Tucker: What is the point of having a government?

close

Video

Tucker: What is the point of having a government?

Tucker Carlson and Maine State Sen. Lisa Keim, R-Oxford, sound off on vaccine mandates causing mass job shortages among first responders.

This is a rush transcript of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" on October 15, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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

It's Friday. We hope to do a lighter show, but unfortunately we're not in charge of the news, Joe Biden is. 

For nine months, Biden's White House has lurched from crisis to crisis to crisis, most of them of its own making. Since January, there has hardly been a single day when Americans could fall asleep confident their country is calm, safe, and in good hands. 

But tonight, unfortunately, we find ourselves on the brink of the gravest crisis yet -- a total breakdown in the most basic functions in our society, in any society -- fire and police protection, hospitals, the military, schools, long-term care facilities for the elderly and the disabled, road maintenance, public transportation, food and freight delivery, air travel -

- all of these services which are the hallmarks of a civilization are rapidly degrading, and soon, thanks to the Biden White House, they may be completely paralyzed. 

Millions of Americans have been told to submit to Joe Biden's lunatic vaccine mandates or be summarily fired. For many of them, the deadline is tonight at midnight. Now, these are our country's essential workers. These are not lawyers and activists and cable news anchors, these are nurses and cops and Navy SEALs and pilots and air traffic controllers. These are the people you cannot run a country without. But soon, we may be forced to anyway. 

In the State of Washington, thousands of cops, teachers, nurses, and bus drivers are about to be fired. It is not clear how the State of Washington will function once that happens, Joe Biden doesn't care. 

In Los Angeles, the city is looking at losing fully a quarter of its entire fire department in a single day. There is no precedent for that. People will die because of it. The LAPD is likely to lose many of its officers as well, so America's second largest city will plunge inevitably into chaos. 

Keep in mind, there is no public health justification for any of this. 

None. Instead, it is an assault on public health. Americans will lose their lives because of what Joe Biden is doing. It is the most unnatural disaster imaginable. 

Tomorrow, we believe, there will be another major disruption of service at Southwest Airlines. Planes won't take off, and possibly at least one major air traffic control center as well. Employees there are not on strike, no, they're desperate to save their livelihoods from Biden's mandates. They are being fired from jobs they've spent their lives preparing for and in many cases truly love. 

Watch this video from persecuted Southwest employees and you can feel their sadness. 

[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS] 

CARLSON:  Ah, keep in mind that none of these people did anything wrong. 

They served faithfully through the pandemic and safely, and now they're being fired. One of those signs read "16-year flight attendant," 36-year- old single mom, "My Lord and Savior and my doctor are the only ones qualified to tell me what to put in my body." Well, she is absolutely right about that. 

Why is the administration hurting her, and in fact, hurting all of us? 

Imagine living in the City of Chicago tonight. It's a beautiful place. It has been under siege for more than a year by murderous criminal gangs, and now, the very last thing that Chicago needs, the city could lose half of its police force to vaccine mandates. 

It's a horrifying story. FOX's Matt Finn has the latest for us on it tonight. Hey, Matt. 

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT:  Hi, Tucker. 

Right now, vaccine mandates in many U.S. cities could put millions of Americans at risk and force thousands of city employees out of work. It could all potentially lead to higher crime and unemployment. 

Across the United States tonight, city workers are trying to take a stand against vaccine mandates. The deadline here in Los Angeles and in Seattle is early next week. In Chicago, the deadline is in a matter of hours -- midnight. 

City employees must enter their vaccine status into a city portal. The Chicago Police Union President estimates as much as half of the police force has not been vaccinated. That means thousands of officers face being let go in cities like Chicago with steep violent crime. The battle between Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Police Union President is rapidly intensifying. 

A short while ago, a Cook County Judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Police Union President prohibiting him from publicly commenting any more about the city's vaccine policy. The mayor claims that officers who do not comply with tonight's deadline will not be sent home this weekend, but Chicago Police worry if they don't submit their vaccine status at some point very soon, they could be fired. 

Over the past week, I've talked to police sources here in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago. One Chicago police officer said he does not care who is vaccinated, he just doesn't want to enter his personal health information into the city's portal. And a Los Angeles police officer tells me, he is not against the vaccine, his family is vaccinated. He is healthy and fit and has done a personal health assessment and he simply doesn't want to get the vaccine -- Tucker. 

CARLSON:  And that's his right. Matt Finn, thanks so much. Good to see you tonight. 

And keep in mind, it's not just the police, it's the military. Hundreds of Navy SEALs, the estimate is, it could soon lose their jobs, thousands throughout the other services -- Marine Corps, Air Force, Army, Navy -- can we afford that? 

At the state level, this is particularly painful. Entire counties in the State of Maine for example, will lose paramedic services tonight because of a vaccine mandate. It takes effect at midnight. 

What does this mean for people who live in the State of Maine? Lisa Keim is a State Senator from the state and we're happy to have her on tonight. 

Senator, thanks so much for coming on. Give us a sense of what this will mean for people in the State of Maine? 

LISA KEIM, MAINE STATE SENATOR:  Thank you, Tucker. Yes, tonight as you said, at midnight, EMS workers will no longer be answering calls and we don't know on the State level how many have been let go, but there will be

9-1-1 calls that go unanswered in the State of Maine and the difference here in Maine that's good to understand is that we have already done away with all philosophical and religious exemptions, and it is very difficult to get a medical exemption at all. 

So these EMS workers, they are faced with the choice of feeding their family or taking the vaccine, and I have talked to many people throughout the state. There are definitely dire consequences coming and we are not sure yet what the impact overall is going to be. 

CARLSON:  If your 9-1-1 call goes unanswered, what's the point of having a government? Honestly, what's the point? And why isn't there a revolt against this? 

KEIM:  There absolutely -- there is going to be a lot of people that are going to be hurt by this, but at this moment, no one knows. This really has not been well-reported. The people that are living in communities where the entire EMS service or possibly you know, 50 percent or a large percentage are no longer going to be working. Those communities don't yet know. This is something that we are going to find out as it unfolds over the next week. 

CARLSON:  So people who suffer heart failure or have a stroke and call for an ambulance and it doesn't come, some of those people will die as a result of this. 

KEIM:  That's the most dire consequence of all and that is one of the major concerns that we have. I spoke with an EMS -- the Director of Maine EMS today and they have some preliminary numbers, but they won't know until Sunday night how many workers are actually going to be getting done. 

So at this point, it's very strongly like mismanagement to assume that the vaccine mandate is going to work for these people who are actually the most careful of anyone in our society. They understand the transmission and they are careful of their patients and now, we're kicking them out and saying your services are no longer needed. The Maine people don't know. 

CARLSON:  Right, so politicians know more than healthcare workers about medicine and everyone acts like that's normal, but it's not normal, and it's also untrue. 

I appreciate, Senator Keim, your coming on tonight. Thank you. 

KEIM:  Thank you. 

CARLSON:  So you may have noticed as the society degrades and no one answers your 9-1-1 call that some people are getting away with murder, literally, while others are being sent to solitary for trespassing. 

Nowhere is that more obvious in the way that Federal judges have treated January 6th protesters. We'll tell you what prosecutors are recommending and what it means, next. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

CARLSON:  So on Tuesday, three days ago, a 53-year-old hair salon owner from Indiana called Donna Bissey was sentenced in a Federal courthouse in Washington. As the day began, it seemed pretty obvious that Donna Bissey was not going to go to prison even Joe Biden's Justice Department recommended probation. That's because the crime she was accused of committing was not serious by any measure. 

The crime was quote, "parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol Building." That would be on January 6th. Donna Bissey did not set fire to any property, she didn't attack police officers. She didn't hurt anybody, she paraded as she thought was her right as an American. 

Then the sentencing began and very quickly, it became clear that Donna Bissey would not be going home to her family and her hair salon. Again, that's not because of anything she did on January 6th, it's because of what she believes. 

A D.O.J. prosecutor, a fascist called Joshua Rothstein labeled Donna Bissey a quote, "avid consumer of conspiracy theories" including that COVID is a quote, "hoax pandemic." 

Apparently, according to this prosecutor, you're not allowed to believe that. Believing that is a crime, it's a thought crime, and you can go to jail for it. 

Keep in mind, again, this was ostensibly a trial about what happened on January 6th, the physical facts of that day. 

The judge also heard that Donna Bissey is not vaccinated against COVID-19, and of course that's a crime, too. It's a thought crime. She needs to go to jail and so she is. 

Now, you'll remember last year, the government released thousands of inmates telling us it was to protect them from the coronavirus, but no such sympathy was extended to Donna Bissey of the hair salon in Indiana, quote: 

"It's one thing to believe in conspiracy theories in your basement," the fascist prosecutor said, "It's another thing to act out on them." 

Really? He's a shrink now, too. 

In the end, the judge overruled the prosecutor's recommendation of probation and sent Donna Bissey to prison for the crime of quote, "parading in the Capitol Building," and for disputing the official narrative on COVID. That's now a crime and Donna Bissey's life is now ruined. She's in jail. 

What's interesting is that just a few months ago, Donna Bissey's friend, a woman called Anna Morgan Lloyd was sentenced to probation for the exact same offense, that would be parading in the Capitol, so why the difference now? 

Well here's the difference, unlike her friend, Donna Bissey appeared before a judge called Tanya Chutkan. Tanya Chutkan donated many thousands of dollars to PACs supporting Barack Obama and then Barack Obama in exchange appointed her to the Federal Bench in 2014 where she has been in disgrace ever since, a real disgrace. 

In the last few months, Chutkan has repeatedly overruled prosecutors to impose long prison sentences on January 6th defendants that would include Robert Bauer of Kentucky, Edward Hemingway in Virginia, Matthew Mazzocco of Texas. 

And Tanya Chutkan is not the only run running political show trials in our formerly free country, the one which you are guaranteed equal treatment under the law, but no longer receive it. There is another Barack Obama appointee, Beryl Howell who has repeatedly overruled prosecutors to punish January 6th defendants far more harshly than even the D.O.J. asks for. 

Now this is unequal justice by any measure. It contradicts the central principle of our legal system and our country, which is we're all citizens and all of us stand equal before the law. It is not about what you believe, it's about what you do. It has nothing to do with who you vote for, nothing to do with who you listen to on the radio, or watch on television; it has to do with when you violate law. 

But that's no longer what it has to do with. 

You should know that none of the quote "pink protesters" who stormed Senate buildings during the Kavanaugh hearings wound up in jail, of course not. 

They weren't tossed in solitary confinement, neither were the self- described environmentalists who just raided a Federal building in Washington. 

This is footage from yesterday at the Department of the Interior. Watch. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

CROWD:  (Chanting "Go inside.") 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Protect the water. Protect the water. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up. Back up. 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't do this. Don't do this. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the single worst attack on our democracy since 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and the Civil War. Oh no, it's not. 

We're not liars. 

It is what it is. You just saw it. "Go inside. Go inside." Chant the rioters. They're on video trying to push through a police barrier. So by the standards now set by the behavior on January 6th that is an insurrection against the government. 

So how did our government respond to what you just saw? Well, the Department of the Interior under Joe Biden just issued a statement that refused to condemn it or the rioters. We are quoting directly: "The Interior Department leadership believed strongly in respecting and upholding the right to free speech and peaceful protest." End quote. 

Oh so, they're not insurrectionists, they are peaceful protesters because they voted for Joe Biden. This is what happens when law enforcement becomes partisan. This is the nightmare scenario. This is the country you don't want to live in. 

This is the country that judges you on the basis of who you vote for and will put you in jail if you vote the wrong way. This is not a defense of any criminal conduct that occurred on January 6th, but the events of that day, keep in mind, were an organized demonstration against the unequal enforcement of law in this country for the past four years and that's exactly what we have seen. Period. 

That's not a partisan point, that's true, and anyone who is awake knows it's true. And yet, instead of heeding the call, wait, people are upset. 

What are they upset about? Maybe we should fix the disparity. Our leaders double down on unequal treatment under the law, which is what they're doling out in even bigger helpings at this point. 

So criminals with the right politics suffer no consequences. In some cases, those criminals are put in charge of enforcing the law themselves. Here is one example. 

The former Deputy F.B.I. Director, Andy McCabe. McCabe admitted lying to Federal investigators. That's a felony, by the way, unlike parading in the Capitol, but Andrew McCabe was never hauled off to jail, never lectured about his vaccine status by some lunatic prosecutor. 

In fact, Andy McCabe just got his Federal pension back and he is bragging about it on television. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER F.B.I. DEPUTY DIRECTOR:  To have a settlement of this lawsuit and one that so clearly indicates this should never have happened, it is both an incredible relief. It is satisfying, but it's also -- you know it's also kind of sad. 

I mean, like this should never have happened. My family should never have had to go through this. 

This is the current Department of Justice standing up for fairness. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  What? You're the country's second in line in our biggest law enforcement agency and you've admitted committing a felony and all that happened to you was that you lost your padded Federal benefits, and you say that was unfair and you're still whining about it even after you got it back? Are you the same Andy McCabe who destroyed Mike Flynn's life and bankrupted him, tried to send him to prison on a charge of lying to Federal investigators? Yes, that charge was in fact engineered by Andy McCabe for the sole purpose of getting rid of Michael Flynn at the behest of Barack Obama and his cronies. 

And we're not speculating about this because F.B.I. documents prove it. On those documents, it's literally written "Get him to lie." Get him to lie. 

Andy McCabe was never punished for that. He still has a seat waiting for him on CNN. And when Andy McCabe lied to investigators about leaking to the media, was he charged? No. That wasn't parading in Congress. Now, he gets his pension back and he is celebrated on national television. 

Why is that? Because Andy McCabe is on the right side. He is a member of the National Security state, which the left now venerates because the National Security state is on their side. 

The F.B.I. can label political dissidents domestic terrorists, which justifies killing them and everyone applauds when they die. 

So Ashli Babbitt hurt not a single person on January 6th. She was unarmed and yet, watch this, as any McCabe's defenders justify shooting her because the F.B.I. says she was somehow a threat to National Security. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Ashli Babbitt who is a trained Air Force specialist, trained by our tax dollars, to kill. She was a military member. If she had gotten through that door, God knows what kind of harm she could have done. 

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, RADIO HOST AND WRITER:  His supporters who attacked the Capitol are terrorists. It's two plus two equals four stuff, like Ashli Babbitt, all those who attacked the Capitol are terrorists because the F.B.I. Director has said it was an act of terrorism. 

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA):  Ashli Babbitt is the woman that was leading the mob that was about to storm the House floor and she was shot by a brave officer who was the last line of defense for many Members of Congress and many of these members were the slowest, least mobile members because they were having the hardest time getting out. 

If they had been overrun by that mob, people would have been killed. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  Yes, so you watch that and you get frustrated and then you're reminded these people are so stupid, it is amazing they can breathe unaided, and that is some comfort. They just told you that Ashli Babbitt was trained by the Air Force to kill people. Really? A lot of people in the Air Force trained to kill people? 

She was a threat to their safety. She was like 5'2" and totally unarmed. 

She was not warned by the way before she was shot to death. We've never seen the results of that investigation. We know the man who shot her was completely reckless, he left a loaded firearm in a men's room in the Capitol. He wasn't fired for that for some reason. No one in the Federal government is ever fired. 

So that's clearly over the line in a functional country, but then to see those ghouls gloating about the death of an unarmed woman. How would they treat you? 

So they're telling you that for the crime of parading in the Capitol Building, Ashli Babbitt deserves to be executed. At the same time they're telling you that, they are ignoring other crimes, the ones committed with people by who are actually armed. 

An 18-year-old who opened fire in his classroom in Texas shot several people, got out of jail in a single day. He told us he was bullied. Yet another victim of white supremacy and he got a pass and that's fine. 

Hunter Biden got a pass. His firearm winds up in a trash bin behind a grocery store, and then disappears. Threat to public safety, anyone? No, not according to our government. The Feds didn't care about his gun and said the Secret Service showed up, which was not working for him at the time, went to the gun store to shred the paperwork showing that Hunter Biden committed a felony by lying on a Federal gun form when he acquired the gun. 

So, if you're the President's son, you can commit a Federal gun felony and nobody cares. The worst they'll do is invite you on their shows and let you explain it away in a sentence. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

ANTHONY MASON, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Why did you have a gun? 

HUNTER BIDEN, SON OF JOE BIDEN:  Well, again, you know, the period of my life that was difficult. It was -- but you know, I don't know. 

MASON:  According to the reporting, at one point, the Secret Service went looking for the record of sale. Do you know anything about that? 

H. BIDEN:  Nothing. No. 

MASON:  But you know about the Secret Service being involved? 

H. BIDEN:  No, I had no idea. I don't know whether the Secret Service were or why they would be. I don't think that that's true. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  Right. It's not on your laptop or anything. 

So you commit a gun felony, you lie about it in the laziest possible way, and no one really cares. But if you dare to criticize the incompetent bureaucrats leading say our military as Stu Scheller did, they send you to prison. 

If you try to visit your sick daughter in the hospital, you get arrested. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

LYNN SAVAGE, ARRESTED DUE TO COVID RULES:  I told them that I wasn't going to leave my daughter's side. She had taken a turn for the worse and I wanted to stay and I told them that I wasn't leaving. 

She said -- the nurse said she'd have to call security. I said, "Do whatever you have to do, but I'm not leaving my daughter's side." 

CARLSON:  Good for you. Good for you. I wish more Americans would take that position. 

SAVAGE:  Thank you. 

CARLSON:  Really, thank you for doing that, but they handcuffed you? 

SAVAGE:  Yes. They handcuffed me behind my back and led me out to the cruiser where I sat for three hours with my hands cuffed behind my back. 

CARLSON:  What was your -- what was your crime? Were you spreading COVID to people? I mean, like what did you do wrong exactly? 

SAVAGE:  Stayed past seven o'clock. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  Oh, handcuffing a grandmother because she stayed past seven o'clock, shooting an unarmed woman in the neck without warning her because you didn't like what she was saying. But if you torch a Federal Courthouse in Portland, no problem. If you show up at a school board meeting and object to your 14-year-old daughter being raped in a bathroom, that's when you get thrown to the ground and taken to jail. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

SCOTT SMITH, CONCERNED PARENT:  Then I tried to tell the lady what had happened to my daughter and she looked me dead in the face and said, that's not what happened, and that just struck me like, how do you know what happened? You don't even know me. 

And she started in on me again and threatened my family business, my livelihood -- everything that you know, gives my family what we need. She threatened to ruin my business on social media. 

The next thing I know, I'm getting touched from all over the place. I didn't know who was touching me, who was grabbing me. I turned around, the police are grabbing me and the next thing I know, I'm tackled to the ground. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  We could go on and on. We could spend all night giving you example after example. Here is the bottom line: They're not for defunding the police and we apologize for ever suggesting they were. They are for repurposing the police. 

They're not against the use of force, they embrace the use of force, as long as it's against their political opponents. They're for letting criminals off the hook and redefining people who oppose the regime as criminals, the only ones who get punished. 

What form of government is this? It's not democracy, it is anarcho-tyranny. 

It is selective punishment even as they ignore the rule of law. This is a threat to the very center of the American idea, which is equality under the law. Everyone treated the same by the justice system. 

Right now, you can loot a Target in Minneapolis, you can burn Wendy's and face no consequences, but try to defend your own property like the McCloskeys, try to exercise your constitutional right to state your views about the last election and you go to jail. That's true. 

By the way, next month, we're releasing a multi-part series on "Tucker Carlson Originals" on this topic. It's the best thing we've ever made. 

We'll tell you much more about it soon. It will be on FOX Nation. 

So one thing we've learned in the last 24 hours, you can say pretty much whatever you want in this country, but there are limits, guardrails as we call them, and the main one is, you can't make fun of Pete Buttigieg. You must take Pete Buttigieg very, very seriously. 

You learn that and more, we'll tell you all about it in just a minute.  

Plus American diplomats are reportedly suffering from mysterious neurological symptoms. It's called Havana syndrome, but does it actually exist? Is it real? One expert doubts that. He joins us next. 

Finally, you can still get a copy of "The Long Slide" on tuckercarlson.com. 

We'll be right back. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

CARLSON:  You've probably heard about something called Havana syndrome. 

According to numerous overwrought press accounts, American diplomats around the world have fallen ill because of a secret sonic weapon. This mystery began in 2016 in Havana. 

Here's how NBC News just reported on it. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

ANDREA MITCHELL, NBC NEWS HOST (voice over):  Tina Onufer who worked with Kate and Doug at the Embassy was washing dishes one night in March of 2017. 

TINA ONUFER, FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE:  The kids were upstairs playing and I was standing at the kitchen window and all of a sudden I felt like I was being struck with something. 

MITCHELL:  What was it like? 

ONUFER:  It was gripping. It was like I had been seized by some invisible hand and I couldn't move. 

MITCHELL (voice over): Tina, Kate, and Doug didn't know it then, but they were among the first victims of a still unexplained phenomenon that has come to be known as Havana syndrome with more than 200 Americans around the world mostly U.S. diplomats and spies reporting neurological and other symptoms. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  Hmm. It's all pretty imprecise, the leading theory of course in NBC News is that Vladimir Putin is behind it. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS ANCHOR:  What do we know about who could be behind these attacks? 

MITCHELL:  Lester, that's the big question. The leading theory is this could have started with a device that Russia had invented during the Cold War and was later used to spy on U.S. Embassies, collecting data from laptops and cell phones. But now, a hostile country may have turned it into a weapon. 

Russia denies any involvement. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  Yes, who's behind these attacks? Well, we haven't actually established there are attacks or that any of this is real and one Professor who has looked into it quite deeply has serious doubts that it is real. 

Robert Bartholomew is an honorary senior lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at Auckland University in New Zealand from which he joins us tonight. 

Professor, thanks so much for joining us. There is something of a delay, so I'm going to ask my question, and I hope that you will answer it in full. 

After looking into this quite extensively, you seem convinced that this is in fact not a physical symptom at all. This is not a weapon and that it's something else. Tell us what you've concluded, if you would. 

ROBERT BARTHOLOMEW, HONORARY SENIOR LECTURER, DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE - AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY, NEW ZEALAND:  This case can be summarized in a single sentence, when you hear the sound of hoof beats in the night, first think horses, not zebras. 

The doctors at the State Department went for the most exotic hypothesis early on. They were searching for unicorns when they should have stuck to the mundane. There was absolutely no credible evidence that what happened in Cuba involved brain damage. If you can show me that that involved brain damage I'll resign my position in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland. 

And now what's happened is, there are two things going on here. You've got what happened in Cuba early on, which is a classic textbook case of mass psychogenic illness. It started in a small close-knit group of C.I.A. 

agents who were hearing these noises at night and then one of them had ear pain and headache and he went to the Embassy and he said, it felt like somebody was pointing a beam of sound at my head. 

Well, when they started to record these attacks, they turned out to be the mating calls of the indie short-tailed cricket, the Jamaican field cricket and the Caribbean cicada, and so what you've got is a case of mass psychogenic illness going on in Cuba. 

Then you've got the secondary case around the world which is different. 

What's going around the world now is mass suggestion. The State Department and the Department of Defense have issued alarms to all their employees around the world to be on the look for Havana syndrome, symptoms that include things like difficulty concentrating, insomnia, very vague symptoms. 

There's an old saying, speak of the devil and he is bound to appear. This is right out of the witch hunts of 1692 when somebody would visit your house, you'd feel unwell, and then you'd claim that you'd been bewitched. 

So what has happened and the claims that are going on, it's just not true and it's very frustrating to see CNN, CBS, and other news agencies claiming that what happened initially in Cuba was brain damage. That was from two studies from "The Journal of the American Medical Association." They have serious methodological flaws. It's just not true. 

CARLSON:  So the American news media stoking the already present neuroses of our ruling class into mass hysteria. That's a phenomenon a lot of us are quite familiar with at this point. 

Professor, we appreciate your coming on tonight. I think you're the only voice in this on the side that you're taking and so we're glad to hear it. 

Thank you. 

BARTHOLOMEW:  Thank you. 

CARLSON:  So we didn't plan to spend a lot of time talking about the former mayor of South Bend, Pete Buttigieg and then somehow he was resurrected from the Democratic primaries and wound up a Cabinet Secretary in the Biden administration. 

We addressed an issue related to Pete Buttigieg last night and tonight, we have a correction to append to that. That's straight ahead. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

CARLSON:  As far as we know, Lieutenant Colonel Stu Scheller of the United States Marine Corps was the only officer in the entire American Armed Services who said in public what so many were thinking, what the hell are we doing? What did our leaders just do in Afghanistan? How do they screw it up so badly? And why is no one being held accountable? That's what he said and he said it on Facebook. 

Here is part of it. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

LT. COL. STUART SCHELLER, RELIEVED OF DUTY:  The reason people are so upset on social media right now is not because the Marine on the battlefield let someone down, that service member has always rose to the occasion and done extraordinary things. 

People are upset because their senior leaders let them down and none of them are raising their hands and accepting accountability or saying we messed this up. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  So instead of answering his questions, The Pentagon did what the Biden administration so often does, they punished him. They tried to crush him. They court-martialed him and sent him to jail, to solitary confinement. 

In the end, Stu Scheller pleaded guilty to those charges, meaning he is going to lose his retirement benefits. Just before the sentencing phase began today, Scheller appeared to be in good spirits. Watch. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

QUESTION:  What do you expect to happen today? 

S. SCHELLER:  We made our case. You know, we left it all on the table, so we'll see what they do. I feel good about everything that I said, and we'll see. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  The man served honorably for 17 years, exactly the kind of person you want protecting your country. Now, he is gone. 

Shortly after that, the judge rejected the prosecutor's request for a stiff sentence. He instead issued a reprimand and docked Scheller one month of pay. The judge also called for an investigation into possible government misconduct and thank God that he did. That misconduct is not possible, it is certain. 

Stu Scheller, Sr. and Cathy Scheller are the parents of Stu Scheller, and we're happy to have them both on the show tonight.  

Cathy and Stu, thanks so much for coming on. How is your son doing? 

CATHY SCHELLER, MOTHER OF LT. COL. STU SCHELLER:  He's doing well, Tucker. 

Thank you so much for giving us this platform to bring our plight to the American people and thank you to the Congress people and most of all, thank you to the Americans that showed up. 

It was the Americans that showed up, that spoke their voice, that stood up with our son and that's the reason he's not in the brig today waiting for months and months for a Court Martial to finally happen. 

It was because of your voice. We just can't thank you enough, and I want to tell you that accountability showed up in that courtroom today in a big way. 

I would like to thank Judge Hines for carefully examining all of the evidence, not taking it out of context, listening to our son's complete and total statement, checking out his military record, recognizing that there was not a single blemish on it until the fatal day of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan and the 13 service members killed. 

He recognized it for what it was. He gave the lenient sentence and we just cannot thank you, America enough. 

You see, I have teeth. I can smile. 

CARLSON:  Well, and we're grateful that he's out, but what a sad day for the country because I think all Americans look at your son, reasonable Americans and say that's exactly the guy I want as a Marine Officer defending us. I mean, Mr. Scheller, your son spent 17 years doing -- in this job like, it must be poignant for him to have to leave. 

C. SCHELLER:  Well, it's not over yet. We all think. It is over. 

STU SCHELLER, SR., FATHER OF LT. COL. STU SCHELLER:  It is not over. So, here is what you're not going to hear from the Marine Corps spokespeople. 

It's not over. The plea deal that Stuart agreed to while in prison was to plead guilty, which by the way was always his intent. He accepts accountability. 

CARLSON:  Yes. 

SCHELLER, SR.:  So he pleaded guilty to the charges, he pleaded guilty to the charges and in return, the Marine Corps and the Secretary of Navy agreed to accept his resignation. The only concern we have is that there is no time limit on that, that could be a week, it could be a month, it could be months. 

They still have him on a gag order and that's why we're out here talking tonight. I'll tell you what. The final decision maker is the Secretary of Navy, Carlos Del Toro, and he is responsible for signing his resignation and accepting his resignation. 

You can Google the Secretary of Navy and you can find his address, you can find his e-mail, address. We would like an honorable discharge and we would ask Americans to contact the Secretary of Navy and ask him to expedite it, please. 

CARLSON:  I don't think there's any doubt that they will and we can only hope that Lloyd Austin will plead guilty and resign his job, because he deserves it much more than your son. 

We appreciate you coming on tonight and I'm sure we'll see you again. Mr. 

and Mrs. Scheller, thanks. 

SCHELLER, SR.: Thank you, Tucker. 

C. SCHELLER:  Thank you so much, Tucker. 

SCHELLER, SR.: Thank you very much. 

CARLSON:  Before I go to break tonight, a quick correction. Last night on the show, we made a brief offhand joke about the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg and this morning, we discovered our error. 

It turns out that Buttigieg is not a dwarfish fraud whose utter mediocrity indicts the class that produced him. No, not at all. Pete Buttigieg was once the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. 

So understandably, going forward, we are under strict orders from the Biden administration to take Pete Buttigieg very, very seriously and of course we will. Our mistake. 

Well, it's not a surprise that an awful lot has changed in this country in the past 18 months. Novelist, Walter Kirn has the eye of a novelist, a very accomplished one. He has noticed. You're going to want to hear his assessment. That's next. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) 

CARLSON: Everything about the country has changed over the past 18 months, including how Americans see one another. 

Walter Kirn is a novelist, a very skilled novelist who writes about America. He wrote "Up in the Air" for example. Through his eyes, the changes are profound. 

We sat down with him for an hour for "Tucker Carlson Today." Worth hearing. 

Here is part of it. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  A lot of us have the sense that the country has changed quite a bit in the last year and a half. 

WALTER KIRN, NOVELIST/LITERARY CRITIC:  That sense would be correct. 

CARLSON:  Okay, so give us your take on how you think it has changed, just from reporting on it. 

KIRN:  Well, the United States is a place that even though it appears homogeneous in the media, it has a lot of pockets and a lot of differences in it. You know regional accents and ways and you know, food stuffs and so on have gotten a little bit homogenous due to the sort of corporatization of everyday life. 

But still, when you get on the ground and you go from Utah to Alabama say, you experience maybe 30 different little countries. Those places, I think have as this COVID thing has hit become almost invisible to us. 

We're not traveling as much as we used to, we're not driving around, we're not talking to strangers. We're hearing a lot in the news about, the unvaccinated or the Trump voter or the redneck, the people who actually live, you know underneath the airline routes and they're being blamed for a lot. 

They're being accused of sort of not supporting all sorts of national and governmental edicts and I think that they're kind of hunkered down starting to feel a bit victimized by the culture at large and have lost their voice uh and so, if you ask how the country has changed, it's not so much that our -- the actuality of people's lives have changed, it's that our view of their plight has gotten very simplistic and hostile, I think. 

CARLSON:  Very hostile. Now the group that you're speaking about are the people who built the country and fought its wars, grew its food. 

KIRN:  Yes. 

CARLSON:  Know how to fix its broken machines. 

KIRN:  Yes. 

CARLSON:  Okay, so kind of an essential group and probably the most patriotic of all groups. Well, how have they been treated, do you think? 

KIRN:  I think that the average American out in the so-called red states and you know, a big part of a lot of blue states are red, too, so, you know let's remember that. 

CARLSON:  That's for sure. That's right. 

KIRN:  I think they've been treated terribly. They've been through about a 40-year cycle of social abuse if you want to put it that way. They have lost their jobs especially jobs in manufacturing due to NAFTA. They have weathered huge drug plagues, visited on them by pharmaceutical companies, and not just you know foreign drug cartels. 

They have been the cannon fodder in our endless wars and they have now come in for the kind of abuse that I think may lead to real civil disorder because they are being blamed for a pandemic that was actually fomented at the highest levels and by scientists and sort of Dr. Strange Love mad scientists. 

And now, it's once again, the guy in Paducah, Kentucky or you know inner Mississippi who is being told that he is at fault for national weakness, for -- you know people in the hospital for COVID resurgence and besides the fact that it's not true, it is a kind of scapegoating that is detestable because you're blaming the very weakest, you're blaming the people who over and over have been the -- have been the butt of jokes and a kind of hostility that seems never to end. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

CARLSON:  Walter Kirn, one of the very few artists standing up for what's true. You can see the full interview on FOX Nation. 

So what have we learned tonight? Well, really two things: One, Pete Buttigieg is fully capable of giving us a lecture about fatherhood, which is hilarious. 

The other thing we learned is the Air Force -- the Air Force trained Ashli Babbitt to kill. 

You know what's true. You always know what's true. Don't forget it. 

Have the best weekend with the ones you love. We will see you Monday. 

Content and Programming Copyright 2021 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2021 VIQ Media Transcription, Inc.  All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of VIQ Media Transcription, Inc. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.