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Ocasio-Cortez admits to throwing away plastic grocery bags; SteynOnline.com's Mark Steyn reacts on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," March 7, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST: Good evening and welcome to “Tucker Carlson Tonight”. Last summer, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins was barred from a White House event after she asked questions the administration thought were too aggressive.

As an organization, CNN has relentlessly attacked Fox News over the years. On the other hand, reporters ought to be allowed to ask hard questions of public officials. Executives here at Fox didn't hesitate. They loudly came to Kaitlan Collins' defense. So did "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier, so did this show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: The big story in Washington today is that Kaitlan Collins over at CNN was prevented from covering an event at the White House yesterday. Kaitlan worked for me for years. She is a fair and decent person and I don't think she should have been prevented from covering anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Whatever you think of CNN, Kaitlan Collins is a great person, defending her was not a tough call. Then the White House briefly banned CNN correspondent Jim Acosta. Jim Acosta is not a great person. He is awful. Ask anyone who knows him. Still, Fox News stuck to principle. Even awful people ought to be allowed to cover the White House.

Fox immediately filed an amicus brief supporting Jim Acosta's return to the White House press pool. Acosta got his credentials back. You may dislike Fox News. But there is no question about this channel's commitment to free speech. We defend speech, even when it's unpopular, even when the person speaking has attacked us personally.

Free expression is bigger than any one person or any organization. It is the very heart of this country. It's the foundation of all other freedoms. We really believe that. CNN and MSNBC do not believe that.

Yesterday, the DNC announced that Fox News has been banned from hosting any of the Democratic Party's 2020 primary debates. DNC Chairman, Tom Perez went on television to explain that Fox News simply isn't a real news organization.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PEREZ, DNC CHAIRMAN: At the highest levels of Fox News, they are not playing it straight. I do not have the confidence that we need to take such an important part of the nomination process, these debates and trust them to folks who at the top levels are consulting Donald Trump before they do anything. I couldn't do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So that's a lie and everyone in the news business knows it's a lie. Our news anchors don't consult Donald Trump or any other politician before asking their questions. They didn't in 2016, they don't now, they never will.

Tom Perez is arguing that a political party should decide who gets to cover the news. Amazingly, CNN and MSNBC agree with him. Jeff Zooker issued a public statement saying so. Zucker didn't do it in his own voice, of course, he prefers to lurk behind the curtain.

Instead, Zucker dispatched his creepy spokesman to deliver the party line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN STELTER, CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Fox has journalists like Bret Baier who do a good job, but every night in prime time, Democrats are demonized. They are attacked relentlessly by Fox News prime time hosts. It was always hard for me to imagine a Democratic primary debate taking place in those hours when figures like Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez are constantly demonized and attacked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: They criticize Nancy Pelosi screams the eunuch. That's not allowed. They must be excluded. Needless to say, ubiquitous windbag, Anna Navarro agrees with that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNA NAVARRO, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Fox news is tainted with partisanship. It's not irrational. It's not illogical for the DNC to wonder and suspect if they can get a fair shake from Fox News or if they will be set up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: You figured out the game by now. It's all projection. Everything the left says is projection. Whatever they accuse you of is exactly what they are doing -- every single time.

They say they are deeply worried that Fox News might rig a primary debate. Fox has never done that of course, and never would. Has anyone else done that? Well, let's see, in 2016 one of CNN's paid on-air contributors leaked a debate question to Hillary Clinton before the event. CNN tried to cover it up and then they got caught.

There is nothing more corrupt than that. Somehow their media reporter kid forgot to mention that scandal. "Fox is state TV," they will tell. It is monochromatic. There is a strict party line. Really? Ever watched Fox News? There is far greater diversity of opinion on this channel than on any other news channels.

Those of us who have worked at the other news networks can confirm that conclusively because it's true. But spend a day watching our programming, and then theirs and see for yourself. Rest, Jeffrey Lord who was fired from CNN for the crime of defending Donald Trump too effectively.

They claim Fox management is partisan. That's not true. Those of us who work here know that, but just check Google for confirmation. Has any current Fox News executive ever publicly boasted about plans to run for political office? Nope. But Jeff Zucker has. Zucker is a partisan Democrat. He has said so many times and that may be why Zucker is so anxious to increase the partisan division in this country. That's exactly what he is doing by endorsing the DNC ban on Fox.

When CNN says this network should not be allowed to host a Democratic debate, what they are really saying is that disagreement shouldn't be allowed. They are making the case against compromise and against bipartisanship.

We reject CNN's world view completely. Yes, this is a divided country. We have genuine disagreements. They are real. But we are all Americans. We have more in common than we don't and that's why you will often see sincere leftists on this show.

Sometimes we are tough on them, but just as often we will nod in vigorous agreement. We don't have to agree on everything to find common ground with someone. This is America. Nuance is allowed and you will see it here. You will never see anything like that on CNN or MSNBC. On those channels people are the sum total of their voter registrations. You are either with Trump or you are against Trump. It's a zero sum world. It's ugly and boring and incredibly divisive. We will never be like that.

The left embraces this view because it increases their power. They don't want debate, they consider compromise immoral. They say that. They demand total obedience.

Around the world the left is working to crush dissent as CNN applauds from the sidelines. In France right now, to name one among countless examples of it, former presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is facing a criminal prosecution for tweeting out photos of atrocities committed by ISIS. Le Pen didn't endorse ISIS or its atrocities, no. Le Pen faces three years in prison simply for showing what fundamentalist Islamic groups actually do.

An Australia, Milo Yiannopoulos was just banned from entering the country on quote, "grounds of character." Keep in mind that Yiannopoulos, whatever you think of him has never advocated violence. He has never even been arrested.

Meanwhile radical Muslim clerics enter Australia all the time. Yiannopoulos is being punished purely for his political views and no doubt that is absolutely fine with CNN.

What you are watching across the west is a new form of social control. It's modeled on the vast system of surveillance and punishment that American tech companies have helped design for China's fascist regime. Step out of line and you will feel the pain.

Big tech closes your social media accounts, your bank drops you. PayPal won't allow you to earn money online. Amazon bans your books. You can't travel abroad. You are a nonperson. CNN won't say a word about any of this. They haven't. They cheer. "You are a bigot," they will say motivated by hatred. They seem to have no idea they are describing themselves.

Joe Concha writes about media at "The Hill" and he joins us tonight. Joe, thanks a lot for coming on. Fox defended CNN's right to cover the White House, to cover American politics in the form of an amicus brief on behalf of Jim Acosta who is very hard to defend, but on principle we did it anyway and now, Fox has been banned from hosting democratic debates and they are gloating. Tell me how this works.

JOE CONCHA, MEDIA REPORTER, THE HILL: Well, for one, Jim Acosta has called Fox state-run TV on several occasions. Chris Cuomo just did this week as has its senior chief media correspondent. So, yes, as you said it's not returned in kind. Just one thing to correct you on your monologue, you said that CNN had shared a debate question with the Clinton campaign -- singular, you've mentioned. Actually, that happened twice at two different town halls. One that they sponsored with another news organization; one that they did solo. So this happened twice through Donna Brazile to the Clinton campaign. So it is interesting to hear them talk about handling a debate.

CARLSON: That's unbelievable. I didn't even know that. That doesn't get a lot of coverage from their media critic, Zucker's spokesman.

CONCHA: I know. I haven't seen that very much, and the bottom line is that, unlike this network that brought in outside firm during the Roger Ailes controversy, he was gone a couple of weeks later to investigate. CNN never brought in an external firm to investigate how that happened because that's a very serious thing, obviously.

Just unpack a couple of things. You talked about how also said senior media correspondent talked about how Democrats are dehumanized on this network. That doesn't quite explain then how Tulsi Gabbard who is a Congresswoman from Hawaii running for President appeared on your show last week and then after, tweeted out to her hundreds of thousands of followers video of the segment. It doesn't explain why Kamala Harris did an interview on Fox News, why Kirsten Gillibrand did an interview on Fox News. John Delaney -- all Democratic Presidential candidates -- all appearing on this network.

But Amy Klobuchar, Tucker, stands out to me the most. She said this to Bret Baier recently. "One of the reasons I came on this show is that I believe that candidates for office, whether Democrat or Republican, have to go not just where it's comfortable, but where it is uncomfortable. But you know, Fox may not always be comfortable for Democrats, but I want to make that point."

CARLSON: Good for her.

CONCHA: And Tom Perez, the head of the DNC doesn't understand the challenge that his candidates have. There is probably going to be 20 of them with no clear frontrunner because Joe Biden, let's face it, it sucks to be white in the establishment these days. They are going to have to stand out somehow. And the way do you that is to get the voters that are in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, the states that Trump won. Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, and you don't do that by going on networks where most of the people watching are going to vote against Donald Trump anyway.

CARLSON: Well, also, if you care about the country, then you are going to encourage a free exchange and open exchange of ideas. This show aggressively pursues Democrats. Not simply to tear down, though we do that and I think it's warranted, but also to agree with because there are some things they are saying that are right.

We complimented AOC for criticizing New York City for paying the biggest company in the world to come there, Amazon. We complimented her because she was right. They don't want that. Why wouldn't CNN be in the business of encouraging a conversation rather than shutting one down?

CONCHA: I would think that would be the case and echo chambers are quite boring, Tucker, right, in the free exchange of ideas. And what your show does, I have noticed against others and maybe this is a little bit of inside baseball, but I have seen a lot have panels where it's like a "Brady Bunch." You're watching like six or eight people yelling at each other.

CARLSON: You've got it, yes.

CONCHA: I think I've only seen you do one-on-one. I don't think I've ever seen you interview more than two or three people ever at a time.

CARLSON: And you never will. I hate that.

CONCHA: And that makes for better television in terms of freedom. So look, the bottom line is that candidate Donald Trump understood that to win, he had to go on those other networks during the primaries. MSNBC, "Morning Joe," a regular guest. CNN, he was on often and he got the nomination and that's what these candidates have to do. They want to do it, but the DNC isn't allowing it to happen, Tucker.

CARLSON: It's really a mistake. Joe, it's great to see you. Thank you for that.

CONCHA: Good to see you.

CARLSON: Well, express anything, any dissent from the prevailing fair trade coffee shop view on television and the left will try to shut you down. Trust me, we have lived it.

If you do it in real life, they may physically attack you and call themselves victims. Hayden Williams learned that lesson the hard way last month. He was attacked while trying to recruit conservatives at UC Berkeley. Yesterday, his attacker - his apparent attacker, Zachary Greenberg pleaded not guilty to three felonies in the incident.

Larry Elder is a long-time Californian, one of the smartest and a radio show host and he joins us tonight. Larry, thanks a lot for coming on. So I saw the story and my first thought was since have you been there, I think your whole life, could you wear a Donald Trump hat or shirt and walk into Griffith Park in Los Angeles? How would you do that?

LARRY ELDER, RADIO SHOW HOST, CALIFORNIA: It wouldn't be advisable. And I live on the west side of Los Angeles and I wouldn't think about wearing a MAGA cap to anywhere like Santa Monica. You are literally asking for somebody to hit you in the face.

It's not just about hats. It's about bumper stickers. During the 2016 election, put a Donald Trump bumper sticker on your car and drive it somewhere on the west side and park it and leave it for a few hours, come back and see what happens. I had a show where I asked people to call in and asked whether or not your car had been defaced and whether or not you had a Hillary sticker or a Trump sticker and everybody who called up who made a complaint had a Trump sticker. Not a single person who had a Hillary sticker reported that he or she had his or her car defaced.

It's a serious kind of thing. These people believe the other side, Tucker, is not just wrong, they believe the other side is bad, is evil. That way they can justify taking these kinds of physical actions. The good news though about the UC Berkeley thing is the guy who did the assault, the perp turned out not to be a student and it turns out that UC Berkeley police assisted in ultimately getting this guy arrested.

CARLSON: Good for them. Have you seen anybody -- since, clearly we are in the middle of a moment, but moments change, but we are in a moment where one side is not allowed to express its political views in public for fear of facing violence, at least in the coastal cities. Have you heard liberals say, "Wait a second, if we are punching Trump supporters, maybe someone will punch us at some point?" I mean, has anybody said maybe this is a bad idea.

ELDER: I don't think so. You saw what happened after Donald Trump got elected in November of 2016. The academia around this country went absolutely crazy. There was a Professor here who likened Trump supporters to terrorists. I mean, it's insane. And you look at the imbalance in terms of registration whether Democrat or Republican, you are looking at Departments of Poli-Sci where 20 or 30 professors are there, one might be registered as a Republican; no sociologist registered as a Republican. Nobody in Women's Studies registered as a Republican.

Now, if you are assuming that education has some sort of impact on how people think and reason, then you have to conclude that the more likely you go to college, if you major in Humanities and most people do, the more likely you are going to come out left wing. That's why, Tucker, the Democrats want to give you tuition-free college. If you were likely to come out Republican, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

CARLSON: Why would you ever send a child to college? I mean, I have. I am in the process of doing it. It kills me. I mean, at one point are people going to say, "This is poisoning our kids. It's actually killing some of them, and it is wrecking the country. We are opting out." How far away is that point?

ELDER: It's going to take the alumni to do something about it because the colleges of course depend on contribution from the alumni and when they understand and realize that their kids are not getting an education. They are getting an indoctrination. Then and maybe then, things will change, but until then, nothing is going to change.

CARLSON: No, it's not an impressive system and we need to be honest about that.

ELDER: Right.

CARLSON: Larry Elder, it was great to see you. It always is.

ELDER: My pleasure. You've got it.

CARLSON: Thank you. Well, with the Green New Deal, impeachment, Ilhan Omar dividing the Democratic Party. It is entertaining, but you have to ask the question what unites all Democrats? And there is really only one thing, you are a racist. That's what they all believe. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: The Democratic Party now controls the House of Representatives. That's pretty exciting. They can subpoena people and jump up and down. They have got a lot of power. The question is what are they going to do with all that power? They can't agree.

The party's most radical wing wants to push the Green New Deal, young pioneer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says that if some Democrats don't like it, too bad. She is in command now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, D-N.Y.: "Oh it's unrealistic. Oh, it's vague. Oh, it doesn't address this little minute thing," and I'm like you try. You do it. Because you not. Because you're not. So until you do it, I'm the boss. How about that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: That's so great. "I'm the boss, how about that?" Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi tried to down play impeachment talks last fall and then freshman Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said, "That's not an option." Impeachment is at the very heart of her agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RASHIDA TLAIB, D-MICH.: Every single colleague of mine agrees there is impeachable offenses. That's one thing that we all agree on. I think they all know the dangers of allowing President Trump to continue to violate our United States Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Yes. Well, it's getting pretty hard for longtime Democratic lawmakers, the one who grew up in the system to contain their Party's younger, more activist wing as Newt Gingrich who ran the House at one point observed today. These newcomers see the Party's current leaders as irrelevant fossils from an earlier time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, R-GA, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: If you are a freshman Democrat, the three House leaders are the same age as your grandparents. I mean, they are not father and mother figures. These are grandparents. And I think that if you think about a typical, you know, 27- year-old relating to their grandparents, you have some idea how they view Nancy Pelosi. She has limited control over them. A number of them frankly don't care what she thinks. So, I think the tension in that caucus is just going to grow every week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Robin Biro is a former Regional Director for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. He joins us. Robin, thanks a lot for coming on. So it seems like what some of us have predicted for a long time is happening. The revolution is eating itself.

ROBIN BIRO, FORMER REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR BARACK OBAMA'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Yes, and you are exactly correct. These are the younger people. I admire them for their energy and enthusiasm. Sometimes, I just wish that they would take the time to actually listen more and maybe talk less and learn from the experience.

You know, I have been recently charged with being part of the old guard that's ineffective, but we get the job done. And, you know, I think more Americans across the country are falling to the centrist, level-headed category than the radical left. So I really think they would do themselves a service to just listen a little bit more, Tucker.

CARLSON: So maybe this is what you get when you don't run on anything other than not liking somebody.

BIRO: Could be.

CARLSON: So -- I am sincere. So there were racists. Jerry Golden for example in the Second District of Maine in the last midterms who ran on healthcare and he won. It's a Republican district and he won it as a Democrat because he ran on a specific issue. But a lot of these other people just ran on hating Trump and he is an m-effer and I hate him more than do you, and like, that's not actually a platform, is it?

BIRO: No. And it's completely ineffective. It actually really harms what we're trying to accomplish because, look, Americans -- the reason that we have Donald Trump as President is because he was the anti-politician. I need for my party to get that. I need for Republicans to get that because Americans are desperate for us to work together and actually get things done and for Congress to get to work, to pass some bipartisan measures that there is an appetite for.

CARLSON: So who is in charge? If you're Nancy Pelosi and you really see yourself as this figure in history, the first female Speaker, et cetera, et cetera and AOC shows up and starts calling herself boss, you have to neutralize her. Would you ever be involved in leaking a potential FEC violation against her? I'm not a conspiracy nut, but maybe Pelosi had a hand in that?

BIRO: You know, I love to call out hypocrisy regardless of what side of the aisle that it's on. So I appreciate that she is being called out for some of her own hypocrisy right now. Nancy Pelosi is doing a pretty good job. You know, I have been a huge critic of hers for years.

CARLSON: Yes.

BIRO: But right now, she is doing a decent job of reigning in the party. I actually like how she handles specifically the Green New Deal because she kind of said, "Yes, that's cute. Now, let's move on." And it was pretty dismissive of it because she knows it's not going to really fly with the heartland and the Midwest which is where we have got to regain votes to be a contender in 2020 and to keep the House. That's my biggest concern right now.

CARLSON: Wouldn't it be useful if Pelosi laid down the marker on that? And said, "Look, we don't agree with the Republican agenda, that's why we are Democrats." That's understandable, but there are some things that Trump, by far the most traditional Democrat ever to run as a Republican is saying that we agree with. Why wouldn't would he be on his side with trade deals for example? Or infrastructure? Or opioids? Why not say that?

BIRO: We need to do that specifically. I'm glad you brought that up. Criminal justice reform. There is an appetite. Dick Durbin said there is an appetite within the Democratic Party for real border security. There are things that we need to be working on and yes, okay, you can say that Donald Trump said things that were maybe egregious and distasteful about the Charlottesville rally, for example.

But, okay. I get it, but there are -- it's taking away -- to keep harping on that is taking away from the work that we really need to be doing and we will lose the House if we can't get actual things done for every day Americans, Tucker.

CARLSON: Yes, it definitely is going to scare the hell out of normal people. I'm a little afraid. Robin, great to see you. Thank you very much.

BIRO: You too. Thank you, Tucker.

CARLSON: Lawmakers in the state of Washington are planning to make homeless encampments legal statewide. Huh? Why are they so determined to do this? To surrender to chaos and decay? Is there a reason? We will talk to someone from Washington State after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TRACE GALLAGHER, CORRESPONDENT: This is a Fox News alert. I'm Trace Gallagher. Former Trump campaign manager, Paul Manafort sentenced to 47 months in prison after being found guilty last year for bank and tax fraud. Manafort's conviction makes him the first campaign associate of the President to be found guilty by a jury as part of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller's probe. Federal sentencing guidelines called for about 20 years, but the Judge found it to be excessive for the case. Manafort still faces more prison time in another case.

Well, the House passing a bipartisan resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other bigotry. While it does not mention Minnesota Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar by name, it came in direct response to controversial remarks made by her. Last week, Omar made remarks claiming pro-Israel lawmakers were pushing an allegiance to a foreign country. I'm Trace Gallagher. News breaks out. We will break in. Now back to Tucker Carlson.

CARLSON: Last month, the residents of Martin County, Kentucky received an ominous warning on Facebook from their Sheriff, John Kirk. Here's what the message said, quote, "Law enforcement as we have known for the last four years will not exist. We are broke. Lock your doors, load your guns and get you a barking, biting dog. If the Sheriff's Office can't protect you, who will?" That's real. Imagine hearing that from your own sheriff from your own government?

In Martin County, Kentucky, the median household income is $18,000.00 a year. Almost half the children there live in poverty. It is one of the poorest places in the United States. The county is so broke, the Sheriff's Department can no longer provide 24-hour police protection. Keep in mind that in Martin County, the opioid epidemic is still raging. They badly need help from law enforcement.

More than 50 years ago, Lyndon Johnson traveled to Martin County, Kentucky to pitch his war on poverty. Clearly, his solutions didn't work, obviously. But at least the goal was right. LBJ wanted to improve America. That was laudable. That's the point of running America, to improve it.

Our current leaders? Not interested. Not even a little bit. How do you know? Well, consider that at the very same time that Martin County, Kentucky ran out of money and could no longer afford to protect its own people, Washington was still sending huge amounts of money to Afghanistan to hire thousands more cops and we're still doing it.

Since 2002, Congress has appropriated more than $78 billion in U.S. tax money to strengthen the Afghan Army and expand its police forces. Even now, Afghanistan's cops are getting about a billion dollars a year. Most of which, of course is, completely wasted as is most money we send to Afghanistan. Just one-tenth of 1% of the money we send to Afghanistan could pay for policing in Martin County, Kentucky for a decade. Apparently, that has not occurred to Max Boot or Bill Kristol or anyone else making foreign policy in Washington. They care about Afghans far more than they care about you. At least, they are not subtle about it. The message unmistakable.

More sad evidence tonight of a country in decline, Seattle has one of the biggest homeless populations in America. More than 12,000 people live on the streets. That's more than San Francisco has. The population is so large of homeless in Seattle that it is rapidly moving from a nuisance to a genuine crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The campers on 5th and 58th, 20 feet away from Green Lake Homes are gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a mess.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Piles of trash left behind. Neighbors say not all the campers were committing crimes, but many were. Kristin Frosaker says residents had to deal with property crimes, theft, open drug use, and defecation on their yards.

KRISTIN FROSAKER, RESIDENT: We are not going to shut up because we are not safe and when our children can't walk down the street to a park --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: This is what it looks like when a society collapses. State lawmakers in Washington though don't see it that way. They see it as a great opportunity. Some lawmakers in the state have introduced a bill that would legalize permanent homeless encampments statewide. The garbage, the human waste, the needles that are already routine features of life in Seattle could soon be coming to parks and open spaces across the state of Washington.

Lawmakers used to care about their communities. They wanted them to be orderly, neat, clean, and beautiful. Now they are encouraging just the opposite.

Jason Rantz is a Seattle radio host and he joins us tonight. Jason, thanks a lot for coming on. I hope I'm not overstating this. I have been to Seattle which is one of the prettiest cities in the world, really and seeing the chaos and the filth that the homeless, the vagrant population has left there. Why would any lawmaker want to expand that?

JASON RANTZ, RADIO SHOW HOST, SEATTLE: I think part of the reason why they want to expand it is they have sort of leaned in to this idea of social justice approach to homelessness, which on its surface, you would say, okay, but there is a lot of virtue signaling. This whole idea that we, under this new bill that they tried to introduce that it would basically legalize the right. It's basically a homelessness bill of rights.

The right to survive in an unobtrusive way. They think that's a really good way to call themselves heroes. But unfortunately, there is a huge difference between survival and living. And there are a lot of people in Washington State who are seeing what is going on and saying, "You know what? I guess you are surviving while living in an alleyway or in a park and using a sidewalk as a toilet, but that's not living."

And there is a group of people who actually want to get some results getting you off the street. We have got a lot of policies unfortunately, that seem to make it easier to stay out on the street and quote, unquote, "survive" instead of actually living a productive life.

CARLSON: I feel sorry for people who are vagrants, homeless, or drug addicts. I sincerely do. But they are not the only people with an interest in this question. What about everybody else? What about the normal people with kids who just want to live in Seattle and they can't and their lives are diminished because of this? Does anybody care about them at all?

RANTZ: When you ask they will say, "Yes, of course we care, but there are other people we need to care a little bit more about. The people who are living out on the streets," and usually people like me and people who listen to the show, we always come back and say, "You could do both, right? You can actually support the people who are paying taxes, living in communities, not wanting their kids picking up needles in parks or stepping over human waste on sidewalks while also helping the people who are out there living out on the streets."

And the funny thing is, when you go to certain communities in Washington State, Marysville is about 30 miles north of Seattle. They have a program in which they have an officer plus a social worker who connects with the homeless and they say very clearly to the people who need help, "You either get the help or we are going to put you in jail. We will give you the help. We will put new a program. We will get you detox. We will put you in transitional housing. You either take that or we are going to make your life a little bit more difficult." And that has actually worked.

But that's a little bit too harsh for the folks who live in Seattle who have this greater influence in our state capital who want to push this ridiculous bill.

CARLSON: Yes, I think the bill they are push something incredibly harsh, really harsh. Vicious actually. It's an attack on normal people who pay for all of this, and it's an attack on civilization itself. Does anyone say that?

RANTZ: Well, it's an attack on the people who actually are impacted directly by this. We should not be making it easier to live out on the streets. Every day, someone is out on the street is that much harder for them to get back into a position where they are actually able to contribute to society and do so on their own, and it's just -- it's incredibly sad, but yes, you are right. It also impacts the people who are choosing to play by the rules.

You have a lot of people who can go into housing, into shelters. They generally say no, the ones who are not dealing with any sort of mental illness or addiction. They say no because they don't want to follow the rules. I'm sorry, we have got rules of society. I follow them. You follow them.

CARLSON: Yes, I don't care what they want. Your job is to protect normal people and families. That's your job and anything that threatens them, you know, needs to take second place, I would say. Jason, thank you very much. It's great to see you tonight. Good luck.

RANTZ: Thanks for having me.

CARLSON: Time for what we think might be the most chaotic addition of "Final Exam" ever. Greg Gutfeld won the last couple of weeks so we brought in a ringer. We are worried about Greg. He could get too powerful if he continues to win. So tonight, he faces off against a 12-time "Jeopardy" champion, a professional game show contestant. Play along after the break.

JESSE WATTERS, HOST: It's time to get your free trial of Fox Nation. Our new streaming service that's the perfect complement to the Fox News Channel. Fox Nation features exclusive shows for me and your favorite Fox News personalities. It also has some amazing rip from the headlines documentaries like "Scandalous: The Mysterious Story of Tawana Brawley," check it out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shocking, horrible story of a racist attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Discovered along Duchess County Road wrapped in plastic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She says that she was abducted and held against her will.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With racial slurs scrawled on her body.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tawana's family claimed that six white men including a police officer sexually abused the girl.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The report indicates Ms. Brawley's story was concocted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I unequivocally believe Tawana's story.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tawana Brawley was a pawn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heavily manipulated as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The irresponsible behavior of Al Sharpton and C. Vernon Mason and Alton Madox.

TAWANA BRAWLEY, ALLEGED VICTIM: My name is Tawana Brawley, I am not a liar and I am not crazy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Time now for "Final Exam." Typically we pit two hardened news professionals against one another to see who has been paying closest attention this last week. But tonight, we have something a little different. Greg Gutfeld won this segment the last two weeks and so before the streak continues and his egomania becomes unmanageable, we have brought in a ringer tonight. He is 12-time "Jeopardy" champion, Austin Rogers. He won more than $400,000.00 on that show. He also hosts a podcast called "A Lot to Learn." We should also add that there has been sad news about the health of "Jeopardy" host, Alex Trebek. He says he plans to fight his illness and will continue to host his show. It is in his honor that we invite a "Jeopardy" contestant on this evening.

AUSTIN ROGERS, 12-TIME JEOPARDY WINNER: Thank you very much.

GREG GUTFELD, HOST: He is not a contestant, he is a 12 time winner.

CARLSON: Well, that's exactly right.

GUTFELD: You are a jerk. You didn't tell me that. They didn't tell me that.

CARLSON: We had to stop this.

ROGERS: I did all right.

GUTFELD: Half a million dollars.

CARLSON: And by the way, some of us are fans of your work, Mr. Rogers, so we are honored that you are here tonight.

ROGERS: Thank you very much.

CARLSON: And I don't even to need read the rules to you because they are intuitive, but for our audience, I will repeat them. Hands on buzzers. I ask the questions. The first one to buzz in gets to answer the question. You must wait until I finish asking it before you answer it.

GUTFELD: That's the hard part.

ROGERS: Yes.

CARLSON: You can answer once I acknowledge you by saying your name. Every correct answer is worth a point. If you get it wrong you lose a point. Best of five wins. Clear?

GUTFELD: Yes. All right, I'm already going to lose.

CARLSON: You never know.

GUTFELD: Oh, stop it, Tucker.

ROGER: I am illiterate, so --

CARLSON: This guy is really smart. I actually watched his segments. He is really smart. All right, we'll see smart he is. Question one, Cory Booker, senator from New Jersey, Democratic presidential candidate was asked the other day in an interview how margaritas are made. What kind of alcohol is used? What very wrong answer did he give?

GUTFELD: Vodka.

CARLSON: Greg Gutfeld.

GUTFELD: Vodka. I said it.

CARLSON: Oh, you said it, I am sorry, I didn't know what you were saying.

GUTFELD: Come on, Tucker. What's wrong with you?

CARLSON: Vodka. Well, vodka isn't used in a margarita, did he really say that?

GUTFELD: Yes.

CARLSON: Okay, well, let's see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISAAC FITZGERALD, HOST, AM2DM, BUZZFEED: We'll give you an easy one though. What is in a margarita? You can do this.

SAEED JONES, HOST, AM2DM, BUZZFEED: We have faith in you.

SEN. CORY BOOKER, D-N.J.: So a margarita, there is fruit and there is ice and there is vodka.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Okay. He is wrong but you are right. Wow. Okay. You are one up.

GUTFELD: Yes, but not for long.

CARLSON: No, he's luring you in.

ROGERS: Yes, well, I'm a bartender also, so this is double terrible for me.

CARLSON: Are you literally a bartender -- and by the way, even after winning all that money you are still tending a bar?

ROGERS: Yes, because why wouldn't I? I get to hang out with my friends and make money for it. Perfect.

GUTFELD: I admire that.

CARLSON: Good for you.

GUTFELD: And you can't retire on 400 grand.

CARLSON: My producer is just saying, I am going to his bar after the show.

ROGERS: I am not that far. I am three blocks from here.

GUTFELD: What's the bar?

CARLSON: In Hell's Kitchen. What's the bar called?

ROGERS: It's called the Gaff West on 48th and 9th Avenue.

GUTFELD: I used to drink there. It's a cop bar.

ROGERS: There are cops there.

GUTFELD: I lived on 49th and 9th. I used to go to the Gaff all the time. It's a cop bar.

CARLSON: That's the best thing happening on that block, I know for a fact. All right, question two. The National Game Show Commission has demanded this be a multiple choice question about food. There is one on every show. Here is this week's. President Trump just rolled out another fast food spread at the White House, this time for the North Dakota State Football Team. It wasn't just McDonald's. The players also had food from which chain was it A. Taco Bell; B. Arby's; or, C: Chick-fil-a?

ROGERS: You beat me.

GUTFELD: Chick-fil-a.

CARLSON: Chick-fil-a. Is it Chick-fil-a?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: Chick-fil-a, they say, Chick- fil-a. We could have had chefs. We could have -- but we got fast food. Because we know -- I know you people very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: There you go. Chick-fil-a. I'm impressed. All right -- they don't have these questions on "Jeopardy." Question three.

GUTFELD: These are so easy that you are not used to it.

CARLSON: That's exactly right.

GUTFELD: These are so moronic, Tucker, that they are below his intelligence.

ROGERS: Can you ask me about something about the Battle of Agincourt or --

CARLSON: Exactly. Maybe who is Adonis?

ROGERS: Or maybe Eric Foner's reconstruction or maybe a book like something that people should read.

GUTFELD: Don't do that.

CARLSON: Listen, I'm sorry. This is cable news. No books. Question three, which 2020 candidate admitted this week that he smoked weed a few times but gave it up when it caused him to cough? Who is that? Gutfeld?

GUTFELD: Bernie Sanders.

CARLSON: Bernie Sanders. Was it really Bernie Sanders? That's disappointing, but we will see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, HOST, THE BREAKFAST CLUB RADIO SHOW: Have you ever smoked?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT: A few times.

CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: Okay.

SANDERS: Didn't do a whole lot for me. My recollection is I nearly coughed my brains out, so it's not my cup of tea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROGERS: Just a few times?

GUTFELD: I might vote for him for that because when I smoked pot, I just went to the hospital.

CARLSON: You OD'd.

GUTFELD: No, I just -- freaked out.

CARLSON: Our producers are saying -- and this is part of an ongoing effort to make Greg Gutfeld lose. This is a two-point question.

ROGERS: Okay.

GUTFELD: You can do this on purpose.

ROGERS: Okay.

CARLSON: Look, I am just -- I'm a marionette. I follow rules. Question four. Another multiple choice. After this month, there will only be one Blockbuster Video outlet left on Planet Earth. The home of the final video store is in which U.S. city? Is it A, Austin, Texas? B. Bend, Oregon? C. Yazoo City, Mississippi? Austin.

ROGERS: I'm pressure sure it's in Bend, Oregon.

CARLSON: That doesn't sound right, but we will see if you are right. To the tape we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Blockbuster rental store in Bend, Oregon will be the last one in the entire world. It's the same store our very own Kevin McCarthy visited last summer. The only other Blockbuster in Australia is closing at the end of the month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Amazing. You knew Bend, Oregon. Okay. It's two to three. You could still tie it up. Final question. This is yet another amazing story out of the often overlooked state of Oregon. A man there was trapped in the snow for five days after his car was stuck on a desolate rural road with no real food to sustain him. The man survived on which fast food condiments? Austin?

ROGERS: It's Taco Bell hot sauce packets?

CARLSON: That can't be right?

GUTFELD: I thought this was multiple choice?

CARLSON: Is it hot? No, there is only one choice. This is like the old Soviet Union, one choice and Austin got it.

GUTFELD: There are no multiple choice in the Soviet Union. They just were terrible.

CARLSON: Taco Bell hot sauce packets.

ROGERS: I have a scholarship in Soviet Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A man survived five days trapped in his car in the snow with his dog. He says he kept them alive by turning on the SUV for heat every once in a while and that he also ate packets of Taco Bell hot sauce.

CARLSON: Amazing. Okay. Congratulations. So this brings us -- and this is really a test on whether you watch this segment.

ROGERS: I think this is rigged by the way.

CARLSON: No, it's not rigged, I promise. We are go to traditional tie breaking question. And it's this: What is the capital of the African- American nation of Burkina Faso?

GUTFELD: Wait, I think.

CARLSON: Yes, Austin?

ROGERS: Ouagadougou.

CARLSON: Oh close.

ROGERS: I don't know how to pronounce it.

CARLSON: I don't know. It's Ouagadougou.

ROGERS: I was close.

GUTFELD: I win.

CARLSON: You know what, our judges who are easily bribed and suborned say they are giving it to you --

ROGERS: You cannot give me that.

CARLSON: You don't want it.

ROGERS: I don't want it.

GUTFELD: He is a fair man.

CARLSON: He doesn't - gentlemen, he doesn't want it.

ROGERS: That was unfair.

CARLSON: Okay. Okay. Then I will give you a second tie breaker question.

ROGERS: I mispronounced it. It was unfair.

CARLSON: One of Abraham Lincoln's Vice Presidents was from the state of Maine. What was his name? Austin?

ROGERS: Hannibal Hamlin, I think.

CARLSON: Oh, Paris Hillmain, you are absolutely right and you, Mr. Austin Rogers are the winner. Greg Gutfeld.

GUTFELD: You try so hard, Tucker.

CARLSON: Look, I tried to help but I was subverted by our producers in New York. You know how it works. Congratulations, Austin. I will see you behind the bar. That's it for this week's "Final Exam." We will be back next week. Pay attention to everything that happens in the news and see if you can beat our experts. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Last year, a spasm of left wing outrage led to plastic straw bans across the country. They were worse than dangerous, they were unfashionable. But what about plastic bags?

In a recent interview, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complained that she gets too many plastic bags and then has to throw them away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I can be upset that I get 10 plastic bags at the grocery store and then have to toss out my plastic bags because the recycling program in the area is tough, and that's okay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: That tough. Clearly, we need aggressive state intervention. The State of Washington just approved a bill that would ban all single plastic bag statewide. Rhode Island is considering the same thing because they don't have enough problems to deal with. In Connecticut, which is literally failing, that state wants a 10 cent bag tax to fix the budget deficit. Soon your bundle of plastic bags under the sink could be contraband as illegal as fentanyl or a box of straws.

Author and columnist and plastic straw dissident, Mark Steyn joins us tonight. Any plastic bags under your sink?

MARK STEYN, AUTHOR AND COLUMNIST: Yes, there are actually. I am impressed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

CARLSON: I am, too, by the way.

STEYN: Because things that Democrats now, they've never heard of -- for example, her big thing with bovine flatulence, Democrats had never heard of until a couple of weeks ago. Now it ranks higher than the economy or Obamacare they feel the way about a flatulent Holstein destroying the planet the way they felt about Reagan having nukes 35 years ago. And that's impressive for her to do that.

Obviously, in a certain sense, this is a boutique issue. We will be arguing about plastic bags at the time Kim Jong-un decides to drop the big one on Cleveland and we will look ridiculous. But what's oddly revealing about this is that I think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comes across as strangely unwoke in this sound bite.

I don't do a lot of grocery shopping. I usually send my undocumented Honduran man servant that I keep under the stairs to do it. But when I am in the grocery store, I know enough to know that you are always standing behind some well-meaning liberal progressive who issues all the plastic bags and produces some smelly, disgusting permanent bag that she's been carrying around from store to store for the last four years and has the food put in that.

CARLSON: You mean the NPR tote bag?

STEYN: Yes, that is. I believe it's the -- it's either the Charlie Rose tote bag or the Garrison Keillor tote bag. I don't know which one - what it is. They've been #MeToo'd but one has #MeToo'd their tote bags. They are still good for the fundraisers.

So they take out the NPR tote bag and they have all the groceries dropped in it, and they don't have to have the plastic bags. There is no reason for this problem. She sounds as out of it as that famous clip of the first President Bush marveling at the grocery scanner, which was misrepresented anyway.

But in this case, she sounds weirdly unwoke. Where is Alexandria's Charlie Rose tote bag? That's what we want to know.

CARLSON: I think she thinks that Charlie Rose is a tool of the establishment probably. I bet if you were to x-ray her thoughts, she would be very, very anti-Charlie Rose. But that's a really good point and next time I see AOC at Whole Foods, I will encourage her to get the tote bag. Mark Steyn, great to see you.

STEYN: Thanks a lot, Tucker.

CARLSON: Thanks, Mark. Well, that amazingly is it for us tonight. An hour's done. We'll be back, though, tomorrow night and every weeknight at 8:00 p.m. The show that is the sworn and totally sincere enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and group think, all of which are everywhere.

Good night from Washington. Sean Hannity from New York, next.

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