Rep. Matt Gaetz explains why he voted for War Powers Resolution

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Rep. Matt Gaetz explains why he voted for War Powers Resolution

Declaring war is a non-delegable duty of the United States Congress, says Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee.

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," January 9, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: Good evening and welcome to "Tucker Carlson Tonight." The president is holding his first rally of the year. Right now, he is speaking to supporters in Toledo, Ohio. We will have all the highlights for you later this hour. But here's a preview of what's happened so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So we seek friends, not enemies. But if you dare to threaten our citizens, you do so at your own grave peril.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So we're monitoring that rally for news and we'll cut in if it happens, especially news on Iran. But first, there's a new mystery involving that country.

Now you may remember a Ukrainian passenger jet, a commercial flight crashed a few hours after Iran fired missiles just the other night. It turns out that jet which had 176 innocent people on board was likely shot down by the Iranian government shortly after it took off from Tehran.

Why? Was it an accident? Did the Iranians think it was something else? Was it intentional? We're not a hundred percent certain at this hour, we don't have the black box. But Mike Boyd is an aviation security analyst who has watched this carefully and has some sense of it. He joins us tonight. Mike, thanks so much for coming on.

MIKE BOYD, AVIATION SECURITY ANALYST: My honor.

CARLSON: So how do you think this happened?

BOYD: Well, I think their air defenses were up and ready for Americans to come, and they had morons running. It's as simple as that. They didn't know what they were really doing. And it's very, very clear.

Take it to Vegas and make book on it. This was a missile, it was probably not intentional. But it's from a very sloppy country running a very sloppy airport.

CARLSON: That's not the Iran that's been described to us recently, which is, you know, has a cutting edge military and the diabolical, you know, terrorist headquarters. So you're saying that they actually are incompetent a lot of the time.

BOYD: They have to be incompetent to let this happen. I mean, remember, you know, they have a lot of weaponry and all of that. But the fact is, what they just did is cut themselves off from the rest of the air transportation system.

No airline in its right mind is going to want to fly to Tehran. At the end of the week, they'll have less air service in Grand Island, Nebraska, because no one wants to take a risk.

CARLSON: So that may account for why they apparently lied about it. I mean, the first reports that we got from, I believe, the Iranian government was that this was a mechanical problem that brought down the aircraft. Is that a plausible explanation?

BOYD: No, they had no idea to say it was technical. Then the biggest lie is when they turned around and said, we looked at the black box and some of it is missing. They don't have the equipment to open the thing, let alone play it.

So they don't know. They've been lying consistently. And I guarantee this, they're going to be very reticent to let anybody into that debris field because that will show that it was a missile. There's no question.

CARLSON: I mean, you're certain -- walk us through why you're certain of that.

BOYD: Well, number one, the airplane was what? Seven thousand feet when this happened. You know, the pilots would have said something, but what missiles do, they blow up in front of the airplane and that would take out the cockpit right away, number one.

There has been some video -- take it or leave it -- showing something reaching up to that airplane. But this has all the earmarks of a missile, there's no question about it. Somebody had some button on the missile launch and they launched a missile.

I don't think was intentional. I don't know. But these are crazy people over there. They're not normal.

CARLSON: So will the Iranian government -- I mean, presumably is on the hook for killing accidentally -- presumably, accidentally -- 176 people, a lot of Canadians on there on the flight. Will they ever concede that they did it, do you think?

BOYD: Probably not. Look, they've been lying for years. Why wouldn't they lie about this? I mean, they live in that that world where you just say whatever it is.

You know, they came out just tonight and said no, that's crazy. It didn't happen. They've been lying consistently and again, they don't care about
176 people. Take a look at the other things this government has done.

So I wouldn't put anything beyond that. But one thing they probably will never admit to it, and anything someone says that that was a missile, they'll keep on denying it. There's people in this country who will probably say that's a pretty good answer.

CARLSON: Yes. Mike, thanks so much for that explanation.

BOYD: My pleasure.

CARLSON: Horrifying. Well, the prospect of military conflict with Iran has divided Washington along all kinds of different lines and it's divided the Republican Party as well. Republican Party as well.

Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat introduced a War Powers Resolution in the Senate. What will that do exactly? Well, it would limit the President -- any President's ability to take military action without getting approval from Congress.

It appears to have some bipartisan support after being angered by a briefing he received at the White House. Republican Mike Lee of Utah says he plans to vote for it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MIKE LEE, R-UTAH: It is not acceptable for officials within the Executive Branch of government. I don't care whether they're with the C.I.A., with the Department of Defense or otherwise to come in and tell us that we can't debate and discuss the appropriateness of military intervention against Iran. It's un-American. It's unconstitutional and it's wrong.

And I find it completely unacceptable.

On that basis, I've decided to support Senator Kaine's resolution, subject to the minor amendments that he and I discussed earlier today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Un-American, unconstitutional. That's what Senator Lee says. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina Meanwhile, says that debating this question is also un-American. In fact, it's betraying this country to its enemies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.: I think they're overreacting quite frankly, go debate all you want. I'm going to debate you. Trust me, I'm going to -- I'm going to let people know that at this moment in time to play this game with a War Powers Act, which I think is unconstitutional is that whether you mean to or not, you're empowering the enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, a similar resolution was passed, a resolution to restrain a President's power to go to war without getting Congress on board.

One of only three Republicans to vote for it remarkably was Matt Gaetz of Florida, who was one of the President's closest allies, maybe his single closest ally in the House of Representative. He joins us now.

Congressman, thanks so much for coming on. So I think it's fair to say you're certainly one of the people in the House closest to the president. He is completely opposed to this. You, as his close ally, voted for it. 
Tell us why you did that.

REP. MATT GAETZ, R-FLA.: I spoke to the president today, after one of America's brave patriots was laid down at Arlington, one of my constituents who passed away just days before Christmas in Afghanistan.

And the President told me he is more anti-war than I am, and I love the President for that, Tucker. The thing is, I think you've got a few of the advisers of the President who are trying to slow walk the administration into war.

When the President relies on his instincts, and we have the Trump Doctrine, we kill the terrorists and we come home. And I think this War Powers Resolution was worthy of support because it did not criticize the President. It did not say he was wrong in killing Soleimani.

But it did say that if any President wants to drag our nation into another forever Middle East war, that they require the approval of the United States Congress. That's something I deeply believe, and I think it's something that President deeply believes.

CARLSON: So why wouldn't -- I mean, first of all, I think the Constitution requires that. It's pretty obvious that it does. But why wouldn't Congress, if they're so in favor of a military action put themselves on the record endorsing it? It seems like one of the reasons people oppose this is because they're afraid, they're cowards in the Congress.

GAETZ: It's unfortunate that I think we have members of Congress that depart from what the framers and founders believed would happen. They believe that we would closely guard our Article 1 powers, and that we would ensure that no President would be able to take those away in any sort of affront to what was intended for us to be our responsibility.

It's my belief that declaring war is a non-delegable duty of the United States Congress. And it's ludicrous for any of my colleagues to suggest that we have to not do our job so that people in uniform can do theirs. We can actually do both, Tucker.

CARLSON: So just to be totally clear. You're one of three Republicans who voted in effect against the President stated position, but you just talked to the President, and he said that he is on your side.

GAETZ: Well, the President probably would have preferred that I vote with the other Republicans. He certainly said that, but I think on the broader questions of war and peace, Donald Trump understands that the pro-war candidate loses presidential elections.

Hillary Clinton was more pro-war and lost, and if you look previously, it's typically the anti-war candidates that won.

I think since 9/11, John Kerry was the only anti-war candidate that lost an election. And so I think that the President understands that and he is too smart to let Nancy Pelosi try to cast him as the pro-war candidate. And that's why I don't think we're going to war with Iran.

CARLSON: I think that's a smart analysis. Congressman, thanks so much for explaining that. I appreciate it.

GAETZ: Thank you.

CARLSON: Well, last night on this program, Congresswoman presidential candidate, Tulsi Gabbard called for American troops to be withdrawn permanently from Iraq. Here is how it went.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TULSI GABBARD, D-HAWAII, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Getting our troops out of Iraq and Syria is essential, because the longer that they are there, the more likely it is that they are at risk and that we will end up in this endless tit-for-tat back and forth quagmire of a war with people wondering what is it all for?

CARLSON: Exactly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Daniel Davis is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and he joins us tonight. Mr. Davis, thanks so much for coming on.

LT. COL. DANIEL DAVIS (RET), U.S. ARMY: Thanks for having me.

CARLSON: War with Iran averted, at least for the moment, is this the time to reassess staying in Iraq?

DAVIS: Well, we definitely dodged a bullet with this because it certainly could have gone wrong in many different ways. And I'm very grateful that it didn't.

But I don't think there needs to be any assessment at all. I think that the evidence and the facts on the ground have been overwhelming and abundantly clear for months that we need to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan -- I'm sorry, from Iraq and Syria, both.

And really this whole issue started -- and it's a perfect example of why. So on the 27th of December, that's when the American contractor and other troops were killed and wounded in that rocket strike, which is then what spawned the attack on the embassy, and then we had the Soleimani issue.

So all those things happened because of these rocket attacks that had been going on against American bases out there. Now, we're not doing any kind of military mission in Iraq or Syria that has anything to do with their security. All those troops are doing right now has been sitting in the desert defending themselves, and they're basically waiting to see if they get attacked with anybody. That is no way to use our troops. We definitely need to withdraw them.

CARLSON: Why would our leaders do that to our troops? Leave them in the middle of a hostile country? As you said, their mission consists of defending themselves against rocket attacks. They can't predict it. Why would our leaders do that?

DAVIS: Well, you know, there's just this, I guess, groupthink here in some of establishment Washington thinking that just -- I mean, reflexively pushes back against withdrawing troops anywhere, whether it's Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, you name it, Africa, anywhere.

Any talk and they always talk about how it's going to cause all of these cascading things, which is a bunch of rubbish. I'll just tell you flat out because I've been there, I've been -- I've fought in these kinds of engagements. I've been in many of these different parts of the world.

And I can tell you, they don't prevent any of that stuff. We prevent it in other ways. All this does is put our troops at risk. We do need to pull them out.

CARLSON: Yes, it's striking how people who spent a lot of their lives out in the field on these bases tend to conclude what you've concluded. And people in think tanks in Washington, of course, have another view.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Appreciate it.

DAVIS: Certainly. My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

CARLSON: Washington remains fixated on the Middle East for some reason. But Joe Biden says that's not the only problem facing America. He says the real problem is, we don't have enough desperately poor people moving here from other countries. We will tell you what he said and why.

Plus President Trump holding a rally this hour in Ohio. I have highlights from his address, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Here in Washington, our leaders spent the week focused on the Middle East, on Iran. But out there and the rest of the country, there are plenty of more pressing concerns, tangible concerns.

For example, many of our cities are starting to fail. Infrastructure is aging, both crime and the cost of living are surging, and leftwing prosecutors have stopped enforcing the law. We will have more on all of that in Part 4 of our "American Dystopia" series in just a moment.

But for the leading Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden of Delaware, none of these problems matches what he believes is the greatest crisis of all -- America isn't importing enough desperately poor people. That's his position.

In a tweet on January 5th, Biden lashed out at the President for his immigration policies, quote, "Our Statue of Liberty invites in the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Donald Trump has slammed the door in the face of families fleeing persecution and violence." End quote. What a moralizer that Joe Biden.

Then just a few months ago, Biden vowed that when he becomes President he'll admit two million poor immigrants overnight, and then increase that number from there. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We could afford to take in a heartbeat another two million people. The idea that a country of 330 million people cannot absorb people who are in desperate need, and who are justifiably fleeing oppression is absolutely bizarre. Absolutely bizarre.

I would also move to increase the total number of immigrants able to come to the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: How many of those immigrants will be staying at Joe Biden's house? At Joe Biden's expense? Zero. Of course, Biden's view is that our chief mission as a nation, is to admit as many poor people as we can possibly can.

The less impressive their country of origin, the less they're able to contribute to this country, the more we want them. You are rich, they are poor, therefore you must give them money, the right to vote, a permanent home and once you've done that, repeat.

Biden claims that's our moral duty that Donald Trump and anyone else who shirks that duty is a racist. But is Trump shirking that duty? Is the basic claim even true?

It's worth assessing. There is so much lying. So once again, we go to the numbers and here's what they are. From October 2018 to September 2019, the Border Patrol apprehended 977,000 people at the U.S.-Mexico border, that's the highest total in more than a decade and more than the previous two years combined.

Now keep in mind that's just people being caught at the southern border. Many more getting through without being caught, of course and then there are the tens or hundreds of thousands of others who enter legally, but then overstayed their visas.

These illegal immigrants are tethering themselves here with millions of anchor babies. It's not a talking point. It's a fact.

According to the Center for Immigration Studies, for example, 372,000 children of illegal aliens were born in this country just last year. Every one of them is now an American citizen, and their parents are benefiting from a whole suite of benefits -- food stamps, Medicaid, other programs -- of course, they won't be deported them.

Wonder how we got 22 million illegal immigrants? That's how. So by any actual measure, by the data, illegal immigration is worse than it has been in a long time.

But for Joe Biden, it's still not enough. Twenty-two million illegals. Why not 30 million or 50 million, and every one of them gets free healthcare paid for by you. That's his promise.

Is your country really so spectacularly rich that we can afford this? And of course, you know the answer. We're not a rich country. We are more than $20 trillion in debt. Our middle class is dying. In part because immigrants are willing to work for less have driven down wages. It doesn't make the immigrants bad. They're coming from incredibly poor places with totally different standards of living.

But it's an economic fact that when you flood the labor pool with people willing to work for less, wages go down. And that's been going on for decades.

Not surprisingly, America's most immigrant heavy state, California is also the most impoverished. Many people born in California can't leave quickly enough. Ask Idaho and Texas. But Joe Biden says we need more.

According to Biden, our country is a sanctuary, must be a sanctuary for those fleeing violence. But because Joe Biden knows nothing, he is not aware that some of America's cities are deadlier than the places those people are fleeing from.

For example, El Salvador, one-third of all living El Salvadorans live in this country now. But here's the numbers. El Salvador has 50 murders per hundred thousand people. Last year, Baltimore, not a country, the city in Maryland -- Baltimore had 51 per hundred thousand. In other words, it is more dangerous than El Salvador.

Baltimore clearly hasn't benefited at all from America's policy of unlimited immigration. But you know, none of this matters because for people like Joe Biden and the rest of this country's ruling class, helping American citizens stopped being the point a long time ago. The point is getting reelected and feeling virtuous.

Well, speaking of, in 2018, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf got national attention by warning the illegal aliens in her city about an impending federal I.C.E. raid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR LIBBY SCHAAF: It is a continued perpetuation of a racist lie that immigrants are not valued members of our society.

We, in Oakland know better. We, in Oakland have a community that welcomes and honors all people no matter where they came from or how they got here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Oh, she's an incredibly good person, unlike you, racist. Thanks to Libby Schaaf's efforts, several wanted criminals eluded ISIS grasp, and Oakland became a top haven for illegal immigrants running from the law.

One of those immigrants has now taken a life. According to police, Madisyn Alandra Suzanne White-Carroll was murdered by Roberto Martinez in a road rage incident last month. By the time police identified Martinez as the killer, he had already fled the country.

Shauna White is Madisyn's mother. We recently spoke with her. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLSON: Shauna, thanks so much for coming on. Our condolences. It's hard to even to know what to say. Tell us what happened roughly speaking, if you would.

SHAUNA WHITE, MOTHER OF MADISYN ALANDRA SUZANNE WHITE-CARROLL: Well, basically my daughter went to the store. Her best friend had moved from Manor to San Leandro over to 98th Avenue. She went to Four Bells liquor store, which we found out is basically a haven for the Border Brothers, which is a gang, a Hispanic gang.

And she went in there and she came out. We had just bought her a brand new cars, so she had a back facing camera, so she could see behind her and as she was pulling back, he pulled up behind her, and she bumped into his car.

When she got out of the car to take care of it with the insurance, he became aggressive because he's well known over there to rob people and to set people up. They are scammers. And when she didn't have anything else to offer him, he attacked her.

He punched her in her face and continued to hit her. It took someone to come and hit him to get him off of her and my daughter, being someone who is about justice and didn't want to get in trouble, she thought she would get in trouble.

She went around the store to try to film the license plate of the person who did that to her, and when she did that, when she went around, he shot her. He led out 10 rounds on my daughter, who is 19. She had just turned 19. It was 19 days after her 19th birthday.

I was a helicopter parent, so she never really was in situations like that before, and never knew how to handle that and he killed her. He just -- he killed her. And he is gone.

CARLSON: And he was here illegally and he has since split the country.

WHITE: He was -- yes, he has.

CARLSON: Why don't we have his picture right now?

WHITE: They won't -- I believe California being a sanctuary state is protecting him and protecting his family. At this point, they're allowing all undocumented people to get licenses, they're allowing them to vote.

These have all been laws that have legally passed, and it is not part of their agenda. So it's not important to them, it's more important for them to protect people who are not from this country than to protect their own citizens and the homeless and already, the children who are here who are in need of services and protection, and everything else that you know, they're lacking at this time.

But for some reason, you know, protecting people who aren't from here is more important to our California legislation at this time.

CARLSON: What would you say to Mayor Libby Schaaf, the Mayor of Oakland who made this murder possible? What would you say to her?

WHITE: There's so much that I would say to her. I mean, at this point, I feel that, you know, it's all about the votes and at this point, they are a liberal state.

I feel that she has no concern for the citizens that are already here who have been born and raised here for generations.

The homeless population that is like -- that is extensive -- I feel that she doesn't care. She cares about lining her own pockets and her own agenda.

I feel that she could care less. And I feel like part of the reason why his picture has not been released is because of her personal agenda.

CARLSON: This can't go one. This can't -- this is so upsetting that this cannot go on.

WHITE: No.

CARLSON: Shauna, I'm just -- our heart breaks for you. And I appreciate your telling your story tonight as hard as I know it was.
But thank you. We need to know that. Appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARLSON: Well, since that interview, since speaking to Madisyn's mother, we've learned that Madisyn's killer apparently is now in Sinaloa, Mexico. Of course, we hope Mexican authorities will do the right thing and help bring that killer to justice as soon as possible.

San Francisco meanwhile has become America's most unlivable city, unless you're incredibly rich. Don't even try it. It stays that way because of the people who are running it into the ground. Up next, we will profile the cities new DA for our series, "American Dystopia." That's next.

Plus, keeping one eye on the President's rally going on right now in Toledo, Ohio. We'll go there immediately if news breaks, which it might.

TRUMP: ... but now they take it back. They've been great actually. They've been really good. Now, we paid them a lot of money. We paid them $500 million a year. Can you believe it? We paid them $500 million -- the three of them: El Salvador included.

And I said look --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Nyna Armstrong has a degree in Electrical Engineering. She works at a tech company in California. She's in the top five percent for achievement in this country, you think she'd be doing fine.

Unfortunately, though, she lives in San Francisco, which means she has to take drastic measures to cope with the highest housing costs in the nation, some of the highest in the world.

Her story is the focus of Part 4 of our week-long series, "American Dystopia."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLSON (voice over): Nina Armstrong has lived in San Francisco since her childhood.

NYNA ARMSTRONG, RESIDENT OF SAN FRANCISCO: Please don't fall off.

CARLSON (voice over): But for the last four years, she has lived on a boat in the bay.

ARMSTRONG: This is my house.

QUESTION: Why don't you buy a place on land?

ARMSTRONG: It's incredibly expensive, even for a condo, it is a million dollars, and this is a quarter-million dollars.

CARLSON (voice over): Housing in San Francisco is now so expensive that some residents are taking drastic measures to stay in the area.

QUESTION: How often you think about leaving?

ARMSTRONG: All the time. Every day.

CARLSON (voice over): The quality of life for the San Francisco Bay Area is so bad that a full 44 percent of residents say they're quote, "likely to move in the next few years."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just say, I can't. I won't. I'm not going to put my family through this. It's a tragedy. You know it really is.

CARLSON (voice over): Skyrocketing costs and rising crime are driving middle class families out of the area. Drug addicts now outnumber high school students in the City of San Francisco.

QUESTION: If your job weren't here, if your business weren't in the Bay Area, would you live here?

ARMSTRONG: Let me think. No. Absolutely not. I absolutely want out.

CARLSON (voice over): Since July of 2018, more than 40,000 Bay Area residents have fled. Mostly to states like Texas and Idaho.

ARMSTRONG: The crime is just terrible. It's depressive. I don't go there anymore.

CARLSON (voice over): But on the water, Armstrong gets away from it all.

QUESTION: How often do you see syringes and homeless people in this marina?

ARMSTRONG: None. Not at all. It's awesome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARLSON: It wasn't an act of God that turned San Francisco into a dystopia, it was an act of God that turned into one of the prettiest cities in the world.

Now, the city was destroyed because individuals enacted and preserved disastrous policies, because they're ideologues. One of them is the city's new DA, Chesa Boudin. He says that San Francisco has a problem. It's only that its radical policies don't go far enough.

He is the focus of the finale to "American Dystopia" tomorrow night. Don't miss it.

In the last Democratic debate, Senator Elizabeth Warren made an unexpected promise. Warren vowed that if elected President, she will hold an annual ceremony in the Rose Garden, during which she would read the name of every transgender American murdered during the previous year. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, D-MASS., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here is a promise I make. I will go to the Rose Garden once every year to read the names of transgender women, of people of color who have been killed in the past year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So that may have been the first time you've heard anything about that topic, and you may have wondered just how many transgender women of color were murdered last year and why? But Warren didn't say.

And yet that didn't stop the Human Rights Campaign, a highly aggressive Democratic pressure group from immediately endorsing her position.

There is the organization claimed in a statement, a, quote, "epidemic of violence against transgender people, especially trans women of color," end quote. Again, no specifics there, but total vehemence. It's an epidemic, they told us.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg soon leapt in to agree. The murder of transgender women of color, Buttigieg says is one of America's most pressing problems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, D-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do want to acknowledge what these demonstrators were speaking about, which is the epidemic of violence against black transwomen in this country right now.

(APPLAUSE)

BUTTIGIEG: And I believe or would like to believe that everybody here is committed to ending that epidemic and that does include lifting up its visibility and speaking to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Nobody in the room questioned Buttigieg's description. They seemed to take it at face value. In fact, if anything, the other candidates and major press outlets confirmed it. Quote, "The murder of black transgender women is becoming a crisis." The Washington Post told its readers, quote, "For transwomen of color facing epidemic of violence," wrote ABC News, " 
... each day is a fight for survival."

Meanwhile, the American Medical Association, a group politicized beyond recognition but still treated respectfully by the news media declared violence against transgendered people a, quote, "epidemic" like diphtheria or smallpox.

In other words, this is serious. It's not a boutique political issue. It's a public health crisis.

Well, that means it's time to see the numbers behind these claims, the numbers that Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren didn't mention. So exactly how many transgendered people are murdered every year in this country?

Well, there are a number of stats we could choose from, but just for the sake of argument, let's go with the numbers supplied by the highly partisan leftwing Human Rights Campaign, which as noted is the very group pushing the idea that this amounts to quote, "an epidemic."

So according to Human Rights Campaign, in 2018, a total of 26 transgendered Americans were murdered. Now that's 26 too many, of course. Every murder is a tragedy very much including these.

But does 26 constitute an epidemic? Let's break it down. A few years ago, the Williams Institute estimated that 1.4 million American adults identify as transgender. If that figure is correct, then in 2018, the murder rate for transgendered people was 1.8 per hundred thousand.

Now, while granting again that every murder is too many, relatively speaking, that is a very low rate. In fact, it's barely one-third the murder rate for the general population in this country, which in 2018, was 4.9 murders per hundred thousand people.

In other words, not only is there no epidemic of transgender murders in America, according to these numbers, the one supplied by the Human Rights Campaign itself, transgender people are on average, safer than your typical American.

In other words, once again, they have been lying to you in the most brazen possible way, telling you something that's completely untrue, factually untrue, and yet, scolding you at the very same time. It's bewildering, but it's also their signature move.

Meanwhile, don't tell the Democratic Party or the media, both of which seem totally unaware of it and not interested. But there's an all too real epidemic of murder taking place in this country right now. And it's not in the relatively affluent transgendered community. It's in the poorest parts of our major cities.

Killings in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, St. Louis -- pick a city -- have all skyrocketed compared to just five years ago. Thousands are dying as a result. It's awful.

But if you're looking for an epidemic to worry about, one that's actually changing the composition of this country, nothing beats opioids, nothing even comes close.

In 2017, forty seven thousand six hundred Americans died of opioid related drug ODs. How many is that? Let's put it this way. If you took every single murdered transgender American over the past five years, all of those murders combined amount to fewer deaths than a single day of opioid overdoses.

Or if you're a Democratic Party primary voter, think of it this way. If President Elizabeth Warren held her Rose Garden ceremony and read one name every two seconds, it will take her about 50 seconds to name every transgendered person who was murdered last year.

But what if she read the names of every American killed by a drug OD? Well, she'd be reading a full day later. The list is that long. But don't worry, there's no chance Elizabeth Warren would do that. She just doesn't care enough.

Once you figure out the degree to which the media are lying to you about everything, it's shocking.

Well, the British Royal Family is disintegrating before our very eyes. What's going on there? Mark Steyn knows the answer, and joins us after the break to tell us.

Plus, we're watching the president's rally in Ohio tonight for breaking news. Interesting moments in that speech. We've got the highlights coming up.

TRUMP: ... and I'm very proud of because I really overwrote a lot of talented people that wanted to close it. I recognized Israel's true capital and opened the American Embassy in Jerusalem.

(APPLAUSE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: You add this on top of just trying to be a new mom or trying to be a newlywed, it's -- you know, and I guess, and also thank you for asking because not many people have asked if I am okay.

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CARLSON: Oh, hear that? That Meghan Markle lady lives in a vast estate with servants to cater to all of her needs, but there's a tragedy. Not enough members of the press ask how she is. Narcissism on parade.

Maybe that's why the British Royal Family appears to be blowing up. Prince Harry and his wife have announced they are stepping away as senior members of the Royal Family. They say they plan to seek financial independence. In other words, get rich and move part time to North America. Not clear where.

According to a depressingly large number of people who are dedicated to following all of this, the announcement quote, "blindsided the rest of the family."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, senior members of the Royal Family appear blindsided.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As senior members of the Royal Family blindsiding the Queen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the rest of the Royal Family, it was blindsided.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Buckingham Palace, they were really blindsided by this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a big story you all -- blindsided.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, reportedly blindsiding the Queen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Queen reportedly blindsided and shocked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: In TV news, we only have like eight words. So when someone gets a new one, we have to share it with everyone. It's unbelievable.

Author and columnist, Mark Steyn knows a lot about living under the British monarchy. He joins us tonight. Were you blindsided?

MARK STEYN, AUTHOR AND COLUMNIST: No, I wasn't. Because I know how this works. This is even -- the Democrats' talking points of facts to the media every morning at 6:00 a.m. So that's why they all use this.

With the Royal Family, it's different. Nobody actually knows what the Queen thinks, and what this means is they managed to speak to a retired deputy under assistant footman to George III, who is still living on the Palace grounds and he used the word blindsided.

CARLSON: Apparently.

STEYN: But it is actually -- it is -- when you say though, they want to be financially independent. They've just launched a website. I mean, that's the other thing. I feel slightly weird here.

None of the lingo that they are using is like Royal Family lingo. I want to make sure I get this right. Their official announcement said they will quote, "continue to collaborate with Her Majesty the Queen." Is that like John Legend collaborated with Kelly Clarkson? Have they got -- have they collaborated with the Queen and they've got a project in development at Netflix or something?

This -- they say they want to be financially independent. They've started a website called sussexroyal.com. The two words there. The last word is the Royal Family Meghan married into, Sussex is the title that is in the Gift of the Queen that she bestowed on them.

So everybody is mad about this because they think this is cakeism, having your cake and eating it. The way they want to get financially independent is to trade on the fact that they are members of the Royal Family.

CARLSON: But they're also -- they seem so self-pitying.

STEYN: Yes.

CARLSON: I mean if you're going to be a member of the Royal Family like you know, you should be happy about that. But like every other rich person in the West right now, they seem to be -- they seem to be drowning in Lake Me. 
I mean, their narcissism is making them miserable, no?

STEYN: Well, I think that's why Royals should not marry people in show business, because when you're a celebrity, you're treated like royalty as the expression said, but when you're actual loyalty, you're treated like garbage because it's an -- essentially being a minor Royal is an act of self-negation.

When Kelly Clarkson does an event, there's thousands of people there to see her, so it's all about her. When a minor Royal Duchess goes to a hospital in New Zealand, it's about the sick kids and how solicitous she is of the sick kids.

And so it's not really -- I think, the Prince Harry was great at that, actually spectacular at it in the years between returning from Afghanistan and marrying Meghan, and now just wanting to be the Duchess of Woke has actually killed a very promising young Prince in the Royal Family.

CARLSON: Well, can I ask you really quick about that? So all of the attention is on his American wife.

STEYN: Yes.

CARLSON: But he seems to have chosen on purpose, like a path that's going to lead to unhappiness for certain. What is -- what is wrong with this kid? Sincere question.

STEYN: I think he's a deeply unhappy guy. I think they had seven weeks in British Columbia, in which they were trying to work this out. They flew back to London, went to Canada House, hung out with the Canadian High Commission. I won't bother explaining what those are for Americans, and then she flies straight back to Canada.

Basically, she is someone who has had no contact with most members of her own family, and she has managed to do the same to Prince Harry with respect to his family. That is rather sad.

CARLSON: It is. It is sad. It is sad. Mark Steyn, thank you for that. Great to see you.

STEYN: Thanks. I know how much you love these Royal stories, you colossal monarchist. A republic if you can keep it.

CARLSON: Exactly. Great to see you.

The President holding his first rally of the year in Toledo, Ohio. We have highlights from the speech in just a moment.

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CARLSON: Now, some of the big moments from the President's rally tonight in Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The far left radical politicians support deadly sanctuary cities, demonstrating their contempt, scorn and disdain for everyday Americans and the American family.

These jurisdictions release dangerous violent criminal aliens out of their jails, and directly onto your streets.

Soleimani actively planning new attacks, and he was looking very seriously at our embassies and not just the Embassy in Baghdad, but we stopped him and we stopped him quickly and we stopped him cold.

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: So at my direction, the United States military eliminated Qasem Soleimani and ended his rampage through not only that part of the world, but much bigger parts of the world. He was all over. He was a bad guy. He was a bloodthirsty terror, and he is no longer a terror. He is dead.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: While we are creating jobs and killing terrorists, the Washington Democrats are wasting America's time with demented hoaxes and crazy witch hunts.

Think of it? From the day I came down that escalator it started. Who the hell else could have taken this stuff? Right? Do I get some credit for that?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Most guys would have been in the corner with their thumb in their mouth, saying, mommy, mommy, take me home.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: These are bad people. The Democratic politicians we are fighting today are the same ones who took a sledgehammer to Ohio jobs and factories. They destroyed your factories. They destroyed you jobs.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: But they are losing and we are winning and America's comeback continues full speed ahead.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Imagine calling crooked Adam Schiff. He is so crooked.

(BOOING)

TRUMP: Shifty Schiff. So Adam, how are you doing? Listen, we have the world's number one terrorist, killed thousands and thousands of people. We'd like to set up a meeting so we can discuss his execution. Would you be willing to meet? Well, I won't be able to make it this week. Well, you know he's traveling fast. We can have him lined up, Adam. You little pencil neck.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Nine inches. He buys the smallest shirt collar you can get.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: And it's loose.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Savage. We're done. We're out of time. We will be back.

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