Bret Baier on possible national lockdown: Trump 'is balancing out basically a nuclear bomb on the U.S. economy'

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Bret Baier: White House faces balancing act between protecting Americans and protecting the economy

'Special Report' anchor Bret Baier joins Tucker Carlson on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

Tucker Carlson invited "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier on Friday night to discuss the possibility of a federal lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic, with the host calling that type of a measure "extreme."

"I do think that the president is leaning towards letting the governors in this federal society decide these, make these decisions on 'shelter-in-place' rules. And as you mentioned, he is balancing out basically a nuclear bomb on the U.S. economy," Baier said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- and you can say what you want about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the data that it puts out -- but [it] said that one in four small businesses is either closed or ... teetering on closing. You have efforts to salvage these things, but for another month alone, let alone talk about a year."

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"You're talking about major devastation, the economy, and that is a policy decision that goes beyond the medical decision," Baier added.

Carlson earlier commended White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci for his work and his record, but the host questioned whether or not the idea of a national lockdown was an extreme measure.

“I don’t understand why that’s not happening," Fauci said on CNN Thursday night of the national lockdown.

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Baier noted that Fauci was open to different areas of the country having different restrictions than hot spots like New York before commenting on the impact of the data.

"When pressed on it, experts say the models are only as good as the data you put in, right. So the data that they're getting from Spain and Italy and these countries all abroad," Baier said. "And now here in New York and New Orleans and Washington, they're putting that in. It could change that curve. And once you start going down, maybe it changes the trajectory."