'Tucker Carlson Tonight' on vaccines, Hungary Prime Minister interview

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Hungarian prime minister hits back at Biden calling him a 'thug'

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sits down with Tucker Carlson to discuss how western Europe is changing and how his country is moving further away

This is a rush transcript from "Tucker Carlson Tonight," August 5, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Good evening and welcome to TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.

Of the nearly 200 different countries on the face of the Earth, precisely one of them has an elected leader who publicly identifies as a Western- style conservative. His name is Viktor Orban. He is the Prime Minister of Hungary.

Hungary is a small country in the middle of Central Europe. It has no Navy. It has no nuclear weapons. Its GDP is smaller than New York State's, so you wouldn't think leaders in Washington would pay a lot of attention to Hungary, but they do, obsessively.

By rejecting the tenets of neoliberalism, Viktor Orban has personally offended them and enraged them.

What does Viktor Orban believe? Just a few years ago, his views would have seemed moderate and conventional. He thinks families are more important than banks. He believes countries need borders.

For saying these things out loud, Orban has been vilified. Left-wing NGOs have denounced him as a fascist, a destroyer of democracy.

Last fall, Joe Biden suggested he is a totalitarian dictator. Official Washington despises Viktor Orban so thoroughly that many, including neocons in and around the State Department are backing the open anti-Semites who are running against him in next April's elections in Hungary.

We've watched all of this from the United States and we've wondered if what we've heard could be true. So this week, we came to Hungary to see for ourselves. We sat down with Orban for a couple of long conversations including one this morning.

In a moment, we'll show you some of that. You can make up your own mind about it.

But first, a word about Hungary.

Even if you understand that the American news media lie, it is always bewildering to see the extent of their dishonesty. Nothing prepares you for it.

We've read many times how repressive Hungary is. Freedom House, an NGO in Washington that's funded almost exclusively by the U.S. government describes Hungary as much less free than South Africa with fewer civil liberties. That's not just wrong, it's insane. In fact, if you live in the United States, it is bitter to see the contrast between say Budapest and New York City.

Let's say you lived in a big American city and you decided to loudly and publicly attack Joe Biden's policies. His policies on immigration, or COVID, or transgender athletes. If you kept talking like that, you would likely be silenced by Joe Biden's allies in Silicon Valley. If you kept it up, you might very well have to hire armed bodyguards. That's common in the U.S., ask around.

But it is unknown in Hungary. Opposition figures here don't worry that they will be hurt for their opinions, neither by the way does the Prime Minister. Orban regularly drives himself with no security. So who is freer? In what country are you more likely to lose your job for disagreeing with the ruling class's orthodoxy? The answer is pretty obvious, though. If you're an American, it is painful to admit it as we have discovered.

With that, here is Viktor Orban. His accent is pretty thick, but his English is precise. He is worth hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLSON: Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much.

So, in 2015, hundreds of thousands of migrants appear on your southern border. They appear all over Europe. They stream into Germany. The rest of the E.U. says, welcome, please come. We can handle it. We're strong enough.

Hungary stands alone in saying no. Why? Why did you take a different position on migration from other European countries?

VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER: That was the only reasonable behavior. If somebody without getting any permission on behalf of the Hungarian State cross your border, you have to defend your country and to say guys, stop, and if you would like to cross or you would like to come, there is a legal procedure. We have to do it.

But you can't cross, you know, without any kind of limitation and permission and any contribution and control of the Hungarian State. It is dangerous.

You have to defend your people against any danger.

CARLSON: And you think you have a right to do that?

ORBAN: Of course. It is coming from the God, the nature, so all arguments with us because this is our country, this is our population. This is our history. This is our language, so we have to do that.

Of course, if you are in trouble and there is nobody closer to you than the Hungarians, you have to be helped, too. But you can't say simply that, okay, it's a nice country, I would like to come here and to live here because it's a nicer life.

This is not a human right to come here. No way, because it's our land.

It's a nation, it's a community. Families, history, tradition, language.

CARLSON: Saying what you just said, which I think will seem obvious to a lot of our viewers was very offensive to a lot of countries in Western Europe, to their leaders.

ORBAN: Because many European countries decided to open a new chapter of their own history of the nation. They call it a new society, which is a post-Christian, post-national society. They believe firmly that if different communities, even huge number of let's say Muslim communities, and the original inhabitant let's say Christian communities are mixed up, the outcome of this will be good.

There is no answer whether it will be good or bad, but I think it's very risky, and the chance that it will be not good, but it will be very bad is obvious and each nation has the right to take this risk or to reject this risk.

We, Hungarians decided not to take that risk, to mix up our society. That's the reason why they attack Hungary so harshly and that's the reason why my personal reputation is very bad, you know, I'm treated like the black sheep of the European Union personally, and sometimes Hungary as well, unfortunately.

CARLSON: So, it has been six years since Germany, since Angela Merkel made the decision to let many hundreds of thousands of migrants into her country.

ORBAN: Millions.

CARLSON: Millions non-German speakers, mostly Muslim. What have the effects been in Germany?

ORBAN: You know, diplomacy is --

CARLSON: It requires you to be --

ORBAN: It requires some bad behavior, but it was their decision. They took the risk and now, they got what they have deserved. That's their life. I would not like to make any categories to describe what was the outcome of their decision. I only insist on that the Hungarians has the right to make our own choice.

CARLSON: You first became famous in the late 80s as a student, as one of the leaders against Soviet occupation of Hungary, and you were a hero to many in the United States, and at the time during the Cold War, we paid close attention to Hungary. I think, the U.S. government was on your side, you were on the side of the U.S. government.

So 30 years later, Joe Biden while running for President last year on ABC News described you, suggested that you were -- and I'm quoting -- "a totalitarian thug."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You see what's happening in everything from Belarus to Poland, to Hungary, and the rise of totalitarian regimes in the world and as well as this President embraces all the thugs in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Is that bewildering for you to see the change and how do you respond to that characterization?

ORBAN: So first of all, the reaction of that kind of opinion here in Hungary is always not very polite, but you think, who is that guy to say that? Then we say okay, he is the President of the United States so we should take it seriously.

But anyway, somebody who does not speak our language, has a very limited knowledge on Hungary even in the recent several decades of our life don't understand us obviously, having an opinion like that, you know, it is by itself -- it's a personal insight for all the Hungarians.

But because he is the President of the United States, we have to be very modest. We have to be very respectful and we have to make a lot of things to clarify that what he is doing is rather a fake.

We try to do that in a polite way because we respect the Americans. We respect the American democracy, American culture, so we would not like to destroy our relationship because the bilateral relationship with the Americans is basically very good.

We are cooperating well on the field of defense as NATO allies, economic cooperation is excellent. You are big investors here. Trade is going very well. Your businessman is finding a lot of possibilities here, so everything is fine, except the politics when the liberals are in government in Washington. That's the problem.

So, we have to manage that because the American-Hungarian good relationship is valued, even if the Americans don't perceive today as it was previously, so we have to save what we can save out of it.

CARLSON: But it's a little strange, I don't think Joe Biden has ever referred to Xi Jinping for example who has murdered many of his political opponents famously as a totalitarian thug. Why would he single you -- and not just you by the way -- the Polish government as well.

ORBAN: The problem is the success, so it is a real challenge for the liberal thinkers that what is going on in Central Europe, Poland and in Hungary as well, in Hungary more outspoken probably, I am speaking probably too much anyway on our intentions.

So, what is going on here is building up a society, which is very successful, economically, politically, culturally, even in demography we have some success -- family policy. So, what you can see here could be described as a success story, but the fundamentals of this success is totally different than it is wished and run and created by many other western countries.

So, the western liberals cannot accept that inside the western civilization, there's a conservative national alternative which is more successful at everyday life at the level of them than the liberal ones. That's the reason why they criticize us. They are fighting for themselves, not against us.

But we are an example that somebody or a country which is based on traditional values, on national identity, based on tradition of Christianity could be successful or sometimes even more successful than the leftist liberal government.

CARLSON: It is interesting as an American to see this. So, the American media, the Biden administration's State Department is opposed to you because they say that you're a totalitarian thug. Your opponents are a coalition of former communists and anti-Semites.

Is it strange to see the American left rooting for a coalition that includes anti-Semites?

ORBAN: Yes, let's say if you would have asked me several years ago whether could it happen that the ex-communist political forces and the anti-Semite right is forming a coalition and running together in the election against a pro-Israeli and pro-American, pro-NATO western-oriented government as we have, as we are? My answer would have been no, it's impossible.

But now, the international community accept it. You know, I understand that here in Hungary, the political parties would like to get to power as soon as they can, therefore they try to make a broad coalition against the ruling government. Okay.

But to be accepted that you know, by the international community so easily, I'm surprised. I'm surprised, especially the behavior of America is totally a new experience for me.

CARLSON: It does seem like Hungary is moving in a completely different direction from the rest of the continent, from the rest of the western world. I mean, do you think that 20 years from now that will be an unbridgeable divide? I mean where does that --

ORBAN: Let's just describe how I see it. What I see that in the Central European countries, the country suffered the most because of the Soviet occupation and communist dictatorship, so in these countries, my approach or the Hungarian approach is very popular. Probably we have a majority in all of that society, not only in Poland and Hungary.

They are more moderate. I mean the others are more moderate, but if you understand what they are doing, what are the fundamentals and their motivations is basically belonging to the same political family anyway.

CARLSON: Yes.

ORBAN: On the western society, there is a lot of people, millions and millions of people who disagree with the direction of the policy taken at this moment, which is against the family or not respecting the families, which is more based on migration, which is more open society, which is more welfare and so on and so on.

So I don't, don't say that the political competition is over in the Western European societies, so I see chances and the key country is Italy at this moment where the fight and the competition is very open, so I can see chances in the western countries also that they are able to change their policy from liberal to conservative or from liberal leftists to Christian Democrats. The chance is there, but we are not internationally well- organized.

So, the forthcoming years are really exciting.

CARLSON: I've noticed in the last few nights in Budapest, I've run into a number of Americans who have come here because they want to be around people who agree with them, who agree with you. Do you see Budapest as a kind of capital of this kind of thinking?

ORBAN: The capital of that kind of thinking or one of the capitals because the other Central European countries are also very competitive and producing very nice ideas and organizing that kind of communities of conservative and Christian Democrat thinkers as we do.

We cooperate with those countries, so that kind of networks are getting closer to each other. It's getting a real more and more, a real Central European network. But not only thinkers, ordinary citizens, average citizens are moving to Central European countries. It's not too -- it's not too dynamic at this moment, but the signs are clear.

Many Christian families and conservative families who think that Western Europe is not secure enough, the future is unstable. You know, the public security is not provided and the ideological direction of the countries or the basic values of the countries build on is changing not to their taste or their intention. They are looking for other places.

So if you go to the Hungarian countryside, you can find West European families who move to Hungary, first to have a second house because inside European Union we have a free movement, so first to have second house, and then spending more and more time here, so we can't exclude the future of the European history when there will be a new migration from west to the east.

CARLSON: Within Europe?

ORBAN: The Christians and the conservatives try to find a better home. We can't exclude it.

CARLSON: So up until very recently, Hungary which is a small nation, 10 million people, had two big nuclear-armed allies -- the United States and Israel. You were probably Netanyahu's closest ally in Europe. You were close to Donald Trump. Both of them are gone.

Where does that -- where does that leave you?

ORBAN: We are not very much fortunate in the recent years because Donald Trump was a great friend of Hungary. He was very much supportive to us, not just personally, but politically also, so there was a good friendship between the two countries also.

And you know, first, America. America First is a very positive message here in Central Europe because it means if for Donald Trump, America First; for us Hungary could be first as well, and let's cooperate on that basis.

CARLSON: Right.

ORBAN: So that was a very good foreign policy, very effective and we cooperated very well. The same with Bibi Netanyahu who is a good friend of the Hungarians and when he was in power, he always invested a lot of energy to have a good relation with the Central European countries. We respect it very much, but he lost also.

So, the Hungarian Conservative -- Christian -- Judeo-Christian democratic thinking lost two major international supporters and the opponents came into power so this is a totally new circumstance around Hungary.

For me as a politician, it's a strong challenge how to handle it.

CARLSON: Well, you've got an election coming up in April. Are you worried that there will be international interference in your election in Hungary?

ORBAN: That will happen. We are not -- we are not worried of that. We are prepared for that. Obviously, the international left will do everything what they can do, probably even more to change the government here in Hungary. We are aware of that and we are prepared for that, how to take the fight and fight back.

CARLSON: When the President of the United States describes you as a totalitarian thug, it's a very serious thing to say about somebody, I would note. I mean, that suggests that, you know, why wouldn't the Biden State Department work to prevent you from being re-elected?

ORBAN: I think sooner or later, the Americans will realize that issues in Hungary must be decided by the Hungarians, and it is better even for the leftist liberal government in the United States to have a good partner, which is a conservative Christian Democratic supported long term by the people, Hungarian people. It's better to have that than a government, which is supported by America and take the position, but losing after several months and creating destabilization and uncertainty.

So, not loved, but stable partner is better than the uncertain new one. That I hope the Americans will understand it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARLSON: No wonder they didn't want to hear what he says. You don't have to watch your country collapse. You don't have to have leaders who hate the population or divide their own people against each other, who make the country worse, who open the borders, who increase crime, who encourage people to live on the sidewalk, and do drugs.

If there's any lesson of talking to Viktor Orban, maybe it's that.

The conversation went on for quite some time. One thing we learned, man, are the efforts to unseat him intense and stealthy. We'll have a lot more on that on "Tucker Carlson Originals." We're making that documentary now.

Mark Steyn has been listening carefully to what you just heard. He joins us straight ahead with his analysis. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Joe Biden while running for President last year on ABC News described you -- suggested that you were -- and I'm quoting -- "a totalitarian thug." How -- is that bewildering for you to see the change? And how do you respond to that characterization?

ORBAN: Somebody who does not speak our language has a very limited knowledge on Hungary, even in the recent several decades of our life, don't understand us obviously, having an opinion like that, you know it's by itself, it's a personal insight for all the Hungarians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Oh, but he is a fascist screamed people who are happy to imprison non-violent political protesters in Washington. Oh, there's no press freedom, say people who support the overwhelming censorship in the American media. He is bad.

They haven't accused him of rigging elections yet, maybe that's too much even for them.

Mark Steyn is watching our conversation with Viktor Orban who joins us right now. Mark Steyn, thanks so much for coming on.

It is interesting, I mean, Hungary is a country of 10 million people. It's not terribly significant geo-strategically, you wouldn't think, and yet the foreign policy establishment in Washington hates Viktor Orban so much that they are supporting -- all of them are supporting a coalition of communists and anti-Semites.

MARK STEYN, AUTHOR AND COLUMNIST: Right.

CARLSON: How much would you have to hate somebody to support communists and anti-Semites to replace him? Seriously? Why? Why do they hate him?

STEYN: Yes, yes, that's true. His main political opposition in the Hungarian party has members of Parliament who make jokes about Jewish male regenerative organs in public and do quite disgraceful explicit anti- Semitism.

But Viktor Orban is in the unusual position of being the only guy in the lunatic asylum who doesn't think he is Napoleon, he and a few other middle European Prime Ministers, and they say -- and they remember what it's like to live in prison states and they go to these international meetings and there is Joe Biden saying, oh yes, it's a very serious lockdown pandemic. Everybody has got to stay-at-home, wear masks when they're having dinner with their own children. Everyone should be masked.

Oh and by the way, we're building a refugee center across the street for COVID positive drug cartels and child sex slavers.

Angela Merkel says, oh, we've got a million and a half refugees. They are all fit, strapping young men who've left all their grandparents, left all their kids, left all their wives back in the hell hole, but let's let in this million and a half young men to the point where Sweden amongst the 16 and 17-year-old cohort in the space of six months wound up with more sex biased demographic cohort than it took China to achieve after 30 years of the one child policy.

So he is old-fashioned and loathed because he thinks the purpose of a nation state is to calculate the nation's interests in the interests of its own people, and that's Viktor Orban and a few other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

So, we are in an insane situation where the leader of the West, the United States sounds bonkers and you get more western the further east you go so. That Monsieur Macron is less bonkers than Biden and then you move to Austria and Italy, and you get into the heart of Central Europe, Hungary, and they actually talk like government leaders acting in the interests of their own people.

CARLSON: That's exactly right. If you were to translate one of Viktor Orban's controversial speeches from the Hungarian, not so easy, the overwhelming majority of Americans, both parties, all races, would agree. I'm totally convinced of that.

Mark Steyn, I appreciate your clarity. Thank you very much.

So, as you've heard again and again, and again it is racist to ask an American citizen to prove his identity before choosing the next government. Voter ID is racist.

But now, the biggest cities in our country are mandating vaccine passports. You must show your medical papers to have lunch. Can this continue? At least one Democrat is saying no, actually, this is too insane even for us.

Back in a moment from Budapest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to "FOX News Live." I'm Matt Finn in Los Angeles.

Another showdown looming on Capitol Hill between G.O.P. and Democratic lawmakers. Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell says his Republicans will oppose raising the Federal debt limit. That is if Democrats pursue their $3.5 trillion plan to strengthen social and environment programs.

Democrats can now either renew the government's borrowing authority or pare back President Biden's domestic policy agenda.

A raging wildfire that struck through the tiny northern California mountain town of Greenville overnight has levelled most of its historic downtown and left lots of homes in ashes. The three-week old Dixie fire has blackened an area bigger than the City of Los Angeles.

There are no immediate reports of deaths, but hot and windy weather is threatening to fan dozens of wild fires in the state.

I'm Matt Finn. Now back to TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT.

For your headlines, log on to foxnews.com.

CARLSON: So New York City just got vaccine passports and that means everybody has to show medical papers to go anywhere. You're going to have to show proof of vaccination to get a drink in a bar, dinner in a restaurant, but it's just the beginning.

Bill de Blasio, the pothead mayor of that city has made it clear he wants to extend the mandate to children as young as five.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: And hopefully soon, our five to 11-year-olds will be eligible for vaccination on top of that, but we don't want to separate families, we want families to enjoy stuff together, but in a safe environment, for the folks who work in restaurants, gyms, et cetera and for the customers.

Here's what I love about it. You go into an environment you know everyone is in the same place. You know everyone is vaccinated, everyone is safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: So, it's pretty clear at this point that the tens of millions of Americans who have recovered from COVID and are naturally immune have greater protection against the virus than people who've been vaccinated. That seems pretty clear, but there is no exemption for them, they're going to have to take the medicine anyway.

By the way, we don't want to separate families says Bill de Blasio, but if your child doesn't get the vaccine, it could be necessary. How long until they take children away from parents who don't get them vaccinated against COVID? Why isn't that coming?

A former Obama D.H.S. official suggested other penalties for people who don't want the shot she wants them to have. Anyone who doesn't get the vaccine, this official said, should not be permitted to travel. Those people should go on a no-fly list. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Our next guest says the unvaccinated should not have all of the same privileges as vaccinated Americans, at least when it comes to air travel.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: People also need to be burdened at this stage. We are bumping up against another school season where my kids, it's not at all clear how or whether they're getting to school. We are done with this.

And so we have to start putting burdens on the unvaccinated.

I'm done. I mean, we're all done. The vaccinated are done carrying the burden for the unvaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Fascist, moron, nutcase and notice how CNN describes traveling as a quote "privilege," as if the right to go somewhere is granted to you by the generosity of our leaders and people who write for "The Atlantic" Magazine rather than God-given. This is insane, but it's coming and when it does come, who is going to be affected by it? Look at the numbers, they are publicly available.

The least vaccinated group in the country is black people. That means all of these proposals will have what the Justice Department describes as a disproportionate impact on African-Americans, so why doesn't that mean according to the sacred principles of equity that vaccine mandates are racist, just like voter ID and the S.A.T.

Well, most Democrats don't feel like explaining the difference, at least one of them however that would be Kim Janey, who is the Acting Mayor of Boston has noticed this. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM JANEY, ACTING MAYOR OF BOSTON: There's a long history in this country of people needing to show their papers. During slavery, post slavery, as recent as you know what -- the immigrant population has to go through here, we heard Trump with the birth certificate nonsense.

Here, we want to make sure that we are not doing anything that would further create a barrier for residents of Boston or disproportionately impact bi-part communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Look, the whole point of America is treating all American citizens exactly the same under the law. It shouldn't matter what your skin color is, what your race is, that's totally irrelevant to how you're treated by the U.S. government.

On the other hand, we're living in a moment where that determines how you're treated by the U.S. government, so what do we make of this?

Joe Borelli is a councilman in New York City. He joins us tonight. Joe, thanks so much for coming on.

Finally someone has noticed the disparate impact of vaccine passports. Can these actually persist in the face of the numbers we just read?

JOE BORELLI (R), NEW YORK CITY COUNCILMAN: Yes, I mean, I think it will be harder as we see more businesses especially those in lower income neighborhoods and neighborhoods where people of color predominantly live, those will be the ones that get most affected.

If you live here in New York City, in Bedford Stuyvesant or Far Rockaway, some of the lowest vaccination rates in the city, two-thirds of the residents can't go into their local pizzeria and get a slice.

So, what the Mayor of Boston was doing was looking at publicly available vaccination rates and realizing that these are going to affect very differently based on a person's race, creed, and even neighborhood.

CARLSON: They have -- they have ended the best high schools in America, public high schools in Virginia and New York City because the admission standards, which are colorblind had a disparate impact on different ethnic groups. So, how can they allow a law that disproportionately prevents African-Americans and Hispanics from eating?

BORELLI: Well, there is no way, and that's why we're filing a lawsuit. We will be, you know speaking about it over the next couple of days. Most elected officials from where I live in Staten Island, we're all part of it.

But you're right, I don't think this withstands a constitutional scrutiny where you set up two classes of people and unfortunately, we know that the restaurants are actually going to be the ones who pay the price who aren't even the ones that might not be vaccinated or be the ones that might have acted responsibly the entire time.

It is not fair to punish the same industry that our own test and trace corps by the way say that are only accounting for 1.4 percent of all COVID transmissions in the state.

So, there's so much fundamentally wrong about this but there's so much fundamentally wrong about many things de Blasio is doing.

CARLSON: That's right especially since tens of millions of Americans have better protection against the virus apparently according to the science than the vaccine would give them, and there's no exemption for them, which tells you everything about how stupid and malicious these people are.

I appreciate your fighting against them, Congressman Joe Borelli of New York, thank you -- councilman rather. You should be congressman.

BORELLI: Thank you -- someday.

CARLSON: So in the -- someday -- in the where-are-they-now file tonight, whatever happened to the Clinton Foundation? Remember? They were going to save the world from obesity or something?

Around the time that Hillary Clinton lost and didn't become President, you stopped hearing about them. So, what are they up to? Are they still curing malaria? Raising the self-esteem of the developing world?

We'll tell you in just a moment. We're back from Budapest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Sinister Middle Eastern theocracies used to spend an awful lot of money with the Clinton Foundation, not to buy access we were told, but to solve the world's big problems like obesity in the third world and HIV in Africa.

From 2014 to 2016, contributions to the foundation totaled over $130 million per year, and then something weird happened particularly for such an effective NGO like the Clinton Foundation, people stopped giving money, and they stopped giving right around the time that Hillary Clinton's political career hit a brick wall at high speed when she lost the presidential election.

In 2017, contributions to the Clinton Foundation went down to $22 million. From 2018 to 2019, contributions were even lower. So what happened? Did they cure obesity in the third world? Is there no more AIDS in Uganda?

What the hell is going on?

Miranda Devine is a columnist with "The New York Post" and one of the smartest people we know. She joins us to explain.

So, Miranda, I have sort of been contented and reassured by the fact that as I sleep, Chelsea Clinton is working to cure obesity in the third world, but it sounds like they don't have any money to do it. What happened?

MIRANDA DEVINE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it is rather remarkable, isn't it, to see that their donations just fell off a cliff after Hillary Clinton lost that election. But look, they've still been ticking along. They've just marked their 20th Anniversary, Tucker.

So, I think that the foundation has found a new way of doing things and that is to be a vehicle for Chelsea Clinton, for any future political ambitions she might have. So, she has been busy saving elephants and teaching children. She got Lady Gaga to help -- tell children that they must wear masks.

They've also been busy telling the third world poor countries that they should be taking Chinese vaccines. They're helping them in that aim, lucky them, and Bill Clinton has also popped in from time to time.

He appeared at a Clinton Foundation junket the other day with kamala Harris and the topic was "Empowering Women." So, he has come a long way.

And so, the Clinton Foundation is working hard, considering their strained circumstances, but you just don't hear much about it, which might change because remember, John Durham and the Durham report, well, when he does eventually deliver his report, there might be something interesting about the Clinton Foundation.

Because if you remember last year, he widened his investigation to include the F.B.I. inquiry into the Clinton Foundation, which curiously found nothing untoward, but maybe John Durham has found something else.

So, the Clinton Foundation may hit the front pages yet.

CARLSON: Oh, really quick. I haven't seen the public opinion polling. Is there a hidden groundswell of support among Americans for the reign of Chelsea Clinton at some point in the future, do you know?

DEVINE: Well, look, I don't know that there is at the moment, but then she is just doing some background work. She is, I guess, you'd call it the groundwork because she is polishing up her reputation.

She has got a very pricey job at some corporate that she is doing and she has had a makeover, so I think you know, it's early days, but give her a few years.

CARLSON: Like 50. Miranda Devine, great to see you tonight. Thank you so much.

DEVINE: Thanks, Tucker.

CARLSON: So, there's a trillion dollar infrastructure bill in the Senate and a lot of Republicans, amazingly are supporting it. It could become law. It looks like it will, and that's kind of remarkable considering what is in it, including a provision that will allow the government to spy on the occupants of every new car sold in the country, and a lot more.

The Republican Party, ladies and gentleman, that's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: So we are finally learning something about what is in the new trillion dollar infrastructure bill in the United States Senate that all Democrats and quite a few Republicans actually support, at some point, we will get their names and read them to you on the air.

In the bill, there is $250 million, a quarter billion dollars for invasive plant species removal. There is $50 million for reports on climate change, of course, and engaging what are called disadvantaged communities.

There is a lot in there and we will tell you more, coming up.

But tonight, you should know that the bill would allow the Federal government to spy on people in their cars. We are not exaggerating this. The law would mandate the installation of quote, "advanced technology" in every new vehicle sold in the United States to quote, "monitor" if drivers are quote, "impaired." It is lunacy and unless someone stops it soon, it's coming.

Josh Hawley is a Republican. He is a senator from Missouri, he joins us tonight. Senator, thanks so much for coming on.

So, it sounds like this could become the law thanks to support from Republicans in the United States Senate, how is that?

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Yes, unfortunately that is true, Tucker. It has got too much Republican support in my view, and listen, at the end of the day, this is not an infrastructure bill as you pointed out, this is a woke politics bill.

This is a bill that has gender identity language in it. It could open up new Federal causes of action for gender identity lawsuits. This has got a climate change agenda in it. This has got the Green New Deal in it.

And so this is -- and by the way, it's all fueled with pork barrel spending, so I'm opposing it. I hope every Republican will oppose it and at the end of the day it is just about Joe Biden's woke agenda.

CARLSON: So, why don't we have an infrastructure bill that say, fixes our bridges, our roads, our airports, our train stations, move the bums out, clean them, make them nice. Why can't we have something like that in our country?

HAWLEY: Because that is not woken up for this Democratic Party is the short answer, Tucker. I mean, that is not what Joe Biden wants. Joe Biden wants his radical social agenda to permeate every part of his legislative agenda and it is and that is why this bill is chock-full of all of the stuff you mentioned plus gender identity, plus the green new deal, plus climate change, it's all been there because woke politics is what drives the Democratic Party and woke politics is what this bill is about.

CARLSON: The Republicans are elected to stop this insanity before it really does drive the country off a cliff. How dumb are they? If you're a Republican Senator and you vote for something like this, do you really think you can hold your seat? People won't notice?

HAWLEY: You know, I just have to say that I certainly can't support this. I think this is the kind of thing that our voters send us to Washington to say no to. I mean, voters do not support the radical far left agenda. They don't support this woke agenda and I think Republicans need to stand strong and say no, this is crazy. This is insane.

CARLSON: Yes, well, I really look forward to finding out who supports it exactly and reading their names very slowly with pictures on the air.

Senator Hawley, you will not be on that list. We appreciate it. Thank you so much for joining us.

HAWLEY: Thank you.

CARLSON: We are out of time, sadly, but we will be back tomorrow from Budapest and we will be back every night in fact, we hope, 8:00 p.m. weeknights, the show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.

We hope you have the best night. We will see you tomorrow.

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