new jobs those wages get undercut through illegal immigration and mass migration

[01:37:02,157]: So it’s no wonder people are looking for something different

[01:37:05,057]: And we better be the ones that provide that

[01:37:07,617]: And I think that we’re on the right track

[01:37:09,197]: But you know there are warning signals out there that we better be the ones with the solutions

[01:37:15,737]: Because when Dami’s kind of a kook and a commie but you know maybe there’ll be somebody smarter than him

[01:37:20,957]: Yeah it’s the biggest city in the country

[01:37:22,337]: So last question about that

[01:37:25,897]: I know you’re probably not going to drinks with Democrats every night or anything

[01:37:29,157]: But are there any Democratic members of the House or Senate who you’re pretty sure are going to run for president

[01:37:35,717]: Because of course wide open on the other side

[01:37:38,137]: Oh yeah you can look at the theatrics right now

[01:37:40,277]: The ones that are stomping on the floor a little bit more I think you know Cory Booker is making some moves

[01:37:47,757]: I mean if you’re Chris Murphy

[01:37:51,457]: Really

[01:37:51,637]: Yeah

[01:37:52,477]: So and look I think in many ways

[01:37:55,357]: So we’re safe

[01:37:56,418]: Right

[01:37:56,897]: I think in many ways though it is a competition to be the greatest resistor

[01:38:03,997]: That’s what’s going on right now

[01:38:04,997]: Yeah

[01:38:05,337]: And I don’t think that’s right

[01:38:06,678]: But that’s such a dead end

[01:38:07,717]: I know but they think it is

[01:38:09,437]: And it’s also why like you know some of these nominations which are you know I think the last time we had to vote like roll call vote on the ambassador to Uruguay was like 50 years ago

[01:38:19,957]: But we’re doing all that now because the Democrats view this sort of obstruction as the path

[01:38:25,057]: And I don’t think that Uruguay is like a more important ally than it was 50 years ago

[01:38:28,217]: No that’s not why we’re voting

[01:38:29,678]: The stakes aren’t higher in Uruguay

[01:38:31,418]: Right

[01:38:31,617]: Yeah

[01:38:31,957]: So I think that there’s in Chuck Schumer by the way I don’t know that he runs again in two years but he hears the footsteps of AOC

[01:38:44,178]: Oh of AOC

[01:38:45,357]: So that’s that’s where the party’s going

[01:38:46,897]: They’re terrified of that

[01:38:47,857]: They’re terrified of it because where the energy is on their side

[01:38:52,397]: And by the way that’s that’s good news for us because it’s just crazy stuff

[01:38:56,157]: It’s the same old you know you know race essentialism and control

[01:39:01,857]: And it just you know this green New Deal nonsense that would last forever

[01:39:07,477]: If you had a modern Democrat which is to say an old fashioned Democrat

[01:39:11,117]: Harry Truman maybe

[01:39:11,538]: Yeah

[01:39:11,757]: No but that’s exactly right

[01:39:12,717]: Or the earlier version of Dick Gephardt from your

[01:39:15,617]: Yeah sure

[01:39:16,777]: The you know pro life pro labor like that guy could win I think

[01:39:21,717]: They’ve all been run out

[01:39:22,477]: This is a good example actually in Missouri

[01:39:24,637]: So Missouri was this ultimate bellwether state for 100 years and picked the right or the pick the winner I should say every time but once

[01:39:31,877]: Adlai Stevenson the only exception

[01:39:34,117]: It was a great bellwether

[01:39:35,798]: There were rural Democrats everywhere everywhere

[01:39:38,517]: In fact most of outstate Missouri was blue with pro life pro gun Democrats

[01:39:43,097]: They’re all gone

[01:39:44,197]: They’re literally all gone

[01:39:45,277]: Pro gun pro labor

[01:39:47,077]: Yeah that too

[01:39:48,597]: And you can’t find them anywhere in Missouri

[01:39:50,577]: They’re just in St

[01:39:51,298]: Louis and Kansas City and they’re pretty radical

[01:39:52,977]: They’re competing to be the most like during COVID like you had the mayor of St

[01:39:56,077]: Louis the mayor of Kansas City competing to be the most woke COVID restrictor in the Like that was the competition right

[01:40:02,877]: Yeah

[01:40:03,157]: So the incentive structure is really messed up for them right now because the only way you do it is if you’re one of the lefties

[01:40:09,257]: Everyone hates that stuff

[01:40:10,857]: Yeah

[01:40:11,097]: But in their circle again I think this is the Trump derangement syndrome stuff

[01:40:16,657]: It’s so hard for them to get rid of

[01:40:18,477]: Do donors push that on them

[01:40:19,897]: Do you think

[01:40:20,298]: I think that they’re I mean Soros what Soros has funded they chase that

[01:40:25,337]: Look at the prosecutors that did all the damage across the country

[01:40:27,357]: Yeah

[01:40:27,777]: You know you talk about an arbitrage of the system

[01:40:30,377]: Very little money went to disrupting a lot of our lives

[01:40:33,737]: So yeah but I think but now in Missouri there’s literally no Democrat representing rural Missouri and the margins like in my last race in some of the counties say in the boot heels like 86 of the vote

[01:40:47,257]: Really

[01:40:48,017]: What were your numbers in St

[01:40:49,397]: Louis and Kansas City

[01:40:50,337]: Well I’m from the St

[01:40:51,517]: Louis area

[01:40:52,337]: So like in St

[01:40:53,117]: Louis County which is where I live was able you know I’ve been more effective of kind of holding the line

[01:40:57,717]: But you know in St

[01:40:58,857]: Louis City it’s you know 80 20 you’re going to lose

[01:41:01,937]: But the city itself is 300 000 the metro area is 3 million

[01:41:06,657]: But St Louis County has a million people and you just basically hold on as much as you can appeal to people

[01:41:12,298]: And then you know you’re running up the score everywhere else in a dramatic way

[01:41:15,837]: It used to be the dynamic was they did much better in rural Missouri and then they get into the cities

[01:41:21,457]: And then that’s what would get them over the top at midnight by you know a certain number of votes

[01:41:26,877]: Boy that pattern you just described is everywhere

[01:41:31,197]: Everywhere yeah

[01:41:32,137]: Does that stay the same for a while

[01:41:33,657]: I think so for a while

[01:41:35,757]: I tell people I warn people all the time that nothing is static

[01:41:39,077]: No that’s right

[01:41:39,697]: I think that’s the dynamic that we’re in at least for right now

[01:41:43,257]: And like I said I don’t think I don’t know how to gauge the midterms Tucker

[01:41:46,457]: Like I don’t know the House races as much and the redistricting thing is going to have a play

[01:41:50,038]: But the one thing that’s true is the Democrats have gerrymandered these seats for a long time

[01:41:53,497]: They’ve got nowhere else to go

[01:41:55,457]: So like and by the way the idea that you don’t have to be a citizen to be counted in the census is insane

[01:42:02,597]: California would lose seats no doubt

[01:42:06,157]: Can that be fixed

[01:42:07,097]: Yeah it could be

[01:42:07,937]: You could ask the question on the census and only that would be counted then in the next census cycle

[01:42:14,097]: Now there would be legal challenges to that but I think you can do that

[01:42:18,217]: And by the way it has enormous impact on like federal dollars and how they’re doled out

[01:42:22,697]: But I think if the redistricting will affect the numbers

[01:42:25,237]: So I don’t know about the midterms

[01:42:26,798]: I have confidence that will hold the House

[01:42:29,257]: The Senate will remain in Republican hands

[01:42:31,117]: There’s just not that many seats that are in like battleground territory but longer term I think we’re in a strong position but we’re also going to have to be very mindful which I love that we’ve got this new coalition

[01:42:43,178]: That’s kind of I joked when I spoke at the convention last year that you had Kid Rock Hulk Hogan and normal people on the stage

[01:42:51,437]: This is exactly the party that I’ve been waiting for my whole life and we’ve got it

[01:42:55,178]: And so I want to work as hard as I can to help

[01:42:57,077]: You just don’t want the party of Bill Gates to steal economic populism from you

[01:43:01,717]: Correct

[01:43:02,017]: That’s when you lose

[01:43:03,517]: No and some people will be smart enough to understand it

[01:43:05,957]: I think again you notice how like Beto O Rourke and all these guys are like cussing more often

[01:43:12,997]: It’s like if you can be like it’s like faking authenticity

[01:43:17,757]: I know

[01:43:18,157]: It’s ridiculous

[01:43:19,237]: I’d love to talk to Beto’s wife

[01:43:20,957]: I haven’t never met her but I wonder if she’s impressed because I bet she’s not

[01:43:24,337]: I bet she thinks it’s phony as hell

[01:43:26,057]: I bet she really does

[01:43:28,038]: I bet nobody has more

[01:43:29,197]: I’m just guessing

[01:43:29,937]: Yeah

[01:43:30,077]: I’ve never talked to Mrs

[01:43:31,418]: O Rourke and I doubt her name is Mrs

[01:43:32,477]: O Rourke but she’s got another name because she’s so embarrassed

[01:43:36,017]: But I bet she’s more contemptuous of him than anything

[01:43:39,277]: Yeah

[01:43:39,418]: So I think they’ve again I don’t think they’ve fleshed all this out yet

[01:43:43,277]: And I think they’re in a real troublesome spot right

[01:43:47,637]: You’ve got this kind of Star Wars bar of leftists that they can’t get out of the room and it’s pushing everybody to the left

[01:43:56,977]: And I think people will reject that

[01:43:58,757]: So there was no moment because remember for the month after the election there were Democrats including Gavin Newsom who were like really this isn’t working for us and we should try something new

[01:44:07,597]: That never went anywhere

[01:44:09,117]: Now I mean Rahm Emanuel is kind of talking that way

[01:44:12,457]: Yeah

[01:44:12,777]: As a diagnosis but I don’t but in order to get the nomination that like post mortem assessment will get you nowhere because I don’t think their base wants to hear that

[01:44:24,357]: I think that’s right

[01:44:25,157]: Their base wants them to fight over everything right now

[01:44:29,418]: That’s not where the American people are

[01:44:30,538]: That’s the good news right

[01:44:31,637]: Because Trump got a mandate

[01:44:33,277]: He got the And do you see that in the Senate

[01:44:36,277]: Yeah

[01:44:36,777]: It’s and for that place you know for that place to operate with 60 votes that’s a different environment right

[01:44:45,317]: Like we’re dealing with and by the way been very successful I think of the three stages so far which is getting Trump’s team in place his cabinet betted a thousand on that

[01:44:57,298]: Reconciliation which by the way not a lot of people have they talked about the one big beautiful bill of the name but like you’ve got for the first time school choice provisions in there

[01:45:08,137]: More for working families with 529s to save

[01:45:10,837]: You’ve got no tax on tips no tax on overtime for the for the truck driver that’s working overtime or the waitress that’s working two shifts

[01:45:17,757]: Like that’s a big deal

[01:45:18,937]: Like that’s that is now there’s other stuff in there but you front loaded money for border like for deportations more ICE agents in beds

[01:45:25,637]: Like that’s all in there

[01:45:26,557]: You front loaded a lot of that

[01:45:27,418]: So there’s a lot of wins there

[01:45:28,298]: And then we get to rescissions which I handled and that was you know probably more difficult than it should have been but we got it done

[01:45:34,777]: Those are the three big things so far

[01:45:36,837]: So there’s more to do but I think we could do all that with 51 votes right

[01:45:41,597]: Because of just the way the statutes are drafted

[01:45:45,097]: But if the Democrats are really in this mode of resistance it’s going to be you know who knows how this all plays out because right now Chuck Schumer doesn’t see an incentive of working with Republicans on anything

[01:45:55,717]: And I think that ultimately burns them

[01:45:57,798]: I mean Trump after the midterm is you know can’t run again

[01:46:03,737]: So at that point if the Democrats message is we hate Trump does that get you the presidency

[01:46:09,617]: No I think it’s a I think you’re right

[01:46:11,837]: It’s a midterm play but they have long term problems because that is defined their party

[01:46:19,337]: And in many ways this lawfare that was exhibited was all just a symptom of the same problem right

[01:46:25,257]: Is they’re singularly obsessed with President Trump and every policy position he takes they take the opposite

[01:46:32,357]: Again tried to throw him in jail censor anybody who believes the same thing he believes

[01:46:37,237]: So they got they have a real problem

[01:46:38,897]: It’s a structural problem that I don’t it’s easy to diagnose

[01:46:42,357]: I don’t know how they fix it because there are no Dick Gepharts walking around

[01:46:46,077]: Right or Bill Clinton

[01:46:47,197]: Yeah

[01:46:47,557]: You know

[01:46:48,317]: Right

[01:46:49,657]: Senator thank you very much for spending all this time

[01:46:52,178]: The book is The Last Line of Defense How to Beat the Left in Court which you have done

[01:46:56,717]: Thank you

[01:46:57,437]: Thanks for having me

[01:47:01,918]: So it turns out that YouTube is suppressing this show

[01:47:05,437]: On one level it’s not surprising that’s what they do

[01:47:07,777]: But on another level it’s shocking

[01:47:09,357]: With everything that’s going on in the world right now all the change taking place in our economy and our politics with the wars on the cusp of fighting right now Google has decided you should have less information rather than more

[01:47:22,117]: And that is totally wrong

[01:47:24,477]: It’s immoral

[01:47:25,497]: What can you do about it

[01:47:27,357]: Well we could whine about it

[01:47:28,777]: That’s a waste of time

[01:47:29,798]: We’re not in charge of Google

[01:47:30,897]: Or we could find a way around it a way that you could actually get information that is true not intentionally deceptive

[01:47:37,257]: The way to do that on YouTube we think is to subscribe to our channel

[01:47:40,997]: Subscribe

[01:47:41,717]: Hit the little bell icon to be notified when we upload and share this video

[01:47:46,097]: That way you’ll have a much higher chance of hearing actual news and information

[01:47:51,217]: So we hope that you’ll do that

---

---

Transcribe your media with TRNSCRB.
Transcribe multiple languages, effortlessly. Chat with your projects. Enhance your workflow.