Alex Berenson speaks out after Amazon censors his latest COVID book
John 'Chick' Former New York Times reporter joins Mark Steyn with his thoughts on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight'joins Dana Perino 'The Story' to discuss his story and the value of service
This is a rush transcript from “Tucker Carlson Tonight" November 25, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARK STEYN, FOX NEWS HOST: Good evening and welcome to a special edition
of TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT. Tucker is out for what passes for the Holiday
these days. I'm Mark Steyn. Happy Thanksgiving, ha? Chicago Mayor Lori
Lightfoot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: You must cancel the normal
Thanksgiving plans, particularly if they include guests that do not live in
your immediate household.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: Isn't guests that do not live in your immediate household the whole
idea of Thanksgiving over the river and through the woods to grandfather's
house we go, because that's the best way to avoid the State Police
checkpoint on Highway 37.
As is traditional, President Trump has pardoned a turkey at the White
House. Any chance of the Governors of Maine or Michigan or New Jersey
pardoning there recalcitrant hairdressers or gym owners or restauranteurs?
Not a chance.
Those guys have to be stuffed and carved up as an example to any others
among our rulers, subjects minded to get a little restless.
Four hundred years after the Puritans set sail because they wished to hold
open public religious services, open public religious services have been
deemed nonessential.
In the old country, you had to hold them in private houses, but don't even
think of doing that here. If you shake off the coppers and make it back to
the old homestead, what is the maximum number of persons that have freeborn
American is allowed to have in his home this Thanksgiving?
In Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, on and on. It's 10. In
Kentucky, it is eight people from no more than two households. In
California you can have people from up to three households, but you have to
disperse after two hours. Even if you're outdoors, you're on the clock.
It's like a parking meter, but you can't keep coming back pumping it with
extra quarters.
Governor Newsom and the Grand viziers of public health dining at the French
Laundry in Napa Valley can linger over the aperitifs and a moose boosh all
the way to the cognacs and mint wafers. But you've got to chow down that
butter ball and scram.
In Oregon, the maximum number permitted in a private home is six persons.
In New Mexico, five. In Vermont and Rhode Island, you can socialize only
with those you already live with.
So take a look around the room. That's it. That's your Thanksgiving, the
same kids have been off school for a year, the same spouse you've been
cooped up with since the two of you got deemed nonessential back in March.
Cabin fever is coming early to Vermont.
The Centers for Disease Control which has proved incapable of controlling
the disease, and so would rather control you instead because frankly, it's
a lot easier, advises that you should take your own Thanksgiving meal with
you, take your own turkey, take your own stuffing, take your own fixings.
Especially take your own cranberry sauce because that's a super spreader.
And take your own disposable plates and utensils and be sure to throw them
away immediately when you're finished. Lest Auntie Mabel carelessly pick up
your plastic spoon to stir her pumpkin spice Metamucil.
But don't get the idea that Thanksgiving isn't going to be any fun. If you
live in a state that still permits you to dine with persons from another
household, why not tickle their ribs? From a socially responsible distance
on the other side of the room with a Thanksgiving themed mask?
Here's Emmy Award winning senior care facility manager, Andrew Cuomo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): We have a special mask for Thanksgiving because
you know, we're so creative in New York. We are creative, and we do things
a little different, and we have a special mask. "Don't be a turkey this
Thanksgiving. Wear a mask." Don't be a turkey. How good looking is this
mask? Right? You're ready? Look at that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: And they said vaudeville was dead. In Andrew Cuomo's hands,
vaudeville isn't, but everything else is.
You have to give it to Chairman Xi and those chi-cons, how many foreign
adversaries could come up with a new virus that results in a pandemic of
Andrew Cuomo sight gags? All over the state, there will be empty seats at
the Thanksgiving table for elderly New Yorkers whose last moments of life
were filled with their lethal Governor's visual comedy.
For Christmas, Governor Cuomo maybe order up a turkey hazmat suit and flap
about in the ICU?
Oregon's Kate brown knows that to govern is to prioritize in Portland, the
anarchists have had the run of the city all year. And fortunately, that
frees up a lot of law enforcement to investigate whether grandma is dishing
up the sprouts and butternut squash for an illegal seventh diner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATE BROWN (D-OR): I will be asking our Oregon State Police to work
collaboratively with local law enforcement to enforce the limits on social
gatherings. They are Class C misdemeanors, and they can be enforced through
a citation, a fine or through an arrest.
At this point in time, unfortunately, we have no other option.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: America 2020 Thanksgiving is a Class C misdemeanor. Why not take it
to the next level? Governor Cuomo says with a straight face that New York
Police Chiefs who refuse to enforce Thanksgiving lockdowns are quote,
"dictators."
So if you're bored with turning in your neighbors for having a sixth,
seventh, eighth, ninth guest, why not turn in your local police department
for refusing to send around the Thanksgiving SWAT team.
In Vermont schools next week, the little boys and girls and the non-binary
moppets will be asked if they and their parents attended Thanksgiving
gatherings involving persons from other households. Did grandma come round?
Come on kid, you've got to answer because nothing says Thanksgiving like
snitching on your mom and pop.
Need a drink? Forget it. For the last three hours, Pennsylvania has been a
dry state. Liquor stores have closed for Thanksgiving. Fortunately for
Pennsylvanians, it's easy to convert the Xerox machine you used to print
the mail-in ballots into a steal for bootleg hooch. The governor says the
booze ban is necessary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TOM WOLF (D-PA): It turns out that the biggest day for drinking is
the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. And when people get together in that
situation, it leads to an increase in the exchange of the fluids that leads
to increased infection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: I'm really not sure he needed to ban the booze, A, because Dr.
Fauci has already signed off on casual sex hookups and B, because for most
Pennsylvanians, the most effective disincentive to the exchange of the
fluids is hearing Governor Wolf talking about the exchange of the fluids.
After that soundbite I don't plan on exchanging any fluids this side of
Groundhog Day.
In New Mexico, Governor Grisham has ordered grocery stores closed. A drink
is nonessential and now food is nonessential, which makes a lot of sense if
you are nonessential. Clearly, the sustenance required to keep you alive is
likewise nonessential.
Dr. Fauci says have a responsible Thanksgiving. Don't cook the turkey. Just
prop him up on the sofa and have a quiet night in just the two of you
watching a socially distant Zoom box porno on Netflix. Oh, is that Jeffrey
Toobin in the third box from the left up there?
Okay, stick a fork at me. I'm done.
FOX Los Angeles, Phil Melugin is in the Great Land of California tonight,
where local restaurants have been ordered to end outdoor service -- Bill.
BILL MELUGIN, REPORTER, FOX LOS ANGELES: Yes, Mark, good evening to you.
As you said, tonight at 10 o'clock, LA County is set to begin restricting
outdoor dining at almost all of the 31,000 restaurants here in the county.
And as a matter of fact, LA County is going to be the only county in the
entire State of California restricting this, only allowing takeout and that
is causing just a massive backlash and a lot of frustration from business
owners saying this is going to be the final death blow to them to kill
their businesses because they can't go into this kind of a closure again,
after they did this in March.
Now, this decision was made by the LA County Department of Public Health.
They put a tweet out over the weekend alerting everybody to this. And
there's been such backlash because they admitted yesterday, they don't have
any data. They don't have any science tying outdoor dining to this recent
surge of cases here in LA County.
They were repeatedly pressed about this yesterday at the LA County Board of
Supervisors meeting and they essentially said yes, we don't have our own
data. We're going off of a C.D.C. study.
The problem with that C.D.C. study is it was done in over the summer. It
involved 10 other states and it included indoor dining which has been
banned in LA County here for the past several months, basically, since
started the pandemic.
So one of the county supervisors was very frustrated with that saying, are
you kidding me? We're eight months in and we don't have our own county data
on contact tracing with outdoor dining.
She feels this is punitive. This is you know, this is going to -- this is
going to kill business owners. And one more thing, this decision was made
by our Public Health Director, Dr. Barbara Ferrer. She is not a medical
doctor. She got her PhD in social welfare and she is unelected. And a lot
of critics out there say, she is not qualified to make this kind of
decision. I'm sending it back to you.
STEYN: Yes, Bill, social welfare. There's the real science behind this
thing, and as Tucker mentioned yesterday, what's so fascinating about this,
is that actually government buildings have been spreading more coronavirus
than restaurants.
So 15 days to flatten the curve has turned into 15 months to flatten small
business.
There's a lot we still don't know about all this. Unfortunately, thanks to
tech oligarchs, we can't even have an open and honest debate about who
knows least about this stuff.
YouTube has censored doctors who have doubted the efficacy of shutdown
orders. Facebook and Twitter censor content that contradicts the World
Health Organization even though their positions are changing all the time.
The latest bizarre example comes from https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__amazon.com&d=DwICAg&c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&r=jM_9hg5JFXCKo8_URsChJ7Uq86vcqmLBqkSbVkH8bXw&m=CTV5zumwg4Jdi_B7qPPNDkD9Ez39iPebJ-j86L_ArK0&s=BMAp0IXzcqD6YDtP8IWvTzhp5hqhPqNQwLnWMooYDBQ&e= which censored Alex
Berenson's book "Unreported Truths about COVID-19" last night.
Alex Berenson joins us. Alex, they've reversed it, but you're basically in
the position where you have to monitor Amazon 24/7 to see whether a couple
of hours have gone by and they've now decided to kill your book all over
again.
ALEX BERENSON, AUTHOR: Well, they reversed it. This is actually the second
time and the second separate booklet of mine that they've tried to censor
and then had to back down.
You know, I'm very fortunate because, you know, I have people like Tucker,
who will stand up for me or people like Elon Musk, who will stand up for
me, but Big Tech censorship of opposing views on COVID is a huge problem.
And you know -- and it's part actually, frankly, of an even bigger problem.
I mean, my booklet is about masks. And obviously, I'd like everyone to read
it and understand how weak the science in favor of mask mandates really is.
But this isn't about masks, and it isn't even about COVID. It's about
whether or not as a society, we're going to allow people who have views
that are sort of outside what the mainstream media want you to believe to
present those views.
And that's true in both sort of old media and social media. It's becoming
harder and harder to have honest conversations.
Look, I was a reporter for "The New York Times" for 10 years -- I don't --
sorry.
STEYN: Well, just let me ask about that, Alex, because this is the
fascinating thing. There are touchy issues such as race or transgender
issues. But this is even worse, in a sense, because they are actually
saying on something that shouldn't be particularly politicized, it
shouldn't be left or right or liberal or conservative.
They are saying you're simply not allowed to offer any view that's
different from the World Health Organization or the Centers for Disease
Control, both of whom have been wrong about everything.
BERENSON: No, no, Mark. It's much worse than that. If you read the
booklet, you will see what the W.H.O. actually says about mask wearing in
healthy populations. I quote, okay, and they are very, very lukewarm on
mask wearing and healthy populations.
You haven't heard that because no one is allowed to talk about it. Okay.
What I do in this booklet is I quote from scientific studies that have been
published in the best journals that you know, mostly before March because
the science wasn't so politicized before March, but also even since March,
and I can't even get that out despite the fact that you know, I provide all
the sourcing, all I want actually is a fair chance to present my views and
you know, to an audience that needs to hear them and that's not just on
FOX, but obviously Fox is right now the only place where I can get a fair
hearing. It is really disturbing to me.
STEYN: Well keep fighting Alex. Amazon's behavior is quite disgraceful,
especially considering that over the last eight months as every alternative
to Amazon has been closed down. They are basically the company store for
the entire planet now. It's quite disgraceful the way they have treated
you.
BERENSON: That's right. They've made so much money.
STEYN: Yes, yes. No, I know. They are richer than anyone and every other
business is closed down. Thank you, Alex.
President Obama has attacked religious Hispanics who has voted for Trump.
He has come a long way since all that hope and change. That's coming up
next in our special edition of TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.
Plus, other news tonight, a major update on a proposed mine that would
destroy one of the most beautiful natural landscapes in America. Tucker,
played his part in winning that one straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEYN: Welcome back to a special Thanksgiving Eve edition of TUCKER
CARLSON TONIGHT.
President Trump today pardoned his former National Security Adviser Michael
Flynn today. FOX News Senior correspondent Rick Leventhal has all the
details -- Rick.
RICK LEVENTHAL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Mark. He was a
decorated war hero with an astonishing fall from grace. The shortest
serving National Security Adviser in history. But today, Michael Flynn's
slate is clean.
The President told the world on Twitter writing, "It is my great honor to
announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a full pardon.
Congratulations to General Flynn and his wonderful family. I know you will
now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving."
Flynn is a retired Army General who helped shape America's counterterrorism
strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. But his tenure as President Trump's
National Security Adviser was remarkably short, just 22 days after Trump
took office, Flynn resigned after it was revealed he misled Vice President
Mike Pence about the substance of his communications with the Russian
Ambassador to the U.S.
In December 2017, Flynn cut a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller,
pleading guilty to a single felony count of willfully and knowingly making
false statements to the F.B.I. In January of this year, he moved to
withdraw that plea. And in May, the D.O.J. announced it intended to drop
all charges. The case was still on hold when the President issued his
pardon today.
And last hour, General Flynn tweeted, "Fight like a Flynn. God bless
family."
A D.O.J. official told FOX they would have preferred to see the matter
resolved in court. But this was quote, "obviously an appropriate use of the
President's pardon power" -- Mark.
STEYN: Thank you, Rick. I would like to have seen him acquitted in court
because that whole dirty, rotten, stinking Federal Justice System really
stitched him up from top to toe.
Joe Biden -- thank you -- thank you for that, Rick. Joe Biden plans to
staff his administration with corporate lobbyists and establishment swamp
creatures, he's quite open about it. Unlike Trump or Obama, Biden isn't
even pledging to keep lobbyists out of his administration. The incoming
administration, allegedly is widely seen as a return to the pre-Trump
status quo, and the media are absolutely giddy about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: They are
deeply experienced. They are humble and they are lifelong public servants.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: What a contrast with the current President's
Cabinet of dear leaders. Dear leader spouting suck ups.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: I was talking to a Democrat who just
said this also felt like the "Avengers." It felt like we're being rescued
from the craziness that we've all lived through from the last four years.
And now here are the superheroes to come and save us all.
ANDREA MITCHELL, MSNBC CHIEF FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I can see
there is restoration of morale and of veteran diplomats and have a focus on
diplomacy, not just for public relations, but real diplomacy working around
the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was emotional at one point and I thought to myself,
I feel like we've all been in a really bad relationship and then the next
person who calls you back, this the greatest man you've ever dated in your
whole life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: I am not sure how duller life you have to lead to see those guys as
superheroes. Although John Kerry does like to wear the old buttock hugging
spandex when he is windsurfing off Nantucket. There he goes as wind man, as
stiff as a wind turbine, but generating even less power. Other than that,
the only comic book guy, Tony Blinken resembles is Swamp Thing.
Sean Davis is a co-founder of "The Federalist" who joins us now. Sean, I
can't really take a Joe Biden Cabinet seriously, because the President
actually won a couple of victories in Pennsylvania and Nevada today that
keep at least some things in play until January.
But basically, if you weren't the American media, wouldn't you at least try
to hold the tongue bath until like January?
SEAN DAVIS, CO-FOUNDER, "THE FEDERALIST": Well, apparently not.
Apparently, they just couldn't wait. And I think we're going to be treated
to another four years like the eight before Trump where the media goes and
alternates between the tongue bath and the eight-year long nap.
And I think the problem is they actually don't view themselves or their
jobs as being providing facts or coverage or reporting. They view their job
as cheerleading for left-wing democrats like Biden, and they don't even try
to hide it anymore.
It used to be back in the days of Brokaw or Jennings or Rather before he
fell apart, that they would at least try and pretend to be objective. They
would do a little to kind of hide it, and that's completely gone now.
They apparently think they are just beyond reproach. They are so arrogant
and confident in their power that they don't even have to hide their
complete partisan left-wing bias anymore.
STEYN: Well, is it arrogance and power? Is it in fact that they're just
like, into some kinky, submissive bondage and domination thing? Because if
you actually think these third rate swamp creatures, superheroes flying
through the sky, you're in a pretty pathetic position.
DAVIS: Yes, I don't think anyone is going to argue that these people are
anything but delusional. I mean, you look at Jake Sullivan, Biden's pick
for National Security Adviser. This guy was Patient Zero in the Russian
collusion hoax.
He was a guy who said, as I think of 2018, you know, I don't have any
problems with the Steele dossier. You see that, you see people who are the
architects of failure across the Middle East behind the Arab Spring, behind
the disaster in Libya, and they apparently look at the world that Trump has
put together now at peace between Israel and Arabs, that's unprecedented to
say, you know what, that's bad. We need to get back to the age we had
previously created, where they're always at war with each other.
STEYN: Yes, Trump is the first President in a generation who hasn't said
we need boots on the ground and who gives a stand somewhere, thousands of
miles away, and now we're going back to everything that people voted
against.
DAVIS: Right. We're returning to the forever wars, the wars that don't
even have a victory plan, let alone an exit strategy. And it's just
shocking to see the arrogance of this Washington crowd.
Washington, the only city where you can fail time and time again and keep
getting promoted. And they look back at their record and they see it. So,
you know what, we definitely deserve to be in power again, pay no attention
to all the countries we screwed up and the thousands of American servicemen
and women's lives we've ruined.
STEYN: Yes, they did it to Libya. They can do it to you. Thanks. Thanks a
lot, Sean. Happy Thanksgiving.
The City of Seattle voted to slash funds for its Police Department. Take a
guess at how that's going to go. A live report up next.
Also, civil rights icon Bob Woodson thinks America is on a dangerous path.
That's coming up next on this Thanksgiving special edition of TUCKER
CARLSON TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEYN: Welcome back to this special edition of TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.
Seattle City Council voted last night to slash the Police Department
budget; as they were debating the proposal, two people were stabbed in
separate attacks nearby.
The city has already lost nearly 150 officers this year and many of those
resignations came after anti-government activists created their own
autonomous nation in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Jason Rantz is a radio host who has been covering the situation in Seattle
for us. Jason, it is great to have you on the show. You know, when they
talk about reimagining the police. They always say, well, if you send some
big guy around with a gun, you're just going to escalate the situation.
And they prefer to think that if you call 911, you might send over a social
worker. The lady who died last night, who actually works with people who
are in crisis, the bottom of society is exactly the kind of person they
want to replace armed policemen with.
JASON RANTZ, SEATTLE RADIO SHOW HOST: Yes, it was a caseworker who was
working with someone who was formerly homeless living in this apartment
complex of people who used to be living out on the streets. Apparently, he
was dealing with some kind of mental issue.
He walked into this apartment complex armed with a hunting knife. He
stabbed her to death. When police showed up, she had a hunting knife
sticking out of her back, she was dead.
And this was happening as this Council was debating how much more they were
going to cut the Seattle Police Department's budget for 2021. So they
finally settled on 18 percent.
This, at a time where we have the lowest number of deployable police
officers in the City of Seattle since 1990. We have seen as a result, a
surge in crimes and not just low level petty crimes, which is on the
increase. But we're talking about homicides. We're talking about stabbings.
One of the stabbings the other day was just some guy walking in downtown
Seattle gets stabbed in the neck. Now thankfully, he's going to be okay.
But that guy who stabbed him in the neck, a prolific offender.
So we've got bad guys, criminals who are walking around. They are not
getting punished, and we don't have enough police officers to keep the city
safe.
STEYN: Why would you be a policeman in 2020 in these Democrat cities?
RANTZ: I don't know why you would want to be a cop here, and that's part
of the issue. I mean, right now, the Seattle Police Department is sitting
on about a hundred applications for officers to go into nearby agencies.
So they're going into Bellevue. They're going out into Pierce County in the
City of Everett because they don't want to work here where it's become a
sport to attack police officers, not just the activists on the street, but
the Council members who are in positions of power routinely go after these
police officers.
It's not -- it is untenable to be a police officer in the City of Seattle
right now and things need to change.
STEYN: Yes, that's the best way of putting it. Jason, thank you for that
and Happy Thanksgiving.
Seattle isn't the only place though where crime is set surging. Here's a
look at how things are going in our nation's biggest city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: We're seeing improvement with
every passing month, but we've got a lot to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some are calling the mayor's comment an
understatement. In fact, the NYPD says there has been a troubling spike in
shootings.
Just take a look at the numbers. As of yesterday, there have been more than
1,300 shootings in the city so far this year, compared to 699 during the
same time period last year.
The mayor is saying the pandemic is partly responsible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: It's also the general lawlessness, though like the random stabbings
and the sucker punches that Jason was just referencing, New York's must be
shocked that crime is rising after they cut the Police Department by $1
billion and entirely eliminated the plainclothes unit.
In Minneapolis, which has also moved to slash the Police Department,
shootings are up more than 100 percent this year. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just this week, the Minneapolis Police Chief described
the surge in crime in the city as quote, "unprecedented."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As an average citizen. My biggest concern is this. I
don't like what I see out there right now. Sirens, morning, noon and night.
Carjackings, gunshots, et cetera.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: Carjackings and gunshots. Bob Woodson is founder and President of
the Woodson Center. It's a great privilege to have him.
Bob, basically, when you eliminate the police, it's the lawless elements.
It's the underworld, it's the gangs, it's the criminals who take over,
isn't it?
ROBERT WOODSON, FOUNDER, WOODSON CENTER: Absolutely. And low income black
communities are suffering most because of this outrage.
About 10 years ago, I wrote about Cincinnati, when a police officer shot a
young man who turned and thought he had a gun in his hand and the civil
rights leaders came in boycotted the city, which resulted in the police
being less aggressive in enforcing the laws in the low income black
community.
The murder rate went up 800 percent in one year in the low income black
neighborhoods. But none of the civil rights leaders or the local leaders
lived in those neighborhoods and had to suffer the consequence of their
assault on the police.
And this is a pattern that is happening all over the country with a
dramatic surge in the number of murders occurring in these communities. The
82 percent of blacks polled do not support the defunding of police.
STEYN: But why did they --
WOODSON: Eighty two percent.
STEYN: But why do that 82 percent persist in voting for the party because
these cities are basically one party states where the Democrats have run
them in some cases going back to the Great Depression, so for 90 years now.
Why do the 82 percent who don't want to defund the police keep voting for
the anti-police party?
WOODSON: Well, you're seeing a change in that even in this last election
in the 2018 election. Governor DeSantis in Florida ran against the former
mayor of Tampa, Gillum, who is black.
STEYN: Right.
WOODSON: Gillum had Obama and Oprah Winfrey campaigning for him. He won by
32,000 votes. That's because 100,000 low income blacks voted for the
Republican. They voted issues not race. So they voted against Obama and
against Oprah. And you're seeing the same pattern, again in Stockton versus
yesterday.
STEYN: That's true.
WOODSON: Kevin Lincoln.
STEYN: Yes.
WOODSON: Republican won against a Democratic incumbent that won by 70
percent four years ago. So you see, low income black Americans are a
sleeping giant and they're beginning to wake up.
STEYN: Yes, that's true, Bob, I just hope they don't take too long. There
are times when you need to -- the alarm clock goes and you need to leap out
to bed and if the sleeping giant takes too long to rouse himself, these
cities are going to be hellhole. Some of them are there ready.
WOODSON: They are more aware of it than anyone and we are doing everything
we can to help.
STEYN: No, I appreciate that. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Bob.
Have a have a great holiday.
Joe Biden is planning a blanket amnesty that would grant a pathway to
citizenship for millions of foreign nationals living in America illegally.
And why wouldn't he? That's millions of new voters for his party. This
special edition of TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT continues next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEYN: Welcome back to a special edition of TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.
President Trump performed better than expected with Hispanic Americans and
drastically outperformed past Republicans in both South Florida and Texas
border counties. Naturally, that outraged President Obama who lashed out at
those Hispanics on a show called "The Breakfast Club" this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are a lot of
evangelical Hispanics, who, you know, the fact that Trump says racist
things about Mexicans or puts detainees, undocumented workers in cages.
They think that's less important than the fact that you know, he supports
their views on gay marriage or abortion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: And it's almost like he thinks of those Hispanics the same way he
thought about all those bitter clingers clinging to guns. Now, the bitter
Hispanics, clinging to pro-life policies. Maybe Obama is not the great
unifier that he thinks he is.
Democrats have spent the past year talking about packing the courts,
packing the Senate by adding strange new states, mythical islands arising
in the Pacific. And now Joe Biden is making clear he wants to pack our
elections.
If you think this one was dodgy, he's got plans to add millions of new
voters who very conveniently will all be Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some of it is going
to depend on the kind of cooperation I can or cannot get from the United
States Congress. But I am going to make a commitment in the first hundred
days I will send an Immigration Bill to the United States Senate with a
pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: They've been saying 11 million illegal immigrants for more than a
decade now, I would bet it's a lot closer to 30 million. But the truth is,
no one actually knows how many foreign nationals living here illegally.
For all you know, I might be one of them.
Nicole Malliotakis is a newly elected Republican Congresswoman who will
represent Staten Island and parts of Southern Brooklyn in the House of
Representatives.
Nicole, congratulations. Why is this such a priority for the Democrats?
NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-NY), CONGRESSWOMAN-ELECT: Well, thank you for having
me, and I have to tell you that it is disheartening that this is his focus.
It's not providing relief to the millions of Americans that are struggling
right now during this pandemic. It's not ensuring that we help those small
businesses that are hanging on by a thread due to government restrictions
and mandated shutdowns.
It's not how are we going to get this vaccine distributed to our frontline
workers and our most vulnerable across the states. It is actually a policy
that would help the citizens of other countries, not Americans. And it's
very sad that he wants to dismantle the policies put in place by President
Trump that have been effective in stemming the tide of illegal immigration.
He wants to stop deportations. He wants to also make sure that we have open
borders. He does not want to continue the construction of the wall. He
doesn't want to continue the stay in Mexico policy as individuals wait for
their court dates.
So this is something that I believe that he is going to get a fight from
the Republicans in Congress, who are very much pleased with the progress
we've made under President Trump and don't want to unravel that.
STEYN: You know, you make an excellent point there because President Trump
was really the first President in a couple of generations to talk about
immigration as public policy from the point of view of people who were
already here.
In other words, what does it do for all the people who are already in the
country? For American citizens? And doesn't that go double at a time of
pandemic when small businesses have been clobbered? When the people who are
here legally and are legal American citizens and look to their government
to do something for them, the prioritizing of this is even more bizarre.
It's as if it's a naked attempt to import a new electorate.
MALLIOTAKIS: Well, as the daughter of immigrants, I can tell you that I
have a deep appreciation for the aspirations of those who want to come to
this country but what President -- what the Biden camp wants to do is
basically allow those who have come to this country illegally, have broken
our laws, to go ahead of the line and that is wrong.
And I can tell you as someone who represents New York in the State Assembly
currently, the cost of free college here, of free healthcare, providing
free attorneys, of driver's licenses -- this all has an impact that it's
not the time to be taking on those additional burdens.
STEYN: No and you're absolutely right that if you go to the trouble of
doing it by the book and filling in the paperwork, you don't get these kind
of special treatment from prominent Democrats.
Nicole, thanks very much for that and have a terrific Thanksgiving.
We've got a major update on the Pebble Mine project, a proposed pit mine
that could destroy one of the most pristine parts of Alaska. Our special
TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT continues after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEYN: Welcome back to this special edition of TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT. The
Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit to the Pebble Mine, a
controversial project in a remote part of Alaska that could have
contaminated the world's largest salmon fishery.
Bass Pro Shops founder, Johnny Morris came on this show to talk to Tucker
about the project in August.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNY MORRIS, FOUNDER, BASS PRO SHOPS: Conservation should be a uniter of
people, right?
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST, TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT: That's
right.
MORRIS: And everybody. So this mine is proposed in really the heart of the
largest spawning grounds in the world, one of most pristine areas,
watersheds really, in the world.
Over 50 million salmon have already spawned there this year. Approximately,
half of all the wild salmon that's harvested for the world comes from this
region.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEYN: That beautiful salmon and a beautiful part of the world. We're
joined now by Brian Kraft, owner of the Alaska Sportsman's Lodge, whose
existence was actually threatened by the project. Brian, was this victory a
surprise to you?
BRIAN KRAFT, OWNER, ALASKA SPORTSMAN'S LODGE: Hi, Mark. Thanks for having
us on the show.
It was a little bit of a surprise, but we knew all along that if we got to
people that -- the scientists that could make the decisions, if the Army
Corps of Engineers listened to the science that we would prevail.
I mean, that Army Corps of Engineers did a great job of taking what was
before them, looking and seeing that destroying 3,000 acres of wetlands,
150 miles, 180 miles of salmon bearing streams, and putting a big hole in
the headwaters of the Bristol Bay Fishery is not good for the ecosystem.
So they came up with the decision today, a record decision that said that
it would -- this plan would cause significant degradation to our aquatic
ecosystem and therefore, it should go forward. So we applaud the decision
today.
STEYN: The Chief Executive of this company, it's a Canadian company. And
he played it rather badly, because he was caught on tape basically bragging
that he had squared all the local politicians, he needed to get this thing
passed.
Do you think it's actually more to do with the ineptitude of -- I mean, I
don't want to make them sound like the Dominion Voting Systems of salmon,
you know, they are doing to salmon what voting machines do to votes?
But do you think basically the Canadian company bungled how they did this?
KRAFT: Well, they certainly didn't help themselves with telling the truth,
which we knew all along was that this smaller plan that they put forth
before the Army Corps of Engineers was just the guys to get their permit
and they were planning on expanding and doing huge degradation to the
ecosystem into the habitat of a perfectly functioning fishery.
So we knew all along if that's what they wanted to do. They certainly did
not help themselves. The Alaska Senators took a look at this, obviously,
they took umbrage with it, and they came out strong and support after they
saw the reports from the Corps of Engineer and the science came out with
this wasn't the right place for this type of industrial activity.
STEYN: Well, it is the most beautiful salmon if you're looking for an
alternative to Thanksgiving. I've got ask you, who's that little budding
salmon fisher behind you?
KRAFT: Well, this is my daughter, Dakota, who's 11 and she is here with me
today because Dakota and all kids and all future generations was a huge
motivating factor behind my drive for the past 16 years. And all of ours,
the people of Bristol Bay, it has been a huge collaborative effort.
We've all been working to make sure that this system stays intact. The
people of Bristol Bay Native Corporation, everybody we've worked hard, but
Dakota has been a big, big motivating factor. She's a big angler who likes
to catch fish.
STEYN: Oh, okay, congratulations on that, Brian, and Happy Thanksgiving to
Dakota.
That is about it for this special edition of TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.
Tune in each night to the show that's the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity,
smugness and groupthink.
Have a terrific Thanksgiving, the most American of holidays.
And oh, you are in the best of hands. Trey Gowdy is here. He can carve up a
turkey like he used to carve up witnesses on congressional committees. It
is all yours, Trey.
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