St. Louis homeowner Mark McCloskey joins Tucker after being charged with felony for defending his home

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St. Louis homeowner Mark McCloskey joins Tucker after being charged with felony for defending his home

Prosecutor Kim Gardner has apparently decided it isn't her job to keep us safe from criminals but to keep criminals safe from us, St. Louis homeowner Mark McCloskey tells Tucker on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," July 20, 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." We were off last week. It's good to be back.

One thing we learned while gone is that America's national parks are outstanding. They are tremendous. So most of the time, by the way, is our interstate highway system. We should be proud of all of those things.

But in the end, the real reason that we have a government, the only reason really is so that we can live in peace. You pay your taxes -- a lot of taxes -- in order to keep your family safe from chaos. That's the bottom line, so you can drive your kids to school without getting carjacked, or walk to the supermarket without worrying about being raped.

When a violent mob shows up in front of your house and threatens to kill you, you know that you can call the police and they will come to your defense. That's what you pay for. That's what government is for. The rest of it is just extra.

For centuries that has been the deal that we strike with our leaders and everyone knows it. But suddenly out of nowhere, they have changed the rules on us.

When the mob came for Mark and Patricia McCloskey in St. Louis a few weeks ago, they called the police with that expectation, but the police never came.

You're looking at their smashed fence. They had no choice but to defend themselves.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

CARLSON: The McCloskeys were exercising the most basic right of all: the ancient and immutable right to self-defense. You'd think they would be lauded for that, but they haven't been, they've been attacked.

The prosecutor in St. Louis, the totally politicized Kim Gardner promised to retaliate against the McCloskeys for daring to defend themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM GARDNER, ST. LOUIS COUNTY CIRCUIT ATTORNEY: I am disturbed by the events that occurred over this weekend, where there were peaceful protesters who were met with guns in a violent assault.

Since learning of these events over this weekend, I will work with the public and the police to investigate these tragic events.

I will use every extent of Missouri law to hold individuals accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: What you just heard was a lie. Every word of it. The crowd wasn't peaceful. They barged onto private property, destroyed a fence and threatened to kill strangers, the McCloskeys.

The McCloskeys did nothing wrong. They did what they had to do and what you would have to do in similar circumstances. But the prosecutor wasn't kidding. Self-defense is no longer allowed in places controlled by people like her, the left.

This afternoon she followed through with her threat and she charged the McCloskeys with the unlawful use of a weapon. In the State of Missouri that's a felony. The police have already seized their firearms. They also searched McCloskey's home.

Once again, the McCloskeys are under attack, not simply from a politicized prosecutor, but from the entire media establishment. Here's a taste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITTANY PACKNETT CUNNINGHAM, MEMBER OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S 21ST CENTURY POLICING TASK FORCE: The McCloskeys are not an aberration. They are not an anomaly. They are not crazy and they are not random.

They are a product of their environment, because the American environment prioritizes white people, white wealth and white land at the expense of all others, no matter how many black folks, poor folks or indigenous folks have to suffer along the way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These cases are part of a disturbing pattern in this country of white people, including some who clearly love their guns as much as they love their privilege, threatening the lives of black people for doing the most basic everyday activities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Grotesque. These people are monsters. And in point of fact, the mob was not black. It was mixed race. There were white people and black people. It had nothing to do with race.

And the basic everyday activities you just heard about, those include unlawful trespassing, destruction of property, terroristic threatening, threatening to kill them.

But none of the people who did that will face consequences for it. Mark McCloskey will though. He now faces four years in prison and up to a $10,000.00 fine for the crime of defending himself when no one else would.

Mark McCloskey joins us tonight. Mark, thanks so much for coming on. I can't imagine how you feel like you've woken up in a country you don't recognize. Tell us where you are right now legally, if you would.

MARK MCCLOSKEY, PROSECUTED FOR DEFENDING HIS HOME: Well, it's a totally upside down world, Tucker. The people that broke into my neighborhood, they're all trespassing. The guy that recruited it, that planned this event, said the next day that he intended to break the law, that it was his -- he needed to break laws in order to send his message. None of those people are arrested. None of those people are charged.

The prosecutor, the Circuit Attorney has apparently decided that her job as a prosecutor isn't to keep us safe from criminals, but to keep the criminals safe from us. It's a bizarre upside down world.

I've been a little irritated by this process until today, and I am just flat out pissed off. I mean, this has gotten to be outrageous.

CARLSON: Well, you should be afraid, too. I mean, the force of the state is coming down on you for exercising the most basic right that exists. It's a natural right, the right of self-defense.

Are you going to stay in a place that seeks to put you in prison for defending yourself?

MCCLOSKEY: You know, everybody has to stand up and do what's right and I'm not going to be bullied. I'm not going to be intimidated.

The left, the mob uses social intimidation and threats to get people to knuckle under and apologize for doing what's right, and we're not going to apologize for doing what's right. We're not going to back down and we're not going to move.

People need to stand up, wake up and recognize this for what it is. It's a concerted effort to destroy our way of life, to change the fundamental basic social contract, to do away with capitalist democracy and replace it with mob rule, encouraging violence, protecting the criminals and prosecuting people that try to defend themselves against it. It's a bizarre-o world. It's time for people to wake up and pay attention to it.

CARLSON: Has anyone explained what you were supposed to do in a situation where the police would not respond. They would not come to protect you despite the fact you pay them. And private security wouldn't come either probably for fear of being sued. What were you supposed to do once people break in and start threatening you?

MCCLOSKEY: Well, you know like what various commentators have suggested is, we should have just gone inside and filmed them with our cell phones.

Well, do you want to have 300 people inside your house breaking stuff, setting fires and killing you? Or would you rather stop them when they're outside? We chose to stop them from coming in.

CARLSON: What's going to happen now? I mean, do you have a fear of going to prison?

MCCLOSKEY: You know, I don't know. I've had very little familiarity with the criminal process. We've gotten support now from the White House and the House on down. Governor Parsons and the Senator, Eric Schmidt, our Attorney General, it seems like the only person in the United States that thinks we did something wrong is our Circuit Attorney.

But she is the same person that let out of jail everybody that was responsible for the looting and fires and destruction, following the George Floyd death in the City of St. Louis. The only people that she wants to prosecute are the people that defended themselves against it, and nobody else to my knowledge.

CARLSON: So you've been a target of crime. You haven't backed down. You've gone on television repeatedly. People know where you live and the state has now confiscated your firearm so you can't protect yourself. On what grounds did they do that? Those were legally registered as far as I understand.

MCCLOSKEY: Yes, I guess within the technicality of the laws, they have to determine whether or not the weapons were readily capable of being, you know, fatal or causing serious bodily harm, and so they have to take them and test them and that sort of thing.

And there'll be some revelations that will come out about that, but the bottom line is that, you know, the police I've said this before, the police who came out that issued the warrant, didn't want to have to do it. They knew that they're just doing their job. They were very polite about it.

But nonetheless, you're right. I mean, they present the mob terror door and then strip us of our ability to defend against it.

CARLSON: It's almost unbelievable. I appreciate your coming on tonight and Godspeed to you and your wife and we'll be following this of course. Mark McCloskey, thank you.

MCCLOSKEY: Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, it's been nearly two months since widespread rioting broke out across the United States and it's still going in some places.

On Friday night, thousands of rioters swarmed the Christopher Columbus statue in the City of Chicago. Newly released aerial footage shows men dropping off weapons for the rioters who later attacked the police. The police were vastly outnumbered by them.

Black clad rioters used umbrellas as shields and formed a line to march to the crowds. They pelted the police with rocks. They threw bottles at them. In the end, 18 police officers were injured, but only a handful of rioters were arrested.

Meanwhile, in the City of Seattle, a beautiful place that's completely out of control, rioters brawled with police and destroyed more businesses over the weekend. Here's part of it.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

CARLSON: Two hundred miles to the south of Seattle in Portland, Oregon, another beautiful city destroyed by the mob. Violent mayhem continued. It's been going on for eight straight weeks.

Two hundred miles to the south of Seattle in Portland, Oregon, another beautiful city destroyed by the mob. Violent mayhem continues. It's been going on for eight straight weeks.

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]

CARLSON: Political leaders in Portland are doing nothing to stop this. In fact, they're affirmatively taking the side of the rioters. This is the armed wing of the Democratic Party. These are their militia. They're blaming the police for the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to also remind you that the police and the F.B.I. have always put provocateurs in crowds for movement. Right? Always. There's always been police acting as if there are community members trying to start trouble. Right? Because it gives them the authority to brutalize us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: That's one way of looking at it. Jason Rantz is a Seattle based radio host. He joins us tonight. Jason, thanks so much for coming on.

You'll notice in the last clip we played, the politician described the rioters as quote "us." It does seem like many politicians in the Pacific Northwest, Democrats feel that these mobs are their supporters.

JASON RANTZ, SEATTLE RADIO SHOW HOST: They are. This is the base that keeps these people in power. And it's not just in the Pacific Northwest. It's all across the country.

We're seeing it unfold in Minneapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, D.C. These are folks who are believers in the cause. Now maybe some of them don't support the actual violence, but God forbid they actually speak out against the violence because then they believe they're doing a disservice to their cause.

And so instead of acknowledging what's going on, you have these spineless politicians who want to pretend that oh, no, it's totally peaceful. I don't know what you're talking about.

Any of the violence is being done by the cops, although in that case with Portland with that clip, Antifa members are literally saying they were responsible for the violence against the police union office that they tried to burn down.

This is not some provocateurs in the crowd doing this. In Seattle, you had a bunch of people who were basically marauding around town. They were going towards every single Starbucks and Walgreens and different businesses trying to destroy them.

This has nothing to do with George Floyd. This has everything to do with a devious ideology that's pushing Marxism and socialism. And the only way that they can get that is to break down the current systems of governance, of capitalism, of policing, and rebuild.

And if they want to rebuild, they believe they have to get violent and if not violent, they have to give the threat of violence to stop people from actually speaking up.

CARLSON: The cowardice and the complicity of elected officials is awe inspiring. If these were Trump voters, armed, assaulting police officers, civilians, burning things, destroying property, tearing down statues, wrecking stores, looting, do you think -- would you stand by and say, you know, I roughly agree with these people politically, so I'm not going to say anything about it. Or would you stand up and tell the truth about it?

RANTZ: Yes, you stand up and you tell the truth. This whole idea that you've got to just say few bad apples in a larger group that's otherwise peaceful. I'm sorry, but if I'm part of a movement, and you've got 20, 30, 40 people who are turning to violence for over 50 days in Portland, I'm not showing up and give credence to that movement. I'm going to identify it for what it is.

And too often, all across the country, whether it's Portland, Seattle, Chicago or Atlanta, you've got a lot of people who are sitting back and saying, you know what, we are the silent majority, we're going to fight back. I'm sorry, it is unacceptable to remain the silent majority.

We need to stand up. We need to be the vocal majority and we need to start pushing back. It is unacceptable that we're allowing this kind of lawlessness take over American cities, and kudos to the Trump administration for sending in the Federal law enforcement officials in Portland, hopefully soon in Chicago and hopefully soon in Seattle, because if the city governments aren't going to step up, we can't sit back and allow this kind of nonsense.

That's how you lose elections on a local level, staying silent. Right now all of these protesters, they're not silent, are they? They're organizing. They're out there and they are recruiting members to their cause. Meanwhile, we're saying, oh, maybe I'll send out an angry tweet.

It's got to be a little bit more than that. We need to get organized.

CARLSON: Yes. Because what you're watching is the Biden campaign in action, actually. So yes, it's hard to know the answers, but I can't resist asking it.

We've got an election in a few months in November. Does this just stop then? I mean, does Portland to Seattle to Chicago to Atlanta to Minneapolis, do these places ever go back to normal? When does this end?

RANTZ: The fear is that this is the new normal. And that's why we need to start speaking up and getting a little bit more engaged. Those of us regardless of our political positions, simply deem it unacceptable to tear down cities, burn buildings down, or riot and loot.

If you don't stand up. Why do you think -- why does anyone think this is going to stop? Violence begets violence, lawlessness begets lawlessness, regardless of the city.

CARLSON: That's exactly right. That is absolutely a wise observation and always true. Jason Rantz, great to see you tonight. Thank you for that.

RANTZ: Thank you so much.

CARLSON: A lot of bad news about the Wuhan coronavirus this last month, but tonight, we have some good news. Dr. Siegel is standing by with the very latest on that.

Plus, Kanye West opened up his presidential bid with a rally in South Carolina. It's actually a lot more interesting than you would have imagined. We will play some of it for you. Adam Carolla is here to react to what he said. That's all straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: A lot of news recently about a resurgence of the Wuhan coronavirus here in the United States. You're starting to hear some politicians suggest we may need another round of lockdowns, at least until the election.

But that question may be moot because researchers in the U.K. claim they have developed a viable vaccine for the coronavirus.

We turn for details as we always do to Fox News medical contributor, Dr. Marc Siegel. He has been following this for us. Hey, Doctor.

DR. MARC SIEGEL, FOX NEWS CHANNEL MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Tucker, this is really big news tonight. I am optimistic about this and this Oxford University vaccine which is a very modern vaccine using genetic material, using a different kind of a virus from a chimpanzee to bring the payload in that actually starts the war against the coronavirus and that's what we're talking about here, Tucker. It is a war.

But I've never described the war to you this way before. It's a war in the bloodstream, a war of our immune cells fighting a virus. And if a vaccine works, the vaccine causes those immune cells to be revved up. And the immune cells that we've always talked about are the B cells that make antibodies.

We're talking antibodies, antibodies, antibodies. And this vaccine actually does make those antibodies. They studied a thousand volunteers, half of them got a meningitis vaccine, the other half got this vaccine.

And they found that the people that got this vaccine made the antibodies that we need called neutralizing antibodies to neutralize the virus.

But there's a bigger story here, Tucker. It's a cell I never talked about before. It's called a T-cell. Those are the real immune warriors against the virus and they never of course, get top billing right? The T-cells.

What does T-cell do? First of all, one kind of T-cell aids those antibodies in attacking the virus. It's called a helper cell. The other one, the most prodigious powerful cell in the human body is a natural killer cell. It deserves the name. It literally attacks the virus and kills it.

And you know what they found with this vaccine? At 14 days and 28 days, they found an abundance of those antibodies, an abundance of those T-cells, a great marker of immunity.

We have to see how this goes over the several weeks and months and now it will be tried in 30,000 people around the world. This is very positive news that we're going to have a working vaccine here, Tucker. The Oxford vaccine with AstraZeneca involved. Very, very, very promising.

CARLSON: Wow. And unexpected. Dr. Siegel, thank you for that report. Appreciate it.

SIEGEL: Follow the science, Tucker, not the politics, the science tonight.

CARLSON: That has been our view and yours from the first day. Thanks a lot.

Ghislaine Maxwell is incarcerated and a friend says she fears for her life in prison. Why would that be in the United States? A fascinating story about which we don't know everything. A live report is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Prosecutors have refused to let Ghislaine Maxwell, one of the closest associates of Jeffrey Epstein out on bail so she remains confined tonight -- incarcerated.

Now, one of her friends says she fears for her life in Federal custody. Fox's chief breaking news correspondent, Trace Gallagher has been on the story since the beginning and he joins us tonight with an update. Hey, Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CHIEF BREAKING NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Tucker, that family friend of Ghislaine Maxwell tells the U.S. newspaper that Maxwell believes Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in his prison cell and fears that she will meet the same fate.

Despite Epstein's death being ruled as suicide, it did happen under questionable circumstances like the fact that he was taken off suicide watch days before he died, surveillance cameras near his cell were faulty, and guards falsified records to make it appear as if they were checking on Epstein every few hours.

Fox News is also reporting that Ghislaine Maxwell feared for her life long before she was taken into custody and that she was guarded round the clock by former members of the British military, bought her New Hampshire estate in cash, and when the F.B.I. finally showed up to arrest her, she fled into a safe room within the compound though she was quickly found.

When she first entered the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn Prison, officials placed her on suicide watch and gave her paper sheets and clothing so she could not harm herself.

Now, she is reportedly wearing normal clothing and being moved from cell to cell for her safety, sometimes with roommates, sometimes not.

Maxwell's attorneys are also concerned about her health, saying the COVID- 19 risk inside the prison is very high. But those who accuse Ghislaine Maxwell of grooming them to be the underage sex slaves of Jeffrey Epstein, say the fact that she is in prison makes them believe they are finally on the right path -- Tucker.

CARLSON: Trace Gallagher, thanks so much for that.

GALLAGHER: Sure.

CARLSON: We'll see if we're on the right path. Why did she come back to this country? Exactly. She's not stupid, and she's rich. We'll find out.

Meanwhile, Kanye West is running for President. He launched his campaign at a rally in South Carolina last night. His remarks were not focus grouped. There weren't a lot of platitudes or cliches. They were as unusual, in fact, as eccentric as the man himself, but in some ways, they were remarkable and worth watching. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANYE WEST, AMERICAN ARTIST: Freedom does not come from an election. Freedom comes from you not loading up pornography. The freedom comes from you not taking the Percocet. The freedom comes from you not doubting your brother and your sister.

The freedom comes from you putting that gun down and not shooting people at the gas Station. It has nothing to do with this election.

It only has to do with God and God's people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: A celebrity musician telling you that freedom does not come from porn or drugs or pulling a gun on people. It comes from God.

Here you have one of the most famous people in the world attacking the porn industry and Big Pharma in one speech.

He said a lot of things by the way, some of them we wouldn't agree with at all. Some very unusual proposals made the roster, too, including giving a million dollars to any woman who has a baby. But it was interesting.

And maybe the most arresting moment came when Kanye West talked about abortion. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: My mom saved my life. My dad wanted to abort me. My mom saved my life. There would have been no Kanye West because my dad was too busy.

I almost killed my daughter. I almost killed my daughter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Well, there's a moment. That's something you probably haven't seen before because of course, it's never happened. A Grammy Award winning musician, making an appeal, an emotional appeal against abortion, but he was just starting.

Then he told the crowd about the time he and his wife considered on abortion themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEST: She had the pills in her hand. You know those pills, where you take the pills? And if you take it, it's a wrap. The baby is gone.

And I called my wife, and she said, "We're going to have this baby." I said, "We're going to have this child." I know people that are 50 years old that didn't have children, that didn't have that child, that have never got to experience the level of joy that I experienced in having a child.

So even if my wife were to divorce me after this speech, she brought North into the world even when I didn't want to, she stood up and she protected that child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: No speech writer wrote that, and it's a dangerous point if you think about it. They can say they love you. They can tell you your life matters. But if they clutter your neighborhood with abortion clinics, they're lying. That's a real argument. But no one wanted to engage it, of course, and so they called him crazy.

And by the way, maybe he is, but it's still a point worth talking about. Instead, TMZ reported that many people in Kanye West's circle believe he needs, quote, "serious help," and then cited an anonymous family member who explained that he is experiencing a bipolar episode.

And by the way, maybe he is. We don't know. But it doesn't mean what he said is wrong.

Over on CNN, of course, they were horrified by it. Call him crazy as quick as you can before anyone pays attention to what he is saying. Some guy called Dean Obeidallah tweeted, quote, "This is a human being in dire need of help." As if he cares, but help for what?

For believing that pornography is bad for you? A form of bondage? For encouraging people to get off prescription pills? For getting emotional as you talk about considering aborting your own child? That's all crazy? Huh. Then what's seen exactly?

David Webb hosts a radio show on Sirius XM. He seems sane. We're happy to have him on tonight. David Webb, great to see you. I just -- I just want to be clear. You know, I'm not a shrink. I have no idea what Kanye West's mental state is.

And I think there are probably a lot of things Kanye West believes that I don't believe at all. But he makes points that almost nobody I've ever seen on a campaign podium has made and why isn't anyone talking about those points?

DAVID WEBB HOSTS, RADIO SHOW, SIRIUS XM: Because, Tucker, to your point, they don't want to talk about issues. Look, I'm with you. I'm not going to diagnose Kanye. I have nothing against Kanye. Matter of fact, I find him entertaining.

In this stream of consciousness that he spoke about and the various things and like you said, some of the outrageous things like a million dollars, you know, for every baby being born, well, there's another side of that, I would say, teach them birth control, give them sex education. It will cost you less than a million bucks. And I think you and I can agree on the fiscal conservatism of that.

But he talks about things that Hollywood hypocrites uses political wedges, as political pawns for ideas and uses them against the people who dare stand up against them. Like Dean Obeidallah.

He is -- first of all, ignore him. Kanye has a right to say what he says whether we agree with it or not. I think you agree with that. And he has a right to do whatever he wants, if he wants to make a public display and a public appeal. I think his words about abortion, his words about not taking drugs, about you know -- about guns. He's right.

Good people with good guns aren't the problem. Bad people with bad guns are, but then again, I don't understand why he says, we are a nation of white supremacists, which we're not.

I think we're just dealing with a stream of consciousness from a public figure and I think some interesting things could be discussed. I'd love to sit down with him and do that.

CARLSON: I think a million dollars is, you know, a lot for a child. I did it for free. Most people do. But I do think it's so interesting to hear you have a public figure, saying that children are the most important thing in life in the world.

You know, there's nothing more important than children. And he means it. And he is immediately -- and he's totally right, of course, and he is immediately dismissed as a mental patient. Has that become that controversial statement to CNN? Maybe it has.

WEBB: Unfortunately for some, it has, but Tucker, think about it. If we work hard in life to achieve wealth, to achieve station, status, or even if no matter who you are, you achieve something in life, who do you leave it to? Do you leave statues? Do you leave your belongings? No, you have children. They are your true legacy.

Kanye gets this, which, by the way, hallmark of the black community in America was always the legacy of your children doing better than you did, coming out of tough times. Think about the importance of children to our society.

CARLSON: I wonder -- I mean, how many poor people at the end of their lives say, I just had too many children. Compare that to the number who don't you know, for whom that's all that matters, like in the end, is there anything else that matters really? I doubt many poor people at the end say I just had too many kids. There's just too much love in my family.

WEBB: No, it's absolutely true, Tucker. I mean, come on. America, look around you. The joys of having a family and community, it doesn't come from someone who doesn't procreate. It comes from someone who puts something on this planet that goes on to make it a better place and that's what Kanye is talking about when he talks about children, when he talks about his life being saved instead of being aborted.

CARLSON: I'd be a lot more enthusiastic about voting Republican if some of them talk like that once in a while. David Webb, great to see you.

WEBB: Well, we just did and I'm a Republican. So there you go.

CARLSON: You've heartened me. Great to see you tonight. Thank you.

WEBB: Great to see, Tucker.

CARLSON: Adam Carolla, up next. Kanye West, sort of a hero, a semi-hero for some social conservatives, anyway, that's unexpected. His view just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: The administration tonight is pledging to dispatch hundreds of Federal agents to quell rising violence in the City of Chicago. They say that'll happen later this week.

Department of Homeland Security says it's sending 150 agents there to help other Federal officials crack down on crime. Crime in Chicago is spiraling out of control and that's not overstatement.

Just this Friday, more than a dozen police officers were injured at a coordinated riot around a Christopher Columbus statue in formerly placid downtown Chicago.

Then over the weekend, 63 people were shot in Chicago, 12 of them were killed. Another weekend of record setting violence. Many of those shootings by the way happened in broad daylight.

We can definitively say that there are people alive tonight who will be dead next week in Chicago. It is a tragedy.

What are the city's leaders doing about it? Nothing. The Mayor of Chicago, a total incompetent called Lori Lightfoot, is instead feuding with the administration in promoting a fictional census cowboy character in order to boost her city's population count in this year's census.

People are fleeing Chicago -- taxpayers, especially. It's been to the great benefit of nearby Wisconsin. If you live in the area, you know.

But Lightfoot is pretending it's not happening and trying to divert attention to an argument that she is having with the President. She just told MSNBC she'll do all she can to stop the administration from sending Federal law enforcement agents including a lawsuit.

It's insane. Insanity.

So if you're looking for original thinking or bravery or integrity, obviously you're not looking to Hollywood or the music industry. There's none of that there. Most famous people march in perfect lockstep with the current cultural trends, whatever they are.

So it's unusual to see a genuinely famous person like Kanye West, openly defying the orthodoxy, but he has. Adam Carolla has been there for many years. He knows what it's like to think freely in the middle of Los Angeles as a famous person.

He's the author of a new book, "I'm Your Emotional Support Animal," which by the way he is. Adam Carolla joins us tonight. Adam, thanks a lot for coming on. What do you -- without endorsing all that Kanye West said -- I am not even aware of all that he said or endorsing Kanye West as a person. What do you make of someone that famous saying things that unpopular?

ADAM CAROLLA, COMEDIAN AND AUTHOR: You know, I always like this saying which is mine, which is, everyone knows there's something called FU money, but he has F me money. He has so much money that he can say whatever he wants, even if it's to his detriment.

And whether you agree with it or not, I find it refreshing that someone is just speaking their mind. I had a really scary moment this morning, not physically scary, but like fundamentally scary, spiritually scary.

I did a radio interview this morning, and the guy said to me sort of off the air under his breath. He said, you're lucky. You do a podcast. You can say whatever you want.

And I thought, wait a minute, it's 2020. This is the United States, you're a broadcaster. You can't say whatever you want?

The notion that people with microphones that are broadcasting are lamenting they can't say whatever they want in America in 2020 is scary.

CARLSON: Does it occur to them -- clearly, it doesn't, but why it doesn't, is that they have a moral obligation to say what they think is true, not always to be right, because we're people, we're often wrong. But to do your best to tell the truth, what happened to that idea?

CAROLLA: I don't know. You know, my book outsold eight books that made "The New York Times" bestseller list a couple of weeks ago, but I was not included on that list. So maybe speaking your mind is not a great financial move. Maybe talking about the fragility of white people or Black Lives Matter. maybe that's a better way to get paid in this city.

CARLSON: Oh, you got beaten by "White Fragility." Probably the worst book I've ever read. And I say that as someone who has read a lot of bad books.

So, I've got to ask you about this since you are in the State of California, I think of you as informally our California correspondent. The state is currently experiencing a second round of coronavirus shutdowns. How have you been weathering them?

CAROLLA: Like I weathered the first round, got up, hugged my kids and went to work.

I'm going to be in Dallas this weekend doing shows. I'll be back in Texas the week after that. I just get about my life. It's too short. The man has a different set of rules every 10 minutes. I wear a mask when I go into the Home Depot. Other than that, I'm figuring things out for myself and I'm living my life. I'm not in a -- I'm not compromised. Maybe a little mentally, some may argue, but I'm living my life.

And I want to say a quick thank you to your viewers, Tucker, because after my last appearance on your show a few weeks ago, my book sold out on Amazon the following morning, literally, 15,000 copies gone because of your audience.

CARLSON: They're a loyal audience. Not many people telling the truth right now and you're one of them. I noticed by the way you called me from Texas the other day. You're spending a lot of time in Texas. Do you think, in say, three years, you or any of your neighbors will still be in California?

CAROLLA: No, I don't think so. I feel like everybody in California that pays their taxes, that plays by the rules, that raises their kids, that is community based, you get punished. And if you are an empty bag and you've come here and you're here illegally, you do whatever you want, do it all with impunity, live on the streets, shoot up, you know, defecate wherever, they'll keep walking. The cops won't do anything.

But the City and the Mayor have it in for you. If you're a taxpayer and a good citizen, then you get punished. And so I think good people can take being punished for a couple of years, but they can't take the life sentence that is California.

So I'll probably end up moving to Texas and calling you from my full time residence.

CARLSON: There's going to be a big reshuffling in this country very soon and you are on the cutting edge as always. Congrats on the book. Adam Carolla, thank you for that.

CAROLLA: Thank you.

CARLSON: Well, all of a sudden, the media have ripped off the mask and they're supporting violence as a political tactic. They spent the last few months describing the riots as mostly peaceful. They've provided cover for rioting. They've watched conservative speakers shut down, their families harassed.

Now "The New York Times" is planning a new hit on this show. We will tell you what the story is after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: One more thing before we go tonight. Since this show began almost four years ago, I've really tried not to talk about myself on the air or even use the first person pronoun.

The last thing this country needs is more narcissism. It's not very interesting anyway, people who use the word I a lot tend to bore everyone, but themselves.

But tonight we're going to make an exception to that rule. We don't have much choice.

Last week, "The New York Times" began working on a story about where my family and I live. As a matter of journalism, there is no conceivable justification for a story like that. The paper is not alleging we've done anything wrong, and we haven't. We pay our taxes. We like our neighbors. We've never had a dispute with anyone.

So why is The New York Times doing a story on the location of my family's house? Well, you know why? To hurt us. To injure my wife and kids so that I will shut up and stop disagreeing with them. They believe in force. We've learned that.

Two years ago, a leftwing journalist publicized our home address in Washington, a group of screaming Antifa lunatics showed up while I was at work. They vandalized our home. They threatened my wife. She called 911 while hiding in a closet.

A few weeks later, they showed up again at our house. For the next year, they sent letters to our home threatening to kill us. We tried to ignore it, it felt cowardly to sell our home and leave. We raised our kids there in the neighborhood, and we loved it.

But in the end, that's what we did. We have four children. It just wasn't worth it.

But The New York Times followed us. The paper has assigned a political activist called Murray Carpenter to write a story about where we are now.

They've hired a photographer called Tristan Spinski to take pictures.

Their story about where we live is slated to run in the paper this week. Editors there know exactly what will happen to my family when it does run. I called them today and I told them, but they didn't care. They hate my politics. They want this show off the air.

If one of my children gets hurt because of a story they wrote, they won't consider it collateral damage. They know it's the whole point of the exercise, to inflict pain on our family, to terrorize us, to control what we say. That's the kind of people they are.

They'll deny this, of course. They'll claim it's just journalism, just the facts. Really? So how would Murray Carpenter and his photographer Tristan Spinki feel if we told you where they live? If we put pictures of their homes on the air?

What if we publicize the home address of every one of the soulless robot editors at The New York Times who assigned and managed this incitement to violence against my family?

What about the media editor Jim Windolf? We could do that. We know who they are. Would that qualify as journalism? We doubt they'd consider it journalism. They'd call it criminal behavior if we did it and that tells you everything.

It does tell you everything.

That's about it for us tonight. Tomorrow night, we're going to have pretty amazing footage of drones in China. The Chinese government loading ethnic minorities into train cars shipping them off to reeducation camps, remember as the NFL franchises and woke mega corporations chastise you for your systemic racism and your white fragility, they are completely silent on what is happening in China. In fact, they're benefiting from it.

So tune in tomorrow night and every night, 8:00 p.m. The show that is the sworn and totally sincere enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink.

From New York, the great Sean Hannity, next.

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