Mike Rowe on his new book 'The Way I Heard It'

close

Video

Mike Rowe on his new book 'The Way I Heard It'

TV host and author Mike Rowe shares his thoughts on writing his book on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," October 15, 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.” Thirty years goes pretty fast. Thirty years ago, it was the fall of 1989, believe it or not -- it seems like yesterday.

And at the time, if you can remember that far back, America seemed unbeatable. Our chief rival, the Soviet Union had just collapsed. Our economy and military strength dwarfed those of every nation on the planet. America in 1989 was the uncontested leader of the world free and otherwise.

But just three decades later, that advantage has evaporated completely. Instead of expanding and solidifying our power, we've wasted it. And as a result, we're now in the race of our lives against a country that in 1989 was so poor that many of its people could not afford meat or electricity -- China. And at this rate, China will beat us.

So the question is, how did America fall so far so fast? And the answer is simple, bad leadership. The people who benefited the most from this country cared about it the least. They were also the quickest to sell it out to foreign powers for profit.

That's obvious now, thanks to people like LeBron James. James, of course, is one of the most famous athletes in history, but he started off at the very bottom. He was born to an impoverished 16-year-old mother in Akron, Ohio. He never went to college.

And yet, thanks to hard work and remarkable skill, James's endorsement income alone now exceeds $15 million a year.

If there's anyone whose life is a tribute to America, to its decency, to its endless opportunity, it's LeBron James.

In return, he showers America with contempt. Just yesterday, James was asked to comment on the NBA executive who issued a one-line statement in supportive democracy in Hong Kong. Here's how LeBron James responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, NBA PLAYER: I don't want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl -- with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand. And he spoke, and so many people could have been harmed, not only financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually.

So just be careful what we tweet and what we say, and what we do, even though yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So freedom of speech is just fine says LeBron James, as long as you don't do anything crazy with it, like I don't know, obliquely bleakly criticize the Chinese Communist Party. No, that's out of bounds. It might harm people spiritually.

It also might potentially make LeBron James slightly less rich. And of course, that's the real problem with it. Think we're being unfair? Think that's an unfair interpretation of what you just saw?

Well, according to ESPN, LeBron James has been adamant in his defense of Chinese fascism. Even off camera, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE MCMENAMIN, ESPN SENIOR WRITER: Adam Silver got up and addressed the players and LeBron James is one of the players who got up and spoke and said, hey, what are we doing here? Daryl Morey made these statements? You know, damn well, if a player made the same similar statements and cause such war ramifications for the league, there'd be some sort of league recourse, there would be repercussions that the player has to pay.

You know, potentially, this tweet could cost the NBA hundreds of millions of dollars, which could come out of the players' pockets. And so that's the double standard that was being addressed in that meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: In other words, any American who questions China ought to be punished. That's LeBron James's view. That's what he's demanding, in fact.

The Chinese Politburo must not be criticized, and yet there's a very different standard that James holds for his own country and his own President. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES: That he has kind of used sport to kind of divide us. I would never sit across from him.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: You would never -- you won't talk to him?

JAMES: No. I'd sit across from Barack though.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Yes, that's the American President he is talking to. Well, if you read James's Twitter feed, you won't be surprised to learn any of this quote, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," he tweeted once. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Okay, well, obviously, things that matter does not include throwing Muslims in concentration camps in China or the oppression of more than a billion people in China.

So what does matter to LeBron James and his friends in our ruling class?

Well, the first thing they care about is popularity and that's what they're delighted to weigh in politically, when it's fashionable in West Los Angeles bashing the administration or protesting the National Anthem or re- tweeting and supportive transgender rights or whatever.

Their friends call them brave when they do this, which is one of the indications it's not bravery, it's conformity, which is the opposite usually.

The other thing that James and the rest care about, of course, is money. When you criticize Beijing, it might cost you money. Here's a perfect example.

LeBron James is both starring in and producing an upcoming film called "Space Jam 2." The movie is expected to do big business in China, if it's released there. And James can't risk that.

The rest of Hollywood made the same decision many years ago. We used to see occasionally movies that criticize the dictatorship of China or took the side of Tibet. Remember Richard Gere, whatever happened to him? But not anymore. In fact, that's unimaginable.

You can't imagine a major Hollywood picture taking the side of Tibet or Hong Kong, or the Dalai Lama or human rights in China, the world's largest country. No. Instead, studios now grovel for Chinese funding. And if China appears in films at all, it's always in a positive portrayal.

Meanwhile, Russia, which is a completely an irrelevant country, most of the time is subverting our democracy. That's what they tell us. This is what corruption looks like.

Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports will be weighing in on all of this in just a minute, but first tonight, Clay Travis of Fox Sports Radio is the author of the book "Republicans Buy Sneakers, Too," apparently sort of Chinese communists. Clay Travis joins us today.

Clay, thanks so much for coming on tonight. So, I mean, I don't think anyone would have a problem if sports figures want to stay out of politics more generally. But James, he is not wildly political or anything, but he does regularly weigh in on American politics. So do many of them.

But the idea of criticizing the fascist government of China is over the line. How does this work?

CLAY TRAVIS, FOX SPORTS RADIO: I think you've nailed it. It's all about money, Tucker, and first, thanks for having me on.

Second, LeBron James is one of the biggest hypocrites in all of sports. You hit on it. Look, if he had decided to stay out of politics, if the NBA had decided to stay out of politics, they could have dominated by just selling their overall brand of basketball to a market that loves basketball.

But the NBA decided it wasn't good enough to be a basketball league, they had to be a woke basketball league.

And as part of that, they pulled their All-Star game out of Charlotte, North Carolina over a transgender bathroom bill. They took away the word owner and replaced it with the word governor because they decided it was racially insensitive. And that was a conversation that came out of LeBron James's barbershop show.

And so this to me is a major shot across the bow of the NBA and I think you hit on something that's really important here in the larger scale.

Back in 1997, twenty years ago, when we started taking our movies to China, they were saying, okay, you can play the movie here, but we've got to take out two minutes. We don't want to offend people inside China. We're going to allow our censorship to play here.

Note what's going on with this Daryl Morey tweet. China is not saying to the NBA, hey, play by our rules in inside the country. They are saying we expect our rules which govern our country to also go outside the border of the country, and that's massive.

And I think why to the credit of the NBA, they managed to do something that's almost impossible. They got AOC and Ted Cruz to sign a joint letter, saying the NBA was intolerable the way they had responded, which at least is an element of bipartisanship. That's how bad the NBA position was here.

CARLSON: But it does seem like we're importing Chinese political values into this country. They're being imposed on us by the people in charge.

China is governed increasingly not simply by force, they do still kill their political dissidents there and sell their organs. But most of the time, it is governed by a very, very sophisticated tech dominated system of social credit. You step out of line, you're punished. Why shouldn't we be terrified of something like that coming here?

TRAVIS: We should be and that's why I think battles like these are so important. Look, LeBron James tried to say, I'm more than an athlete. Right?

CARLSON: Right.

TRAVIS: He tried to say I'm not going to shut up and dribble. That was his market. That's what he's been trying to sell for a long time. He tried to brand himself as the modern day Muhammad Ali.

Well, you talked about the necessity for bravery. It means risking something -- money, life, liberty -- something. What LeBron James has been willing to do is speak out when there's no cost whatsoever for him.

He can call Donald Trump a bum. He can refuse to meet with him, but yet he will go to Communist China and he will bow, he will genuflect at the altar of the Chinese Communist government, and that is such an inherent hypocrisy.

If he wanted to be Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali said, I ain't got no quarrel with the Viet Cong. He went to battle. He risked his title. He risked his life, his liberty in the United States to fight for something he believed in.

LeBron James had an opportunity here, Tucker and this is what's so disappointing to me. If you want to be political, LeBron James last night you had an opportunity to say, you know what, I'm an American. I went from nothing. I've risen to the point where one day I might be a billionaire.

CARLSON: Exactly.

TRAVIS: That's because America embraces liberty. We embrace human rights. We embrace freedom of religion, freedom of speech, all of these things. And I believe that all of the world, including 1.4 billion people in China should have the exact same rights that I had as a kid growing up in Akron, Ohio. He didn't say it. Amen.

CARLSON: He is too -- the left does not get credit for being as greedy as they are -- Clinton and Obama. All of them. Bernie Sanders -- their greed has.

Clay Travis, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri just returned a few hours ago from a visit to Hong Kong. Last night, he tweeted this about LeBron James, quote, "Having just been in Hong Kong on the streets and with the protesters, this kind of garbage is hard to take. LeBron, are you educated on the situation? Why don't you go to Hong Kong? Why don't you meet the people they're risking their lives for their most basic liberties?"

"So many people could have been harmed by Daryl Morey daring to express sympathy for democracy? Newsflash, people are being harmed, shot, beaten, and gassed right now in Hong Kong by China, by the Communist Party, the NBA is so eager to appease," end quote.

Senator Josh Hawley joins us in studio amazingly, tonight. Senator, thanks so much for coming on right after you get off the plane.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY, R-MO: Thanks for having me.

CARLSON: You went to Hong Kong. What did you see there? How did it change your view?

HAWLEY: You know, I went and I saw the protests themselves, Tucker. I said, I don't want to be just cooped up in some hotel, I want to go out to the streets.

So we spent hours on the streets of what would have been Sunday night, Hong Kong time in what turned out to be the biggest area of protest that night.

And so I saw the police. I saw them out in force with their riot gear, establishing perimeters. I saw the protesters. You know, it's really remarkable.

The number of protesters Tucker, I mean, think about this. For one of their early protests, this is a city of seven and a half million people, two million people in the streets.

This is a protest movement that spans class divides, it spans all -- the people of Hong Kong are united here in standing up to Communist China, standing up to Beijing and they're just desperate to preserve their basic liberties.

CARLSON: Wait, they are standing up against one of the most powerful governments in the world and an authoritarian government. I wonder what they make of some of the richest people in our country taking the side of the Chinese government?

HAWLEY: Oh, they talked to me about this, because I've been met with protests leaders. So I was out with them and then I met with protest leaders and members of the movement, and they just don't understand that.

They say, you know, I mean, China is trying to censure the NBA, trying to impose their coercive tactics through the NBA. They're trying to coerce Americans through the NBA and through Apple, frankly, and they said, listen, this is just -- you can expect more of the same. This is how Beijing operates. They use their commercial advantage to coerce, to tighten the screws, and they're amazed that the NBA is going along with it, as am I. I'm amazing and I'm sickened by it.

CARLSON: It's not just the NBA, as you know, you pointed this out repeatedly. It's a whole layer of American multinationals and executives, actors and professional athletes. How do we get here?

HAWLEY: Well, I mean, we got here by these companies, these multinational companies caring more about making a buck, and being willing to sell out.

I mean, you know, their basic value -- our basic values as Americans. I mean, they would rather appease the Chinese Communist Party to get access to China's market than they would to stand up for basic liberties. And this shouldn't be controversial.

CARLSON: Right.

HAWLEY: We're not talking about controversial stuff here. I mean, to hear LeBron and others say, well, this is, you know, controversial socially. This isn't controversial.

CARLSON: You're exactly right.

HAWLEY: We're talking about basic freedom of speech, basic freedom of assembly. This is something that all Americans agree on, and that all three people everywhere agree on.

And guess what? The people of Hong Kong have been guaranteed these rights by Beijing. I mean, that's part of the deal here.

CARLSON: In 1999.

HAWLEY: Exactly. It's Beijing who is trying to take them away now.

CARLSON: So you serve the United States Senate. You have a tactile sense of people's views there. What do you think the breakdown is in in the Senate?

HAWLEY: Well, I think most people don't understand how urgent the situation is in Hong Kong. They don't realize that Beijing is escalating.

You know, what Beijing is doing is progressively taking -- right now, they're basically using martial law. The Chief Executive there who is a Beijing puppet has just invoked emergency powers, which allows her to suspend right to protest, allows her to say what you can or cannot wear on the streets.

There's talk of imposing the curfew, all of this without any legislative oversight. They're becoming a police state, Tucker. It's happening right now and they need this country and the international community to stand up and say, hold on, we're not going to roll over for this.

CARLSON: You think your colleagues in the Senate understand this?

HAWLEY: I think probably most don't. I don't think I understood the urgency of the situation. So this is what I'm going to be doing. I'm going to be talking to my colleagues. I am going to be saying listen, the situation is pressing.

And by the way, if we don't take a stand here, if China is able to dominate Hong Kong, they will dominate Taiwan.

CARLSON: That's right.

HAWLEY: They will dominate the region.

CARLSON: That's totally right.

HAWLEY: They'll dominate us. Let's not lose sight of the fact, they've already ripped off our jobs. They've already ripped off our technology. If they could shut us out of Asia, they would absolutely do it, and that's their goal.

CARLSON: Senator Josh Hawley, I wish we had gone with you.

HAWLEY: Next time.

CARLSON: Good for you for going. Thanks for coming on tonight.

HAWLEY: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

CARLSON: Well, in the middle of the latest LeBron -- there it is, the LeBron James controversy. Barstool Sports is now selling this t-shirt -- Chairman James.

Dave Portnoy founded Barstool, now an international brand not beholden to China, and he joins us tonight. You're not beholden to China, are you? I'm just -- I'm guessing this.

DAVE PORTNOY, FOUNDER, BARSTOOL SPORTS: I'm not beholden to China, Tucker, but I'm going to be honest, I'm one of the few honest guys. If they guaranteed me like two billion people would buy t-shirts, I may fall in line like everybody else. I can't say I won't do that.

CARLSON: Would you admit it as you did it, though?

PORTNOY: Well, that's the thing. That's what drives me insane with all of these people. We have to admit it. If they said, hey, we're going to have a billion people buy t-shirts, I'll go retire in an island. I'll put my hand up and be like, hey, hey, they money in my pocket. I don't agree with what they're doing.

That's what drives me insane. It's the hypocrisy. Like LeBron, what are you talking about? Just a minute. You want to be a billionaire. That's it. End of story.

CARLSON: But it is a little much to lecture the rest of us in this country about our failings, while at the same time refusing to acknowledge that the Chinese government which is pretty disgusting, I mean, really has done anything wrong ever. Like, why do that? Why don't just be quiet about all politics?

PORTNOY: Listen, I don't like LeBron James. I think he is a hypocrite and I've always said that. When I saw what he tweeted out, I ran to my computer. I couldn't believe he said it. Just keep your mouth shut. How tone deaf do you have to be?

It is insane when you put the tweets that he has had in his past next to each other. One second, he says you can't be silent. It doesn't matter about money, contracts, whatever, basic human rights and then he says the exact opposite. You can't talk. Some issues, you've got to be quiet.

Like this moment has -- well, I saw through him the whole time. He's a hypocrite. He'll say, you know, people go to LA, they don't care about basketball. That's why they look --

He is a hypocrite. His kid -- he'll say stuff about his kid. He doesn't too much pressure, yet he named him LeBron James, Jr. I mean, everything he says is hypocritical. This may be the issue where people finally wake up.

Because like what you've said, it doesn't matter what side of the aisle he is on, it doesn't matter. Everybody agrees. This is about basic human decency. And you care more about your money and becoming a billionaire. That's it.

CARLSON: So we're piling on LeBron James, and I think it's obvious he deserves it. But what about his handlers at Nike? I mean, clearly, he is taking orders from them. No?

PORTNOY: Here's what I think happens with LeBron James. I don't think he has ever been told all of his life. So when he tweeted that out, they said, hey, King, hey, King, you know, the haters don't like this. You may want to just -- they are haters, though. They'll never tell me I did anything wrong.

It's like when you got a heavyweight champ of the world, and everybody is like champ, champ, champ. They talk to LeBron, like he is a god. He has never been told he is wrong. And I guarantee you they phrase this like, we're the crazy ones, like king, don't worry about it, king. Some people just get a little ruffled. We may have to backtrack.

I guarantee you. He has a huge, pseudo apology still coming. He has to.

CARLSON: But it's fake.

PORTNOY: Everything about him is fake. He just showed his true colors. How can anybody with everything going on, he blames it on Daryl Morey? This is real issues. This is real human rights violations going on. And he's tweeting, well, you made me uncomfortable. I didn't get a good night's sleep. It's crazy. It's crazy.

CARLSON: So most people, as you pointed out are selling t-shirts in China. You're selling t-shirts against China. How many have you sold?

PORTNOY: A lot. These have caught -- well, Donald Trump, Jr. retweeted this the second we put the shirt on sale. So that's certainly helped. He is becoming like a Barstool super fan, which is great.

So we've sold a lot. I think we're about 3000 of these we've sold pretty quickly. And by the way, just again, I'm going to be fair, we actually had an anti-China and pro-China t-shirt in the same blog. Blue states, red states. They both buy shirts. Communists, Democrats, they both buy shirts. We will sell them to whoever is buying, Tucker.

CARLSON: And you're honest about it. The last honest man in Digital Media, Dave Portnoy of Barstool, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

PORTNOY: You too.

CARLSON: Well, as soon as Russia went away, it was replaced by Ukraine. And once that scandal passes, it will be something else, of course, even some on the left are suggesting the fix is in and there's some kind of coup attempt going on against the President they don't like. How bad is it for them to admit that? Brit Hume joins us next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Hunter Biden is finally speaking in public. The man at the heart of Ukraine scandal appeared on "Good Morning, America" over on ABC today to defend his service on the Board of Burisma and to deny allegations of corruption.

Lisa Boothe was following that closely. She is Senior Fellow at Independence Women's Voice and she joins us tonight.

LISA BOOTHE, CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Tucker.

CARLSON: Good to see you, Lisa.

BOOTHE: Good to see you, too.

CARLSON: What did Hunter Biden say?

BOOTHE: Well, so I'm glad Amy Robach at least brought up the point that look, Hunter Biden had no relevant experience to serve on Burisma Holdings. He didn't have experience in Ukraine. He didn't have a background in natural gas. And this is what he responded with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY ROBACH, ABC HOST: You didn't have any extensive knowledge about natural gas or Ukraine itself though.

HUNTER BIDEN, SON OF JOE BIDEN: No. But I think that I had as much knowledge as anybody else that was on the Board, if not more.

ROBACH: In the list you gave me of the reasons why you're on that Board, you did not list the fact that you were the son of the Vice President.

BIDEN: Of course, yes, no.

ROBACH: What role do you think that played?

BIDEN: I think that it is impossible for me to be on any of the Boards that I just mentioned without saying that I am the son of the Vice President of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOOTHE: Well and so, Tucker later in the interview, he more explicitly admitted that he probably wouldn't be on the Board if it wasn't for his last name - Biden.

He also -- you know, two things to point out about Ukraine as well. Look, Vice President Biden was the point person on Ukraine and around the same time that Hunter joined the Board, Joe Biden had gone to Ukraine to encourage them to increase their natural gas production.

Burisma is a natural gas company so that's a little suspicious as well. However Hunter Biden in the interview maintained the fact that look nothing unethical happened, according to him, however, he said maybe it was a mistake to join it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I say to you, in retrospect, I wish that my judgement --

ROBACH: Right, at that time, you never -- it never -- you never thought this might not look right.

BIDEN: You know what, I'm a human. And you know, what, did I make a mistake? Well, maybe in the grand scheme of things, yes. But did I make a mistake based upon some unethical lapse? Absolutely not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOOTHE: So he was also asked about China. As you know, Peter Schweizer has reported extensively about that trip that Hunter Biden took with Joe Biden in 2013. Air Force 2 to China with his dad and then less than two weeks later, he started a Chinese-backed private equity fund.

And on that trip Hunter Biden introduced his dad to Jonathan Li, who is now the CEO of that company, BHR Partners. He was asked about China, this is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBACH: We saw you in those photos getting off of Air Force 2 with your daughter, with your father who was there.

BIDEN: I have traveled everywhere with my dad, and I went there because my daughter was on the trip, too.

ROBACH: Right. Did you talk about China or your deal with China?

BIDEN: No.

ROBACH: A 12-hour flight over?

BIDEN: Oh, no, of course not.

ROBACH: That never came up.

BIDEN: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOOTHE: So I mean, Tucker, I think most reasonable people do not believe the fact that somehow none of this was discussed on a 12-hour flight back from China.

So I think the interview actually raises more questions and adds additional suspicion than even there were previously was.

CARLSON: I think that's right, $50,000.00 a month is a lot for someone with no relevant experience.

BOOTHE: A hundred percent.

CARLSON: We can see through that.

BOOTHE: Yes.

CARLSON: Lisa Boothe, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

BOOTHE: Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: While all of this just took a few months, as soon as the Russia hoax came to its end and was buried, Ukraine emerged out of nowhere to replace it. The very same people who ground national politics to a halt for two years, insist that this time, the threat to National Security was imminent and completely real.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF.: What the President did on the call with the President of Ukraine seriously, could undermine our National Security.

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, D-CONN.: There was a clear national security threat involved here.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Putting his own personal and political interests ahead of the National Security of our country.

SEN. CORY BOOKER, D-N.J., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The President of the United States is willing to compromise National Security for his own personal political gain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is about the rule of law. This is about national security. This is about patriotism.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: This is an extremely urgent matter and that our National Security is at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Yes, it's just not believable this time. And even some on the left are conceding that. Recently, Matt Taibbi, who was a man on the left who in fact wrote a whole book attacking the President described Washington's treatment of Trump as a, quote, "permanent coup by the establishment," and said, " ... as much as I don't like Trump, the people going after him are even scarier," which tells you a lot.

Brit Hume is Fox's Senior Political Analyst, and he joins us tonight. Brit, good to see you.

BRIT HUME, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Tucker.

CARLSON: So it does seem significant that someone who has taken the time to write a book attacking Donald Trump would pause and say, you know, my view of him remains unchanged. I don't like the guy. But holy smokes, it is supposed to be a democracy, and it's not functioning as one.

HUME: I think what we have here is a man on the left as you pointed out in the person of Matt Taibi, who has no use for Donald Trump, but he equally has no use for the U.S. Intelligence Community.

CARLSON: That's right. That's exactly right.

HUME: Of whom he has long been deeply distrustful.

CARLSON: Very true.

HUME: So he sees the signs and symptoms of Intelligence Community involvement first in the Russia hoax or the Russia conspiracy that turned out not to be. And I think you see some of the same footprints here and it's understandable why he would.

CARLSON: So I'm temperamentally given to the -- I give him the benefit of the doubt. I grew up around people who worked in that business. I know a lot of good people. But it does -- you can see why decent people would start to get -- start getting a little paranoid when people like John Brennan emerged as political pundits.

HUME: You're exactly right. Because former Intelligence officials have a tendency to be apolitical at least outwardly. Now, obviously they all have their personal sympathies one way or the other.

We have rarely in our time seen former Intelligence officials take sides in political controversies, publicly.

CARLSON: Yes.

HUME: And to the extent to which John Brennan and others including even as good a man as Mike Hayden, doing so is extremely unusual. And I think it speaks of something that reaches back as well into the current crop of Intelligence officials who the President obviously doesn't trust them and I can understand why he would not.

CARLSON: Yes, I think it's reckless. I have to ask you about something that's just breaking now. I'm just throwing this right at you. But apparently the Speaker of the House is delaying a vote on impeachment.

So the White House has made the case if you're going to impeach vote on it, it is the House, and she's not responding and actually saying they're not voting right now. Why do you think it is that she doesn't --

HUME: I don't know. I frankly can't think of a good reason from her point of view why she would hold a vote. First of all, it exposes vulnerable Democrats who represent Trump districts, districts that he carried to a vote that constituents in those districts might not like at all.

CARLSON: Yes.

HUME: This way she gets to get all the fruits of this peculiar investigation that she announced going on and none of the downside.

CARLSON: Right.

HUME: And you know, they're conducting a very unusual investigation. If we look back to the Nixon impeachment, which is the most widely accepted Impeachment Inquiry we've ever had. It was overwhelmingly voted for, but in addition to that, the proceedings were very balanced, very fair. Republicans had their -- Nixon that his lawyers involved in the process in the House. They were allowed to call witnesses, take testimony. But none of that is happening here.

This is all being done behind closed doors. It is being done with the Republicans permitted to attend and ask questions, but not to call witnesses. And what happens, of course, is that the witnesses come, they appear and then select portions of their testimony, which is not being made public, they are leaked, and creating the impression you would expect leak from that side of the aisle to create and it's working like crazy.

I mean, look at what's happened, Tucker. Impeaching as a minority -- we had minority support in this country for the longest time since Ukraine has come along. The support is beginning to build and then some polls it now - - impeachment and removal enjoys majority support, a very effective thing that Pelosi and her colleagues have going in the House.

CARLSON: It be easier to wait for an election.

HUME: You'd think.

CARLSON: Brit Hume, great to see you. Thank you.

HUME: Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, Ronan Farrow's new book, as you know, exposes the many ways NBC News worked to protect Harvey Weinstein. Now one of the channels own anchors is calling out the network for that. We will tell you how after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Excerpts from Ronan Farrow's new book have exposed the lengths to which NBC News went in order to protect their friend, Harvey Weinstein over a long period of time.

The president of NBC News Noah Oppenheim has strongly and vigorously denied those allegations. But of course, he's got to. He is desperately trying to keep his job.

Most people at NBC at least will pretend to believe up Oppenheim's denials, but one won't.

In a segment on his show last night, which airs opposite ours at eight o'clock, Chris Hayes said that his own boss's claims were not credible. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC HOST: Oppenheim and others have also maintained since Farrow's departure two years ago the Weinstein story was never broadcast because it lacks sufficient on the record sourcing, even after NBC supported Farrow's assignment for seven months.

One thing though, is indisputable. Ronan Farrow walked out of NBC News after working on the Weinstein story and within two months, published an incredible article at "The New Yorker" that not only won a Pulitzer, but helped trigger a massive social and cultural reckoning that continues to this day.

It is the kind of journalism that you want to do as a journalist that everyone works in this business shouldn't want to facilitate.

The path of least resistance is always there, beckoning seductively with an entirely plausible cover story, you've got bigger fish to fry. This is the hill to die on. The story isn't ready.

But of course, it's the very ease of that path that makes it the enemy, the kind of work that we as journalists are supposed to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: The enemy of the work we as journalists are supposed to do. That's what Noah Oppenheim is, that's what Andy Lack is. That's what he just said. Wow.

Now, we give MSNBC a lot of grief on the show and they richly deserve it. But we're also honest and we're happy to give them credit when they deserve it, too, and tonight, they do. Chris Hayes deserves credit.

It takes bravery to defy someone who can fire you, and by the way, it's an ominous sign for Noah Oppenheim and Andy Lack. If Chris Hayes is going after you on live TV, you're in trouble.

Well, NBC executives aren't the only ones who protected Harvey Weinstein. Farrow's book also describes how Hillary Clinton intervened on Harvey Weinstein's behalf and not only expressed concerns about Farrow's reporting, trying to push Farrow off the story.

Tammy Bruce hosts "Get Tammy Bruce" on Fox Nation and she joins us tonight. Probably the only person in America who is not surprised, but as even I, cynical as I am, read this and I thought I can't believe that Hillary did this. But I bet you weren't shocked.

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NATION HOST: I was not and I've been speaking with you on occasion and in other media that I do, my radio program that it was Hillary's protection that allowed Harvey Weinstein to operate as widely and as freely as he did.

Ronan Farrow said that he was referred to or at least considered part of Hillary's brain trust. So it's not like they were just acquaintances who would meet at parties.

Yes, he would raise money for her. But they were -- he was very involved in a number of different dynamics and he was seen with her. They were considered, you know, kind of buddies in a certain way.

At one point when the #MeToo movement started, one actress had noted that she had tried to tell Hillary to stop having fundraisers with Harvey Weinstein, because he was a bad, bad man, and that was ignored.

So now you've got Ronan Farrow and we talked about respecting Chris Hayes. Ronan Farrow has a great book with a lot of different details. Of course, these are assertions and allegations and many people are denying what he is asserting.

But the fact is, he didn't need to bring up the fact that Hillary tried to intervene and quash this investigation if you will, but he did so anyway, because it was the right thing to do. But he also said it was a punch in the gut when this happened, and we've heard that quite often, haven't we, Tucker.

Marianne Williamson shocked at how the left turned on her, right?

CARLSON: Exactly.

BRUCE: Martina Navratilova when she came out and said, look, it's not fair for transgendered women to compete in sports against women. She came under fire for that. She wrote a blog post saying she effectively was shocked and has since apologized and is trying to, you know, get back --

CARLSON: Yes, she had to do the ritual apology.

BRUCE: She had to do the ritual. And now of course Ronan Farrow. There's a point where, if you're a dolphin and you're swimming with other animals, and you they kind of resemble you, but they're not -- you don't take a close look, you might want to take a close look, because maybe they're a bunch of sharks. You don't want to be surprised in the end when it really matters.

So none of this is surprising, but it does tell you, he said it is the power protecting power. I would disagree. I would say that it is like defending like; that it is the nature of those in a certain position and it is having each having a button that they can threaten the other one with.

And then whether it's like in Ronan's assertion is that it was Matt Lauer that NBC was threatened by Weinstein. He asserts that he had the goods on Matt Lauer, so you better stop this Ronan Farrow report.

That's the kind of thing when everybody is doing something wrong, and something may be kind of awful, that they can, you know, use that as a bargaining chip.

And let me say, the Clinton administration, that behavior, Hillary being an enabler and a defender, probably set the tone for an entire generation.

CARLSON: Well, I think it did and if she had been elected, we would have never heard of any of this.

BRUCE: So congratulations to both those two young men, and to you --

CARLSON: Yes.

BRUCE: For sticking with stories as well like this. Appreciate it.

CARLSON: Good to see you, Tammy. Thank you.

BRUCE: Thank you.

CARLSON: Well, you're getting the picture by now. There's an awful lot going on at NBC. Someone who knows a lot about what happens at NBC is Megyn Kelly. She worked there. She left about a year ago.

Tomorrow, she is making her first television appearance since she left that network. We expect she'll have a lot to say. We hope you'll watch tomorrow, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, in a divided America, we need more men like Mike Rowe more than ever. He has got a new book coming out and joins us to talk about it. We're proud to have him after the break.

Plus a top airliner has just changed his policies to accommodate people of a new gender. Something called Gender X. We will tell you what's happening, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: We want to bring you an update from our neighbor to the north, Canada. Until this month, crew members on Air Canada made the pernicious assumption that passengers were either male or female. They believed their Biology classes and they address them as ladies and gentlemen, accordingly.

Well, it turns out that was oppressive. So now Air Canada using the term everybody in order to -- an we're quoting, "... ensuring inclusive space for everyone, including those who identify with Gender X," end quote.

So free speech and free religion may be vanishing in Canada, may be ruled by a smug, blackface-wearing hypocrite, but at least it's a country now welcoming of Gender X.

We thought, you'd want to know. Well, if there's any time in American history that we could use more men, like our next guest, it is right now. Mike Rowe is one of our favorite guests on the show. He's got a brand new book out called, The Way I Heard It," and we're happy to have him on tonight.

Mike Rowe, great to see you.

MIKE ROWE, AUTHOR: You flatter me, sir. Thank you.

CARLSON: Well, it's true. It's true, actually. "The Way I Heard It," what does that mean?

ROWE: Well, I've been sitting here for the last 45 minutes and I'm watching your show, and I'm looking at LeBron James and I'm thinking, the way he heard it, China is not so bad. I'm looking at Chris Hayes and the way he heard it, his employer might have swung and missed.

And the way the Canadians just heard, well, it was just not being inclusive enough. And I guess maybe when I started writing this podcast called "The Way I Heard It" three years ago, in my mind, I was thinking, look, the last thing I want to do is make any more trouble or break any more eggs.

I am a guy. I've got some opinions, and for whatever reason, people have invited me to share them. So I just started prefacing everything I said, with look, I am no expert, but the way I heard it, LeBron James kind of screwed the pooch on that one. Okay.

CARLSON: I would say.

ROWE: So it's a bad look.

CARLSON: I do, too. Yes.

ROWE: So I guess, I mean, in general, Paul Harvey inspired me to write a podcast called "The Way I heard It" because he did such a terrific job years ago with the rest of the story. That's what my podcast has been.

So somebody said you should take some of your favorite stories from that podcast and put them in a book, which I did. And then my mother read it and said, Michael, this is a very lazy way to write a book. You should intersperse these true stories of famous people that you've never met with true stories about your own misspent youth that in some way, rhyme with the aforementioned telling.

So I said, mom, you've never steered me wrong. You know, she's got a bestselling book on "New York Times" list, so I said, okay.

CARLSON: I've talked to her.

ROWE: I know, she said -- she ask about you all the time. Okay. Rose says hello. The point is, this book, it goes autobiography-biography, back and forth, back and forth. Part mystery part memoir. It's an accidental memoir, but a good natured look at some fascinating people I've never met but like to pretend I know.

CARLSON: I just think -- I think maybe the most interesting thing about the book is that you wrote it. So here, you got famous -- no, I'm serious. Here, you got famous doing this show about blue collar jobs. Then you do a podcast and you actually write the podcast yourself.

ROWE: Sure.

CARLSON: It's not just you know, adlibbing it, like some of us do. And then you wrote this book. I mean, at what point -- I admire that, let me just say.

ROWE: Thank you.

CARLSON: But did you ever expect that you would turn into a writer?

ROWE: Well, I've been writing all my life, I just never thought I'd publish it. Because honestly, I was just afraid I'd screw up my favorite hobby. So I never -- I never really did anything except write letters and mail them to friends.

And you know, my mother has been writing me letters her whole life, and suddenly all her letters got published. And then I'm thinking, well, maybe, maybe I should do something, too. But honestly, I've never thought of myself as a writer's writer.

I write because it's one of the few things left in my life that truly compresses time, if that makes sense.

CARLSON: Yes, it does.

ROWE: You know, you're sitting on the tarmac at SFO when you're flying to JFK, and you open the laptop, and you start to write a story.

And then you look up and you're landing and where did the time go? You know, so I always wrote because it did that to the space time continuum.

The crazy thing with this podcast, we've done 150 episodes and a year ago, my producer called me and said, Mike, you've got 110 million downloads. Don't stop doing it.

And then of course my hobby turned into a job and now here I sit promoting a book of the same title. But I'm not complaining because the way I heard it, I'm pretty lucky.

CARLSON: We were the only people left in America who -- men and women, liberals and conservatives all alike, Mike Rowe, and I hope it stays that way.

ROWE: Me, too.

CARLSON: You're the universal donor, you're the O-blood type, great to see you tonight.

ROWE: I just want to get along. Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: Thank you for doing this.

ROWE: Sure.

CARLSON: Elizabeth Warren is a storyteller as well. She's an American Indian. She was fired for being pregnant. She was the victim of sexual harassment. Is any of this actually true? She's the victim of every story. We will assess her latest story after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Elizabeth Warren is clearly a creative person. Instead of paying bribes to ascend, she simply makes up stories.

Our latest edition of tall tales with Elizabeth Warren tonight. To get a job at Harvard Law, of course, you know, she claimed to be a person of color, an American Indian. She said she was fired from a teaching job for getting pregnant when the evidence shows that's completely untrue.

And now, a "Washington Post" story this morning describes how Warren once eulogized a dead colleague by telling his grieving children that the man had sexually harassed her by literally chasing her around in circles in this office.

One problem with that story, the man she accused of chasing her was a polio victim. He couldn't chase anybody. Howie Carr is a radio host, author of the book "What Really Happened." He joins us tonight. Probably not surprised, Howie by this latest story, I would think.

HOWIE CARR, RADIO SHOW HOST: This seems to be a recurring theme, doesn't it, Tucker? This guy's name was Eugene Smith and he is not only a polio victim. For a while in the early 50s, he was in an iron lung. He never fully regained the use of his limbs. He hobbled around on a walker. He smoked Lucky Strikes. He was wheezing.

He was a Law Professor when she became at the University of Houston, when she first became a Law Professor, a baby Law Professor, as she liked to put it, you know, in her folksy down home manner.

And so when he died in 1997, she went to the wake or the memorial service and eulogized him and talked about this funny incident once when he chased around -- chased her around the desk.

He liked her, he found her attractive. So 20 years pass. She is a senator and the #MeToo Movement starts. Harvey Weinstein, "Meet the Press" says to these female senators, Democrats, do you have a #MeToo story? If you have a #MeToo story, you can come on "Meet the Press."

So suddenly the tall tale evolves from this avuncular Professor Eugene Smith, Mr. Chips. He becomes a Harvey Weinstein predator at "Meet the Press" and she says he was chasing around. And he lunged for her and she balled up her fist and was getting ready to punch him. She finally escaped after several times around the desk.

She ran out of the office, came back to her office. She was shaking, and she wore brown afterwards.

CARLSON: Buckskin I assume.

CARR: So again, it's the same -- it's just another story just like, you know, and then her defense is always, well, you know, maybe the story changed a little bit, but she's evolved and you know what? Women have been chased around the desk just like some women were fired for being pregnant.

Maybe I wasn't fired for being pregnant, but you tell your story to those terrible people who say I'm lying or you know --

CARLSON: Right. I am not an American Indian, but there was a trail of tears.

CARR: Some people -- right, why can't I be an American Indian, too? I have high cheekbones. Right? This is -- this is the way she is operating.

I don't know who she is convincing with these stories. I assume we haven't heard the last one either.

CARLSON: I kind of think it's our fault, though. It's America's fault. When you reward people for victimhood, they pretend to be victims. Why wouldn't they? Right? I mean, she is responding to incentives that were in front of her, correct?

CARR: All of her stories, she is a victim. The other front runner he tells his tall tales, Joe Biden, but he is always a Walter Mitty-esque superhero. That's the two different wings of the Democratic Party, that's the way of the super, super star way.

CARLSON: It's so deep, actually what you just said. I hope you'll come back and unpack that a little bit. It's really smart. Howie Carr, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

CARR: Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, that's it for us tonight. We're out of time. It's amazing how fast it went, there's a metaphor for you. Tune in every night, 8:00 p.m., including tomorrow night where we will remain as always the sworn enemy of lying pomposity, smugness and group think. Good night from Washington, still the nation's capital.

Content and Programming Copyright 2019 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2019 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.