Tucker: Experts lied about coronavirus from the beginning
'Tucker Carlson Tonight' host calls out officials after they finally admit COVID-19 poses little threat to children
This is a rush transcript from “Tucker Carlson Tonight" November 30, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Good evening and welcome to TUCKER CARLSON
TONIGHT.
I hope you had a great and relaxing Thanksgiving weekend, away from the
endless drone of news. If you somehow managed to pull that off, a few days
of peace and happiness with the ones you love, you found it was like a spa
treatment. You're obviously better off for it.
But you also may be wondering what happened? What did you miss over the
weekend? And we're here to tell you.
For starters, Joe Biden broke his foot in a couple of places. It sounds
serious, but don't worry about it. Biden was just out playing with his dog
as healthy, vibrant adults in full command of their faculties are not at
all fragile and fading often do. It could have happened to anyone.
Seriously, it's totally normal.
CNN, in fact wrote a piece congratulating Biden for it. Biden's injuries
are far better than Donald Trump's. So don't ask questions. You've got
bigger stories to worry about in the news landscape.
For example, did you hear that Joe Biden picked women to lead the White
House Communications Office? That was a historic moment. Nothing like that
has happened in this country since the presidency of Donald Trump. Another
triumph for the forces of identity. Systemic sexism finally in retreat.
Nothing can stop Joe Biden from smashing the glass ceiling, not even his
dog.
So that's what you missed.
Oh, and one other thing. The country's public health establishment has
tortured your children for eight months for no apparent reason. That
happened. That story has not received a lot of coverage, but it has been
confirmed tonight. The authorities have admitted 60 million American
children languishing in their rooms since spring, sitting in front of
screens, learning nothing, isolated from human contact, in many cases
driven to mental illness.
We can now report there was no reason for any of that. The experts were
wrong. They had no idea what they were doing. But the most amazing part --
and this really is the headline of the story -- is that they knew they were
wrong when they did it. But they kept lying about it, even as American
children began to kill themselves.
On Sunday in New York, city officials all but admitted this. They announced
the reopening of elementary schools. Those are the same schools that they
closed fewer than two weeks ago. Now, from a medical standpoint, nothing
has changed. New York didn't get an early shipment of the Pfizer vaccine.
There wasn't some groundbreaking new research paper that revolutionized our
understanding of the coronavirus, nothing like that at all.
In fact, parents simply had enough and they forced Bill de Blasio to admit
the obvious. This virus is not a threat to children. As de Blasio put it in
that weird euphemistic way that dumb people speak, quote, "We know that the
health realities for the youngest kids are the most favorable." Well, yes,
we do know that. We've known it for a long time. We knew it when Bill de
Blasio shut down New York schools.
And Tony Fauci knew it, too, though he didn't say anything about it. Now,
he has decided to say something about it eight months late. Here's Anthony
Fauci on Sunday. And as you watch this, keep in mind that this man on the
screen is leading our response, America's response to the coronavirus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS
DISEASES: Close the bars and keep the schools open is what we really say.
Obviously, you don't have one size fits all. But as I've said in the past,
and as you accurately quoted me, the default position should be to try as
best as possible within reason to keep the children in school or to get
them back to school.
If you look at the data, the spread among children and from children is not
really very big at all. Not like one would have suspected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Oh, I've always said you should keep the schools open says the
man in charge of America's coronavirus response to a nation whose schools
have been closed for months. Right. Yes, I always said that. Check the
tape. Because, quote, "If you look at the data," says Anthony Fauci.
But wait a second. Why is this just now occurring to Tony Fauci? Isn't this
Fauci's entire job to quote, "look at the data"? Yes, it is. And yet
somehow he never thought to do that. That's our corona czar.
Over the summer when the data look the same as they do tonight, Fauci
explained that he couldn't really say, if kids should be allowed to go to
school, it was quote, "complicated." Except it wasn't complicated. It
wasn't complicated then, it's not complicated now.
In April, many months ago, a study by the "Journal of the American Medical
Association" found that school aged children who get the coronavirus,
quote, "Develop only mild symptoms and typically recover within two weeks."
Months later, same story, in June, a study in "The Lancet" affirmed this,
quote, "COVID-19 is generally a mild disease in children, including in
infants." Other studies found the exact same thing. No studies found
anything but that. There was never much question about it.
But if you're looking for more evidence, check the death rates. Those are
publicly available. Deaths are not hard to track. Consider the State of New
Jersey. That's one of the states hit hardest by the coronavirus. So far in
New Jersey, not a single school aged child has died from the coronavirus,
not one. Many children have died from car accidents and fires and drug ODs
and suicide. None have died from COVID-19.
In California, the biggest state in the United States, 40 million people
live there, a total of two people under the age of 18 have died from the
coronavirus -- two. The numbers nationwide according to the latest C.D.C.
numbers, 123 Americans under the age of 18 have died from the coronavirus,
123 out of 350 million.
We shut the schools anyway, crushing millions of kids, affecting their
futures in ways we can't even understand at this point. But it's clear it's
bad. Really bad in some cases.
So the question is, why did we do this? And the answer is to save the
teachers. The teachers unions pushed this and their servants in the
Democratic Party obey. They're the single largest donors to the Democratic
Party, so of course they did.
So unionized teachers get to stay home collecting checks, while you're
losing your jobs because classrooms are just too dangerous. It's like the
Battle of the Bulge five days a week. And that's exactly what they've done.
But what does the data say about this? Well, for teachers under the age of
50, and that's the vast majority of them, the odds of surviving a
coronavirus infection are roughly 99.98 percent. But we should tell you
that for teachers under 70, the risk of dying escalates to a terrifying
99.5 percent chance of survival. And by the way, teachers do get sick, it
likely won't be from teaching. Children appear not to spread the
coronavirus, surely not effectively. We've done this for a long time.
Back in May, researchers in Europe found, quote, "Children do not appear to
be drivers of transmission. And we argue that reopening schools should be
considered safe accompanied by certain measures." Again, none of this is
new. Tony Fauci, that data guy knew it at the time. And so did anyone in
the news media who could read which is still most of them, and yet they
kept lying about it, all of them.
In July, here is just one example, a panel of physicians and experts on
infectious disease went on television to explain that going to school isn't
dangerous for anyone, they would send their own kids. Watch the news
anchors' reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you let your kids go back to school?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will. My kids are looking forward to it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Period. Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. As much as I can.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without hesitation?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without hesitation. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have no concerns about sending my child to school in
the fall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would let my kids go back to school.
JOHN TORRES, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Dr. John Torres, NBC News.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They all said yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: "They all said yes," says the news reader, feigning shock. Can
you believe that? Doctors have concluded their own children should go to
school. They must be crazy. They are crazy. What do doctors know about
coronavirus?
What was this about? And of course you know the answer. It was about Donald
Trump.
Donald Trump in this case agreed with the doctors. Therefore, the doctors
had to be mocked and ignored. Here's what the President said about schools
in July.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to open our
schools. Open our schools. Stop this nonsense. We open our schools.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: "Stop this nonsense. We reopen our schools." Now in point of
fact, as a scientific matter that turned out to be sound policy based on
sound data. But the media told us the exact opposite of that. One headline
at CNN warned of quote, "The very clear dangers of Donald Trump's push to
reopen schools." Google didn't censor that as misinformation, it should
have.
Another headline called out quote, "Donald Trump's mind bending logic on
school reopenings." Mind bending logic. Those damn data again, Joe Biden's
campaign didn't want to hear it. They didn't want you to hear it either.
School was dangerous. Period.
Donald Trump claimed the opposite. Therefore, it was too dangerous to send
your kids or for you to decide to send them. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignoring how the virus spreads, risking teachers and
parents' lives, going against the advice of experts.
TRUMP: It's had very little impact on young people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you trust him to do what's best for our children?
Because this is not a test.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Yes, going against the advice of experts. In this country, that's
no longer allowed, even and maybe especially when the experts are
completely wrong. What's the message? The message couldn't be clearer.
They're not your kids anymore. If they were your kids, you could make the
key decisions about their lives, but they're not.
Those kids, your former kids belong to Tony Fauci now. Tony Fauci,
America's parent. He'll make the decisions about your kids, thank you very
much, in conjunction with the nation's uber mom, who by the way, is also 80
years old, Mrs. Nancy D. Pelosi.
Watch Mrs. Pelosi fret about the health of our children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you confident that
students and teachers will go back safely to school in the fall?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): No, I think what we heard from the Secretary was
malfeasance and dereliction of duty. This is appalling. They're messing.
They're messing -- the President and his administration are messing with
the health of our children.
Going back to school presents the biggest risk for the spread of the
coronavirus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: If that's not criminal, what she just said, we may need to
redefine what it means to commit a crime. Sixty million school aged
children affected by a decision that was wrong and many of them hurt for
life, but we just blow right past it and allow political leaders like that
to blow right past with phrases like the health of our children.
What happens when you lock children in their rooms in front of screens and
prevent them from experiencing human contact? Has Nancy Pelosi ever been
asked that question? Has she ever wondered about the answer?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, a total of 522 children
between the ages of five and 14 died of suicide in 2017. And that same age
group, only 42 children have died from the coronavirus so far this year.
What are those suicide numbers going to look like if we continue to take
Nancy Pelosi's advice about the health of our children? We're going to have
some indications of that. Future years will reveal the whole picture and
you can be certain it'll be horrifying.
But for right now, with incomplete data, here's what we know. In St. Paul,
Minnesota, for example, 40 percent of all grades given this year have been
Fs, and you can be certain they are grading lightly, but it's still double
the normal amount of failures.
In Fairfax County, Virginia, the number of middle and high school students
with failing grades in two or more classes has increased by 83 percent. The
number of students with disabilities who are failing two or more classes
has increased by more than 100 percent.
In a lot of school districts, huge numbers of kids never even registered
for online classes. Do you have kids? Do you know anyone who does? They are
learning nothing. Those are real consequences.
If you want to know the health of a society, look at its young people. Look
at its schools. These are obvious points that are being roundly ignored and
anyone who makes them is attacked for making them. We're going to look back
on this woman in shame.
Back in June, we interviewed Dr. Scott Atlas. He was then a member of the
White House's Coronavirus Taskforce. He was one of the very few people then
or now brave enough to make a simple point. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SCOTT ATLAS, FORMER MEMBER OF WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASKFORCE: But
the point about the schools is really critical because this is the most
irrational public policy probably in modern history. Children have
virtually zero risk of getting a serious complication, virtually zero risk
of dying. You don't lock down the children because you are personally
afraid. It is totally outrageous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Dr. Scott Atlas was attacked as a monster for saying that. Really
attacked. Dr. Tony Fauci, by contrast, was deified. Signs throughout
Northwest DC said I believe, Dr. Fauci, but the truth is that Scott Atlas
was right and Dr. Fauci was revealed as a power mad incompetent.
That's not our opinion, by the way, the data prove it. Dr. Atlas resigned
from his advisory role in the administration today. He is now a Senior
Fellow at the Hoover Institution. We're happy to have him with us tonight.
Dr. Atlas, thanks so much for coming on. This does seem like a vindication.
ATLAS: Thanks for having me.
CARLSON: Dr. Fauci's remarks seem like a vindication and the opening of
the New York schools as well of your point that you made many months ago,
and I'm just wondering how you're feeling as you watch that?
ATLAS: Well, you know, I was just speaking about the data as I always did
and it's true that the data was correct then and that children have
extremely low risk of a serious illness and do not frequently spread this
infection that was known then.
And we also knew the harms, the serious harms to children from closing in-
person schools and nothing has really changed. It's just that some of these
things are now being acknowledged, including, you know, other things like
for instance, people have protection beyond what an antibody test show, et
cetera.
But the point isn't that I was right. The point isn't that the advice I
gave the President was right. The point isn't that the President was right.
The point isn't that the President was right, although those things are
true. The point is that we really need to open up in-person schools ASAP,
because it's so destructive, so harmful to children, and there's really
nothing more important for a country that I can think of than educating our
children.
CARLSON: Of course, and we still claim to believe that. We clearly don't.
Our leaders clearly don't. But before we move on to the solution stage of
the program, and I hope with you that that comes soon. Explain, if you
would, why did people who had access to that data, which is everyone with a
computer, people like Dr. Fauci could have ignored what they were seeing
from the studies? Like, how could they not have acknowledged this six
months ago?
ATLAS: Well, you know, I find myself asking that question. But, you know,
again, we're living in an extremely polarized time, you know, this as much
as anybody. It's an election year. We have social media, where people go
sort of ballistic and feel empowered to do so.
And, you know, I don't know, I think it's there's a serious problem,
honestly, in the country, because there's a bigger issue here and that is
that America and its universities really need to allow, without attack,
without rebuke, without intimidation, the free exchange of ideas, because
it is from the free exchange of ideas that scientific truths follow and
these scientific truths are critical for us to solve this crisis, every
other crisis. And in fact, the free exchange of ideas is honestly the
foundation of every civilized society.
CARLSON: Does it make you nervous for our future that the people in
charge, people with long list of credentials who should know better
presumably, aren't stupid, embrace the kind of witchcraft or superstition,
and said things that are provably untrue for many months? What does that
portend for our future if we continue to allow that?
ATLAS: You know, I think we've -- this is very important, I think. We see
that objective journalism is nearly dead, and I think we now saw that
science has been politicized and it's very, very dangerous. You know, I
think we should all be very concerned about it. Let's put it that way.
CARLSON: Yes, I think so, too. Dr. Scott Atlas, who we should say resigned
today, in the normal course of events after 130 days, I believe, serving
the Administration. Congratulations on being a part of it.
ATLAS: Okay. Thank you very much.
CARLSON: Thank you. So schools as we just told you a reopening in the
country's biggest city, New York, but many businesses are facing new
coronavirus restrictions this week, including bans on the indoor dining.
In response to this, total economic destruction of an entire sector of the
economy. One restaurant in the borough of Staten Island, Mac's Public House
has declared itself quote "an autonomous zone." A sign on the door of the
restaurant reads this way, quote, "We refuse to abide by any rules and
regulations put forth by the mayor of New York City and the governor of New
York State."
Keith McAlarney is the co-owner of that restaurant, Mac's Public House, and
he joins us tonight. Keith, thanks so much for coming on. So tell us what
made you decide to become our own country on Staten Island.
KEITH MCALARNEY, CO-OWNER, MAC'S PUBLIC HOUSE: Thanks for having me.
Basically, what is taking place is the food industry and bar industry, we
all end up wanting to work with the government when we've decided that this
-- they decided that we could start reopening. And they never came to the
professionals, the ones that own the bars and the restaurants and
everything. They never came to us to end up asking how to do that in a safe
way.
Basically all they did was dictate to us what we're supposed to do. And
with doing that, you still weren't able to survive. So it brought us to a
point that they're saying that they were shutting us down again, that they
weren't allowing inside dining. And I was put against the wall.
It's either I took a stance and ended up opening my cantina, keep my
establishment open, hoping that people end up coming to spend money, so I
can pay bills, and then providing for my family. I'm so behind on bills
that I really felt I had no other choice.
And I was -- with doing this, it was to tell the governor and to tell the
mayor that you need to work with us, but you didn't want to work with us
and we're forced into the situation that I don't know what else I can do.
CARLSON: Yes, I feel for you. It turns out your white privilege isn't
paying the bills automatically. You're coming on the show, you're taking a
stand. You're clearly going to enrage the people in charge of New York City
and New York State. Are you worried they're going to come after you?
MCALARNEY: They're coming after me already. I already had the State Liquor
Authority. We caught the radar of the mayor right away. The Sheriffs came
out as a bully tactic to fine us and they were very professional, the
Sheriffs, but at the same time, they were coming on the orders of the
mayor, because of the fact that I was remaining open and still remaining
open past 10 o'clock.
It brought the attention of the other agencies out there and you know
they're coming after me.
CARLSON: Your tax dollars at work. Well, you're a brave man and we wish
you Godspeed, and I hope you'll come back and tell us how it goes. Keith,
thanks so much.
MCALARNEY: Thank you very much.
CARLSON: So a coronavirus vaccine is on the way, many reports of that.
When it does arrive, who gets it first? The states are in some places,
apportioning it, depending on your skin color, for real, and other highly
nonscientific criteria. How is this going to work? We will explain that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: So the vaccine is coming, apparently. Will you take it? That's
one question. Who should get it first? That's another question.
Advisers to the CDC are holding an emergency meeting Tuesday, tomorrow, to
vote on who they think should get the vaccine first. Now, you might assume
this would be based on -- I don't know, science.
So the most important criteria would be your age or your state of
immunodeficiency. But in some states, officials have another idea, your
skin color should play a role in this. So if you assume that identity
politics are just a harmless annoyance that people couldn't actually die
because of it. Think again.
Watch this clip from the Governor of California.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Experts in safety, as well as experts looking at
equity and looking at the distribution from a direct perspective, looking
at distributions, again, along the spectrum of making sure black and brown
communities disproportionately are benefited because of the impact they
have felt disproportionately because of COVID-19.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Man, and that's just one way to look at it. Of course, if Joe
Biden's advisers get to decide how to administer this vaccine, we could see
a whole different set of criteria at the Federal level.
A top Biden coronavirus adviser, Dr. Zeke Emanuel wrote a famous 2014 piece
in "The Atlantic" called "Why I hope to die at 75." So how many people over
the age of 75, the most vulnerable population would Zeke Emanuel out to get
this vaccine? That and many other questions like it are the concern of
Charles Camosy. He is the author of "Resisting Throw Away Culture" and
someone who thinks about the stuff an awful lot.
Professor, thanks so much for coming on tonight. So, I'm concerned that
this vaccine will be yet another way that the country is divided along
various lines, and that's kind of the last thing in my view that we need
right now.
Tell us from your perspective, how this vaccine should be apportioned? Who
should get priority and why?
CHARLES CAMOSY, AUTHOR, "RESISTING THROW AWAY CULTURE": Well, I'd start
with nursing home residents, number one, Tucker and you and I have talked
about this a lot. You've talked about it with Janice Dean a lot. You've
been a hero for this, frankly, in moving the needle.
And it looks like the C.D.C. tomorrow, a very important meeting on Tuesday
will in fact, prioritize nursing home residents, thank God.
CARLSON: Good.
CAMOSY: But there's another disturbing piece of news, frankly, Tucker
about this. And it's related to the package you just did on California.
They apparently are going to -- they're going to put essential workers who
are important, don't get me wrong -- they are very important -- ahead of
the old and ahead of the sick who are not in nursing homes.
Now, if there's one thing we know about coronavirus, it's that the old and
the sick are the most at risk. And the idea that we would apportion the
very limited vaccine, especially here in December and January, in ways that
would abandon them is a whole new disturbing thing to think about.
CARLSON: Especially since the reason of course is that essential workers,
so-called and some are essential, of course, but they tend to be unionized,
and they have political power. Whereas the old and sick do not.
CAMOSY: Yes, don't get me wrong. I think we should prioritize in due
course, essential workers. They should be ahead of, say professors or talk
show hosts.
CARLSON: I agree.
CAMOSY: But they shouldn't be ahead of people with diabetes and asthma,
right, who are over 65 years old. That's nuts. That's nuts. And it actually
comes from a good place, maybe an understandable place, essential workers
are disproportionately poor. They are disproportionately people of color.
But the way to focus on those populations is to focus on those populations
in a way that focuses on those who are sick and those who are older. Those
are the people who are most at risk, and that's where our focus needs to
be.
CARLSON: So just purely on the science. We know from the data, it's very
clear who is the most likely to die from a coronavirus infection, so it
sounds like you're saying those people should get first dibs.
CAMOSY: Yes, it's not complicated. I mean, we're going to go with nursing
home workers first and probably, you know, people working in hospitals
second, and then we're going to have to decide in January and February and
it seems obvious that we would pick those who are most at risk.
But that's why I think your listeners really need to pay very close
attention to this meeting tomorrow and let their local state and municipal
representatives know if they disagree with the decision the C.D.C. comes
down with.
CARLSON: I think that's fair and smart. Thanks so much for joining us.
Charles, great to see you.
CAMOSY: Thanks, Tucker.
CARLSON: Now people who describe themselves as sovereign citizens are now
seizing homes, not their homes, other people's homes by force in several
states. What is this exactly? Is it real? It appears to be. We'll tell you
about it after the break.
Plus new documents show the consultants, McKinsey & Company told Purdue
pharma -- that's one of the companies that drove the opioid epidemic -- to
offer discounts to distributors when customers died of ODs. It's really one
of the most shocking stories of the year. We have the documents straight
ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: If you sense that property rights are eroding, you're not
imagining it. Authorities say people describing themselves as sovereign
citizens are trying to forcibly evict homeowners from their own homes in
the suburbs north of Seattle, a bizarre story.
Jason Rantz, a radio host in that city has been on top of it and joins us
tonight to explain. Jason, what is this?
JASON RANTZ, SEATTLE RADIO SHOW HOST: Well, it's a group called the
Moorish Sovereign Citizens out in Edmonds, it is about 20 minutes north of
Seattle. It is a group of people who are essentially extremist squatters
who believe that the laws of the land do not apply to them and they've
decided to go into neighborhoods, waterfront properties, very nice homes,
saying that they actually own the land and they should take it over.
The homeowner usually is like, what are you talking about? Please leave.
And it's just very bizarre. It's not just happening in the Puget Sound.
It's happening all across the country. Most recently in Georgia, for
example, a man named Joel Fedd decided to literally take ownership, decide
he is not going to pay rent on property that he doesn't actually own. It's
part of, I think, this nationwide trend of laws not really applying to
certain folks in this case. They're not activists, they are just kind of
nutty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is illegal. Once you see that, that mean, you want
to -- is your -- I want it. It is mine. I'm about to start, you know, the
process on reclaiming the land. Hey, you all can keep paying rent. You all
can take this again. You all can think we are just a character, but really,
the talk, we're taking the land back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RANTZ: It doesn't quite work that way. I can assure you.
CARLSON: Not Harare, not Bulawayo, suburban Seattle. All right. Jason
Rantz, I hope you'll keep on top of this for us.
RANTZ: I will. Thank you.
CARLSON: A story that didn't get enough attention, Purdue Pharma, the
pharma company that made opioids pleaded guilty last week to criminal
charges for its role in causing the opioid epidemic, which has caused as
you know, hundreds of thousands of deaths of Americans in this country.
We now have internal documents that show how Purdue's consultants at
McKinsey & Company -- you won't be surprised to learn -- saw those deaths
as nothing more than the cost of doing business. Transaction costs.
Gerald Posner has been on top of this longer than almost anybody in media.
He is the author of the book "Pharma." He covered McKinsey's work with
Purdue Pharma long before anyone else and he joins us tonight to explain
what these documents show.
Gerald, thanks so much for coming on. This is a really a stunning story.
What have we learned?
GERALD POSNER, AUTHOR, "PHARMA": Yes, you know, there are very few things
after spending five years on looking into the American drug industry, there
are very few things that shock me anymore.
This was a shocking development, I had to read that document twice to make
sure that I really understood it and what it really is, is that in 2017,
McKinsey who had been advising Purdue already at that point for eight years
on all different aspects of their business. It was tough to sell OxyContin
because of the fact that it had become America's biggest prescription drug
abuse crisis and lethal crisis ever.
They had to come up with something different than before, and what they
came up with was an idea of why don't we encourage the insurance companies
like Anthem, CVS, United Health and others who are paying for OxyContin
under insurance plans, give them some incentive to make sure they don't
knock Oxy off of the insurance plans.
And so we'll give them bonuses based upon the number of people who either
get addicted to Oxy or die of OxyContin overdoses between $6,000.00 and
$14,000.00 a person so they came up with this fancy 42-page presentation,
PowerPoint that they gave to the Purdue executives who loved it and said,
look, it's going to cost you anywhere between $3 million and $35 million a
year to some of the big insurance companies, but it'll be some incentive so
that you make sure that they keep you on their formulary and you can
continue to get paid out.
It's one of the most outrageous and cold calculus pieces of business, you
know, from the people who brought you Enron, the best and brightest at
McKinsey advising Purdue in the heart of the opioid crisis. It's somewhat
not surprising but at the same time, still very disturbing.
CARLSON: So McKinsey, as you suggest, it really is the incubator of our
ruling class. Chelsea Clinton's former employer. Did anyone at McKinsey
say, hold on a second. This is morally grotesque and I'm resigning?
POSNER: No, as a matter of fact, Tucker, not only did they do that,
listen, in 2007, Purdue pleaded guilty to misbranding OxyContin and paid a
$600 million fine. Who did they go to the next year to make sure that there
weren't any more regulations from the F.D.A.? They went to McKinsey then.
Nobody at McKinsey raised an eyebrow about it.
As a matter of fact, in 2012, it was McKinsey was able to get Purdue to go
forward to the F.D.A. and get a new and improved tamper resistant formula
that blocked out all generic competition. Then the next year in 2013,
McKinsey again presented these great plans to Purdue called Turbocharge the
Sales and helped them through it.
And what happens in 2018? When the Attorney General of Massachusetts files
a lawsuit against Purdue, for the first time, you start to see e-mails in
McKinsey saying, oh, by the way, maybe we should get rid of all our e-mails
and documents about our help with Purdue. So that's where they went. They
went from helping them make money, millions of dollars to suddenly thinking
about maybe we should cover it up. It's unbelievable.
CARLSON: Gerald Posner, thank you.
POSNER: Thank you.
CARLSON: If you're wondering what happened to America, McKinsey and Yale
Law School. They're not responsible for everything, but a lot of it. We'll
learning tonight another story that won't surprise you.
The #MeToo Movement actually made a lot of people, some people anyway, very
rich. Not who you'd expect by the way. Candace Owens here to explain, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: When we first started the show four years ago, we scoffed at the
idea of UFOs being real, it seemed kind of insane. And then we saw
declassified video footage of objects that seemed to defy the laws of
physics. We showed it to you and our minds became a little more open.
And that's why on November 18th, we took notice when helicopter pilots
counting sheep over a remote part of the desert in Southeastern Utah
something new and weird. An unidentified stationary object, it was a
monolith of sorts standing up, apparently made out of stainless steel.
They got outside, took pictures in front of it and then they left. Then a
few other people trekked out to the monolith and did the same.
Then on Friday night, the monolith, no one knows where it came from,
suddenly disappeared. Around the same time and nearly identical structure
apparently surfaced in Romania. What does all of this mean? We have no
idea. But we'll be the first to tell you if we find out because who knows?
Well, here's one thing we do know for sure. We know that social justice is
a real concept. But in effect, it's very often a scam designed to make some
of the most powerful people in the country even more powerful and richer.
The latest example comes from Hollywood and the Time's Up organization that
was part of the #MeToo movement. Do you remember?
For a while, it was pretty famous and it hauled in $3.6 million in 2018?
What did they do with the money? Well, they spent $1.4 million on salaries.
How much did they spend supporting people who said they've been sexually
harassed? $312,000.00. How is that legal exactly?
Candace Owens joins us tonight to assess what exactly just happened.
Candace, great to see you. Well, those numbers don't seem like they're
serving women, do they to you?
CANDACE OWENS, AUTHOR, "BLACKOUT": Of course, they're not serving women,
and we see this so much and I love this story, because it ultimately points
that it's just the intellectual bankruptcy of Hollywood. They loved this
movement. You'll remember Time's Up. They all wore the black dresses to the
Oscars, because time was really going to be up and it was starting in
Hollywood, and then it was going to benefit all of women.
But people have to understand, anything that's being perpetuated by
Hollywood is nothing more than a trend. You have a bunch of actresses and
actors that want you to think that they're more substantive, right? Like
they have a lot more going on.
I'm not just a dumb actress #MeToo. I really care about social issues.
#Time'sUp. #BlackLivesMatter. Look at what I put on my Instagram, don't you
see that I'm much deeper.
And at the end of the day, they have no idea what they're talking about.
They just want people to think that they're more complex than they are, and
what they do is they lead a bunch of sheep behind them to donate to causes
and nobody knows where the money goes. It's always a black hole.
Black Lives Matter. No one can answer billions of dollars. Are there black
schools being built? Are there black universities? Has anything been done
that's been beneficial for the black community? No. But you know what? A
bunch of models put it on their Instagram, Tucker, so it must be good.
CARLSON: Why does nobody ever follow the money in this story and Black
Lives Matter is a perfect example. I mean, tens of millions, God knows how
much money has been shoveled from Corporate America into the coffers of
groups calling themselves Black Lives Matter. No one ever seems to follow
up to find out where the money went. If these were televangelists, someone
would be looking. No one is. Why?
OWENS: You bet, it would because they don't want you looking and that's
the point and I've said this over and over again about Black Lives Matter.
I'm going to correct you at one point, Tucker. It wasn't millions, it was
billions in the days and the weeks following George Floyd's murder, Black
Lives Matter raised billions of dollars and they had never been made to
account for where those billions of dollars went.
And they want us to just look the other way and to not ask questions and
here's that -- at the end of the day, it is emotional manipulation. Of
course, all of us, we care about these issues. No one ever mocks sexual
assault victims. No one would ever mock the black person who is being
actually victimized by a system.
But what we are asking is, where is this money going?
CARLSON: No, we're not asking that. You're asking it. Almost no one else
is asking it and bless you for asking because it's an important question.
OWENS: I am definitely asking.
CARLSON: Amen. Candace Owens. Great to see you. Thank you.
So Joe Biden says he is picking someone called Neera Tanden to head the
Office of Management and Budget, O.M.B., not a small job. Who is she? And
why is he picking her? Glenn Greenwald knows the answer. He joins us after
the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CARLSON: Joe Biden says he is naming someone called Neera Tanden to head
up the Office of Management and Budget, a very big job in the White House.
So, who is Neera Tanden? Well, there's a lot to know about her. We'll be
bringing you that in future episodes.
But the key thing to know about Neera Tanden is that she is ultimately a
handmaiden to the billionaires who pay her salary. Tanden runs a think tank
called the Center for American Progress.
The Center for American Progress has taken millions of dollars from Wall
Street financiers, Silicon Valley executives like Mark Zuckerberg,
lobbyists, banks and defense contractors.
She has censored her own researchers' criticism of Mike Bloomberg while
going on television to hyperventilate about Russia collusion that never
existed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEERA TANDEN, CEO AND PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: You see it
in detail that Russia interfered with this election to help elect Donald
Trump. And you see it in detail after detail, and I think most importantly,
it sets the predicate. You know, we've had a long discussion over last year
of collusion.
This sets the predicate there was criminality behind what Russia was doing.
And the next set of questions that Bannon and other people, including
Donald Trump can answer is what kind of collusion the Trump Campaign was
part of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So in case you don't follow the White House carefully, this job,
Director of the Office of Management and Budget is one of the key jobs in
Washington. Glenn Greenwald is probably the most independent of our
independent journalists. He joins us tonight to explain why Neera Tanden.
Thanks, Glenn, for coming out. Why Neera Tanden?
GLENN GREENWALD, JOURNALIST: Well, first of all, that package that you
just did, as critical as it was of her was incredibly generous. She's so
much worse than that.
Why Neera Tanden? She's totally unqualified for this position. Like she's
not an economist, she went to Law School. She worked for Hillary Clinton.
And then all she has done at this think tank for the last 10 years is raise
millions of dollars from Silicon Valley, Wall Street, despots in the Gulf
States, which is the real base of the Democratic Party, so they want her to
oversee the regulatory and budgetary and economic policy of the
administration on behalf of their real constituencies, which is all those
people from whom she has been raising millions of dollars from.
But the thing is, Tucker, that just makes her an ordinary Democrat. She's
just a swamp creature in that regard. She is a deranged and dangerous
person. I don't mean just politically, I mean, like behaviorally. When she
was working with Hillary Clinton to get Hillary Clinton elected, one of her
own reporters at this think tank was arranged to have an interview with
Hillary and ask Hillary about the Iraq War and Neera Tanden was so angry,
she punched him, and then later she claimed she merely pushed him.
When she was running an all-staff meeting about three years ago, a woman
who works at the think tank had filed a confidential complaint about sexual
harassment against one of Neera Tanden's male allies, and this is something
that would ruin anyone else's career in Washington, she outed this woman at
the all-staff meeting out of vengeance.
When the Obama administration was bombing Libya into oblivion, she
suggested internally that the way we should reduce our deficit as a nation
is to use Libya's oil to make them pay us back for the favor of having
destroyed their entire government.
But here's the worst thing about her, Tucker. That video you showed had her
talking about Russian collusion, she didn't just push the most maximalist
versions of Russia collusion. She pushed this conspiracy theory that is
completely reckless and wild that Russia hacked into the voting machines
and the reason Hillary lost in 2016 is because the Russians changed
Hillary's votes to Trump's votes and that's the real reason Hillary lost.
That is a conspiracy theory that in 2018, two thirds of Democrats believe.
How can you have somebody in a position like this, who is this deranged
behaviorally and in terms of the conspiracy theories they contaminate
people's brains with.
CARLSON: I think the real question is why didn't we do an entire show
talking to you tonight about Neera Tanden? We totally blew that. I want to
know more.
Glenn Greenwald, please come back. That was amazing.
GREENWALD: Always happy to talk about Neera Tanden.
CARLSON: I appreciate that. Thank you. She punched someone for questioning
Hillary about the Iraq War. That's a committed staffer. Sounds a little
crazy, too.
We'll be back tomorrow night, we can promise you, 8:00 p.m., the show that
is the total and sincere, sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and
groupthink.
Up ahead, we have great news for you, Sean Hannity takes over from New
York, seven seconds early.
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