Tucker: Biden didn't address this

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Tucker: Biden didn't address this

Fox News host reacts to Biden's State of the Union address on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

This is a rush transcript of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on March 2, 2022. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Good evening and welcome to TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.

Joe Biden delivered this country's first ever State of Ukraine address last night. Biden spoke for a little more than an hour before a joint session of Congress. He talked far more about Ukraine with much greater passion than about any other topic.

If that sounds strange for an American President in a speech that's supposed to be about America, it didn't seem weird at all within the context of last night. Biden delivered exactly the speech his audience wanted to hear. Virtually every lawmaker in the room last night from both parties arrived wearing some version of Ukrainian flag.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy came with both a Ukrainian-themed pocket square and a Ukrainian flag lapel pin. That's about as Ukrainian as you can get. Even the President of Ukraine doesn't do that very often.

What McCarthy conspicuously didn't do was don an American flag pin. No, not at all. And many others went without that, too, because within the context of last night, the American flag was literally irrelevant. Lots of our leaders feel that way all of a sudden.

At this stage, the full force of America's Federal government -- the White House, the Congress, the many Intelligence and Defense and law enforcement agencies -- all of it has been redirected to avenge the invasion of Ukraine. Notice the verb, "avenge" not defend.

Now, ideally, you'd like to think there'd be some way to defend Ukraine from Russian aggression that might be worth doing. But at this point, there isn't. It's too late.

Joe Biden's deterrence strategy failed, Putin already invaded the country. Short of destroying Ukraine, there is no way to liberate Ukraine by force. All we can do is punish the Russians for what they've already done, and that, Joe Biden told us last night is exactly what he plans to do. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The ruble has already lost 30 percent of its value. The Russian stock market has lost 40 percent of its value and trading remains suspended.

The Russian economy is reeling, and Putin alone is the one to blame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So the Russian economy is being destroyed. It is destroyed. Imagine living in a country where the currency drops 30 points in a single day. What would that feel like?

Well, 143 million Russians now know. They're much poorer than they were two days ago. Only a relative handful of those Russians had any role in the invasion of Ukraine. Many of them opposed it. But all of them are being hurt as their economy comes apart. And that's fine, because they all deserve it.

Michael McFaul, Barack Obama's former Ambassador to Moscow, who now teaches at Stanford University, announced today that every single person in Russia, every single one bears the guilt of Ukraine invasion, quote, "There are no more innocent neutral Russians anymore. Everyone has to make a choice, support or oppose this war."

So to restate and be clear, there's no such thing as an innocent Russian. One of our foremost Russia scholars has told us so. Putin may have given the orders to invade Ukraine, but six-year-old girls in St. Petersburg should pay the price for it because they deserve it. Their 80-year-old grandmothers deserve it, too.

In order to fight tyranny, the United States must embrace collective punishment: Hurt the children to bring justice. These are our values, because Vladimir Putin is a moral monster.

Now, these are not traditional Western concepts of justice, but Joe Biden wholeheartedly endorses that and so does a dominant bipartisan coalition in the United States Congress. The question is, is this a wise course? Now, we can't say, far be it for us to suggest thinking through world changing policies in any way before enacting them, pausing to reflect we have learned is disloyal, adult moral calculations are treason, thinking about your own country is a crime.

Act now or be denounced. So we're going to withhold judgment on all of this.

But we did notice one question that Joe Biden failed to answer last night or even address and that is: What's the point of all of this? Putin is bad. No one in America is going to argue with that, but will destroying the entire Russian economy make Putin less bad? Will it force Russian troops to withdraw from Ukraine? And if it will, how exactly will that work? And how long will it take?

Or is the plan bigger than that? Is the idea that we can force Vladimir Putin from office entirely? Okay, will that work? And if it does work, what happens to Russia after Vladimir Putin leaves? Would the next Russian President be an improvement over Putin? Or would Russia descend into barbarous chaos like Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan did once we overthrew their governments?

Now, you may not care what happens to Russia, but you have to wonder: What would become of Russia's enormous nuclear stockpile under those circumstances? Take a moment and think. Are there potentially ways that thousands of unsecured Russian nukes might pose a long-term threat to the United States? Something to think about; not that anyone is.

The immediate goal, again, the bipartisan goal is to turn Russia into a pariah state. Now, again, the question isn't whether Vladimir Putin deserves that, it is more than a moral question. The question is, how will that work out for us, and for the world? American citizens have a right to ask that question.

Start with history. How has that worked with Iran and North Korea? Now that those countries are cut off from the fraternity of civilized nations, are they more or less predictable? Are they more or less dangerous to the United States? Could it be possible that some of these steps in the end turn out to be counterproductive to our interests? That's something to consider.

Keep in mind, the people, the very people proposing all of this are the very same people who defunded our police departments and destroyed our schools and tore down the Teddy Roosevelt statue in New York City. They are the ones who armed the Taliban. They are the ones who devalued the U.S. dollar. They're the ones who brought human slavery back to Libya. They're very good at wrecking things. It's what they do.

They planned the Iraq War, and they never apologized for it. So we might want to make sure they don't wreck anything else ever again, especially this country.

But once again, Joe Biden didn't address any of that last night, he was to deepen his World War Two fantasies with himself playing FDR. For all of his moral outrage against Russia, well-deserved it may be, Biden made no mention of China's role in the invasion of Ukraine, and that's weird.

More than any other country on Earth, China made this invasion possible. China is Russia's most important ally in this war against Ukraine. So you've got to ask yourself, as long as everyone is culpable who was involved, why aren't we tanking China's currency? Why aren't we banning Chinese planes from American airspace? Why aren't we confiscating the yachts of Chinese oligarchs? Biden never told us, maybe someone will ask him.

But with that, Biden was off to other topics, but not the topics you would expect. Biden never mentioned the word "equity," a single time last night. We checked the transcript. That's very strange. Equity was supposed to be the central focus of his entire administration. That was just 13 months ago, he told us that, and we still have the tape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We need to open the promise of America to every American, and that means we need to make the issue of racial equity, not just an issue for any one department of government, it has to be the business of the whole of government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Well, that is a very abrupt change. And again, it is worth marking these changes because no one seems to notice them. In the space of one year, equity went from quote, "The business of the whole government" to something the President doesn't even mention in the State of the Union address. What's that about? Was equity, not quite as popular as they expected?

And there were a number of moments like that in last night's speech, moments that left you scratching your head. At one point Joe Biden said we need to fund police departments, the ones that his party defunded. And then, in case you hadn't had enough beers by that point, Joe Biden said we must secure the border.

Now, why is Joe Biden saying this? Far be it for us to suggest, there were terrifying internal polls suggesting he has to say those things, but we are starting to conclude that because just a few minutes after Joe Biden said we need to secure the border, he announced amnesty for millions of foreign nationals who snuck into our country. We also have that tape. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Provide a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers, those with temporary status, farmworkers, essential workers, to revise our laws so businesses would have workers they need, so families don't wait decades to reunite. It's not only the right thing to do, it's the economically smart thing to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: That's the economically smart thing to do. Give your job to a foreigner, and if you don't, you're immoral.

So that category just to restate is DREAMers, those with temporary status, farmworkers and something called essential workers. Who do you think who has come across the border illegally, the millions, in the last 13 months would be denied the classification essential workers? Well, of course they are all essential, every single one of them.

So moments after telling us he's going to secure the border, Joe Biden just announced that everyone who has already snuck across the border gets to become a U.S. citizen and needless to say, a Democratic voter, like immediately, because it's the right thing to do.

That was the portion of the speech where he talked about our country.

So the first part was about how borders are sacrosanct, and we should go to war to protect other people's borders; and the second part was, everyone who has already snuck in gets to become an American citizen.

Does that apply to Russian soldiers in Ukraine? What are the principles here exactly?

Then Biden went on to mention someone called Ketanji Brown Jackson. Now, that's not a name most Americans know because Ketanji Brown Jackson has been an Appellate Judge for less than a year, but Joe Biden assured us she is quote, "One of our top legal minds." Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We all know one of the most serious constitutional responsibility a President has is nominating someone to serve on the United States Supreme Court. As I did four days ago, I've nominated from the Circuit Court of Appeals Ketanji Brown Jackson, one of our nation's top legal minds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So is Ketanji Brown Jackson -- a name that even Joe Biden has trouble pronouncing -- one of the top legal minds in the entire country? We certainly hope so. Biden is right, appointing her is one of his gravest constitutional duties. So, it might be time for Joe Biden to let us know what Ketanji Brown Jackson's LSAT score was. Well, how did she do in the LSAT? Why wouldn't you tell us that? That would settle the question conclusively as to whether she is a once in a generation legal talent, the next learned hand?

It would seem like Americans in a democracy have a right to know that and much more before giving her a lifetime appointment, but we didn't hear that. And that was just one of many things that Joe Biden left unsaid last night. He alluded, for example, to rising crime, but not his role in it. He claimed instead that it is gun companies, not prosecutors funded by George Soros, not the celebrity funds that bail out murderers that have made this country more dangerous. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines that hold a hundred rounds. You think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests? Look, repeal the liability shield that makes gun manufacturers the only industry in America that can't be sued. The only one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Now, far be it for us to fact-check Joe Biden. Like questioning his foreign policy. That's Russian disinformation is disloyal. It may be punishable under our treason laws, but we should point out that what he said was, what's the word? A lie.

Gun manufacturers, of course, can be sued. It happens all the time.

But now that Joe Biden mentioned it, there is in fact an industry in America that has total legal immunity from lawsuits. That immunity was granted that industry by Congress. In fact, here you have a President who single-handedly turned that industry's corporate executives into billionaire oligarchs by forcing Americans to use their products. They had to.

But here's the best part. If the Americans who were forced to use those products were killed or injured by those products, as many thousands have been over the last year, they have no legal recourse. They can't sue the industry. They can't even complain about it on television or mention it on social media. And neither can actual experts, physicians and nurses, for example, they've been silenced.

You know this perfectly well, Biden knew this. He was flacking for these companies the minute he got to the podium, just like he flacked for the credit card companies in Delaware, many people he was speaking to last night in the room are invested in that industry, but he never said a word about it. That's odd.

Jason Whitlock is the host of "Fearless." He watched last night's speech. He thought it was a little weird, too, and we're happy to have him on tonight to assess. Jason, thanks so much for joining us. What do you think?

JASON WHITLOCK, HOST, "FEARLESS WITH JASON WHITLOCK": It was infuriating last night and I liked your monologue, and the way you framed it up. I think there were two different State of the Union addresses. The first one was the state of the New World Order and he was talking about bringing unity to all the people around the globe and the countries around the globe and NATO and all that and what we could do if we were unified.

And then I thought after he got done addressing Ukraine and all of that, then he pivoted to: Well, let me get to some of President Trump's talking points and adopt them as my own. Now, he wants to bring manufacturing jobs back. Now he wants to make it here in America. Now he wants to fund the police. Now he wants to secure the border.

This -- the second part of that speech, and this all was a clever sleight of hand. This guy is a globalist. He is worried about global issues. That's why he left China out of this. Because if he really wants to talk about the biggest threat to America, and what is really influencing American culture and undermining American values and taking our country in the wrong direction, it is China, but he avoided that and wants to be seen as this great unifier of the globe.

You can't be a great unifier of the rest of the world if you're not legitimately promoting unity here at home among Americans.

The Ukraine and what's going on there would have been a great jumping off point to explain to Americans why we legitimately need to unify. If America is not a light unto the world, if we don't have our act together, the rest of the world is going to fall into chaos.

We look weak, we look dis-unified. And so therefore, I think Putin feels emboldened and we are going to see China perhaps feeling emboldened and make a move on Taiwan.

Joe Biden, that speech was infuriating. It was inauthentic. It was -- the second half of it was all about polls that are telling them, they're going to get trashed in the midterm elections. And so, Joe Biden pivots in the second half of that, with a choreographed -- the most infuriating thing to me, was the choreographed moment when the Democrats started chanting "U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A."

I'm like: These are the people that have been denigrating this country for the last five years. We're systemically racist. We're irredeemably racist. Transgender people have no shot. No one does. We must rewrite the Constitution. Our Founding Fathers are all garbage. Now, it's "U.S.A., U.S.A.," because they're getting killed in the polling and they think they're going to lose the midterm elections. Just inauthentic and just -- it was infuriating.

I was -- first time I've ever watched the State of Union. I haven't watched a bunch. But that's the first time I was like: This lying piece of President.

CARLSON: The good news is, I do think voters know who dislikes them, they can smell it, and then voters are allowed to decide, I'm skeptical, but if they are, in the midterms, you know, they will be punished.

Jason Whitlock, thank you so much, as always.

WHITLOCK: Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: So as you just heard Jason now, a lot of last night speech, the second half the part about this country consisted of a lot of policies that sounded pretty familiar. If you watched the last President speak. Here is a sample.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Make more cars and semiconductors in America, more infrastructure and innovation in America, more goods moving faster and cheaper in America, more jobs where you can earn a good living in America. Instead of relying on foreign supply chains, let's make it in America.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

BIDEN: We can end the shutdown of schools and businesses. We have the tools we need. It's time for America to get back to work.

We need to secure our border and fix the immigration system.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

BIDEN: We should all agree, the answer is not to defund the police, it is to fund the police.

Fund them. Fund them.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: We were never for defunding the police. That's a lie. It's Russian disinformation.

Dana Perino is a very nice person, a very smart person. She actually worked in politics. She watched this carefully last, and she is of course, cohost of "America's Newsroom and "The Five." And our friend, Dana, great to see you tonight. What did you think?

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Great to see you, too.

Well, you've often said that I'm a very nice person and I appreciate that. And I do always try to go into these speeches with an open mind and to try to look for something where I could say: That was a good line. That was really smart. I really liked how they pulled that together.

But last night, I watched in such complete and total frustration. You're a man, Tucker, who is really a genius at the written word and as somebody who probably has the William Safire book on a shelf, "Lend Me Your Ears," of all the great speeches, this was just not up to par, okay, this is something that you might have seen a college student on the speech team be able to put together.

A lot of things also was that there were -- as you were just pointing out, poll tested outcomes that poll very well like, Made in America, cure cancer, fix the border, refund the police -- but there was nothing under them. And also there was just no way to put it all together.

There was no rhetorical lift or rhetorical grace. There was no like-- there were a couple of moments. I think that the nod to Stephen Breyer, the retiring Supreme Court Justice and his nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. That's a nice moment.

That young kid who suffers from the diabetes and needs his insulin -- loved that. But again, even there was a miss moment for humanity. Right? The President says and it was his birthday yesterday. Well then clue, sing happy birthday. That's what we do, like have a human moment.

So I have to say I was very frustrated, and then, I was kind of surprised myself because I was so kind of mad about it. So let me sleep on it and see how I feel when I wake up. And I when I woke up, I felt the same way.

CARLSON: I just got it -- super quick, but to cure cancer. I mean, if you try and fly from Denver to Philadelphia right now, the chances are you're going to be delayed because the infrastructure is just kind of caving in on itself, but they're going to cure cancer in their spare time?

PERINO: Well, it is like -- it's a wonderful goal, right? But one of the things that he talked about earlier in the speech was having Medicare negotiate all of your drug prices for you, which if you want actually great innovative drugs to fight cancer, you don't want to hamstring the companies that would do that.

So I think that he is sandwiched, right? His base is depressed. The Independents are unimpressed. So he is just squeezed, and midterms are based elections and he is sitting at 37 percent.

CARLSON: Yes, well, I guess that's the good news. Dana Perino, it is great to see you. Great to see you. Thank you for that.

PERINO: Great to see you, too. Thanks. Bye-bye.

CARLSON: So Russian forces captured a significant Ukrainian city today. It's the first that has fallen since fighting began last week. Meanwhile, the massive Russian convoy outside Kyiv remains stalled for days now. We will have live updates from that country next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: We've got a FOX News Alert for you. We just have word of new explosions in Kyiv, Ukraine. We are showing you a new video into FOX and one of those explosions. FOX's Lucas Tomlinson is live in that country right now where it is well after 2:20 in the morning.

Lucas, can you hear me?

LUCAS TOMLINSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I sure can, Tucker.

Just moments ago, U.S. officials told me there are several Russian warships underway from Crimea carrying Russian Marines heading in the direction of Odessa, Ukraine's third largest city and they are preparing for an amphibious assault, Thursday, Tucker.

Now earlier, explosions rocked Ukraine's capital city.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

TOMLINSON: Russia has fired over 450 missiles into Ukraine. It is not always clear if they are hitting their intended targets.

This is Kharkiv's National University and Regional Police Department on fire in Ukraine's second largest city roughly the size of Dallas. The Ukrainian government says 2,000 civilians have been killed since the start of the war last week.

This airbase near Kharkiv, another dramatic video of what the Russians have unleashed on this country. The situation on the ground looking more like Grozny and Syria, not the improved and modernized Russian military that Moscow is boasting about pre-invasion.

And British Intelligence say five Ukrainian cities are now surrounded. The Russian Defense Ministry for the first time put out casualty figures today, Tucker, said 498 Russian soldiers have been killed and 1,500 wounded -- Tucker.

CARLSON: Lucas Tomlinson, thanks so much for your straight reporting. Appreciate it.

So all of a sudden, people who are in positions of actual authority who should be responsible are pushing to go to war with Russia.

Adam Kinzinger has called for war with Russia, of course, saying U.S. planes should shoot down Russian jets. The President of Ukraine is now demanding that the United States fight Russia on behalf of Ukraine so "The New York Times" published an op-ed from another Ukrainian official making the same demand.

So, is this wise? What would happen if we did that?

Tulsi Gabbard is one of the only prominent people in American life who has thought that through. She had been a soldier and a legislator.

We spoke to her for a brand new episode of "Tucker Carlson Today" and she explained where this could go. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TULSI GABBARD, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: It striking that balance between making sure that we have a strong national defense, that our men and women in uniform are trained, they are ready, and that they have what they need in order to be able to serve our country, when and where needed.

Combine that and balance that with the need for our political leaders to see the world as it is through a realistic lens, not some fantasy world that we wished existed or some fantasy conditions that we hope might be in place, but see the world with a realistic view and have the strength to be able to make those decisions based on, is this mission in the best interest of our country's security and the American people.

And if it is not, have the strength to exercise restraint, to make sure that we are recognizing both the short term and long term consequences of that decision, whichever way it may be, serves the interests of our people. It's as simple as that.

It's not an -- this is the thing, as soon as you know, oh, you know, Tulsi Gabbard is against regime change war. She must be an isolationist. She wants to kind of have America turn our back to the world. This is a tactic of those who are neocons and neolibs who try to mischaracterize this balanced approach to exercising a strong National Defense while also exercising restraint, which is what a responsible leader should do.

CARLSON: It's just -- it's so shocking to me that you almost never hear anyone articulate it as clearly as you just did, since that should be in the tips of every leaders tongue right there, which is exactly what you just said, and that two, it's considered so controversial.

Is it that you're saying that out loud points up their failure? Is that what it is? Because clearly they didn't do what you just said.

GABBARD: It exposes -- it exposes where their loyalties really lie to get to the heart of it.

CARLSON: Yes.

GABBARD: Where they are making decisions that will turn out to be big paydays for the military industrial complex, these big defense contractors who are making a ton of money already off of this new cold war we are in.

It exposes the fact that their loyalty is not the thing that it should be at the foremost of their mind in their decision making is not what is in the best interest of the American people. It's not what's in the best interest of our national security, and we know this is not just me saying this, we can look time and time and time again, throughout history, these decisions have been made that have actually undermined our national security.

CARLSON: Yes.

GABBARD: Made us less safe, cost us great costs, both in lives as well as in taxpayer dollars.

Obviously, what Putin is doing is absolutely terrible. This war is a tragedy. His attack and invasion into Ukraine should not have happened and it needs to stop.

When we look at the responsibility that leaders -- President Biden, leaders of NATO, Putin, Zelensky, the leaders of the world have is to think about what is in the best interest of the people, to find a way to sit down and negotiate an end to this war, rather than making their decisions based on their geopolitical chest thumping because it is the people who are really the pawns who are suffering as a result of their so-called power plays.

This is what needs to happen and it needs to happen now because as many people as have been killed already, as many people who are suffering already, as much destruction as there has already been, this is still very small in comparison to the destruction and death and suffering that we will continue to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: When she served in Congress as a Democrat, by the way, Tulsi Gabbard was frequently denounced as a radical. She wasn't radical in the clip you just heard. Go ahead and watch the full hour on FOX Nation when you will hear not radicalism, but its opposite -- wise, calm decision making with America's interest at the heart of it. You'd expect that from everyone, you're getting it for virtually no one, but Tulsi Gabbard.

Well, Joe Biden announced he has a plan to fight rising gas prices, he wants to tap into the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserves. Will that work? And for how long? Is that really an answer? This is all about energy. Is this actually a plan to increase the value of renewable energy?

Then the cost of fertilizer is about to go way up, which means the cost of food is about to go way up. No one has told you details on that, we're going to. Straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: During his State of the Union address last night, Joe Biden made an announcement about the world's Strategic Petroleum Reserves and how they may affect gas prices.

FOX's Matt Finn is following that story for us tonight. Hey, Matt.

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tucker.

Well, here in Los Angeles at the nearest gas station right outside of this studio, a gallon of regular gas right now is $5.49. Across the country, Americans are seeing some of the highest gas prices in history.

President Biden is facing bipartisan pressure to end Russian oil imports and to rely more on domestic sources. During his State of the Union Address last night, the President made this announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I'm taking robust action to make sure the pain of our sanctions is targeted at Russian economy, and that we use every tool at our disposal to protect American businesses and consumers.

Tonight, I can announce the United States has worked with 30 other countries to release 60 million barrels of oil from reserves around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINN: Here in the U.S., the President will release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, 30 million barrels with cover less than two days of national demand.

The Energy Information Administration reports the U.S. consumed an average of 18 million barrels of oil per day in 2020. Oil industry experts say it's unclear how this emergency release will impact fuel prices.

The reserve where this oil is coming from is along the Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast. It was holding more than 582 million barrels of crude oil in mid-February according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration -- Tucker.

CARLSON: Matt Finn, thanks so much for that. Thank you.

Well, you're the man that can say, we're going to punish the Russian economy, but it's not going to affect our economy. But wait a second, aren't all global economies linked because of policies that you and your party have supported for decades? That's what you're called globalists.

So how is shutting down one economy not going to affect every other economy? And of course, it will. Wait to hear what's about to happen to fertilizer, which is the basis of food.

It turns out Russia doesn't simply supply energy to the entire world, it is a major supplier of every crop nutrient farmers need. That means thanks to American and European sanctions, your grocery bill is about to get much, much bigger.

Ben Riensche is an expert on the subject. He owns and runs the Blue Diamond Farming Company in Iowa. He farms more than 16,000 acres in the state. So again, he would know. Ben Riensche joins us tonight. Ben, thanks so much for coming on.

It is embarrassing how little most people know about fertilizer, where it comes from, what it means. But tell us the implications of these sanctions.

BEN RIENSCHE, OWNER, BLUE DIAMOND FARMING COMPANY: Soaring fertilizer prices are likely to bring spiked food prices. If you're upset that gas is up a dollar or two a gallon, wait until your grocery bill is up $1,000.00 a month, and it might not just manifest itself in terms of price. It could be quantity as well. Empty Shelf syndrome may be starting.

CARLSON: I'm sorry. I just want to make sure I heard you correctly, up a thousand dollars a month? I mean that --

RIENSCHE: Sure. The price of growing my crops or the major crops of corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, cotton, are up 30 to 40 percent. They are on my farm and most of that is fertilizer. Nitrogen prices are up three times from the last crop we put in, phosphorus and potassium are doubled.

The planting season in the northern hemisphere is just weeks away. There is no miracle technology that can cut that in half or a third. It's a pretty fixed formula. For me to grow an acre of corn on my farm, I need 200 pounds of nitrogen, 200 pounds of phosphorus, and 100 pounds of potash. We just -- it's going to be hard how this plays out. Will farmers switch to other crops that produce less? We're certainly not going to literally pour on the groceries to grow this crop.

CARLSON: I mean, it's only. I mean, this isn't -- are you saying this is an essential product for people?

RIENSCHE: Well, it pretty much is, and there are some pretty likely culprits on this. As you detailed, you know, the number one thing is natural gas. It's the key stock of most fertilizer inputs, especially ammonium fertilizer inputs. But then we've got supply chain woes that came from the pandemic, a few hurricanes that knocked down some supply sources, but what's really affecting us are things that could have been prevented. The ESG things. This could kind of be described as the food crisis of the Green New Deal.

To elaborate, policies that have made us more dependent on foreign energy, energy plants that have been decommissioned from other power sources and transitioned to natural gas, and thus competing against the fertilizer input stocks, Wall Street taking an activist investor role with strategic plant closures.

But the kingpin in this, the worst part for a farmer is this action that has been taken by the International Trade Commission, the tariffs that they put in place creating monopolies that we can't buy from friendly parties that have a third of the supplies.

CARLSON: It's so crazy. I can't think of a segment that's bothered me more than what you just said. Ben Riensche, I hope you'll come back.

RIENSCHE: I sure would like to.

CARLSON: At greater length, I hope that you will. Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

RIENSCHE: You're welcome.

CARLSON: A man who farm 16,000 acres knows what he is talking about.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the F.C.C. is about to vote on one of Joe Biden's nominees to oversee media who is a full blown lunatic who would like to censor this channel. Censorship. Okay.

Plus, the most bizarre moment, some of them hilarious of last night's State of the Union, we haven't showed you this yet, it is worth staying for.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Joe Biden has nominated a radical called Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission. A radical is one of those terms thrown around like a slur. It's essentially meaningless most of the time. So what do we mean when we call Gigi Sohn radical? Well, she is for government censorship of media. That's unconstitutional, and it is legitimately radical. So she may be a nice person? Can't be in the F.C.C. Will she be is the question.

Charlie Gasparino is a senior correspondent with FOX Business, one of the most connected people in the media business. He's got some reporting on this.

CHARLIE GASPARINO, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I think we've got to get something straight, Tucker. She is for censorship on us. Not CNN, not MSNBC. You hold her accountable.

CARLSON: Thank you for putting a finer point on that.

GASPARINO: She doesn't like us a lot.

CARLSON: Right.

GASPARINO: You know, here's the thing, Tucker. You know, I find her interesting and fascinating and spirited. She's smart. The real question is, is she qualified in a sort of objective sense for a job where you have to be a regulator, and that's on the F.C.C.? And I think if you start adding up all the things he says about, you know, all of the sort of positions she has taken very, very vehemently about, you know, how FOX is the worst thing since, you know, sliced bread or since Putin. You know, she is really -- I was going to say, wonder bread because no one eats wonder bread anymore.

But you know you've got to look at her positions, how radical she is on issues like net neutrality, which essentially will turn the cable industry into a utility, go down the line, she is far to the left. And here's the one thing that's really funny about her. I've never met or heard of, and I've covered this a long time, an F.C.C. Commissioner that was opposed by the Fraternal Order of Police. They oppose her.

Now, why do they oppose her? Well, it's not because of net neutrality, because during our wonderful summer of love in 2020, all of those largely peaceful protests where cops were being targeted and buildings were burning down, but no one cared. She would retweet and like tweets from AOC and these far lefties that were saying we should defund the police, how bad the police were.

So the Fraternal Order of Police want to block this. Now my guess of what is going to happen tomorrow is that the Republicans on the Commerce Committee wimp out. Now what do I mean by wimp out? There was some talk today that they would follow the lead of Pat Toomey in the Banking Committee, and not vote -- boycott a vote tomorrow.

So the Dems and the Committee can't get a quorum and can't push it to the floor. Boycott the vote, like Toomey did with Sarah Raskin and some of the lefties that Biden wants to put on the Federal Reserve.

From what I'm hearing now, Ted Cruz, the other members, Ranking Members of the Commerce Committee, they plan to vote on her tomorrow. As of now, I don't know why they're turning around and doing this because if they really believe, like I said, I'll debate Gigi Sohn all day. It's fun, it's great.

But if they really believe she is a threat to democracy, why the hell are they voting on her tomorrow?

CARLSON: Exactly right.

GASPARINO: I don't know -- they're not returning my calls on this, Tucker.

CARLSON: I hope you'll come back and tell us what happens and name the people who made this possible.

GASPARINO: I will.

CARLSON: As always, Charlie Gasparino, great to see you. Thank you.

GASPARINO: You, too, Tucker.

CARLSON: So Joe Biden, who is the President, apparently of this country attempted to deliver a stirring message to the people of Ukraine last night, unfortunately confused the people of Ukraine with the people of Iran. They are different. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Kyiv with tanks, but will never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Yes, he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people. We can show you a bunch of clips like that, but the truth is, Biden was not the only politician who was acting a little strange last night.

Here is Chuck Schumer, for example, badly messing up the timing on an applause line. Of course, clapping mindlessly is a time honored tradition of State of the Union addresses. Everyone is a seal for a night. But Chuck Schumer did it a little too mindlessly even for a senator. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: Unlike the $2 trillion tax cut passed in the previous administration that benefitted the top one percent of Americans, the American Rescue Plan --

[BOOING]

BIDEN: The American Rescue Plan helped working people and left no one behind.

[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Okay, that was pretty fake. But Kirsten Gillibrand is fake to the bone. There's nothing authentic about Kirsten Gillibrand, especially her enthusiasm. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY): Mr. President, you knocked it out of the park. I was screaming, "Go Joe" the whole time. I was like, inappropriate in every way.

BIDEN: No, you weren't.

GILLIBRAND: I kept standing up and saying, "Go Joe. Go Joe." I was jumping the whole time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Yes, she'd put you in prison and she'd applaud as you went. But maybe the weirdest moment of all came when Joe Biden discussed American soldiers injured by breathing toxic smoke from burn pits. Sad story. Watch Nancy Pelosi react.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: And our troops in Iraq have faced in Afghanistan, faced many dangers. One being stationed to a base that's breathing in toxic smoke from burn pits. Many of you have been there. I've been in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan over 40 times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Oh, he is talking about burn pits in a dark place. When you talk about hell, she gets excited. Just a guess.

Will Cain is cohost of "FOX and Friends" Weekend. We're always happy to have him. Will Cain, good to see you tonight. What was this about, do you think?

WILL CAIN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL COHOST, "FOX & FRIENDS" WEEKEND: I'm sorry. Come on. I'm going to answer what that's about. That is the creepiest thing that you can possibly imagine. Burn pits? Yes. You know, she is doing the same -- you know, she's doing the same thing Schumer is doing: Oh, this is a good time. Is it the time? I can't remember if this says applause in the script. I think it's the time. I'm going to jump up.

And then maybe right when she jumps up to, you know, she hears burn pits, and what do I do at this point? I clench my fist and rub them together in a creepy mannequin-esque way. I don't know. I have no idea, and I think I'm being charitable right there, Tucker. I think that's a terrible interpretation.

CARLSON: I am not trying to be -- but it doesn't matter how much plastic surgery you have if you're too old to think clearly and I'm not attacking old people as a category. But like, why are you running our country? Like this all seems so crazy to me.

CAIN: Yes, I mean, that's almost an impossible takeaway to avoid. And I feel the same way.

Look, I love old people. But does everybody that runs our country have to be an octogenarian? Does everybody who makes the most important decisions in the free world have to be so weird?

By the way, set aside age for one moment. How about just be a normal person? Why did Joe Biden head butt -- why did he head butt a Member of Congress when he walked down the aisle to begin the State of the Union? In one moment, we see him wearing an N95 across a finely manicured lawn, the very next day, he is having a party at a virtual retirement home where nobody is wearing a mask, and he's giving head butts as a form of greeting?

Everybody is just so weird, Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, maybe that's why everyone is so reckless. It's like, this is all so crazy. Let's just roll the dice. I mean, you know, I'm not Freud.

Will Cain, great to see you. Thank you.

CAIN: Hey, you know how to end this segment. Right? Go get them. That's apparently also what you say.

CARLSON: Go get them.

CAIN: Go get them.

CARLSON: That is so bizarre. Great to see you. Thank you, Will.

CAIN: Thank you. Thank you.

CARLSON: Well, as our correspondent Lucas Tomlinson reported earlier this hour several Russian warships apparently have left Crimea heading to Odessa. FOX is hearing an amphibious assault on Ukraine's third largest city could come apparently, everything is apparently as soon as tomorrow.

A lot going on, we will be right back.

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CARLSON: That's it for us tonight. We've got a brand new episode, as we told you on "Tucker Carlson Today," An interview with Tulsi Gabbard, particularly significant at a moment like this and very much worth listening to.

We'll be back 8:00 PM every week night, proud to be here, grateful you watch.

Sean Hannity takes over now.


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