Updated

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," February 26, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated

 

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Good evening and welcome to a Special Edition of TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.

 

It was a year ago this week that Nancy Pelosi was walking the streets of San Francisco's Chinatown without any concern whatsoever for her personal safety.

 

Nancy Pelosi's face was stark naked. She wasn't wearing a mask, neither were the dozens of people who surrounded her.

 

A local CBS affiliate was on the scene following all of it, but even the coronavirus was already spreading all over the world in places like France and South Korea and we now know here in the U.S., CBS didn't suggest that anything was amiss. They didn't report that Nancy Pelosi was a walking biohazard or a super spreader.

 

And why would they think that? Just days earlier, Tony Fauci had gone on television and promised Americans that the risk of coronavirus infection in this country was quote, "miniscule."

 

So, if Tony Fauci's word meant anything and at the time, people thought that it did, Nancy Pelosi's walk around Chinatown wasn't alarming, it was heroic.

 

As when CBS News reporter put it, Nancy Pelosi was a walking one woman tourist attraction on a mission to defeat a pathogen far more insidious than the coronavirus. Nancy Pelosi was in Chinatown to defeat racism against Asian-Americans.

 

Pelosi herself was explicit on that point, quote, "We want to say to people come to Chinatown. Here we are. We're careful. We're safe. Come join us."

 

In other words, if you're worried about catching the virus by gathering in a big crowd in Chinatown, that means you're a white supremacist.

 

So, one year after that remarkable day, what have we learned? Well, for one thing, we know that despite her very best efforts, Nancy Pelosi did not succeed in extinguishing anti-racism -- racism against Asians in San Francisco. In fact, a year later violence against Asian-Americans in San Francisco is at the highest rate ever.

 

So, if you're a reasonable person, you might call for an investigation into this: what's causing these attacks? How can we stop them?

 

But if you tune in to CNN or MSNBC, you already know why they're happening. Donald Trump. Yes, the great orange menace may not be in the White House anymore, he may not have gotten any votes at all in San Francisco, but don't be fooled. Donald Trump is the reason this is happening.

 

And that sends a larger message to the rest of us from our political class and their servants in the media. Never blame the people in charge.

 

That's a familiar refrain. We've heard it a lot over the last 12 months, and for the most part, it has worked. Propaganda usually does, and that's why we're going to spend the next hour highlighting the politicians and the bureaucrats who have not been held accountable for what they did to this country during the pandemic.

 

They've ruined lives. They've destroyed businesses. They caused people to die.

 

But if you confront them on any of these questions, they will tell you reflexively, it's someone else's fault.

 

No single politician has used this tactic more often or more shamelessly, as the Governor of New York State, Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo accepted an Emmy award last year for performances like these when the pandemic was beginning last spring.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): ... strategy, plan of action all along. Step one, flatten the curve.

 

In other words, we're all talking about this curve, flatten the curve.

 

We're trying to flatten the curve.

 

And we have to flatten the curve.

 

We've reduced the rate, we so-called, flattened the curve. Flatten the curve.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: Flatten the curve, flatten the curve. We did it. We flattened the curve.

 

Boy, that's a great slogan. What does it mean exactly? What is flattening the curve? Well, not many people bothered to ask that question.

 

For New Yorkers last year, flatten the curve became the new version of 15 days to slow the spread. Just a series of words arranged in order so politicians can repeat them over and over to convey the impression they were in charge and doing something to fix the problem.

 

In reality, Andrew Cuomo spent most of his time sitting for interviews with his brother over on CNN, and having staffers write a book under his name. That book was called "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic."

 

Well, we took a look at some of the top customer reviews for the book, people actually read it. Here's the top review right now, quote: "A heartfelt and caring look at how it feels to murder people through bureaucratic ineptitude."

 

Here's the next review, at the moment, quote: "Governor Cuomo's self-serving book raises embarrassing questions. Politicians being human make mistakes, Andrew Cuomo, as scientists agree, made a serious error that led to thousands of unnecessary tragic deaths in nursing homes. Shouldn't a politician like Cuomo have a moral obligation to admit his error, even as in this case, it is likely to lead him losing his position, his chance to be President of the United States and lawsuits?"

 

Well, that's a good question. Doesn't he have a moral obligation to do that? As that reviewer noted, in March of last year, Andrew Cuomo ordered nursing homes in the state to admit patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus.

 

Then Cuomo's administration hid the total number of nursing home deaths that resulted from that order.

 

We're not speculating about that, one of his staffers admitted they did it. But Andrew Cuomo himself still has not acknowledged that he did this or any wrongdoing whatsoever, and said last week, he blamed the people who work in nursing homes.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

CUOMO: COVID did not get into the nursing homes by people coming from hospitals. COVID got into the nursing homes by staff walking into the nursing home.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: So case closed. I am not responsible for the 11,000 nursing home deaths in New York or the coordinated effort to cover up those deaths. You know who is responsible? The nurses, the receptionist making 35 grand a year, they must suffer. Their lives must be ruined so that Andrew Cuomo can keep his job and his Emmy Award.

 

But we don't mean to single out Andrew Cuomo. He is not the only incompetent politician who needs to save face and will lie and hurt others in order to do it.

 

Our public health experts are scrambling to avoid humiliation too, and there's a lot of it waiting for them. And if that means isolating the most vulnerable members of our society even more than they've already been isolated, then that's the cost. It's collateral damage. It's a price they're willing to pay because they don't pay it.

 

This is a real article published by NBC News earlier this month. It lays out word for word. We're reading from it verbatim. Quote, "After grandparents or older parents received the coronavirus vaccine, can you visit them? The answer is likely no. But it depends. One expert from Northwestern University said essentially nothing changes after the vaccine." End quote.

 

Again, nothing changes after the vaccine. It's hard to believe they're saying this and it's not just one so-called expert from Northwestern saying that. Tony Fauci himself is saying it, too, quote: "Until we have the overwhelming majority of people vaccinated and the level of virus is very low," Fauci said this month, " ... you probably shouldn't visit your grandparents without your mask on. It's just too early to be doing something that reckless." human contact with the ones you love most.

 

Breaking people out of their prisons of solitude, don't dare, even after the vaccine.

 

Tony Fauci wants to take it slow. On the other hand, Fauci is still capable of acting very, very quickly, as long as the right interests are involved, as long as he is profiting from it or his allies are. We'll give you one of many examples.

 

Tony Fauci has already decided without any hesitation whatsoever, that the World Health Organization deserves billions of your money right away, U.S. tax dollars.

 

Now, the World Health Organization is the group that could have warned the rest of the world about the pandemic, could have saved lives, but chose instead to repeat Chinese propaganda instead.

 

Your grandmother can wait, according to Tony Fauci, but bureaucrats at W.H.O.'s headquarters in Switzerland need the cash and they need it now.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I join my fellow representatives in thanking the World Health Organization for its role in leading the global public health response to this pandemic.

 

And as such, I am honored to announce that the United States will remain a member of the World Health Organization.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: What a malignant buffoon. History will indeed his behavior.

 

So you're still waiting for your stimulus check, the W.H.O. is not waiting for their money, they're getting it. But it's not just W.H.O.

 

According to "The Daily Caller," the lab in Wuhan where this pandemic likely started, the Wuhan Institute of Virology will continue to receive American taxpayer funding for the next several years. It's hard to believe that's real. It is. Tony Fauci himself has supported research at that lab.

 

It's enough to blow your mind. Again, the people responsible for this pandemic aren't facing consequences. Instead, they are getting U.S. tax dollars. The consequences fall where they always do: on the American middle class.

 

So if you unleash a deadly virus on the world or cause thousands of deaths in nursing homes or fail to warn the world in order to appease your masters in China, you get millions.

 

But if you're just a waitress in Brooklyn dealing with the fallout of all of this and you step out of line for a moment, you're done.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice over): The 34-year-old says she was fired after telling her employer she and her husband are considering starting a family and she had hesitations about getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

 

QUESTION: Do you think it's fair for a workplace to be able to determine whether or not its employees should be vaccinated?

 

BONNIE JACOBSON, WAITRESS FIRED BY EMPLOYER FOR REFUSING COVID-19 VACCINE: I don't. I don't. You know, especially in a situation like mine, I asked for a little more time. That's a very legitimate reason.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: Yes, this is someone who doesn't oppose the vaccines, who is thankful for vaccines, like most Americans, but who simply has questions. That's the person who is suffering.

 

Is that fair? No. But it's happening everywhere.

 

The people in charge of this country, your politicians, your bosses, the public health experts, especially Bill Gates, all of a sudden they have more power than they've ever had, including over your personal life, certainly over the lives of your children.

 

They can't go outside or attend class in many states right now. But don't worry, it's for their own good. Randi Weingarten is the President of the American Federation of Teachers. That's the second largest teachers union in the country. She's not a doctor. She's not a scientist. She's a lawyer.

 

But according to Randi Weingarten, medically speaking, your kids shouldn't be anywhere near a school.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

DAN PRIMACK, BUSINESS EDITOR, AXIOS: Is there a point in which kids have been out of physical in-person school for so long that the education that they've lost isn't really recoverable? The third grade, the fourth grade, the kindergarten they lost, they can take extra semesters in the summer, they can do -- but it can't really be fixed?

 

RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: No. I don't believe that. I believe that kids are resilient and kids will recover.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: Really? Randi Weingarten, how many kids do you have? Kids are resilient. They'll recover. Yet another promise we've heard during this pandemic. Get the vaccine, your life will return to normal. That wasn't true.

 

Why should we believe any of this is true? And who's going to be held responsible for these lies?

 

We're going to spend the next hour investigating all of that. You're going to hear from people who've been hurt along the way.

 

But we want to start tonight by talking with Charlie Hurt of "The Washington Times." Charlie, great to see you.

 

CHARLIE HURT, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Great to see you, Tucker.

 

CARLSON: So that kind of is the question. I mean, I don't think any decent person seeks vengeance for its own sake, but I do think it's important in order to illustrate what's right and what's wrong, and that, you know, malicious bad decisions have consequences that the people who made those decisions are somehow held accountable for them. When will that happen?

 

HURT: I don't know. But, you know, right now, you look across you see a sea of incompetence and failure by the government. And I challenge you to find me one single thing, one single decision our government has made, or people in power have made that has done anything other than amass more power and more money for themselves, take power and money from us, and give it to them.

 

And you could -- they could counter and say, well, what about the stimulus checks? We gave you $600.00. First of all, that $600.00 was mine to begin with. So I'm not really all that grateful for it.

 

But that $600.00 pales in comparison to the billions and billions of dollars, trillions of dollars that they want to -- in debt -- that they want to put on us to pay themselves. And what do they do with that money? They build a huge wall around the Capitol to protect themselves from us. They want to give billions to the W.H.O., which as you point out, is a failure and is in bed with China.

 

And they want to give -- and this one is one that really sticks out to me. They want to give $129 billion to government schools, which have failed to figure out how to open safely.

 

Why don't they give that money back to the parents who have had to act like teachers, have had to play that role for the past year? Why don't they give that money to Christian schools -- Catholic schools around the country that opened up two weeks after this whole thing started and have never shut down and they have done it successfully and they've done it safely.

 

And nobody -- and people have not gotten -- and the pandemic has not struck down millions of these people. It's been -- it has been a -- they have succeeded where the government has failed.

 

And when you look at the only bright spot in all of this, the only bright spot is perhaps the vaccines, and how did we get the vaccines? We got the vaccine because the government has stepped out of the way and gave private enterprise the room, the leeway, the lack of red tape to sort of do all this stuff.

 

But yet, the only solution to these people is to amass more power and more money for themselves and to take it away from us.

 

CARLSON: See, it's such a smart analysis. It's absolutely correct. Provably so, this is a power grab. I wish we'd all known it earlier.

 

Charlie Hurt, I appreciate your analysis. Thank you.

 

HURT: Thank you, Tucker.

 

CARLSON: So the theme the thread that runs through all of this is the people in power when corona began are more powerful, everyone else is much less. The burden is falling on them.

 

We mentioned a waitress in New York City who was fired for declining to take the corona vaccine, we will speak to her straight ahead.

 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

 

CARLSON: Until recently, Bonnie Jacobson worked in a restaurant in New York City. She's hardly an anti-vaxxer whatever that is. She's for vaccines. She thinks they save lives.

 

But Bonnie Jacobson wanted to hold off for a moment in taking this vaccine. She wanted to know more about it. She was concerned it might affect her fertility.

 

And for making that decision over her own body, Bonnie Jacobson was fired from her job at the Red Hook Tavern in Brooklyn. An amazing story.

 

Bonnie Jacobson joins us now with her attorney David Cassidy. Thanks both for coming on. Bonnie, I appreciate, first to you, you're coming on. The reason why I talk to you is seem so reasonable in the clip that I saw of you.

 

You said, I'm not against vaccines, but I just got married. I might like to have children. I have questions.

 

When you said that, I assume you said that to your bosses at the Red Hook Tavern. What did they say?

 

JACOBSON: Yes, well, hi. And thank you for having me on and allowing me to tell my story, because I think it's an important one.

 

So yes, originally, they had said that the vaccine was not going to be mandatory, and I got an e-mail all of a sudden changing course telling me that it was now going to be mandatory. And even when I got that e-mail, I figured it was still open to a conversation.

 

So you know, I e-mailed back just expressing my concerns over fertility. You know, even in that e-mail, I said that I understand the vaccine is important, I know why it's important. Once there's more research, I would be open to changing my stance on it. And I would also be happy to speak to them more about it in person.

 

Also, I think it's very important to mention I gave an alternative option. I said, I would continue to get tested regularly, I would continue to wear my mask. You know, practice all the C.D.C. safety guidelines, in the meantime, thinking that we could just continue a conversation and instead, on Monday, I got an e-mail back from them, saying that my employment at this time was terminated while they respect my choices.

 

CARLSON: David Cassidy, as her attorney, I'm just wondering the obvious question. Is it legal to force people to take about any vaccine, but particularly this vaccine?

 

DAVID CASSIDY, ATTORNEY: Well, Tucker, thank you for having us. I want to make clear that this is not a political agenda here by our client, that this is a personal choice.

 

CARLSON: Right. It doesn't sound like it.

 

CASSIDY: But legally speaking, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has said that mandatory vaccine policies can be legal subject to a few exemptions, such as someone having a medical disability or a religious objection.

 

We feel that this particular termination of employment was unlawful because our client invoked issues of pregnancy and fertility, which are also protected areas under the law.

 

This firing was neither fair. It wasn't necessary. It was unlawful, quite frankly. Our client asked for a little bit of time to get some data, to see a medical doctor, to understand the risks and they did not allow her that time.

 

It wasn't necessary, this termination, because as you have pointed out, it doesn't change anything. The only person being protected by a vaccine, according to the C.D.C. and the public health officials is the person receiving it.

 

So our client was willing to employ the necessary protocols to remain working.

 

CARLSON: Amazing. I hope you both take this as far through the system as you can. I think a lot of people -- and it's not political, you're right -- are rooting for you, because clearly you're within your rights. I appreciate you coming on. Thank you.

 

JACOBSON: Absolutely. Thank you so much.

 

CASSIDY: Thank you, Tucker.

 

CARLSON: You'll notice you've got total freedom of choice when it comes to ending a pregnancy, but if you have concerns about starting one about fertility. No. Interesting.

 

Well, Patsy's Italian Restaurant was one of the most iconic restaurants in New York, but since coronavirus, New York's leaders have done everything they can to destroy it and businesses like it. And sadly, they're succeeding.

 

Patsy's Italian is now leaving New York and moving to New Jersey. Sal Scognamillo is the owner of Patsy's. He joins us tonight to explain what happened.

 

Sal, I appreciate your coming on. What a sad story. You've been in New York, I think -- how long has your restaurant been in New York actually?

 

SAL SCOGNAMILLO, OWNER, PATSY'S ITALIAN RESTAURANT: Seventy seven years and just to be clear, we're not -- we're not going to be leaving permanently. I plan on coming back and reopening when the city gets a plan for us right now. And we're doing a pop up restaurant in Asbury Park, New Jersey. And that's for February, March and April right now. It's been going very well.

 

And I love New York and I'm rooting for New York. New York is the epicenter of education, finance, the arts, so many different things.

 

And you know, we need a plan for New York to come back. You know, my wife likes to use the word opportunity. So we had the opportunity to go to Asbury Park, New Jersey, and the way that came about was, I have a friend of mine who lives in a town very close by, Spring Lake, New Jersey. His name is John Fudge, and I called him up and I said what do you know about Asbury Park? A few people have been saying to me, it's a wonderful place. It's only 60 miles from New York City.

 

And my friend, John Fudge, happened to be a child of that era. He his father had a store in Asbury Park, and he knew it very well. And in two and a half months, it's quite miraculous, we were able to put together a deal with the Manzo family. They're from the Real Housewives of New Jersey.

 

They're doing the food and beverage at the Berkeley Hotel in Asbury Park, and a few words, one led to the other and the patriarch Al Manzo has been coming to my restaurant for 30 to 40 years and he said, I'd love to have you down here.

 

And we opened just a few weeks ago, and I have to tell you, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone wants us to stay there. They think it's a great thing. And we've been very, very busy.

 

I always try and look for solutions, and the solution for New York is we have to get opportunity back to New York. They need to get incentives for people to come back.

 

CARLSON: Well, of course.

 

SCOGNAMILLO: To travel, to come and stay at the hotels.

 

CARLSON: I mean, if Patsy's leaves -- sorry, wrap it up for me. Your issue is?

 

SCOGNAMILLO: Well, my issue is that you know, you have the 1.4 percent is the spread in, you know, in the same -- in the restaurants and bars. And you have 74 percent living room spread.

 

Now, you have Manhattan, which has consistently been one of the lowest rates of infection in the entire State of New York, and it's closed. And then you have upstate New York and Nassau and Suffolk County, and it's a much higher rate of infection, and it's open.

 

So I mean, what is it? You're not going to get the virus when you're in in Long Island or upstate New York, but you won't get it when you're in New York City? It just didn't make sense to me. Fifty percent of the space is - -

 

CARLSON: Well, it never makes sense. It never made sense. Well, Sal, I appreciate coming on tonight. And I appreciate your restaurant. I've gained a lot of weight there. Thank you.

 

SCOGNAMILLO: Well, we will be back. Don't give up on New York yet.

 

CARLSON: Good. Okay. Thank you.

 

Well, a lot of so-called public health experts including Dr. Fauci are now recommending you wear multiple masks, two, even three. Is that good for you? Honestly? To reduce oxygen flow? We're going to take a sober look at that question after the break.

 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

 

KEVIN CORKE, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Live from "America's News Headquarters," I'm Kevin Corke.

 

The U.S. House of Representatives expecting to burn the midnight oil, quite frankly, debating President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 Relief Bill. A final vote could come early Saturday morning.

 

That relief package aimed at stabilizing the economy and boosting coronavirus vaccinations and testing. Republicans say the bill is simply too expensive, but Democrats say they are confident they can pass the bill.

 

House passage would send that legislation over to the Senate where a bigger fight awaits.

 

Johnson & Johnson's single shot vaccine is one step closer to emergency approval, a panel of health experts endorsing the vaccine today. The F.D.A. says it will quickly follow the recommendations and authorize the J&J vaccine for emergency use if authorized. A few million doses could be shipped out as early as Monday.

 

I'm Kevin Corke in Washington. Now back to TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.

 

CARLSON: Well, no public health official has done more to undermine faith in the coronavirus vaccine than Tony Fauci has. Instead of telling Americans that life can go back to normal once they're vaccinated, which was the whole point, Fauci is saying the opposite.

 

Earlier this month, Fauci suggested you might want to wear two or three face masks, even after you've gotten the shot.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

FAUCI: But you wear a mask, then you want it to fit better. So one of the ways you could do it, if you would like to, is put a cloth mask over, we can actually hear and here and here where you could get leakage in is much better contained.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: That's lunatic and actual scientists have pointed this out. One physician at Rutgers Medical School, David Cennimo, was asked about triple masking and here was his response, quote: "That's so crazy, I don't even know how to address it." End quote.

 

Alex Berenson is the author of "Unreported Truths about COVID-19 Part 3: Masks." He joins us tonight. Alex Berenson, thanks so much for coming on. Very simple question, which I don't think Google will allow you to ask, but we will. Is it healthy to wear three masks on your face?

 

ALEX BERENSON, AUTHOR: I mean, Tucker, first of all, I want to very quickly say thank you because the last time I was on with you it was the week the "Power Couple" had been published, and we talked a little bit about how, you know, I couldn't get reviews and sort of being shut out because my nonfiction work, my novel was suffering.

 

You, you know, you said something about it, and you almost -- I don't want to give you too much credit, but you almost single handedly turned around the publication. We became a bestseller that week on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list. So thank you on that.

 

Now --

 

CARLSON: People appreciate your bravery.

 

BERENSON: I think they listened to you actually. But masks and a little bit vaccines, okay.

 

We don't need to -- we don't really need to argue about whether three masks might be dangerous. There's no evidence that three masks do any good. There's very, very little evidence that two masks or one mask do any good.

 

There's one good clinical trial about masks and the coronavirus, it came out in November. It's been very conveniently memory hold by the media since then and what it showed was very clear: masks do not protect the wearer from the coronavirus. Okay.

 

So in the face of that both before and after that, the C.D.C. and various other places have come up with a bunch of theories about how masks, you know or source control and my mask protects you even if it doesn't protect me although maybe it does protect me and although it doesn't really because there's no evidence that it actually does.

 

And here's what you -- when you look and you try to graph mask mandates on a sort of national or regional or local level against changes in the coronavirus overtime, against changes in infection rates, you find absolutely no comparison. No way to track any -- that there's any relationship, okay?

 

So if you look at California versus Florida, that's one that people like to show because California, heavy mask mandates. You know lockdowns, lots of rules.

 

Florida went exactly the opposite way. The virus essentially behaved exactly the same in both places. Okay, so in the face of all this evidence, what the C.D.C. has done is ridiculous. They've said, oh, well, it may not be one mask, maybe we need two masks, or maybe three masks.

 

And the pivotal C.D.C. study on this, which came out a few weeks ago was done on mannequins. So if you're a mannequin, maybe two masks will help you, but if you're a human being, there's basically no evidence that this does any good.

 

CARLSON: Alex Berenson, thank you, again.

 

BERENSON: Thanks, Tucker.

 

CARLSON: Appreciate it. Well, according to C.D.C., the life expectancy of American has declined by a full year from 78.8 to 77.7 years old in the first half of 2020. That's the largest drop in life expectancy in this country since we were in World War II. There was a reason for that, people were getting killed.

 

The C.D.C. found that many of those deaths were not caused by coronavirus. They were classified as, quote, "deaths of despair." They were deaths from overdoses and suicides.

 

Deaths of despair went up more than 20 percent during the COVID lockdowns. The C.D.C. recorded more fatal overdoses in a single year 81,000 than ever -- ever.

 

Johann Hari is the author of "Lost Connections." He's thought a lot about despair and how to solve it. He joins us. We're always happy to have him on. Johann, thanks for coming tonight.

 

JOHANN HARI, AUTHOR, "LOST CONNECTIONS": Hi, Tucker. Thanks for having me.

 

CARLSON: Were you surprised by this? And I know the answer, you weren't. What can we do about this? This is so sad.

 

HARI: You're so right that there's this epidemic of despair that has been rising for very long time. And one of the things that's so important to understand is this doesn't have to happen.

 

For the research for my books, I went to places that had problems as big as this and turned it around, and the United States can do the same thing. I'll give you a specific example.

 

In the year 2000, Portugal had the worst drug problem in the world. One percent of the population was addicted to heroin, which is mind blowing. And every year, they tried the war on drugs more. They arrested more people. They shamed and imprisoned more people.

 

And every year, the problem got worse, until finally, they were forced to do something different. They decided -- and it sounds really bold when you first hear it, they decided to decriminalize all drugs, but -- and this was the crucial next step -- they took all the money they used to spend on shaming, punishing and imprisoning people, and instead spent it on very practical ways of turning their lives around, mostly getting them jobs.

 

Portugal went from having the worst drug problem in Europe, to the least level of overdoses in the entire European Union.

 

Everywhere in the world that has tried policies based on helping people and helping them reconnect with a normal life sees a big fall in despair, and a big fall in overdose addictions and suicides.

 

It's not rocket science, right? If you make people's lives worse, they're more likely to be addicted and they are more likely to despair and commit suicide.

 

And if you give them very practical help in targeted ways for things like work, community, social connection, it massively reduces these problems.

 

The opposite of addiction is connection. We need to help people to reconnect. That's why the book is called "Lost Connections."

 

CARLSON: So if you restore meaning and purpose to people's lives, they don't want to kill themselves.

 

HARI: That's exactly right. I mean, to your grandmother and my grandmother, that would have sounded very obvious, but what we've done is we've told these other stories, which have some truth in them. We've said that, you know, depression is just a problem in people's brains or addiction is just a question of needing a chemical.

 

And of course, there's some truth in those questions. But there's much more basic truth here. Human beings have needs. You need to be seen by other people, you need to have friends, and you need to have a sense of purpose. You need to have meaningful work.

 

And if you look at what's happened in the United States and across the Western world, we have stripped people of those things. Forty percent of Americans agree with the statement, "No one knows me well."

 

After a factory shuts down in a town, the suicide rate and the opioid overdose rate doubles over the next few years. This isn't rocket science. Your grandmother would have understood intuitively why that was the case.

 

And everywhere in the world I went for my books, I learned one thing. The most effective strategies for dealing with depression and anxiety and addiction are the ones that deal with the reasons why we feel this way in the first place.

 

These deaths do not have to happen. Of course, there's always going to be some despair. But this enormous epidemic of despair doesn't have to be happening. There are very practical solutions for individuals and for countries.

 

I've seen them in practice. We need to start choosing them, not policies that make the problem worse like the drug war.

 

CARLSON: Amen. Johann Hari, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

 

HARI: Great to talk to you, Tucker.

 

CARLSON: So you're promised a coronavirus stimulus check. Now, wherever you are on the question of stimulus check, they did promise it to you. You haven't gotten it, but they are spending your money to reward the people who may have caused the coronavirus pandemic in the first place, just in case it couldn't get more insulting. Apparently it can, we've got to tell straight ahead.

 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

 

CARLSON: Well, since the very beginning of the corona mess, the World Health Organization has functioned like an arm of Chinese state media, which effectively it has become.

 

In February, for example, the Director of W.H.O. announced that thanks to the Chinese Communist Party, we have nothing to fear from the coronavirus.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

DR. TEDROS ADHANOM, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I was so impressed in my meeting with President Xi at his detailed knowledge of the outbreak.

 

There is no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: It's hilarious, but it didn't stop. In March, for example, a reporter with a Hong Kong news station interviewed the Assistant Director General at W.H.O., a doctor called Bruce Aylward. The reporter asked Aylward whether the W.H.O. would recognize Taiwan's independence.

 

It doesn't seem complicated, it is a health agency. Why do they care? Their job is to help people no matter what country they're at, but the W.H.O. decided not to upset the Chinese Communist Party, to tow the party line. So Bruce Aylward pretended he couldn't hear the question.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

QUESTION: Will the W.H.O. reconsider Taiwan's membership? Hello?

 

BRUCE AYLWARD, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear your question.

 

QUESTION: Let me -- let me repeat the question.

 

AYLWARD: That's okay. Let's move to another one, then.

 

QUESTION: Right. Because I'm actually curious on talking about Taiwan as well on Taiwan's case.

 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We decided to give Dr. Aylward another call to follow up.

 

QUESTION: And I just want to see if you can comment a bit on how Taiwan has done so far in terms of containing the virus?

 

AYLWARD: Well, we've already talked about China. And, you know, when you look across all the different areas of China, they've actually all done quite a good job.

 

So with that, I'd like to thank you very much for inviting us to participate and, and good luck as you go forward with the battle in Hong Kong.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: Oh, that's the greatest tape ever. What a worm. If only we had reporters like that in our country. Why are reporters in Hong Kong willing to ask a question more than once? Interesting.

 

Stephen Mosher is the author of "Bully of Asia: Why China's Dream is the New Threat to the World Order." He joins us tonight. Mr. Mosher, thanks so much for coming on.

 

STEPHEN MOSHER, AUTHOR, "BULLY OF ASIA": Hi, Tucker.

 

CARLSON: So it does seem like the World Health Organization has never really established independence from a chief patron, China.

 

MOSHER: Oh, absolutely not. I mean, and this is playing politics with people's lives, Tucker. Think about this.

 

Taiwan saw the danger early from China because all danger in Taiwan, well, most of it anyway, comes from China. So they're always watching across the Taiwan Straits to see what evil lurks on the Mainland.

 

And they saw the Wuhan virus coming. They closed their borders earlier than any country in the world. They realized there was human to human transmission. They tried to warn the World Health Organization about this danger and they were ignored.

 

The World Health Organization did not read their e-mails, did not take their phone calls. And so again, this is playing politics with people's lives.

 

If the World Health Organization had truly been concerned about the health of the world, they would listen to all the information coming in, especially from people sitting on China's very doorstep and watching the pandemic materialize in real time.

 

CARLSON: So a so-called Health Organization allowing people to die for political reasons. It's hard to think of corruption deeper than that, why would we send them money?

 

MOSHER: Why indeed? I mean, we're now getting ready to repeat the same mistakes of the past by sending them $200 million -- $200 million for what? For failing to protect the health of the world, which is their mandate, right? They're called the World Health Organization. Maybe they should be called the China Health Organization.

 

But think about the fact that early on, Dr. Tedros, you just played the clip was going to China and singing the praises of the Chinese Communist Party's leader, Xi Jinping saying what a wonderful job they were doing in coping with the pandemic. They hid human to human transmission from us. They downplayed the danger of the pandemic.

 

And then, of course, they've just sent in to China this delegation of 12 people who came back and said, well, it wasn't -- it wasn't the lab. It didn't come from the lab, when clearly we know that it probably did. More and more people agree with that.

 

CARLSON: It certainly seems likely that it did, and anyone who tells you out of hand it didn't, we know, is obviously lying.

 

Stephen Mosher, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

 

MOSHER: Good to see you.

 

CARLSON: So it's a close contest, who's the most incompetent and dangerous governor in the United States? Is it Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan? Is it that Pritzker guy in Illinois? It's probably Andrew Cuomo. He does have competition though. The stories of our leaders' untold incompetence, straight ahead.

 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

 

CARLSON: Well, we spend an awful lot of time in the show talking about the Governor of New York State, Andrew Cuomo and we have reasons for that. Cuomo was responsible effectively for thousands of deaths in New York and then covering up those deaths by lying.

 

But it's easy to forget that Andrew Cuomo is not alone. He is not the only governor in this country to demonstrate total and utter incompetence and corruption over the past year. He's got some stiff competition.

 

In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has also done everything she can to encourage people to move to Florida. She is basically Florida's realtor in chief.

 

First, she issued a stay-at-home lockdown order that didn't apply to her own family. That became obvious just before Memorial Day weekend when her husband really felt the need to get in his boat. So he called up a marina and casually mentioned, "My wife is the governor."

 

When he was caught doing this, Whitmer claimed her husband was just joking around, right? But she kept going, Gretchen Whitmer. She continued to issue more nonsensical lockdown orders, none of which she had an interest in following herself.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D-MI): If you are considering spending Thanksgiving with people outside of your household, I urge you to reconsider.

 

And I hate to say it, but we know that some people will gather anyway. And odds are that some of these gatherings will spread COVID and contribute to the loss of loved ones.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: So just two months after delivering the warning, you just saw, Gretchen Whitmer took her walk daughters to Washington and was surrounded by people outside of her household. She was cavorting with strangers.

 

As everyone knows, especially California Governor Gavin Newsom, that is the one thing you absolutely can never do.

 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): I want to remind you to limit your mixing with people outside of your household. It's just commonsense. But the data suggests not everybody is practicing commonsense.

 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

 

CARLSON: Yes, the data suggests not everyone is practicing commonsense. Of course, you'll recall that Gavin Newsom himself was caught at America's most expensive restaurant in Napa in this infamous photograph.

 

How long until everyone in California and New York gets tired of this hypocrisy and move to Florida?

 

Karol Markowicz is a "New York Post" columnist. She currently resides in Florida. And that tells you a lot. Karol Markowicz, I appreciate your coming on tonight.

 

KAROL MARKOWICZ, COLUMNIST, "NEW YORK POST": Thank you.

 

CARLSON: So these governors have driven the single largest internal migration in this country since the Great Depression. I mean, you really can't hold them responsible for it. Can you not?

 

MARKOWICZ: Oh, yes, absolutely you can hold them responsible. It would be one thing if their terrible lockdowns actually worked. But Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, obviously, New Jersey, Rhode Island, they all saw more deaths per capita than the more open states like Texas and Florida.

 

California has the most deaths overall, and they are quickly approaching the Florida numbers per capita. So what did they win? What did they win by destroying the economy, not letting kids go to school and just, you know, ruining their states while forcing people to move to more sane places that were actually following the science?

 

I'm absolutely -- you know, I'm basically Florida's biggest realtor of the year, because I think it's a normal place where kids are going to school, they're gone to after school, they're playing sports, and it's somewhere that you know, feels like 2019 in a very sane way.

 

CARLSON: You can see what's going to happen. So a small number of people destroy the states they run and then their allies in the Congress are going to force the rest of us to bail them out. Like that's coming, is it not?

 

MARKOWICZ: Yes, absolutely. Oh, of course. You see that in every decision that they make. I mean, especially on schools, I think as we watch schools not return, you know, any day now, what they're waiting for is more funding, more funding, more funding.

 

And as if that's going to solve some sort of problem for them. Yet, schools are open again, in places like, like Florida and Texas, and in many places all over the country and it is working.

 

It's just in these deep blue areas that are really again, refusing to follow the science, refusing to actually take seriously what this virus is and how we can protect ourselves from it, that have managed to not, you know, not be able to move on from this at all.

 

Even with the vaccines now they're incapable of moving forward.

 

CARLSON: Yes, cynical people leading neurotic people right off the edge of a cliff. That's the story of the northeast.

 

MARKOWICZ: Oh, yes.

 

CARLSON: Sad. Karol, thank you.

 

We're out of time tonight, but we will be back Monday and every weeknight at 8:00 p.m., the show that is the sworn enemy of lying pomposity, smugness and groupthink.

 

Have the best weekend with the ones you love. We will see you soon. Here is Sean Hannity.

 

Content and Programming Copyright 2021 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2021 ASC Services II Media, LLC. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of ASC Services II Media, LLC. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.