Grisham: When Pelosi goes low, Trump's poll numbers go high

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Grisham: When Pelosi goes low, Trump's poll numbers go high

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham reacts to House Democrats withholding articles of impeachment.

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," December 23, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Tucker Carlson, host: Good evening and welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight." Merry Christmas week and this time of year you might have faith on the mind. What does a sincere and faithful Christian look like to you? How about a narcissistic former McKinsey consultant who passionately supports late-term abortion? Is that the image you conjured in your mind's eye? Probably not. But looks can apparently deceive because Mayor Pete Buttigieg says he is exactly that, a faithful Christian. Indeed, Buttigieg claims to be so faithful that he literally knows which political party God supports.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Pete Buttigieg: It is by no means true that Christian faith or any faith requires you to be a Republican, especially in these times. And so-called conservative Christian senators right now in the Senate are blocking a bill to raise the minimum wage when scripture says that whoever oppresses the poor taunts their maker. It's also important that we stop seeing religion used as a kind of cudgel, as if God belonged to a political party. And if he did, I can't imagine it would be the one that sent the current president into the White House.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: Ooh. He's a preachy little guy, isn't he? Pretty funny. The best part is Pete Buttigieg is likely the most faithful Christian many political reporters have ever met. To them he might as well be St. Paul or Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They've got no clue. They can't tell a difference. They were similarly impressed when the magazine Christianity Today after bashing the Trump administration for not admitting more refugees into the country called for the president to be removed from office for being immoral. Christians, the magazine proclaimed, have a moral duty to align with the party that openly despises Christians. Most actual churches ignore the editorial, of course. But CNN was thrilled. It gave the network a chance to lecture stranded air travelers about the topic they know least about, which of course is Christian theology. Watch as the governor's brother explains to Christian writer Eric Metaxas that real Christians vote Democrat.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Chris Cuomo: Why get behind a man who makes a mockery of your faith?

Eric Metaxas: I certainly don't think most people that I know do not think he makes a mockery of our faith.

Chris Cuomo: Does he practice any of the things that you think are important for an individual?

Eric Metaxas: Here's what I find interesting, Chris. Most -- [CROSSTALK]

Chris Cuomo: Eric, answer my question.

Eric Metaxas: --- people who are not evangelicals like you.

Chris Cuomo: I'm not an evangelical.

Eric Metaxas: Talk about my faith. Well, let's talk about your faith. You're a Catholic.

Chris Cuomo: Yes.

Eric Metaxas: Does he make a mockery of the Catholic faith?

Chris Cuomo: If he said he were Catholic, yeah, he does.

Eric Metaxas: Okay.

Chris Cuomo: He does not practice humanity. He does not practice decency. He does not love mercy. He is intentionally unkind. He is mean to opponents. He puts himself before the collective. And he doesn't honor his oath. I don't understand how people who believe what you believe get behind somebody who does not.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: Wow. Another preachy one. They're getting preachy on the left. But embedded in that exchange is an interesting and valid question. Why do faithful Christians overwhelmingly support a president who is not himself a faithful Christian? It's a really interesting question and the answer reveals a lot. But of course CNN doesn't actually want to know the answer, perhaps they are implicated in it. So, instead they ridicule and attack, that's what you just saw, was certainly approach over on MSNBC where someone called Linette Lopez came on to explain that church-going evangelicals are actually immoral. Watch.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Linette Lopez: Evangelical political activity has not always been in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ. And, you know, so it's quite possible that this is an awakening because there are Christians who see the full loyalty of evangelical Christians. They're giving their full loyalty to the president and not to God.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: Uh-huh. In other words, evangelicals are idolaters. Trump is their golden calf and MSNBC has grave concerns about their souls. And if you believe that you'll want to listen very carefully to "Reverend" Al Sharpton as he delivers his sermon on the matter. Watch this.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Al Sharpton: The reason they're so offended is it's exposing all of them that they would take this shameless conman over the principles that they're preaching in the Holy season as we celebrate Jesus. They would sell Jesus out if they felt they could get something from it is the inference he's saying from his editorial and that's sad on many levels.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: That was Al Sharpton on television denouncing somebody else as a "conman." Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached peak Orwell. You can't get more dishonest than this or more hilarious. Let's hope this brand of insanity dies with 2019. What's going on here? Why all this noise about Christianity? It's not that the left suddenly cares about the Christian faith. In fact, the opposite. America's religious landscape is changing and it's changing fast. According to Pew in 2009, for example, 77 percent of America identified as Christian. Just 10 years later only 65 percent of the country identifies as Christian. The non-religious percentage meanwhile has grown from 17 percent to 26 percent over the same period.

Now, these changes are happening across the political spectrum, but they are profound in the Democratic Party. Just a decade ago Democrats said they were 72 percent Christian. Today, that number is 55 percent. One-third are non-religious. Now, among the party's elite the numbers are much more stark than that. Black voters are still one of this country's most Christian blocks and that's why African Americans are by far the most reasonable and moderate among the voting blocks than democratic coalition by far. Because they're the most religious. But they're not in charge of the Democratic Party, probably unfortunately. The people who are, who are overwhelmingly white and have credentials from the Ivy League, where are they? Well, they're not just irreligious, many of them are aggressively anti-Christian and that may be why they want to force the Catholic Charities, for example, to fund birth control and Catholic hospitals to perform abortions.

Can you imagine? It's why they spent a decade crusading, hassling, Chick-fil-A because it donated to a handful of traditional Christian charities they thought were immoral. Why not just leave them alone? Because they couldn't help themselves because they truly hate, truly hate traditional Christianity. It's why some of their lawmakers openly speculate that judges like Amy Coney Barrett may be ineligible for Supreme Court because she might actually believe in God. So, if you're wondering why so many Christians have been willing to support this president despite his personal lives, this is why. It's because whatever his flaws he's made it clear that he's not the enemy of Christians. In fact, under certain circumstances he will protect Christians.

For people whose values are under assault every day by powerful forces in America, and that's not overstating it, and if you're one of them you know that means everything. It's bad enough to be lectured about Christianity by cable news morons who don't know anything about it. But what's happening in the broader country is much worse than that, much more threatening. The left presumes the right to lecture the people it despises for the sin of not voting for them. Now this may shock some Democrats but most Christians don't actually think they have a religious duty to be destroyed by people who hate them. They don't. Eric Metaxas was the man you saw getting lectured by the governor's brother over on CNN. He's the host of the Eric Metaxas Show. He's written biographies of Martin Luther and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and William Wilberforce, the one I haven't written but I'm sure it's as good as the first two. He's also written the children's book, "Donald Drains the Swamp" and "Donald Builds the Wall." Eric Metaxas joins us tonight. Eric, thanks so much for coming on.

Eric Metaxas: Oh, it's great to be on and I don't want to correct you but that's a humor book, not a kid's book. Just to be clear.

Tucker Carlson: Well, it's for the witty kids in your life. I meant it --

Eric Metaxas: Because it's not nasty you can give it to children and a lot of people give it to children, but I think honestly we should start here. I think we need to laugh more and that book and the sequel, "Donald Builds the Wall," are actually meant to celebrate this president and what he's doing. There's so many people in America that are thrilled at what this president is doing so it does become laughable when someone like Chris Cuomo, whom I like personally, but when he talks about the president putting himself before the collective I thought man, what world are we in when we're talking about putting yourself before the collective as a great sin against the Christian faith. It's a little kooky, Tucker.

Tucker Carlson: Well, it's also weird to see this. I mean, I never liked Jim and Tammy Faye. I thought they were kind of awful. They certainly were preachy, saccharin preachy types. The Christian left has gotten even more preachy than Jim and Tammy Faye recently.

Eric Metaxas: Of course.

Tucker Carlson: What is that do you think?

Eric Metaxas: Listen. Let me -- first of all, let me tell you something. Jim and Tammy Faye and all those televangelists were not at their core preachy. That is a caricature that even you and I in our elite bubbles we bought into this caricature and when somebody on CNN, for example, is using the evangelicals as the whipping boy as the scapegoat de jour, they're doing the same thing. They're pushing forward a narrative that casts all serious Christians as nothing but hypocrites, as transactional hypocrites and the fact of the matter is --

Tucker Carlson: Jim and Tammy Faye were not serious Christians, if I can just say as a Christian. I don't think they were serious Christians. I mean, you know.

Eric Metaxas: I think that that's another issue but what I'm trying to say is that when we're talking today, when I was on CNN and they're talking about why do evangelicals support Trump, that -- it's a way really of demonizing religious people and saying you're really nothing but hypocrites. Anybody who has standards and talks about those moral standards is nothing but a hypocrite. And then when you show love to someone like Trump --

Tucker Carlson: Well, what's just so weird is -- was since -- on what ground do they make that case? I mean, this is a party that -- not the whole party, but the leadership of the party certainly aggressively anti-Christian.

Eric Metaxas: Yeah, well, no --

Tucker Carlson: So then suddenly they're telling Christians that they're not good Christians?

Eric Metaxas: That's the point.

Tucker Carlson: How does that work?

Eric Metaxas: No, that's exactly the point. So, it's like one of those things that it's a one-way street, right? In other words, if you have no values or you say listen, it's fine to kill babies up to the ninth month. It's -- and it's fine to do anything you want, sexually, and to teach it and push it on little children in schools. It's fine to do all that. The moment anybody says, "Well, I actually have a standard and I don't want to be preachy about it, but it -- these standards are important to me; my faith is important to me," they immediately cry, "Hypocrite;" they immediately cry, "Moralist." So, we have to understand that the mainstream media usually, fundamentally, doesn't understand people of faith, number one. Number two, some of them are actively and explicitly opposed to faith. They see it as, somehow, threatening to them. And --

Tucker Carlson: That's for sure.

Eric Metaxas: -- I think when you're talking to folks on CNN or MSNBC, they have an animus toward people of faith. They just somehow feel that when you get -- if you get any power, you're going to oppress them, you're going to do horrible things.

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Eric Metaxas: I actually argue precisely the opposite: that real Christians in America are for religious liberty for everybody, not to protect Christians. And so, it becomes complicated, but it's actually fairly simple.

Tucker Carlson: Yeah.

Eric Metaxas: We've been seeing this for, you know, at least 50 years.

Tucker Carlson: At least. Eric Metaxas, thanks so much for that. I appreciate it.

Eric Metaxas: Thanks for having me. Thank you.

Tucker Carlson: Nancy Pelosi's always quick to tell you she doesn't hate the president, not at all. She spent three years trying to destroy his presidency and him, as a person, but she's actually very sad for him. She prays for him constantly. In fact, if she weren't stuck in Congress right now, she'd probably found her own convent just to pray for the president.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

The Press: -- Representative Collins –

Nancy Pelosi: I don't hate anybody.

The Press: -- Representative Collins –

Nancy Pelosi: I don't have –

The Press: -- the reason I ask –

Nancy Pelosi: -- was raised in a Catholic house. We don't hate anybody, not anybody in the world. As a Catholic, I resent your using the word "hate" in a sentence that addresses me. I don't hate anyone. I was raised in a way that is full -- a heart full of love and always pray for the president. And I still pray for the president. I pray for the president all the time. So, don't mess with me when it comes to words like that.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: Senator John Kennedy represents the state of Louisiana, and he joins us tonight. Senator, thanks so much for coming on. Why not just say what's so clearly true, if you're the Speaker, you know, "I don't like the -- I don't like the president and I'm trying to boot him out of office by force." Why this, "I'm praying for him," stuff?

John Kennedy: I think that would be more honest on the speaker's behalf. I listened to the clip she played, Tucker. I think it's a mistake to mix partisan rage with religion, Christianity --

Tucker Carlson: I agree.

John Kennedy: -- or otherwise. I think the proposition that Christians are monolithic in their political beliefs is shallow. I think it's sophomoric. I'm a Christian. I helped found a little Methodist church. I can tell you many of my fellow members support President Trump, some -- some -- with some, he's about as popular as head lice. I mean, I'll give you an example.

Tucker Carlson: [LAUGHS]

John Kennedy: The president is a disrupter. He speaks very bluntly to the managerial elite, the entrenched politicians, the bureaucrats, the academics, the members of the media, the corporate phonies, the people that think they're smarter and more virtuous than the American people. Is that unchristian-like? I guess you can teach it round or flat. But Christ spoke truth to power.

Tucker Carlson: Yeah.

John Kennedy: The beauty -- the beauty of Christianity is that Christians don't believe they're perfect. That's why they're Christians. And number two --

Tucker Carlson: Exactly.

John Kennedy: -- and my faith, anyway, tells me, as a Christian -- and it's hard in Washington, D.C. -- I remind myself of this every day -- "Just don't hate." You can disagree, but don't hate. But unfortunately, there's a lot of partisan rage, and that's unchristian-like.

Tucker Carlson: There --

John Kennedy: -- whether you're a Christian or not.

Tucker Carlson: Well, yeah, and -- and they're -- that's on both sides. I think you're absolutely right, it --

John Kennedy: Sure.

John Kennedy: -- that's real.

John Kennedy: Yeah.

Tucker Carlson: I just -- it's too disingenuous for me to sit and listen to people who really would dismantle the traditional Christian Church and are actually trying to lecture faithful Christians about how they're -- they've gone, you know, astray. It's, like, I don't think they have a right to do that.

John Kennedy: Well, I have heard some Democrats -- I'm not saying all Democrats. I haven't heard too many Republicans, but I have heard some of my Democratic friends mock people who believe in God, and who believe in the Second Amendment, who believe in teaching their kids morals, who believe in the military. And, now, I'm not saying that's a doctrine of the Democratic Party.

Tucker Carlson: Right.

John Kennedy: And I'm -- maybe there are some Republicans who do that. If they do that, they're just as wrong as the Democrats. But I remember a presidential candidate, one time, calling a bunch of people, "Deplorables." I remember a candidate mocking Americans for believing in God and guns. I think he -- that was the way he put it. This is America.

Tucker Carlson: [LAUGHS]

John Kennedy: You can believe what you want. But I think that -- I'm not going to say, "They're unchristian," but I think that's unchristian behavior. I think I've probably -- in Washington, you get caught up in a -- in the knife fight -- I've said some things that are probably unchristian. But I --

Tucker Carlson: Yeah.

John Kennedy: -- just speaking from me, personally, I have enough trouble paddling my own canoe, but I try to remind myself every day, "Don't hate; you can disagree, but don't hate."

Tucker Carlson: Amen. On that -- that's a good -- that's a Christmas message we can get by. And, Senator, thanks so much. Good to see tonight.

John Kennedy: Thank you, Tucker. Merry Christmas.

Tucker Carlson: Merry Christmas. Democrats have been fantasizing about impeachment since the day Trump took office. But now, at the last possible moment, after voting through two counts of impeachment, they're holding back. They haven't forwarded the articles of impeachment to the Senate, meaning, according to some scholars, legal scholars, the president isn't technically impeached. One of the weirdest states of play ever. According to Democrats, they're worried the Senate trial would not be -- quote -- "fair."

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Chuck Schumer: Leader McConnell is plotting the most rushed, least thorough, and most unfair impeachment trial in modern history.

[end video clip

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Male Speaker: Senator McConnell is not representing fairness because he is admitting that he is anything but impartial.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Male Speaker: He wants a kangaroo court. A kangaroo court is not a trial. That is just a process that you go through to legitimize what you know to be unfair and, in some instances, illegal treatment.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: Stephanie Grisham is the press secretary over at the White House. She joins us tonight to clarify a point that has some of us confused. Stephanie, thanks so much for coming on tonight. Is impeachment going on? Has the president been impeached? Has he not? What's going to happen? What is this?

Stephanie Grisham: I mean, it's -- it continues to be a crazy sham. It continues to be something that I don't think any of us understand. You know, the great thing about this whole thing is that when she -- Nancy Pelosi -- goes low, our poll numbers keep going high. So, that's a fantastic thing.

Tucker Carlson: [LAUGHS]

Stephanie Grisham: I think that the people that are leading this this crazy effort, Nancy Pelosi, and Schumer, and the likes of them, they're going to go down in history as the people who weaponized impeachment. And this is going to go on for years and years to come. Other presidents can now get impeached over policy disputes. So, we'll see what happens. She's got to get it over there to the Senate, because then, obviously, the impeachment isn't going to be valid. It's not going to be legitimate in the eyes of the American people. And once it does go to the Senate, it will be exactly what we've been saying all around -- all along: "The president did absolutely nothing wrong."

Tucker Carlson: Right. I mean, but as it is, I mean, in the holding pattern where it remains, it seems to be, if anything, helping the president in his reelect. So, are you anxious to get it to the Senate? It is the status quo hurting you, do you think?

Stephanie Grisham: No. I would say that it's -- you know, the president has said over and over again that he would like to get it to the Senate. I don't think anybody wants to have the word "impeachment" attached to their presidency. And he has said that a few times. So --

Tucker Carlson: Right.

Stephanie Grisham: -- of course, we would like it to go to the Senate, so that we can show that he did nothing wrong. We can, you know, push back on all of the lies that they were telling in the House. And I want to say the irony that they are holding these articles after, you know, because they're worried about fairness in the sentence, is just -- it's ironic, it's the hypocrisy --

Tucker Carlson: [LAUGHS]

Stephanie Grisham: -- abounds, continues to be a -- you know, she's just -- I don't know what she's thinking. I think she's stuck. I think she doesn't know what to do, actually.

Tucker Carlson: Yes. I think -- I actually -- I think what you just said is -- I think that's absolutely right. She's caught between warring factions and she's stuck. I agree. Stephanie --

Stephanie Grisham: [affirmative]

Tucker Carlson: -- great to see you tonight. Thanks so much for coming on.

Stephanie Grisham: Thank you. Merry Christmas.

Tucker Carlson: Merry Christmas. Well, Elizabeth Warren beating up on poor Pete Buttigieg for inviting millionaires and billionaires to his wine cave for fundraisers. But here's an interesting fact: Warren, herself, has a wine cave [LAUGHS]. But Barack Obama likes her, anyway. There's a lot going on in the race for the Democratic nomination. An update after the break.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Tucker Carlson: During the last democratic debate Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts went after Mayor Pete Buttigieg who runs some small town in the Midwest and his appeal to the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party. Watch this.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Elizabeth Warren: So, the mayor just recently had a fundraise that was held in a wine cave full of crystals and served $900 a bottle wine.

[applause]

Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States.

Pete Buttigieg: This is the problem with issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass. Senator, your net worth is 100 times mine. We need the support from everybody who is committed to helping us defeat Donald Trump.

[cheering]

Elizabeth Warren: I do not sell access to my time. I don't do call time with millionaires and billionaires.

Pete Buttigieg: Hold on a second. Sorry, as of when, Senator?

Elizabeth Warren: I don't meet behind closed doors with big dollar donors.

Pete Buttigieg: So, senator, your presidential campaign right now as we speak is funded in part by money you transferred having raised it at those exact same big-ticket fundraisers you now denounce. [END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: Man. It's hard to know who to root for. I mean, on the one hand Buttigieg is a shill for creepy finance types. There's no doubt about that and it's disgusting. On the other hand, Elizabeth Warren is like a full-blown hypocrite, full-blown, lobbing boulders from a homemade of very thin glass. According to The Hill newspaper, President Obama himself has been going around speaking to top Democratic Party donors reassuring them that she doesn't really mean it. Don't be put off by her attacks on the rich. Everything will be cool. And while Warren may have knocked Buttigieg's $900 wines, her own campaign has held fundraisers at restaurants where the most expensive bottle of wine goes for $6,600. Oh. How's that for a wine cave? Howie Carr is a radio host and the author of "What Really Happened?" He joins us tonight. Howie, thanks so much for coming on. So, it sounds like she's got her own wine caves.

Howie Carr: Yeah. She does and as you said, people who live in glass wine caves shouldn't throw stones at other people. You know, when she was busted on having these parties last -- just last year, she -- her campaign said well, you know, they were only have -- serving wine that was worth $49 a bottle. And, you know, this is how out of touch she is. I would say most people would think that's pretty pricey for a bottle of wine, but she's totally tone deaf to the way Americans live, most Americans live. When she first ran for the Senate, she was out exhorting her base to come out and she said, "Please, go out and speak to the people behind you at the wine shop." Excuse me, at the cheese shop. I'm getting the cheese shop and the wine shop mixed up. Tucker, do you go to cheese shops?

Tucker Carlson: I -- if there was -- I mean, I'll be totally honest I love the fromage, so if there was one near me, I would definitely go. There isn't. But anyway, that's not the first thing that would come to mind. I do love the cheese, though, but let me ask you as an expert on Elizabeth Warren, all things Elizabeth Warren, as someone from the commonwealth yourself, how'd she get so rich? Where'd all the money come from? You saw Buttigieg say you're worth 100 times what I'm worth. How?

Howie Carr: Well, this is another thing. You know, she claims she's from the jagged or ragged edge of the middle class, dependent on where she is and there was just another -- yet another puff piece about her in the Boston Globe today. They talked to her brothers who are all older than her and it turns out that one of her brothers was angry when she began calling her own father a janitor. I mean, her own brother is -- was angry about it. But what happened was when she first ran for the Senate in 2012 she said oh, I had two or three, you know, a few cases here and there and that's all and then she -- on the campaign trail even earlier this year she'd been saying, "I was a lawyer in private practice for about 40 minutes." I think that was the exact time. And it turns out now, you know, now that, you know, it's pretty clear that other candidates are doing opposition research on her, she admitted she did 56 cases where she made $2 million. I mean, that's -- you know, that's not a huge amount of money for a lawyer over 20, 30 years, but again, she's not the -- you know, the hard scrabble up from poverty lawyer that she claims to be. It's just everything about her is phony and she seems to think she can get away with this, whether it's talking about her son going to private school when he didn't and being fired from the public teaching job, which she didn't. She was after Bloomberg last week. She wanted him to release the -- all the women who sued his company for various forms of sexual harassment from their non-disclosure agreement. She said we needed transparency. Well, Tucker, don't you think you and I and everybody else needs to see her employment applications from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania Law Schools so we can see whether or not she really did apply claiming to be a Native American?

Tucker Carlson: I think we know the answer. Thanks in part to your great reporting on that. You're tenacious, your bulldog reporting on that for which you've received too little credit. Howie Carr, thanks for joining us tonight.

Howie Carr: Merry Christmas, Tucker.

Tucker Carlson: Merry Christmas. Hoping to have a respite from politics over Christmas week? Don't count on it if you have relatives who support Bernie Sanders. Sanders' campaign has released a family persuasion guide that gives supporters scripts so they can shoehorn politics into every last moment of the Christmas season. Feeling nauseous? There's a reason. Author and columnist Mark Steyn joins us tonight. Mark, thanks so much for coming. So, just to set the scene here, because when you talk Bernie it's not like talking other politicians. Here was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who really is one of the dumbest people I've ever seen on camera, but that aside, here she is at a Bernie rally. This is the tone they're hoping for. Watch this.

[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: What we're living in right now is not an advanced society. A society that allows people –

Female Speaker: Why aren't we calling it fascism? That's what it is. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: It is fascism –

[cheering]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: -- what we have, what we're evolving into, as well.

[END VIDEO CLIP]

Tucker Carlson: [LAUGHS] So, Bernie wants you to discuss the nature of our fascist society, our non-advanced society –

Mark Steyn: Yeah.

Tucker Carlson: -- at Christmas, yeah.

Mark Steyn: Yeah.

Tucker Carlson: Are you going to?

Mark Steyn: Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, basically, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is right that Bernie supporters think that their parents and grandparents are fascists, racists, homophobes, Islamophobes --

Tucker Carlson: Exactly.

Mark Steyn: -- this-ophobes, that-ophobes. And their parents just think the kids are stupid. But they can be stupid in a mildly diverting way. And if it's a choice between, you know, sleeping-off Christmas dinner over "The Price is Right," or listening to your kids say that, "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks a lot of sense about how fascist America is, and by God, we'd all be more like Venezuela, where they're so environmentally-enlightened they've abolished toilet paper," I don't know that --

Tucker Carlson: [LAUGHS]

Mark Steyn: -- in terms of entertainment over the Christmas lunch that -- I don't think it persuades anyone. And, basically, for the -- for -- what's so sad about these young Americans is that Bernie is, in fact, their surrogate father or surrogate grandfather. I don't think there's a self-respecting middle-aged man across the fruited plain who wants his kids saying, "Oh, man, Dad, you're so squaresville. Why can't you be more like Bernie?" I don't think that's a particularly helpful message over the Christmas dinner.

Tucker Carlson: So, I have to ask you this. You're not prepared for this, but I just have to throw it out.

Mark Steyn: [affirmative]

Tucker Carlson: This the last conversation we're going to have in 2019. 2020's just right, coming up. Is it going to be crazy, or less crazy, more of the same? What do you expect?

Mark Steyn: Oh, I think it's going to -- I think it -- I think the crazy button is going to accelerate. I mean, basically, this whole wine cave controversy now -- I mean, if you actually wanted to -- I thought when Obama said, last -- well, whatever it was -- eight years ago -- "Look at the way the price of arugula has gone up," that was crazy. But this idea now that they're arguing about the precise point at which you have blue collar credibility over the price point on a bottle of wine is fantastic. We're not at Iowa, yet. By the time we get to New Hampshire --

Tucker Carlson: [LAUGHS]

Mark Steyn: -- it's going to be nutso, off the charts.

Tucker Carlson: Here -- and now you're making me look forward to it. I was fearing –

Marl Steyn: [affirmative]

Tucker Carlson: -- it before. But, as usual, you put everything into context [LAUGHS] and it made me feel better. The great Mark Steyn, have the best Christmas.

Mark Steyn: Yeah. Happy Hogmanay to you, Tucker.

Tucker Carlson: Amen, Mark Steyn. Well, along with impeachment, Congress' only other priority this fall has been passing a trillion-dollar spending package, which actually happened. This, as Congress announcing the bill was loaded with toxic elements. What's in it? There was no debate on most of -- of big pieces of this bill. We'll give you a glimpse of what just happened in your Congress, after the break.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Tucker Carlson: Along with impeaching the president, the Congress had another priority before the Christmas break: passing a gigantic trillion-dollar spending bill, the details of which no one learned anything about until after it was already done; major provisions, of which, were never even debated. To tell us what was in that bill, we're joined by Ned Ryun, founder and CEO of American Majority. Ned, thanks so much for coming on. So, the extent we --

Ned Ryun: Absolutely, good to be --

Tucker Carlson: -- know what's in this bill --

Ned Ryun: -- with you, Tucker.

Tucker Carlson: -- I think some of us have heard that, somehow, amnesty for Liberians is in the bill.

Ned Ryun: Yeah.

Tucker Carlson: What is that, and why?

Ned Ryun: [LAUGHS] Well, first of all, this, "I'm the boss" was a dumpster fire and a big middle finger to the American people, all wrapped up into one --

Tucker Carlson: Yeah.

Ned Ryun: -- disgusting package. I have to say, Tucker, really quick. This is why -- we elected Trump to veto these things, not to sign them. And it's immoral --

Tucker Carlson: Good point.

Ned Ryun: -- to continue using the American taxpayer as an ATM for the ruling class. But, no, there's amnesty for 4,000 Liberians. I mean, there's corporate subsidies for renewable energies. We've included money for gun studies by the CDC. We have a continued funding for Planned Parenthood. We continue to have abortions through Obamacare. We even included, Tucker -- this is the one that just got me -- ombudsmen for ICE detention centers that can harass and undermine ICE agents while they're trying to do their jobs. It was incredible, but, again, typical D.C.: 2,300 page, 1.4 trillion, about 24 hours to read through it. Hey, you got to make a decision. I honestly -- I wish I could tell -- have told President Trump, "You cannot drain the swamp if you continue to fund the swamp."

Tucker Carlson: It continues the war in Afghanistan, even after we learned that the people prosecuting that were been lying to us about it. But, then, it prevents --

Ned Ryun: That's right.

Tucker Carlson: -- the men fighting the war from chewing tobacco unless they're 21. Like, the whole thing seems demented. Like, who wrote this?

Ned Ryun: It is demented. We've decided that you have to be 21 now to buy tobacco, but you're old enough to go fight in -- on foreign soil. You're clearly old enough, Tucker, to go make idiotic decisions and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on worthless degrees but you can't smoke cigarettes. You know, the insulting -- we spent $4.2 billion for Afghan security forces but we could only find $1.4 billion for our southern border wall, but hey, somehow, we also managed to find half a billion for a border security in Jordan, of all places. Come on. Tucker, at some point Donald Trump, this is why he was elected. This is immoral behavior and we continue to go along with it as though hey, it's just how things are done in Washington, D.C. We sent him to D.C. to say no. What he should've done is said I'm not signing this. I will only agree to a clean six-week continuing resolution. We will come back from Christmas in January and we will have a conversation about this monstrosity but I'm not going to sign this. He told us last year he was not going to do this again and yet here we are.

Tucker Carlson: Really quick. Did any Republicans on the Hill fight this thing?

Ned Ryun: I mean, I know Ted Cruz and I know some of these others were trying to fight it. Again, one of the things that happens in these situations it kind of is put together in the middle of the night. They're given very little time to respond to it. How do you read through 2,300 pages even with all of your staff? You're put on the mark. Either, you know, agree to this vote on this. You only have so much time. There were some, Chip Roy in the House and others were trying to fight it but at a certain point, you know, the incredible thing, Tucker, is they are using our taxpayer dollars to bribe members to actually then vote for the overall omnibus. It's incredible. To me it's unethical and I would actually say corruption layered in corruption.

Tucker Carlson: Slathered in yet another layer of it. I agree with you completely. Ned Ryun, thanks so much for that depressingly accurate summary.

Ned Ryun: Thanks, Tucker. Thank you.

Tucker Carlson: Well, newly [unintelligible] Democrats in the state of Virginia are promising to take people's 2nd Amendment rights and trash them but across the state county sheriffs are preparing to pushback against that. One of those sheriff's joins us after the break.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Tucker Carlson: Bolstered by their strangle hold on Washington, D.C.'s suburbs, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, et cetera, Democrats took complete control of Virginia state government this fall and they're acting fast. They're already pledging to use their power to remake the commonwealth completely. One of the chief targets is the gun rights tradition in Virginia, which is the same of course as America's gun rights tradition. Lawmakers in the state are planning an assault weapons ban, assuming they can define an assault weapon, magazine size restrictions, and much more. Some would like gun seizures and are saying so out loud. The problem, though, is that most of Virginia's counties remain conservative and sensible. Officials in those places are taking inspiration from the left's doctrine on immigration. They're declaring themselves sanctuary counties for gun rights. Page County in the Shenandoah Valley is one such place. Chad Cubbage is the sheriff of Page County. He joins us tonight. Sheriff, thanks so much for coming on.

Chad Cubbage: Thank you for having me, Tucker.

Tucker Carlson: Tell us, if you would, what you plan to do if Democrats in the state House begin enacting these restrictions on the 2nd Amendment.

Chad Cubbage: Well, we're hopeful that our legislators are listening. You know, Tucker, we -- we're having town hall meetings here throughout the Shenandoah Valley and we're having thousands of people show up to these town hall meetings to voice their concerns. We just really hope that they're listening in Richmond and our legislators will not go through with these bills.

Tucker Carlson: So, you're -- I mean, you're presumably the chief law enforcement official in Page County, Virginia. Tell us specifically are rifles chambered in 762 by 39, the assault weapons round or one of them, are they a major crime problem for you in your county?

Chad Cubbage: No, no. We do not have a problem with that. You know, in areas like Page County, a lot of people will go out on a Saturday evening and have a cookout and do target practicing and things like that.

Tucker Carlson: Yes.

Chad Cubbage: And these bills will even hinder, you know, a parent taking their child out to hunt at an early age. So, these are unconstitutional.

Tucker Carlson: So, you're hearing some -- they're absolutely unconstitutional you're right, of course. You're hearing some Democrats say well, if you set up a sanctuary county for gun rights then they're going to use force. One was suggesting bringing in the National Guard to make you obey. What's your response?

Chad Cubbage: Well, you know, like I said, I'm hoping that they're listening in Richmond.

Tucker Carlson: Yes.

Chad Cubbage: My staff and I stand ready to protect the citizens of Page County from their rights being infringed upon. It's not law enforcement's place to infringe upon the rights of law-abiding citizens. It's our obligation to protect them from those types of things being done. And I'm thankful that we have a president that is -- that supports the 2nd Amendment and that believes in the Constitution.

Tucker Carlson: Sheriff Cubbage, I hope it doesn't come to that. You seem like a very reasonable man and I don't think I've ever heard anybody say as clear as you did, law enforcement exists to protect our rights, which is a wonderful thing to hear. Thanks so much for coming on tonight.

Chad Cubbage: Hey, thank you for having me, Tucker, and God bless you.

Tucker Carlson: God bless you. Merry Christmas. Well, for the past couple of months, the press has expended tremendous energy defending Hunter Biden. Now, to the ordinary observer. Biden's job on the board of Burisma does look a little suspicious. He had no previous experience in the natural gas industry, he didn't speak Ukrainian, and yet he made millions. Now, why did they pay him? Well, maybe part of the reason was his father was overseeing the Obama administration's anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine. After Hunter Biden got his job, his father successfully demanded the firing of the Ukrainian prosecutor who could have investigated him. Now, a normal person might look at all of that and think, "Well, that's a little suspicious. It's definitely, maybe, corrupt. It looks criminal, actually." But according to NBC News, suspecting any of this is a -- quote -- "debunked conspiracy theory." You'd have to be an idiot to think otherwise, according to NBC. But if Hunter Biden did nothing shady in Ukraine, it would at least be a break from his standard practice in the United States. In court documents filed Monday in a paternity case he's facing in the state of Arkansas -- that's a whole different story we're not going to even get into -- but the mother of Biden's child says that Hunter Biden is currently facing multiple criminal investigations. Here's news. According to the filing, Hunter Biden is linked with investigations for fraud, money laundering and -- brace yourself -- counterfeiting. What exactly does that mean? We're not sure. The documents were compiled by a private investigator. They say the money laundering scheme even involves Biden's work with Burisma. Interesting. How those allegations fare in court? Well, of course, we'll have to see. It's possible NBC News will file an amicus brief explaining that Biden doesn't have to support his own child because the mother is touting a conspiracy theory. What shills they are. They should be embarrassed, but they're not. Speaking of CNN, acts like its part of some resistance, but of course, they're the opposite. They're deeply entwined with America's ruling class, which they assiduously defend. So entwined they were caught giving baseball tickets to top FBI officials. Is that legal? No, actually, it's not. We've got details.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

Tucker Carlson: The whole point of freedom in the press, the reason the founders were so keen on it, is that when publications can speak freely, they can hold powerful people in our society to account and allow our democracy to function. That's how things should work. It's not how they work in real life. As you know, the press is on the side of the people they cover. They're from the same world. They want competing outlets and ordinary Americans censored, while they serve as propaganda for the ruling class, again, of which they are a part. This is not speculation. Ask anyone who spent years in it, and they will confirm it.

No outlet represents the incestuous relationship between elite media and Washington's elite better than CNN does. It's not just things like hiring Jim Clapper as a national security analyst, which is almost unbelievable, but it's stories like this one, which has gotten no attention. Here it is. In 2016, an FBI assistant director of public affairs, called Michael Kortan, was given two tickets to a Washington Nationals game by a correspondent for CNN. We don't know the name of that correspondent, but court papers reveal the person worked at CNN. The DOJ inspector general questioned Kortan about this. Kortan apparently lied under oath and falsely claimed to have paid for the tickets. Further investigation revealed that Kortan had also received tickets from a New York Times reporter.

Of course, this is de facto bribery of a federal employee; it broke the law. Kortan could have been jailed or, at least, fired for cause. But needless to say, he wasn't because in Washington no one ever is. He was allowed to retire early in 2018 with no further consequences. CNN hasn't been punished either, even though one of their reporters was complicit in corrupting a public official [LAUGHS]. But just remember what happened every time CNN tells you that federal agencies are above suspicion, or every time they tell you that good reporting and good instincts were the reason they were on-hand to see FBI agents, pre-dawn, arrest Roger Stone.

They're liars, as you well know. They're not looking out for your interests. They're not critics of America's most powerful people. They're allies. They're on the same team. They're against you. Just another little piece of evidence. It's true, unfortunately. That's it for us. I wish we had more time going into Christmas week. We'll be back 8:00 p.m., the show that's the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink. Have a great Christmas with the ones you love. Good night from Washington. For those of you who will be busy with family tomorrow and on Wednesday, we wish you, again, a Merry Christmas.

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