Full Speech of Tucker Carlson in Michigan

I posted a clip earlier of Tucker Carlson speaking in Utica, MI, but here is the full speech for anyone who is interested (if you do not wish to get these, please click the top right in your subscriber preferences).

I ran the transcript through a transcription service I have and that is below. It’s a little choppy but you get the general idea.

The best parts of this speech are when he talks about free speech and Trump, and the rigging of the 2020 election.

The YouTube version:

TRANSCRIPT:

Privilege to introduce you to Mr. Tucker Carlson, please give him a standing row as he comes in.

Thank you, gentlemen.

I did this setup at home, I feel so affirmed when the sparks fly up and the band plays. I can't tell you how happy I am to be here. It's like my favorite state, I married a woman from Michigan 32 years ago.

Your marriage a woman from Michigan to Yeah.

Those of you who've married women for Michigan know, highly recommended.

And so I have been in and out of the state. Well, for 40 years, the 40 years I've been with her. And it's just wonderful. I always gained several pounds. I eat too much heat, like an animal in Michigan for some reason. But I love it. It's beautiful. The people are kind. It's one of the coolest states to drive around wherever you stop. People are nice to you, sort of like my house. It's unbelievable.

But every time I come here, I think to myself who runs this place and who votes for them?

I'm serious. I've never met and it's not like I come to Michigan and hang around with people who share my political views. Most people I talked to at Michigan, we don't talk politics ever. Most of you talk fishing, which is excellent here, by the way.

I use fishing and open water fishing. But anyway, I don't think I've ever met anybody in the state of Michigan who would vote for Gretchen Whitmer. So like, how did that happen?

No, and I'm not I'm not making a partisan. I'm just making a very kind of straightforward non political point. If you're running a state and people are leaving, then you are by definition failing. Or maybe it's not a very good restaurant.

It's not the you know, it's not the foods fault. It's how you're preparing it. Right.

So how did that happen? And every time I come here, I asked the same question. Like, who's voting for these people?

I even went in I even this is a true story. Last summer, we were in suburban Detroit, where my wife grew up staying with her aunt. And I went into Greek town to do my show. And everyone always makes fun of Detroit city of Detroit. And so I just asked every single person I met in Detroit, I was there for like six hours, wanted out to get something to eat. Like, did you vote for Gretchen Whitmer? Um, no.

I mean, maybe they all didn't, wouldn't admit it.

But it does raise the question. Like, how does this happen? How do you take something great, with great people, great natural resources, great human resources and make it so probably that everyone wants to move to Fort Lauderdale? Hmm.

It's interesting. I've been brooding about this all week, I landed yesterday from Argentina, which reminds me a lot of Michigan, in that it has everything going for it. It's a beautiful place with smart people, excellent food. And like Michigan, it has an outflow and net outflow of people, like people are from there. They love it have to leave because there's no opportunity there.

And the answer is the same in Argentina, that and I'm not saying in Argentina, they would prevent you from buying house paint to stop the spread of a virus when they're not that insane. So you do get a tax break for being transgender,

literally in Argentina, in the same way that your governor wants to criminalize? Calling people by their correct gender.

So there's the you know, there's the the fundamental American woke academic craziness, but in some ways, that's just a distraction from the core issue, which is, are you running things? Well, I mean, they're all the ideological debates we have, but in the end, if people can't make a living and there's no promise of the future for their children, then by definition, you are a failure. And I think it's impossible to defend a record like that. You can't mean there's no argument you can, you know, jump up and down and scream about trans rights or you can like your attorney general, who's truly a lunatic by the way, truly a lunatic.

You could just throw people in prison when they disagree with you, which he's in the process of doing, as you know. But in the end, you can't win the argument. No one's eating at your restaurant like you are a failure. So how are you still there?

Well, there's really only one way. And that's by capturing the system that puts people there. And the state of Michigan, I have no doubt, as there are in many blue states, there's a massive amount of fraud. There always is. Anyone who claims there isn't hasn't covered campaigns, I covered campaigns for over 20 years. Trust me, there's fraud.

But I think the most insidious fraud is the kind that you see right in front of you. Where public employees are paid to step tip the scales in favor of the party that pays them with your tax dollars.

That's that's fraud, that's illegitimate. That's not democracy. You can't pay unionized teachers to vote for you. But that's what they do. And I say this as someone who married a teacher for Michigan, and who put four children through school. So you know, a lot of patients for the UA teachers Oh, shut up.

No, no, I like him enough that I married one.

No, I hate teachers. I sent all my children to school, I shouldn't have but I did. It was the law at the time.

But it's not about whether or not you like teachers, it's about whether or not a government employee ought to be allowed to use tax dollars to campaign for the people who pay that employee. And that's completely illegitimate. That's totally third world, that's insane. If you have unionized teachers going door to door, campaigning in the three month vacation they get every year at your expense, you have, by definition, a corrupt system.

So my question is, Why doesn't someone do something about it, and I have to say, of Republicans that I'm not gonna vote Republican by default, because I have no choice.

And I'm not going to beat up on Republicans. Most people here probably vote Republican like me. But I will say an awful lot of time is spent complaining, and maybe too little doing the two things you really need to do. And that's what I want to talk about today. And by the way, before I get into my remarks, let me see if we're doing q&a at the end. But please don't wait. Most speakers hate being yelled at by that while they talk. But I worked in cable news for so many years, that I kind of enjoy it. So if you've got something hostile to say just Just yell it, throw a dinner roll or whatever, you're not going to hurt my feelings. Yeah, whatever you said, I affirm it.

So here's the point, the two things you need to do, or organize, and, and speak with total honesty, clarity and aggression.

Those are the two things you need to do. Now, neither one of those things is easy. Complaining is easy. Watching television is easy. Eating with people you agree with and grousing is really easy. That's why those are the first things I do. When I'm mad about something, I whined to my wife about it, or lecture my dogs, all of whom all four of whom agree with me, by the way, of the most right wing Spaniels and men. But none of those things change the outcome.

You need to act, you need to speak and you need to organize. And before you can do either one of those, you need to recognize the consequences, the stakes, it's not just about people doing things you disagree with, it's about the most fundamental question of all, which is, can you have children? Will they live in a world where they can afford to get married themselves and have children? And will those children live where you lived? Will they live within driving distance of your grave? Will the civilization that produced you continue?

These are —I hate the word —but these are literally existential questions. Will the world that produced you continue to exist? And the answer is no. With bad leadership at won't, everything is at stake. And that's not a fundraising pitch. It's not one of those direct mail things you get, send us 20 bucks or you know your grandchildren will die. It's it's the truth.

It's the truth. If people in Michigan feel like they can't live here, then the odds are your children and grandchildren won't. And the life that you've so enjoyed.

And that you've made possible for them working every day will not continue. And you'll do what Americans for the last couple of generations have done you'll just leave, you'll run away. You'll go to Florida, you'll move somewhere else, we got to move out of Detroit. It blows up in 1967 and like half the people who live there like that's it. We're moving to Macomb and Oakland counties, which I get I'm not judging at all. I mean, of course I'm married to someone whose family did that. And I'm sure half the people in this audience had family who did that, but at a certain point you wonder like, can you keep running away?

And at certain point is there anywhere to go? And the answer is no. And why should you?

They turn to the world that you grew up in that you love that you contributed to into something you don't recognize. And you're like, Alright, I'm out really doesn't seem very American to me. By the way, at this point, you're kind of out of options anyway. Yeah. DeSantis is, I think, a very good governor of Florida. I'm there a lot. And so that's an obvious destination for people. But he barely won his first election against like a crackhead.

No, I'm serious. A meth head - was like a complete not only lunatic, but fraud. He barely won. That was Florida. So I hope Florida stays reasonable forever. And I like to fish there. So I especially feel that way. But there's no guarantee it will. There's no guarantee that anything stays the same. And the only way to ensure that it does is to stay and fight for it. With the knowledge that if you don’t, you could lose it for real.

I mean, it would be so interesting to know the number of people in this audience who had grandparents who lived in the city of Detroit, in 1966, right. Exactly. A third or half the crowd, and they don't live there now. Because they can't because it's dangerous, and it's dysfunctional.

You can't use the schools. But if your grandparents were still alive, it'd be interesting to ask them like, what was eighth grade, like in a public school in Detroit? And they would say was great. And what's a Latin class every Wednesday really? You studied Latin in a public school in Detroit? Yes, we did. Detroit was one of the richest cities in the world and helped build this country. And then in one summer, it disappeared. And it disappeared, not simply because you had riots in the summer of 67 in Detroit, but because the productive people who live there left.

And that was a huge boon to Macomb and Oakland counties. But it completely destroyed the city of Detroit, your grandparents built those brick buildings that are being reclaimed by the prairie right now.

And as you drive through Detroit, and I always drive through Detroit, every time I visit my wife's family, I drive through Detroit every single time and every single time I'm left with the exact same thought which was, this is a magnificent place.

This is an unbelievable city. This is fundamentally one of the prettiest places in America, the buildings are unbelievable. The abandoned buildings are unbelievable. And the beauty of Detroit, it's a little bit it's a little bit like Pompeii, because it happened in one day, or one week, the riots of 67. I remember the first story I ever did not to get sidetracked. But I did it in Detroit. It was a guy called Keith Butler was on the city council and I went to interview him in 1991. And his church was in a rough part of the city. Well, the whole city is rough, but at the roughest part of the city, and I was driving in a cab to go interview him. And there was a building we drove by on the second floor was an ad for cool cigarettes. And it said 25 cents a pack. And that sign had been there since the summer of 67. When that store was burned and closed. It was like frozen in time.

And so that's the beautiful thing about driving through Detroit, as opposed to New York, or Chicago cities that have been torn down and rebuilt countless times, Detroit just stopped. So as you drive through that city, you can tell what it was like on the day it burned. And it was an incredible place. Incredible.

And the people there just left, they just left. And I guess what I'm saying again, is we're running out of cities to run from. You think you're gonna be safe in your suburb? When HUD mandates density density when there's section eight in your neighborhood, which is coming?

Because you're not safe in your suburb? Actually, you're not. And next will be the rural area. I live in a town of 100 people. Why do I do that? Because I got sick of living in a city because I'm a coward. I guess I should have stayed. Everyone went insane with the BLM riots, and then COVID. And I said to my wife and our kids were grown I was like we're out of here. We're moving to a town of 100 people wherever one open carries and there's no violent crime whatsoever.

And yes, people do drink in the morning. That's true.

The Congresswoman has raised her glass.

But it's it's a humane and polite world. And I didn't want to deal with the rage that we saw all around us in a big city. And I feel much much happier Of course, drive around with my dogs in that town. But I also feel correctly like I ran away from something and I should have stayed in thought I was in that city for 35 years.

So I think this is these are the things I think about just because the weirdness of my own personal life. But I think that this will be obvious to everybody in America. There's literally no place to go.

Where you are now is probably the best it's ever going to be, it could get a whole lot worse. And you need to do everything you can to prevent that. And if that means that your life is going to be more uncomfortable, for the time being, or you faced greater risks, Dana Nessel decides to send you to prison. All right, that's the price. It's a smaller price than your ancestors paid. That's for sure.

So what do you do?

Stay and fight. But what does that look like before Dana Nessel comes to throw you in prison? What means first of all, getting rid of data, Nessel and the lunatics like it does. Leadership matters.

You can have a system that nobody actually supports, except the people directly benefiting from it. This is this is the main thing I've learned in the past five years that I never I'm 54 I've lived in this country my whole life. And because I am like everyone else in Washington actually kind of believed in the basic premise of democracy, which is the majority rules. That's the most basic fact of democracy, the people run their own government, you get a majority of people to vote for something. That's now the law.

And that's totally untrue. You can put it in a ballot referendum, some judge will overturn it. Well, what about democracy?

You can spend billions of dollars on a foreign policy theory that nobody actually supports doesn't matter.

In the end, most governments are run by a small group of people for their own benefit without reference to what the majority wants. And I hate to believe that that's true in this country. But all the evidence suggests that it is, in fact, it's provable. You know, how you prove it? public opinion polling, take a look at the latest Gallup poll, pick a poll. What are the top 10 issues for people in the United States, and then compare those to the priorities of your leaders.

So people are leaving Michigan? Because it's very hard to make a living here. And you're constantly hassled by a government that never stops growing, and that is leeching off an economy that hasn't grown in decades. Okay. That's the truth. Take a look at the priorities of the low IQ lunatic who's running your state Gretchen Whitmer? Who deserves zero respect, no respect.

Her priorities are what? Putting you in jail if you quote, Miss gender, somebody, what percentage of the population of the state of Michigan, even southeastern Michigan is on board with that as a top concern?

It's like, roughly around a 10th of 1%. Okay, in that range, the things that people care about Gretchen Whitmer couldn't care less about.

Because democracy isn't functioning. If democracy was functioning in America, in Michigan and California, the District of Columbia where I live, the state of Maine, any state of Texas.

How many Texans do you think are all on board with flooding? 7 million people crossed into their state illegally? What percentage? 00? I don't care what your race or national origin? Nobody has for that. That's insane. Has the governor of Texas done anything meaningful to stop that? No, the Republican governor, he's got a National Guard. He's the Commander in Chief of the National Guard, and it's Texas. So they're all large.

And they have double stack magazines in their side arms. You think they couldn't stop that in a week? If they do, of course, just assemble along the border? We're not we're not doing this? No, he refuses to do that.

He won't do it. And it's not like no one suggested I've suggested to him three times, including in private at a cocktail party in Dallas last year. What are you doing, man? Don't you have a National Guard? Why don't you seal the border? Oh, it's very complicated. No, it's not.

No, it's not. If someone's trying to break into my house.

It's not complicated to repel the person. Do you have a firearm? Or don't you? Are you willing to defend your house and your children? Or are you? Well, it's more complicated that really taught me how to speak slowly so I can understand it's no more complicated than that. It's more dishonest than that. You're lying to me. You don't want to do it because your donors don't want you to do it. It's that simple. Greg Abbott.

Liar, liar, and worse than liar betrayer of your own people. That's what that's what that is.

I was polite at the cocktail party. I didn't say any of that. But I fumed internally like an Episcopalian.

I thought those things but the point is, if you assume that just because everybody wants something, you're gonna get it think again, pow. It's very likely that in fact, you won't get anything that you want. You will just pay for what a small group of other people want. That's the way it works.

Boo Boo is right. Boo is

Right. It's not just frustrating. It's a betrayal of the core promise of the country, which is the people rule.

That's a criminal act. That is a criminal act. Let's just put this in context. It's not just like you have boutique weird right wing views in your that's how they want you to feel. Go. You're an extremist, really, I'm an extremist, unknown know that 7 million people into our country illegally whose names we don't know. In the middle of a drug war? Yeah.

I'm the one who's ignored over 100,000 fentanyl deaths every year, for the past five years. I hate to show a hands thing. But ask yourself, do you know somebody who's died of an opioid od in the last five years and everybody in this stadium does. And yet if you watch the news, or listen to the repulsive imposters, who run our country, it's never mentioned.

Really? Over 100,000 American born young people dead every year, and some of them are not drug addicts. It's not just like, you remember, as a kid, there's some junkie founded in the alley with a hypodermic needle in the crook of his arm. And you're like, well, that's sad, but also, you know, you're a junkie. No, these are 15 year olds who buy a Percocet on Instagram and are poisoned.

Because China is exporting the precursor chemicals for fentanyl into Mexico where it was shipped here directly by the drug cartels and put into pills that are not advertised as fentanyl. It's called poisoning. poisoning the US population of a knocked of the elderly, this is not COVID. These are the people who will continue our civilization. This is our future. These are young people.

I mean, I know them, and I live in a pretty weird world. I mean, I've lived in rich person world for I don't anymore, but I did. There are people in my neighborhood whose kids died that way who were poisoned to death. And nobody said anything about it.

Multiply that times over 100,000 Every year think that's a core concern. Yep. Think if 100,000 People were dying on playground equipment every year, we'd have no more playgrounds.

I don't even I don't even get into the COVID thing. I know many people died of COVID. I never met one.

And a lot of people got sick from the vaccine, but whatever. That's not allowed. Shut up. Okay. But the point is huge things can happen. Huge things can happen right in front of you right out in the open. It's not some, like crazy conspiracy that you have to get out of the dark web to learn more about it. It's your neighbor's boy just died. He's in ninth grade. He bought a Percocet and they found him dead. When they woke them up for school and nobody cares. And we know how it's happening. We're not guessing. And nobody cares. Oh, it's more complicated than No, it's not complicated. And it's not complicated is they are destroying the country. Whether it's on purpose or not is immaterial, it does not matter. They are doing it. And everyone passively sits back as if it's not happening. And if you continue to passively sit back as if it's not happening, what's going to happen? Will it decelerate or accelerate?

Yeah, those of you who have served in prison, no. First, they cut in front of you in line. Okay?

It doesn't get better from there than they sell you for a pack of cigarettes. You got to say, Stop. You cannot treat me this way. This is not your country, it's mine. Period.

So the two ways you do this, are by organizing and speaking. And on the question of organizing, organizing is difficult. Some people have a brain for it, others don't.

But the principle is not complex. You are stronger in a group. And this is exactly why the Biden administration has handed out 20 and 25 year prison sentences to people who didn't actually do anything. In the last week on January 6, why? Because they were in some group that was probably at least half federal agents, but whatever. The idea of people being organized, of coming together with a common purpose is terrifying. The left I will say to their great credit are masters of organizing.

They are dutiful, they show up. They are disciplined.

And they are willing to put aside their differences for the sake of achieving a common goal. They don't argue with each other in public. They just all say the same thing. They all vote for the same person because they know their strength and numbers. Conservatives, on the other hand, are very focused on their family, their faith, their jobs, politics comes at least forth in their higher hierarchy of concerns. And they also have integrity and self respect. So it's very hard to get a conservative person to repeat some talking point he doesn't actually believe at all.

They won't just sit around and wait for whatever the new lie of the day is, and then just repeat it with dead eyes on television. Liberals have no problem doing that, because they know that's the path to power. But they're right, it is the path to power organizing is the path to power. So if I were trying to figure out what to do in Michigan, I'd go right to the problem, which is your teacher's name. It's really simple.

And it's hard for conservatives to do that. Because they're very easily intimidated by moral aggression. You see this in the gun debate, time after time.

So if someone comes to you and says, we're going to hike up the crime rate to a point where you have a nonzero chance of getting murdered, but we're going to take away means of defending yourself.

You'd be like, No, I don't think so. But that's not what they do. They say guns are bad guns kill people. It's gun violence, gun violence, okay. I live in a town with 100% gun ownership, and there's no violence.

It's also 100%. Chainsaw ownership. There are very few chainsaw related crimes in my county. No, the object isn't committing the crime. A person is.

But they'll get right in your face and say guns are the problem. And if you care about children, people who have no children will lecture you have many children, about the children.

And rather than saying, I'm sorry, how many kids do you have you barren freak? Get out of my face?

No, oh, the children? Well, I love children, I've got four of them. I want to help the children. It's like you're speaking in bad faith, you want to control me?

Leave, don't be intimidated.

And so on the question of organizing, if people who are against weather, and I don't even know what conservative means anymore, but if you're against what we're doing now, a system that does not serve people that only hurts them, that makes them weaker, unhealthier, less reasonable, more dependent on the people in charge, that's the program.

If you're against that you need to organize. And if I were approaching Michigan, I would say let's find a billionaire.

And let's spend the money not on 32nd ads, we're gonna spend it destroying the teachers union in Michigan. It's really simple.

It is disgusting. That government employees get to rig the system in favor of the people who pay them. It's really that simple. And by the way, Oh, bless you, son. Thank you.

I don't know what you're saying. But I agree with you.

Sorry, that's vodka. I am in Michigan.

There's no reason that people who provide preside over a system that doesn't actually teach kids to read, if you if you are in any way connected to the Detroit Public School system, you have no moral authority at all. None. Zero. And nobody says that. You see some political hack on television? And I speak for all teachers. No, you don't. You speak for the Democratic Party, you're disgusting, and we're gonna put you out of business.

If I were paying for this, I would focus on the problem, which is organization. And that really is the answer to the first question I asked, which is how does a state full of really nice people, decent people, political and non political, I'm including a ton of people who think they're Democrats in that, by the way, you still a blue collar Democrats, even today in Michigan, I'm sure somewhere, you know, former union guys or whatever, who think it's 1978. You don't understand that the party they support has completely different priorities that are at odds with them.

Totally different values than they had? When Walter Luther was running it. It's a totally different system, but they haven't updated their files. They don't know that.

So I would make the case to them. That no, these people are criminals. What they're doing is totally immoral. And they should never be allowed to walk in public with their head held high.

They should live in shame. So if you're, you know, I remember thinking this, you know, so I grew up in affluent, well educated places, which are also not accidentally the most liberal places in the world right now. So when I go home to the town that I grew up in, or if I go to Georgetown in DC, where I spent my childhood, you know, people yell at me at the street, fascist, fascist.

And if people yell at you enough, luckily, I've got extremely high self esteem, but let's say I didn't, but even me, man, I know who I am. I don't really care what you think of me, right? But even me, like if people yell at you. You loudly enough, you can imagine you've done something wrong, you can get off balance, you can lose your heart.

Whatever the life force is that gives you dignity that causes you to stand up straight and speak clearly without shame. It can affect that.

And I would say people who are against the atrocities that are taking place daily in our political system need to regain that. And to speak Absolutely, clearly and say no.

Does that work?

So that's the second question. Does it work? To tell the truth without apology?

Like how powerful are words really, very, whoever said very is absolutely right.

So without getting boring about it, but last spring, this spring, I decided I had been grown up in this sort of ridiculous Christian faith that no longer really exists called the Episcopal Church, which is basically just total Wicca now. Pure paganism. And so I spent my whole life in this and I was like, I went to the schools and brought my kids to the schools and went to church on Sunday. And I was like, the one thing that we never talked about in church ever, I don't think was the Bible that was for like the snake handlers or whatever, in the south already in the Bible. We didn't have that at all.

We had ton of cocktails, a lot of like, you know, our social program, we're helping the homeless every year, there'd be more homeless, my church would buy tents for the homeless than they tripled in size into like, I'm glad the homeless have tents. But now there are three times as many homeless, are we really helping Shut up?

Anyway, so I spent all these years in this church before finally escaping with my life. And I thought I've never read the Bible. So I should just read it and see what's in there. I'm not gonna do a Bible studies want to read it. So I'm almost done. It's been amazingly interesting. But one of the things I notice in this book, especially in the the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible is there, all these groups I've never heard of before, the Hittites and the Ammonites, none of the big ones, the Assyrians still exist, the Babylonians still exist, or none, but they're all these different groups.

And they're not small groups. They were like in charge of the world and the known world at the time. They had massive armies that rolled into cities and enslaved everybody, and then they disappeared. And there is no remnants. So I, I'm sitting there reading the Bible with my Wikipedia on the side, like who the Ammonites answer, no clue.

We have no idea who a lot of these people were no clue.

And they were in charge of the known world. It wasn't that long ago was like 3000 years ago, they ran everything. And now we're not even sure where they lived.

And they had the most advanced weapons systems in the ancient world. And they're totally gone. And we can only guess as to their identity. You are one of them. You are the Syrian? Yes. The Assyrians were known to be trifled with at all. Congratulations, you had fierce ancestors.

So we don't have any physical evidence of even the existence of a lot of these groups. But you know, what we do have is the description of them in words.

In those words, that document forms the basis of Western civilization, that is Western civilization, is the Bible. What is Western civilization? It's the Bible. That's what it is. I mean, I had no idea I made it to 53 without knowing that.

I think that information was hidden from me. But it tells you that the power of those words far exceeded the state of the art military power of every civilization in history, they are gone, but the words remain. And the words continue to change people, and to change the world. So what matters? What matters is telling the truth, in words. It's not enough to think it.

It's essential to articulate it, to say it out loud. And when you do that, remarkable things happen.

And this is true, even in your personal life. Certainly you've been in an argument with someone you love. And the person will say something good or bad. And everything will change. If you're in an argument with someone you love, and you say something horrible, particularly if it's true about that person that will affect your relationship for the rest of your life.

You can't take those words back. If I get in a fight with my brother, and I punch him in the face may have happened.

Everybody sobers up and it's fine. But if I say something truly cruel about him, that is true, our relationship will never recover. The words are more powerful than the action. And that is exactly why they're trying to control your words. And that's exactly why the First Amendment precedes the second, there is a reason in the order.

It's not just that it's nice to say what you think. And that it's essential to human dignity to be able to express what you really believe, though that is true. You cannot be a full citizen. If you can't say what you think you are instead of slave. You're if you're not allowed to say what you think you are not a citizen, you are slave. It's that simple. And you don't need physical shackles because you have them in your head already.

So that is all true. But that's not why they're trying to control what you say. They're trying to control what you say.

Because they know that if you say it, nothing will ever be the same. And this is exactly why they hate Trump. And this is not an endorsement of Trump, but it's just interesting, since I've known, you know, watch the whole Trump saga, and I've had various feelings at various times, I've been incredibly frustrated by Trump because honestly, who couldn't be. And then other times I've been totally inspired and excited. But the whole time. I'm watching Trump. I'm thinking to myself the core question which no one ever asks, which is why do they hate him so much?

I honestly why do they hate Trump so much?

It's the talking. It's the Talking is something is Trump's program is so radical. Are you joking? He'd be if this were 1985. He'd be like a center left liberal. It's not radical, that's fascism. Are you joking? No,

No, it has nothing to do with what he does. It has everything to do with the fact that for whatever reason, his brain is not entirely controlled by the people in charge. And because he's not entirely controlled.

But first of all, it tells you that everybody else is entirely controlled. If like Trump is the one they hate the most, like, what did Trump do wrong? I mean, you can say, Oh, well, geez, orange or whatever, okay, fine. But like, has he really committed a crime so severe that we should send him to prison for the rest of his life? That's insane.

And half the Republicans in Washington, probably closer to about 95% would be very psyched if he went to prison for the rest of his life. So why is that? I'll tell you exactly why I know, because I've watched this really carefully from Washington, first entire term. And then the subsequent three years, they hate Trump, because they fear Trump, and they fear Trump, not because of what he might do. But because what he might say, at any moment, Trump might be autistic enough to tell the truth about what's actually happening.

I was in DC when this started, and Trump had the greatest line I've ever heard. And no one even noticed it except me because I spent my life in Washington, but he was having some debate and somebody says something about NATO, which is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization postwar to prevent the Soviets from invading Western Europe. And Trump goes, What's the point of NATO?

And I remember thinking, What a stupid question, what's the point of NATO, everyone knows the point of NATO like to prevent the Soviets from invading Germany, but I was like, but there are no more Soviets. That ended in 1991.

So like, what is the point of NATO? That's actually then I was thinking to myself, because I had been living in DC. So I was like, captured by the group think that does capture you if you live in a place long enough.

Remember, my wife who grew up outside Detroit being like, why would anyone buy a Japanese car? That's insane. You know, I mean, she just grew up here, to this day, she would never have a foreign car, like, what? They can't really be better. You know, you're just you're a product of the world you live in. So I'd never thought of like, what's the point of NATO? And Trump said that? And I remember thinking, Well, that's an entirely fair question. I'm sure there's a good answer. anybody? Anybody? No one could answer it. And instead, they attacked him. Like he was Hitler.

And I remember thinking like, Why are you mad at him for asking what turns out to be a totally legitimate question, and maybe you've got a good answer. What is it? Oh, shut up. Oh, shut up. That's your answer, really.

And it was that kind of thing. And it was the fear that he might say, one of 1000 things that you're not allowed to say, which is pretty much everything at this point. And by the way, I'll stop with this and take those two questions. But if you want to know, this is and I'm being completely sincere.

What's true. The true things are the things that you can't say. I cannot remember the last time someone in public life was prosecuted or even criticized for lying if lying was a crime, I mean, your governor would be in supermax for life. If being incompetent was a felony, she'd be on death row. Banning paint sales during COVID.

It's unbelievable. But there's no penalty for lying. And there's no penalty for incompetence. So what do we penalize every society penalizes something. There's a death penalty offense in every society for the beginning of time. What's ours? It's telling the truth.

If you tell the truth, the real truth, the no BS truth, like what's actually going on here? Is this actually working? And no, it's not why isn't it working? If you were to be honest about that, you're done.

So you have to ask yourself, like, what does it say about a society where the only penalty is for noting what's true? It says something pretty bad about that society. Do you want to live in a place where lying is mandatory? No.

It's a third world country, as someone just said, literally, two days ago, I was in downtown Buenos Aires. And I said to somebody, the economy has completely collapsed, they have hyperinflation. And they said, what's the exchange rate on the peso, the Argentine peso to the US dollar? And they're like, well, the government claims it's 350 pesos to the dollar. But actually, it's over 700. I was like, so the government lies about what the value of its own currencies are. Absolutely. I was like, that's crazy. And by the way to pay for lunch, it takes a stack of pesos the size of a cinderblock. You need a backpack, just buy a pack of cigarettes. It's unbelievable. But I was like, I can't believe the government lies about the value of its own currency. And I was like, Oh, wait.

I shouldn't be surprised. Because mine does, too. And about everything else. So if you want to make that better, I'll stop with this. I think the only answer is to tell the truth calmly and slowly and fearlessly. Everybody knows what it is.

They'll come at you. First, they'll tell you you're hurting someone's feelings. You're mean. That's always there trying to appeal to your basic decency, and then subvert it. No one wants to be mean, they did this during COVID. When you should take the shot? Well, what's in the shot? Shut up and take it. But I don't need this generally head COVID.

I'm 56. I'm just random. Iron Man. Shut up and take the shot. What if I don't want you You're killing your grandparents? Okay.

In that case, that's the first thing they do they accuse you of being mean.

Then the second thing they do is they call you insane. You're a conspiracy theorist. Really, if I were the sort of person who gloated, I will keep a list of all the times I personally have been called a conspiracy theorist or a wacko and then compare them to the outcome five years later,

they all turn out to be true. And I try to be a decent progress and not brag about myself, but like, the list is long, very long. And then the third thing they do is just criminalize telling the truth. And you're seeing that now. There are people who are going to jail for non trivial lengths. By the way, anyone who's ever been to a jail knows, and there are a bunch of sheriffs here. And they know best of all, anytime in jail is not trivial. Anytime behind bars, a drunk driving offense for a night can change your life. You don't want to go to jail, period. It's not a joke. And anyone who tells you Oh, it's good to club fed, where they have volleyball, right?

Taking away a person's freedom and locking him in a cage, Rick can see the stars at night, is short of killing, and maybe more than killing them. The gravest thing you can do another human being, so no one should ever minimize the penalty of prison time or jail time. It's profound. It'll destroy you and your family. And they're sending people to prison for saying that the last election was rigged, which it was.

So oh, how can you say the last election was rigged? Well, when the country's largest law enforcement organization, the FBI actively works on behalf of one political party. And when its largest intelligence gathering agency, the CIA does the same. It's a little bit like what's happening in Michigan, when federal employees paid for by the tax dollars of every one, take an aggressive position on the side of one political party, you can't have a fair election, because you're using public money to put your thumb on the scale on behalf of a partisan cause. It is totally immoral.

And it's not free and fair. If our election took place in Bolivia, the 2020 presidential election took place in Bolivia. I can promise you, the State Department would report back and say that was not a free and fair election.

And Wikipedia would report it was is a clouded election, because there was fraud and interference, which there was. If some oligarchy some tech oligarchy spent nearly half a billion dollars to control the mechanics of the Bolivian election in 2020, we would say it's not a legitimate election. But when Mark Zuckerberg doesn't in the United States, oh, geez, just helping with COVID. Yeah, is really, really afraid of COVID, I'm sure.

Yeah. So for saying that out loud, people are going to prison. And of course, the whole point is to convince you not to say it out loud. So, don't let them that's the only point. Don't let them.

And if you keep telling the truth, some of you probably get indicted by Dana Nessie. Where you're going to women's prison or better, but still still prison. But it's worth it anyway. Don't be intimidated. your children's future depends on your bravery.

Tell the truth. Yes, ma’am. Yes it's a great question. I'm just gonna repeat the general outline for those who didn't hear it, which was, if you take a stand like that, will there be someone with power to back you up? And you use the military analogy? And you said, if I'm running face first on the barbed wire and letting others run over my back, which is effectively what the people who did the Nessel trying to send a prison have done? Will there be anyone to help me? Where are the generals? And the truth is this is the inverse of a functioning military force with functioning army, where the generals lead. In fact, in our own military.

No.

The generals follow in our current system, we have no leadership. That's the point. And if there was leadership, we wouldn't be here in the first place. And so I'm sorry to say that. But since I know a lot of the people personally, who are the generals, I can tell you, it really is like Bolivia, they're sitting back there with a chest full of medals, and they've never heard the crack of gunfire. I mean, they're cowards. They're followers. It's just true.

And, and you know that that's true. And when you're frustrated by the leaders of the movement, whether it's a TV network or some senator,

you're frustrated, because they're not leading. That's why you're frustrated. And you know, they're cowards. And you know, I mean, I think it's probably an overstatement to say they're secretly working for the other side. Some of them are. But it's not that they're secretly working for the other side. It's they're afraid to stand up to the other side. They're, they're afraid they're cowards. Now, that's very distressing. But the good news is because they are cowards. And because they are followers, how did followers get in positions of leadership? I don't understand that. But because they are followers, they will follow a Popular Movement.

That's the truth. If they see something, if they see something happening, and the media will of course, you know, you'll immediately you'll become Nazis. I'm just letting you know that, okay.

And if you're a normal person, this is I've lived this. So it's like, the first time someone calls you a Nazi. You're like, what? I hate the knotch. What are you even talking like, it's disgusting to be called a name like that. It's very upsetting. And the trick is just to remind yourself, I know who I am. I'm not motivated by hate. I'm motivated by love of country and love of my family. You're not going to define me, I'll define myself, thank you very much. And in my own life, it's like is my wife proud of what I'm doing? If she is, she's a lot better person than Kamala Harris. So like, Up yours, Kamala Harris, I don't care what you think of me. I'm from here. I was born in this country, I'm going to die in this country. I'm not going to be bullied by you, because you're calling me naughty names. It has no power over me at all. And I think if you go into it with that posture,

people will follow you, including leaders. The last thing I'll say, what's the core prerequisite for leadership and it's bravery. It's bravery that once was true in the military.

And it's certainly true historically in the military. I mean, King David fought the battles. And so by the way, did European armies during the medieval period, King Harold was killed in 1066. Like the leader, the English leader was killed by the French he got an arrow through the eye. What was the king doing in a battle zone because he was leading the army. That's what he was.

doing because you couldn't be king. Unless you were brave enough to risk your life that was a prerequisite for leadership bravery. You hadn't earned it.

You're some sort of soft handed coward. Well, then you can't be in charge, go to the soft handed coward section.

But don't Don't you have no authority over me. So, people, and the reason the system was designed like that is because human nature is designed like that. People will follow the brave, they will not follow the weak period. And dogs are this way. Dogs are this way. If you can't convince your dog

to do what you want.

Either the dog is brain damaged, unlikely. Or the dog doesn't take you seriously. The dog knows who means it. It's not a matter of being mean to your dog. But it's like a really safe so many dogs and I see this every day.

All the dog will kind of give it a little doggy finger. It'll be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

We don't we don't do that here. Okay, okay, excuse me.

And people are exactly the same way. If you're afraid if you're tentative people can smell it on you. You don't need to make the case they can smell it. It's an aroma of fear as a smell. You're going to turbulence on a plane, you get off, you don't go I stick What's that smell it's fear.

And people can perceive that. And so if there's a group of brave reasonable people

whose demands are rooted in the American Constitution and American history in the basic expectations of people everywhere, which is for safety, no chaos, honesty, and a decent future for their kids. Those are not crazy demands. Those are basic human demands. are fake leaders will follow you.

Yes, ma'am.

Hang on, just said.

What's your name? My name is Kristen Megyn. Kelly. I am both a media contributor and an exposure scientists and I have a question because my colleague Tammy Clark and I were responding to East Palestine, Ohio. And you seem to be the only mainstream media individual who was covering the story with one of our plaintiffs, Courtney Miller, when the left is usually the tree huggers and the pro environmentalists Why do you think it is that you were the only top figure covering what was happening East Palestine, Ohio, I know we have regulatory capture. But I still cannot understand why the left and CNN and MSNBC have not covered this? Well, because they hate the people who live there. That's why.

And the only reason I was interested in it is because I live in a place that so similar to us Palestine, same kind of population former industrial center in my town was never an industrial center, there were two Mills, one made clothes, pins together made dowels for thread. So it was always kind of low level working class, manufacturing. But those went away in the 80s. And the people there have been either moving away or getting addicted to fentanyl ever since and being unemployed and sad. So I mean, I've lived it. I mean, I haven't lived that I have seen it. I've lived around it on and off my whole life. And what's amazing is not that manufacturing died, but that nobody cared that it died and nobody cared about the human wreckage left behind. And it didn't reach me. And you know exactly why they didn't care because the demographic was wrong. That's just true. And I hate that you either believe that all human lives are equal, not equal in their ability, but equal in their moral value, because God created us all are you doing that all lives matter? You either believe that or you don't. And I believe that.

And they don't believe that. And they don't believe in God.

They're atheists. True. They think they're God. And they can aside, they can assign value to human life. But I don't believe that. I didn't create people. I didn't create the worlds I just showed up here in 1969. And I'll be gone soon.

So I'm not the author of life.

And so I have to kind of respect what's clearly true, which is that all human life is equal in value,

period. It doesn't mean all human life is equal in computer programming.

But it means when it really comes down to it on our deathbeds, we're all the same.

And they don't believe that and It enrages me. And, you know, people are like, well, you're just saying that because you're white. Right? First of all, I'm not from a working class white background. Like I have less in common with the people of East Palestine on some cultural level that I have in common with some Princeton educated black guy who lives next to me in DC. I remember just being honest, it's not about the same sharing the same skin color. It's about sharing the same humanity

in the past

People in Washington, people in charge of the West

don't think that way at all. They think that some population should be exalted and given special privileges and others should be allowed to die. And I think it's totally grotesque. I'm so offended by that I can barely stand it.

And I remember when someone came out and said, during

the summer of 2020, after George Floyd died, someone's like, well, all lives matter.

And the guy was fired for it. And no politician stood up and said, I'm just telling you, in point of fact, as a factual matter, all lives matter. There was no one politician who had the huevos to say that. And I remember thinking, I don't even recognize this country. If that's a white supremacist sentiment.

What are you even talking about? That's a Christian sentiment. It's a human sentiment.

And they were allowed to take that position unchallenged. And the results is the Fentanyl crisis, which again, they ignore is Palestine, which they ignore, and the general poverty

and desperation of rural America. And if you don't believe that, get the car and drive for 500 miles and see what your country looks like. I mean, again, I live there, so I see it every day.

It's like they don't care. Well, they're not caring disqualifies them from leadership and means that I will spend the rest of my life trying to shame humiliate and eject them from office, I mean.

What's your name?

Greg O'Neill. Tucker, thanks so much for being here today in the great state of Michigan. We deeply appreciate it. And let's thank the rinky family for having you here today. Thank you, Kevin.

Live Nation has played havoc on this event here today, they control 70% of the purchase sales that take place for tickets that control most of the media and that control most of the venues. That's frightening to me, when we want our freedom. What do you suggest we can do here? To stop this? We go to Congress, we say, Hey, wake up.

It's very frightening what took place on trying to change this venue or not have it at all? So Well, I agree with that. And I would I would just say I mean, it's hard for me to comment on because it, you know, it bears a me directly. But I would say i

i think this everyday like I think I'm the most moderate person I know.

I'm not for revolution. I like this country. Again, I grew up here. And I just want to return to like 1987 Euro graduated high school is a great country. And I had problems or whatever. But if that's considered extremism, this is not 1887 says 1987 was the other day. And if you think that living in 1987, America is some sort of Nazi hellscape and you're the freak and extremist as far as I'm concerned. Okay. So for them to suggest that I'm some sort of extremist reveals their extremism, just to make an obvious point. But I would say it's not just the the ticket sales or the venue company, it's virtually every big publicly held company to its JP Morgan, to shut down people's accounts or given details of people's financial transactions to the Feds without telling them when no crime occurred, because they had unfashionable political opinions. You saw this extra January 6, turning over people's bank records and credit card statements to the feds. That's shocking to me. It should take down JP Morgan over that in my opinion, it's Airbnb denying accommodation to people on the basis of their political beliefs. I thought we were against denying accommodation to people really, I thought we had a whole like revolution over that didn't wait. No. It's it's all of these companies but particularly in financial services companies. So that's scary. So like Bud Light. What makes you know what training beer you don't like it don't drink it. Good. I'm glad I'm happy to see Bud Light suffer. But, but fear, and I don't want to I know this could be shocking in Michigan, but I'm just being honest. Beer is not essential to life. Okay.

But food, shelter, they're essential to life. So if

I'm totally getting beers central if I totally great, but light though not.

But if you start tampering with the things that people really need, or making access to them contingent on reading some dishonest left wing script, which is what they're doing, then you're a totalitarian country at that point. And I don't understand D banking somebody is fascism flat out. And so I'm not really sure what you do. I mean, let me just I'll just say this, though.

that kind of behavior is so truly extreme. It's so intolerant. And it's so intolerable, that if they don't knock it off, you may have like act, you may have violence in our country, you can't keep behaving that way. And so in the interest of preventing some sort of National Violent national schism,

because if people can't live in a country unless they pretend that men can become women, for example, which they can, because it's detectable at the DNA level, start punching the science class here. But if you have to tell lies that stupid in order to stay in an air b&b, or have an account at JP Morgan,

then, you know, we're gonna have we're gonna have conflict in this country. So I would just hope that lawmakers would do something about it, not simply to respond to conservatives who've been marginalized, but to keep us from Civil War, we got to pull back from this stuff. Congress has to say I'm sorry, there are ways that we can hurt you, Airbnb, or JP Morgan. And in the case of JPMorgan a lot of ways. And we will, and we're gonna, we're gonna hurt you. Unless you stop doing that. You have to have a country where people's political beliefs don't determine whether they can stay indoors or eat food. Okay, because that's just North Korea. And I understand Jamie Dimon that you're not doing this, because you're mean you're doing it because you're under pressure to do it. But you can you have to hold the line, that everyone should have access to a bank account, even if they voted for Donald Trump, if that's okay.

And don't get down this road. And but we're going to need Congress to say there's literally nothing we can do about it.

Because it's not just one company, it's most companies, it's going to need congressional action. And by the way, they are afraid of lawmakers. Unfortunately, lawmakers are dependent on them. And that's where we have no reform. That's why Facebook is allowed to rig an election. And Google is allowed to rig an election, which they did. And no one does anything. Because the tech lobby in DC spends so much money on both parties that no one will stand up to them. But that has to change or else things could get super crazy.

Tucker, we're over here. Your name. My name is Alec Beaton. I'm 21 years old. And I first want to start off by thanking Erica Celia, that Breckenridge Skin Foundation pack for receiving give me the empty Castiglia scholarship.

So my question for you talker, as you talked about organizing groups of people, and how Troy has been lost in the prairie every year 16 million Christians 100,000 fishermen and 50,000 Hunters don't vote every year, but if they did, they would vote right wing.

On top of that, I want to ask you, how should Republicans capsulate this voting base? And do you agree that we should stop wasting time trying to retake cities like Detroit, which will never vote red? Which demographics proof?

I didn't fully comprehend the last part of your question. But I think like we should focus on gettable votes. Is that what you're saying? Yes, I think I think I mean, the Christian thing is, I mean, I don't want to be lectured or preachy, or whatever. I've already admitted, I was an Episcopalian. So I have no grounds for lecturing anyone on religion.

But I'm very, very distressed by the state of the American Christian church, and really disgusted by frankly, disgusted by it. And the amount of collaboration between pastors in Protestant, I'm talking about Protestant, I'm Protestant. So like, I can only assess that. But the amount of collaboration between Protestant pastors and

a government that hates them explicitly hates Christians and Christianity couldn't be more obvious, is shocking to me. And the number of pastors who like somehow decided that New Testament commanded their parishioners to take the COVID vaccine, you should resign, like you should apologize for saying that, at the very least. And I just was shocked by that I was completely in fact, I haven't been to church since that happened. I was so mad. And so like, you know, if I'm very sympathetic to Christianity, as you can probably tell, if I, if I'm too mad to go to church, I think you've done something wrong. I think that's fair. And in admitting, and I've done many things wrong in my life, but admitting it. And repenting is not only the Christian message, but it's also like essential for your own soul. And so they should admit that, and the insanity after George Floyd's death, where churches were getting up to say black lives matter, which is an aggressively anti Christian group, and Christian churches are promoting it. Got it like I've ever been that offended. So um, I don't know what it's I don't know what to say other than

Christians are part of the answer or the answer. And I wouldn't even just say Christians, I would just say this. I divide the world into two groups. People who think they're God and people who know they're not.

And

I'm a Christian, so I get kind of wound up about it. But I'm going to the Middle East tomorrow. I'll just be totally blunt with you. I like religion.

His people, and there's certainly parts of Islam that I, you know, I'm still mad about 911 anniversary is tomorrow. But on the other hand, you know, any people who have to pause five times a day to be reminded that they're not God, like those aren't my enemies, necessarily. It's true. I like people who know they're not God. It's the people who think they are God who are a danger to my family.

Because when you think your god, there's no limit on your behavior, when you know, someone's watching, you behave very differently. And so it's the hubris of the neoliberal global leadership that scares the crap out of me. They're literally telling you, they can change the weather. can change the weather, really? Bring water from that rock, and I believe you Oh, you can't shut up.

Anyway, yes, I think the Republican Party in Washington is has treated believing traditional Christians terribly. They have contempt for them. I think most Christians know that.

But if you were running a functional political party, you would be totally open about it. And

the only people I trust personally are in that category. I'm just telling you, we go out here.

Hey, took Whoa, that was loud. Hey, Tucker, gerstel, Donald, leader in the grassroots army. I want to thank Eric and Kevin,

for you for taking the time to come out here and tell the truth. But my question I think a lot of us here want to know, is when are you running for President?

Well, I thank you, thank you, for your question.

There's a lot of concern about security and politics. I mean, clearly, the intensity is ramped up to the point where security is a real concern. But I know that in my case with three daughters, I'd be assassinated immediately by them. If I tried to do something like that,

no, I mean, look, my gift, you know, I'm, I've never been elected to anything. My gift is talking.

My gift is talking. And

in general, I don't trust I don't trust people who stray from their lane. I've always felt that way. You know, the famous joke, like I'm a great actor, but what I really want to do is direct Shut up an act. Don't mean, like I was talk show host. I've been in journalist my whole life. 32 years, I'm the son of a journalist. That's kind of what I do. I know, being a journalist is like, probably right above, you know, asbestos manufacturer, child molester and the public view. But like the traditional view of journalism, where you find out what's going on, you tell people as they got heart centered professionals to trade. I like doing that. I'm pretty good at it. And at 54 to be like, well, actually, when it really was run a country.

That that might be an example of the kind of hubris that I despise. And I'll comment on it. You know, I feel like that's my strength.

But I have to say, if I could just stop with this, but it's make it obvious point. The caliber of politician is never been high. And there's some great ones. I have a few friends in politics, really great people there for the right reason. That does exist, for sure. But overall, the quality does seem to be in decline a little bit. And that's distressing, because these are important jobs like we make fun of Congress. You know, what do you do all day? Well, I don't know. Appropriate trillions of dollars. chart, the future of America does matter. We put a senile guy in his president. Like literally where we didn't 81 million voters did. Who are they? Can we name them?

Anyone million votes? Okay. More than Brock Obama. All right.

It's crazy. The lies they tell it? It's almost like the lies get more preposterous just to see if you'll believe him. Do you know what I mean? He got 81 million votes. Now. He's really running the government.

Duck. Are you ready for another one? Absolutely. Hi, Tucker. I'm Debbie Ringle. Born and raised here in Utica, both my great grandfather's but plants here many many many years ago. And they were part of the hogs hollow leadership.

When I think about what you said, in terms of holding your ground, don't leave, fight. I believe in that. My kids, I have three of them. The youngest is 23 went to university got indoctrinated. And they keep saying to me, is this really the hill? You want to die on? My? How? Yes, hell yes. This is a hill I wanna die. I will pay to get it up in the schools. I will fight against all of this indoctrination. And what I want to know from you, Tucker, and thank you so much for

Your bravery, in speaking truth to power is as a Christian, and knowing that what we're fighting against is those who believe their God. How are we? How do you what are your words of encouragement to all of us? I don't need any encouragement, I'm good, I'm strong, I will fight to my death and this, but to everybody else who's faltering and wavering, what is your encouragement to them? Well, I mean, my words of encouragement would be similar to the encouragement that I receive daily, which is from other people. I mean, it's amazing how depressing it is, and really has been since Memorial Day of 2020. That to me, that's when it started, when they started telling all these lies about George Floyd and then burned all the cities and then claimed they didn't, and then COVID happened. It's like, it's been true insanity since about May 30 2020. And hard for me to look at the news. But that's my job. So I have to so I found myself wrestling with discouragement and rage, more rage and discouragement. And you know, you don't want to be angry, you can't make wise decisions and anger, angers a sin. So avoid anger, but it's hard to avoid anger. So I have just been so struck, as I've seen all these things happening that I find repulsive and dishonest, really just the lying at scale is going on. I've been struck by all the wonderful, and truly decent and kind people that have emerged in my life almost as a counterbalance to that mean, I don't know, if you remember, but like 10 years ago, how many truly deep conversations did you have about life in the world and depth in the future of democracy with other people, like probably not too many. I feel like the country has gotten unhappier, but also deeper. I feel like people's relationships have become, you know, I've lost a million friends, because I'm now a fascist or whatever.

But I've also gained so many friendships that are even more meaningful to me.

I see that everywhere. And I don't think you need to be a believer to ask like, is that natural? Or is there some sort of supernatural element to that? And I think that's kind of most people's experience of life. Like, there's tragedy, but there's joy, and you get them in roughly equal measure, maybe a little bit more joy than tragedy, but that's just kind of the experience of living.

And I have found that as my anguish over the country has increased, so has the, the joy and the wonder I feel in dealing with other people. And I think a lot of people have had that experience. I was talking about my mother, it was like, had this like such a deep conversation.

And I'm like,

would we have had this five years ago? No.

So just don't be discouraged. Open your eyes to the beauty around us. And the last thing I'll say is, this is a very beautiful country physically, it just physically,

in all of our conversation about the environment is about this absurd global warming, trying to use swear words on stapler nonsense. That's what it is whoever said that, yes. And

but no one ever talks about the beauty of the physical beauty of America. It's ridiculous. You drive around Michigan. My wife's family is a place in northern Michigan, you drive we find a Detroit drive up there and would not come to Michigan. It's like by the end, I just have a grin on my face. And by the way, we drive in Michigan, we only listen to Michigan artists, period. So it's 100% Motown and Bob Seger.

Right, et cetera, et cetera. Kid Rock. But by the time I get there, I'm like, I can't believe how pretty it is. And I think people spend so much time on their phones captured by the screens in rage machine. They never open their eyes and like, look at those trees right there. They're insane. What are they gonna look like in four weeks when they turn?

Awesome, unbelievable.

Anyway, whatever I can go on forever. One last question. Yes. Your name please, Cherie to do. So my question is and a patriot over here mention the citizens in Ohio palaeocene. And I have been digging deep a little bit into what the citizens of Lahaina Maui have experience and just the plight of those people and there doesn't seem to be a lot of you know, talking about this and mainstream media and my heart goes out to these people speaking of beautiful places, and I just wonder what your thoughts were on that and how we can get the word out. The people there are begging for people to know and understand what's happened there. Yes, I agree. And if I'm just gonna be totally blunt with you, I I can tell that you're upset about it. And I love that because we should when we see American suffering be really moved.

by it, and you hope that we haven't become so callous with the endless litany of tragedy that we don't really feel for people on a gut level. I've never been to East Palestine. I've never been to Maui. But you'll get those pictures, you're like, Man, these are my countrymen, you know, and you're crushed by it, we shouldn't be crushed by it. I don't know, I don't know the answer.

A lot of questions I have about that fire. But my most basic question is, How is this not dominating news coverage? I don't understand that. And it's scary to me that, you know, the people who allocate the trillions every year and who are in charge of the defense budget, or whatever, are much more interested in what happens in Ukraine than they are in McAllen, Texas, or Maui. And, I mean, it's sort of gets to my core concern about all of it.

People are flawed and human organizations are, by definition, flawed, and you're always gonna have horrible things happen, because, as noted, that's the nature of life. People get sick, we all die. In the end, there's something inherently sad about life, I get it, I don't expect none of us should expect an easy ride or a perfect outcome, because we're not going to get it. But what we should expect is for someone to care,

and I do think that really is part of Trump's power in any politician like Trump, the one thing about Trump is

people who don't have power can feel in their right, that Trump doesn't hate them.

And like, that makes up for a lot. Because most people with power doing you actually, and they hate you know, they hate you because they're indifferent.

I'm watching a really close friend go through a divorce right now, which is, everyone's here has seen it. Speaking of tragedy, there's almost nothing worse than that up close when you get it as a very close friend. So I'm hearing all the details. And he said to me the other day, it's gotten to the point where we're not yelling at each other, we just don't care. And that's the end stage. That's true hate when you don't care.

It is, it's just and that is kind of what a lot of suffering Americans are getting from their so called leaders. It's they're not even they don't even care doesn't move them at all. doesn't intersect with their priorities. And I think that's I think we're setting the stage for something really, really bad. I would rather last thing I'll say is I would rather have a leader who was even drunk. I put up with that.

But who cared like so when you stood up and said, you know what's happened in Ballard I can hear your voice quivering. It's like you really care. I don't know what happened there. I don't know what the answer is. I don't know how he presented prevented again. But I know that any solution begins with being deeply moved by what just happened. And if you don't have that, you won't have a solution.

Thank you. Thank you for having me. So before you leave, we I want to present you me and Kevin with a couple of things. We have our official America first shirt. We support our police on the side and then stand up Michigan embroider Michigan, we have one motto together and we're trying to bring and Garrett scratch autonomy in every organization that is fractured in this state. There's one thing we can believe in. And that is choose freedom man, choose freedom.