Victor Davis Hanson: Trump must make election about class, not race

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Victor Davis Hanson: Trump must make election about class, not race

Hoover Institution senior fellow joins 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' with his thoughts on the vice presidential debate

Oct. 8, 2020 – This is a rush transcript from “Tucker Carlson Tonight" October 8, 2020. 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.

Did you catch the VP debate last night? If you did, if you saw it, you've got to think the Biden people are beginning to regret picking Kamala Harris for the ticket. Maybe on paper, Harris made sense as the old guy's running mate. Apparently, she did.

But on stage, not appealing to put it mildly. Unless you enjoyed being lectured in school by substitute teachers who tried to mask their insecurity with aggression, you probably don't want four more years of that, even 90 minutes of it was hard to take.

The good news is we did learn at least one important new thing from watching. We learned how Democrats plan to use identity politics going forward. We already knew that identity politics is an effective, maybe the most effective way to get Democrats to the polls in an election year. That's why they do it.

What we learned last night is that identity politics has a bigger purpose. It is the justification that Democrats will use to tear down our centuries old system of government and replace it with one party rule with themselves in charge.

The evidence came toward the end of last night's debate when Mike Pence asked Harris what the moderator didn't ask, but should have. Does she and Biden plan to pack the Supreme Court of the United States? Does the Biden administration intend to convert our third branch of government into a partisan super legislature with lifetime tenure?

It's a pretty simple question. It's a vital question. Political courts are the hallmark of banana republics and dictatorships. We don't want that here.

Yet, for weeks, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have refused to say what they will do if elected. So last night, Pence pushed again, here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Are you and Joe Biden, if somehow you win this election, going to pack the Supreme Court to get your way,

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Joe and I are very clear, the American people are voting right now, and it should be their decision about who will serve on this most important body for a lifetime.

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "U.S.A. TODAY": Thank you, Senator Harris.

PENCE: Well, Susan, they are voting right now. They'd like to know if you and Joe Biden are going to pack the Supreme Court if you don't get your way in this nomination?

HARRIS: Let's talk about packing the court then. Let's talk about.

PENCE: Please.

HARRIS: And yes, I'm about to. And do you know, that of the 50 people who President Trump appointed to the Court of Appeals for lifetime appointments, not one is black? This is what they've been doing. You want to talk about packing a court? Let's have that discussion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Wait a minute, you might ask, what does court packing have to do with the number of black judges on the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals? Those seem like completely unrelated concepts. Was Kamala Harris trying to dodge the question?

Unfortunately, she was not dodging it. She was answering the question and she was answering it honestly, believe it or not. If she and Joe Biden win next month, they will indeed pack the Supreme Court. They'll justify doing that in the name of diversity.

They will tell you the Trump administration is racist for not selecting judges based on the color of their skin. They'll tell you that nine is a very racist number of Supreme Court seats. In fact, it's the number of some dead white guy came up with a long time ago. See, it's racist.

They'll tell you we need to diversify the court. And of course, that means a super majority of partisan Democrats. That's what they're going to tell you. For now, they are not telling you anything, though. Joe Biden repeated that position today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You'll know my opinion on court packing when the election is over. Now, look, I know, it is a great question for you all, and I don't blame you for asking. But you know, the moment I answer that question, the headline in every one of your papers will be about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Did you hear that? Has any presidential candidate in history ever use that line? You feel like all lines have been used before, but this one? I can't answer your question, because if I do answer it, everyone will talk about my answer.

What does that even mean? Truly, we have no idea what it means. But we do know that none of this is going to stop with Supreme Court.

This summer, Barack Obama used a funeral service to tell us that the filibuster is a relic of Jim Crow. It's a racist procedure. Any Senate procedure that limits the power of the Democratic Party is by definition racist. That's the new standard.

Identity politics is the most powerful political weapon they have. Don't take it at face value. There's a purpose for it. And of course, identity politics is also a handy shield. We saw that repeatedly last night.

At one point, Pence pointed out the Democrats have attacked Amy Coney Barrett for the crime of being Catholic. That seems out of bounds. How did Harris respond? She responded by describing herself as a person of faith.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: First of all, Joe Biden and I are both people of faith, and it's insulting to suggest that we would knock anyone for their faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Oh, come on, a person of faith now? How? What exactly does Kamala Harris worship apart from power? Honestly, we'd like to know. If you know, tell us. She seems like the most secular candidate ever to run for national office. That's not an attack on her, by the way, plenty of decent secular people.

But it's true. Not that truth matters in this case.

For the purposes of last night's debate, Kamala Harris identified as a person of faith, and that's all that matters. The progressive left understands race and gender and yes, religious faith as a means to an end, they are identities.

They don't have independent meanings. They are tools used to win arguments and achieve power.

Kamala Harris cycled through various identities last night. "I'm speaking," she barked again and again when Mike Pence tried to respond to her. In other words, I'm a woman. That's why you're interrupting me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The Vice President said when asked, well, why didn't you all tell anybody? He said, because the President wanted people to remain calm.

PAGE: Well, let's go --

HARRIS: But Susan, this is important.

PENCE: Susan, I have to weigh in here.

HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I am speaking.

PENCE: I have to weigh in.

HARRIS: I'm speaking.

Joe Biden has been very clear. He will not raise taxes on anybody who makes less than $400,000.00.

PENCE: He said he is going to repeal the Trump tax cuts.

HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I am speaking.

PENCE: Well --

HARRIS: I am speaking. I'm so glad we went through a little history lesson. Let's do that a little more.

In 1864 --

PENCE: I'd like you to answer the question.

HARRIS: Mr. Vice President, I am speaking. I am speaking, okay?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Democrats thought that was appealing, what world do they live in? They must have because already you can find t-shirts and mugs online with the phrase "I'm speaking." Obviously, it was planned.

Kamala Harris's many allies in the media were impressed, too. They knew exactly what Kamala Harris was really saying, I'm a woman. And they were unanimous in their conclusion.

Mike Pence, who has been married to the same woman for 35 years interrupted Kamala Harris because he is a sexist who hates women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She was not overly assertive throughout this entire debate.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Pence was a mansplainer in chief.

SANTORUM: I get.

JONES: Mr. Mansplainer all night.

SANTORUM: I understand that.

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: He repeatedly interrupted her. He demanded -- well, he also repeatedly interrupted the other woman in the room, which is the moderator who seemed to at some point lose control of him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have a reporter and a woman candidate, and both of them you're interrupting, both of whom you are attacking. Not a good sign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I think a lot of people were noticing some mansplaining going on tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He kept interrupting his moderator, a woman, and his opponent, a woman. Some may feel that that showed lack of respect.

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, let me start with Pence. He was patronizing, which drove all the women crazy.

LAWRENCE O'DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Mike Pence, who was mostly polite, but did interrupt and did do the guy thing of demanding and getting more time to speak than the woman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Oh, so as a scientific matter, the category women doesn't really exist, neither does the category men, because gender fluidity is real. You can choose your gender.

But women are also simultaneously so different from men that you have to treat them in a completely different way or you're a bad person. Are you following this? And if you do that, you're mansplaining. That's what they told us on TV last night.

What kind of adult uses the term mansplaining? Get some self-respect.

And by the way, think it through. Why did no one accused Donald Trump or Joe Biden of mansplaining when they repeatedly interrupted each other at last week's debate? Whatever.

When a man interrupts a woman, it must be sexism. There's no other explanation. In order to treat women equally, we have to treat them very differently for men so as not to disturb their delicate sensibilities. It's insane.

And if the consequences for this country weren't so serious, it would be amusing. But they don't even follow their own rules, which makes sense because the rules are incoherent. Last night, the same people who denounced Pence as a sexist went on at length about Kamala Harris's charming girlish smile.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kamala Harris with a smile pushed back on Mike Pence's repeated talking over time and interrupting her.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: So did you notice the smile that was on her face a time all the time, when she -- and that's hard when you're getting interrupted constantly.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Every shot Kamala Harris, when she is looking at him would smile. She had a smile on her face far more than Pence ever had a smile on his face.

MCCASKILL: Kamala on the other hand, she was strong. She was in command and she had a hint of joy. You sense that there is joyfulness in her spirit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Obviously, these are partisans. Obviously, these are people who are projecting their own sad, empty, hollow personal lives onto the rest of the country.

No matter what they're doing, though, it's just too stupid for a great nation. At one point during the debate, Mike Pence, to his credit, tried to elevate it a little bit, talk about something that actually matters. The habit we've all fallen into, of thinking of each other as members of categories rather than as human beings and as individuals, as creations of God. That's how people of faith think, by the way, Senator Harris.

Whatever they're calling this kind of thinking right now, intersectionalism, identity politics, Critical Race Theory, systemic racism, whatever. It's terrible. It's a cul de sac, it will wreck the country.

So Mike Pence tried to make that point. No, he said last night, the police aren't systemically racist, whatever that is. This is a fundamentally good country.

Now, that's a conversation would be worth having. That would be edifying. That does mean something. But the media ignored it. They spent most of the night talking about a housefly that landed on Mike Pence's forehead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAYLE KING, CBS NEWS HOST: At one point when they were talking about systemic racism, I think it's very interesting timing, that a fly would land on Mike Pence's head at that particular time, when he said that there really wasn't systemic racism. I saw the fly basically go and say what? I mean, it was very interesting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: It was very interesting. What you have here, what you have so often is yet another unhappy rich lady complaining about oppression. No wonder the American population is so desperately unhappy.

Look at who is leading them. The most privileged in our society who never stop whining about their own lives. It's unbearable. In fact, if we're being honest about it, and this was one bright spot from last night's debate, some annoying behavior aside, it was a pretty respectful affair, all things considering -- considering we're three weeks out in the most intense political year of our lifetimes.

There were a handful of minor interruptions, as you would expect, but for the most part, both of them, Pence and Harris kept to their time limits. In fact, they spoke roughly for the same amount of time last night. That's worth noting, maybe celebrating.

And yet for our media class, the main takeaway was still that Mike Pence is a sexist and by the way, there was a fly in his forehead. We definitely deserve better than that.

The presidential election is a little over three weeks from right now. We still have no idea who is going to win. But no matter who does win in November, there's one thing for certain, this country desperately needs a better class of leaders in charge. These people are ridiculous.

Victor Davis Hanson is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. We're happy to have him on tonight to assess what we all saw. Professor, thanks for coming out. What did you make of that debate?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, SENIOR FELLOW, HOOVER INSTITUTION: Well, it was pretty clear what their strategy is, and you hit on a lot of the points. They're going to talk about race, and they're going to talk about Trump as a mass killer, and that means they're not going to answer any questions about fracking, a New Green Deal or packing the court or who they would appoint, because they are elite leftist who have made a bargain with desperate hardcore socialists, and are not allowed to speak that.

Even AOC kind of is in the deal. She's had a little anemic tweets of actually fracking is kind of bad. So they know where they're allowed to go and where they are not and they take kind of a cue from Barack Obama, a guy who went to prep school, grew up in an upper middle class. His grandmother was a bank official.

And then he told us, he was part of the underclass, and he had been a victim of racism. And then he was actually a moderate. He was going to balance a budget. He wasn't going to let China be in debt -- we weren't going to be in debt to China anymore.

He said that he was opposed to gay marriage. He was going to close the border and we know where that went. He had the most liberal voting record like Kamala Harris almost in the Senate.

So we know what they're doing. They won't talk. They won't discuss and then what's the tactical manner in which they carry out that strategy? I think it is tri-part. They're going to stay in seclusion, because they feel that these polls are accurate. And they're going to do a run out the clock and not get any controversial statement, and then play it because they're not authentic people, play as if it's good old Kamala, who grew up in Oakland, when actually her parents were PhDs. She lived a pretty privileged lifestyle.

And good old Joel from Scranton, a working class guy who became a multimillionaire after five decades in government, and they're not going to come out and they're not going to say anything that's controversial. That quote from Joe Biden prove that.

And then second, they're going to outsource this to the media and the Pelosi Democrats. So every four or five days, we're going to get that Donald Trump insulted the war dead or he didn't -- and they were all encapsulated in Kamala Harris's talking points.

He didn't bring up the assassins with Putin who are after our soldiers in Afghanistan or Trump called the coronavirus a hoax which we know even liberal fact checkers have rejected or he said something at Charlottesville and that's going to be --

Right before the coronavirus struck, Trump -- wherein Melania's trusted friend to actually tape her phone call. That was a three-day psychodrama. And now it's Nancy -- now, it is the turn of Nancy Pelosi today to say 25th Amendment. He is crazy.

And so that's what the media's role is, and then you can see finally these -- I'll be frank, Tucker. The moderators have a modus operandi. They always have the got-cha question for Trump. Didn't you say something about not accepting the election? Didn't you say something at Charlottesville? Didn't you -- and then to the other side, it is -- we're not going to ask you anything about you ain't black, or you insulted an African-American journalist and called him basically a junkie and a cocaine user. Or why Kamala, did you call Joe Biden a racist? No embarrassing questions like that. So that's what they're hoping now.

And then it begs a question, what's Trump to do about this when he said -- so it is 360-degree opponents in celebrities and the academic world and intellectuals and the wealthy and the elite of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. I think he has got to emphasize that this election is on class, it's not on race.

CARLSON: Exactly.

HANSON: There's a hundred million people, muscular people who are out there every day taking a risk that they're going to be infected. Why they serve you at a store or they bring your Door Dash food, your curbside, or they bring your oven when it blows up from Home Depot, or they're trucking all night or they're producing food or they're farming.

And yes, they don't always have the correct mask and maybe they don't social distance, but they're keeping the country going for whom? The Zoom and the Skype class. They're in their basements telemarketing or teleworking or whatever they do and making a lot of money, and then hectoring everybody that they're politically incorrect, or they're racist, or their mask is an inch too small or they were one foot closer.

And Trump has got to say, you know, I'm one of these people. I want to frack because that freezes from these Middle East quagmires and it gives your kids good wages. It doesn't send your kid to Afghanistan or Iraq.

I want to get out of the Green Deal because I want you to have a job. I don't want a bunch of elites in the Bay Area to tell you how to live your life.

So it has got to be a class argument. I think he can say, I'm one with you, and I did -- I don't have any apologies for getting sick.

That's what the President is supposed to do. You're supposed to take risks, meet foreign leaders, bring individuals into the White House, to crisscross the country. Yes, even have a rally -- I'm not --

And you know what? When I get sick, I'm going to take risk by taking experimental drugs, if I have to, to get back on the job. I am not going to stay in my basement and quarantine myself and isolate myself and pass judgments on others that you're not willing to take the same risk.

I think that argument is going to appeal a lot of people who are getting tired of the sort of things that you outlined tonight.

CARLSON: Well, I certainly am. The people who have benefited the most from the country seem to despise it the most, which is unsustainable.

Professor Victor Davis Hanson. Great to see tonight. Thank you.

HANSON: Thank you.

CARLSON: So much craziness going on. You may have missed Nancy Pelosi going completely off the rails today. Our Kevin Corke in Washington is following it and has a story for us. Hey, Kevin.

KEVIN CORKE, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, talker. We've actually seen this play before, the one where the sitting Speaker of the house and her acolytes in the media questioned the mental and physical capacity of the President think back to 2017 when Democrats actually introduced a bill called the Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity Act.

Back then they claimed, the aim was to, quote, "Determine whether the President is mentally or physically unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office." Well, tomorrow, they'll draw from that Bill, again, to take another run at questioning the President's fitness for office.

Here's a somewhat cryptic House Speaker Pelosi today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Tomorrow, by the way, tomorrow, come here tomorrow. We're going to be talking about the 25th Amendment. I'll talk about it tomorrow. I'm not talking about it today, except to tell you, if you want to talk about that, we'll see you tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORKE: So again, if all this seems familiar, it should. Recall that this sort of went on well into 2017, with many on the left trotting out the canard citing the 25th Amendment that the President somehow couldn't do the job.

So tomorrow, it would seem a new tactic from an old playbook -- Tucker.

CARLSON: Take him out a month before the election and we're sitting like this. Kevin Corke, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

CORKE: You, too.

CARLSON: Michelle Obama has warned us this week that white supremacists were rampaging and destroying this country, we might not be able to see them, but they're definitely out there. They're disguised as BLM activists.

In fact, just last night in suburban Wisconsin, these stealthy white supremacist struck again. We'll show you the video, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: If you listened to Michelle Obama's impassioned 24-minute long video message this week, you know, it's not an easy time to be a rich lady living in a $12 million Oceanside estate in Martha's Vineyard right now. No, it's not.

America is racist, Michelle Obama told us. In fact, it's so bad that white supremacists are out there on the streets, wrecking businesses almost every night.

Some of them are stealthy. They even have BLM tattoos and want to abolish the police. It's all a cover though.

Michelle Obama assures us this is the radical right. As if we need more evidence of that, last night in suburban Wisconsin, these same white supremacists struck again, just like we saw in Portland and Kenosha and Minneapolis, they were disguised as Joe Biden voters. They threw rocks into people's living rooms and attacked the police.

Things got so bad that authorities wanted the National Guard to set up a protective perimeter around City Hall.

Just to show you how terrifyingly true Michelle Obama's warning was, we have butted her statements side by side with footage from last night near Milwaukee. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: And they're pinning it all on what's been an overwhelmingly peaceful movement for racial solidarity.

Only a tiny fraction of demonstrations have had any violence at all.

So what the President is doing is once again, patently false.

It is morally wrong. And yes, it is racist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: Patently false, morally wrong, and yes, racist. Well, we wouldn't want to be that. We don't want to disappoint Michelle Obama.

But we do want to give you some details on the rioting, we just showed you a video of it. It happens practically every day in America, but we just want to target this one specific outbreak of it.

So prosecutors announced yesterday that we are not going to charge a police officer in the shooting death of a 17-year-old African-American man called Alvin Cole. Prosecutors said that Cole had fired a shot with a stolen handgun. When he did that, the police officer who by the way, is also black, returned fire.

Based on all the evidence, the judicial process worked its way through and no charges were brought. That's the way it's supposed to work, but nobody cares about the facts. Because a long time ago, rich partisans like Michelle Obama told them that facts don't matter, and we're only now starting to see the consequences.

At last night's debate, Mike Pence did something very few Republicans were willing to do, he rejected out of hand the idea that America is fundamentally a racist nation, systemically racist, whatever that is and he defended the police who Democrats tell us are targeting some Americans by skin color.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: And I must tell you this -- this presumption that you hear consistently from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that America is systemically racist, and that as Joe Biden said that he believes that law enforcement has an implicit bias against minorities is a great insult to the men and women who serve in law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: That's true. Meanwhile, because everything is irony, Kamala Harris and many other Democrats are advocating for actual systemic racism in our largest state, California will vote this November on something called Proposition 16. It's a ballot initiative that would repeal the state's ban on racial discrimination in college admissions, government hiring, contracting.

Ward Connerly is fighting that ballot initiative. He is the President of Californians for Equal Rights, something all Americans should believe in. He joins us tonight. Ward Connerly, thanks so much for coming on.

WARD CONNERLY, PRESIDENT, CALIFORNIANS FOR EQUAL RIGHTS: Hi, Tucker.

CARLSON: So this conversation about systemic racism is being pushed by people who want to repeal a ban on racism. What do you make of that?

CONNERLY: Well, I make that hypocrisy and the use of race, or use of identity, primarily racial identity, as the basis for public policy has reached a scary level. Those who are practicing this are frightening the hell out of a lot of people who wake up every day thinking that the police are out to get them, that people that they had lunch with are white -- who are white -- are in fact their enemies that are pretending to like them.

We're at war in my Great State of California with those that are identified as progressives, and I try with all my might to make sure that partisan politics does not enter into our campaign.

But I would be derelict if I didn't tell you that those on the progressive left are ripping asunder any semblance of order that we had in our state. And their agenda is really pretty clear. If you look at the ballot, voter guide. The premise is made that white men have too much wealth and power. They control too many companies that are getting public contracts, and that Asians have too many seats at the University of California.

Their view is that of representation and equity. Our view is a matter of equality.

They say that equality is a "failed experiment" in quotes. Well, the founders didn't believe that it would be an experiment. Lincoln didn't think it was an experiment. Dr. King didn't think it was experiment. I, along with millions of other black people didn't think that equality was an experiment.

CARLSON: That's right.

CONNERLY: But we are fighting right now, Tucker, over the question of whether we're going to treat people as individuals, or whether we're going to unleash racism that didn't exist. We don't have systemic racism in the State of California. Yet, they are pretending that it is and they're using a lot of weasel words like diversity and affirmative action, which should be winding down. We should be unwinding affirmative action, not turbocharging it as Senator Harris is trying to do.

CARLSON: It's also dystopian. You are fighting a lonely fight and Godspeed. Ward Connerly, thank you for coming on tonight.

CONNERLY: Thank you.

CARLSON: So last night, and one of the weird things that has happened in a while, but very telling, the Communist Party of China censored a very specific section of the TV broadcast to the VP debate. We'll show you what it was, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENCE: China is to blame for the coronavirus, and President Trump is not happy about it. He's made that very clear. He made it clear again today.

China and the World Health Organization did not play straight with the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: That was a clip from last night's debate. If you're in China last night, you weren't able to see it. The ruling Communist Party censored it on Chinese television. Kamala Harris's comments on China were not censored. What does that tell you?

Gordon Chang is the author of the book, "The Coming Collapse of China." We're happy to have him on tonight. Gordon, thanks for coming on.

Why would China censor that and what should we infer from it?

GORDON CHANG, SENIOR FELLOW, GATESTONE INSTITUTE: A couple of things, Tucker. First of all, we know that China has devoted enormous emphasis on controlling the narrative on the coronavirus. When it put together its Taskforce on January 26th, there were nine people on the Taskforce, only one was a public health official. All the rest of them were party hacks or propaganda officials and that says very much about where Beijing was going.

What Vice President Pence did yesterday was to puncture a big hole in China's narrative. So of course, they're not going to allow the Chinese people to hear that.

CARLSON: But they didn't censor anything that Kamala Harris said. So it raises the question, how did China's leaders view this election? Are they rooting for a candidate? What's their interest in this race?

CHANG: Well, they're interested in this race as their survival. Because what President Trump has done, he has broken five decades of failed China policy and Beijing is upset about that.

You know, Susan Page, the moderator asked both Vice President and the Senator, is China a competitor, an adversary or an enemy? Well, the correct answer is enemy. And by pulling the plug on the Vice President's comments last night, we know who our enemy is rooting for.

CARLSON: So it's pretty clear. And I mean, we spent years deriding the idea that, you know, Russia had a material effect on the last election. I don't want to make wild accusations here. But from what you're saying it sounds like China has -- it believes it has a vested interest in the outcome of this race.

CHANG: Yes, and it's been devoting enormous effort to it. So for instance, especially from the beginning of February, there's been a from the Foreign Ministry and the Communist Party's "Global Times," which is a tabloid, a concerted disinformation campaign, oftentimes inflammatory about the coronavirus and also about the protests in the U.S.

But perhaps more insidious, we have seen the bot and the troll operations, which have been directed to unseating President Trump, spreading false rumors through text messages, social media feeds, and we know how big China's efforts have been. They just dwarf anything that anybody else including Russia have been doing.

CARLSON: That sounds like undermining our democracy. But you're the only person I've heard mention that, which is kind of odd.

Gordon Chang, I'm glad that you did. Thank you. Good to see you.

CHANG: Thank you very much, Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, last night, you heard a lot of the normal blow dried cable news people describe Mike Pence as a mansplainer. What is a mansplainer exactly?

We've asked Tammy Bruce to womansplain for us. She is of course the host of "Get Tammy Bruce" on FOX Nation and she joins us tonight.

Tammy, thanks so much for coming on.

Well, maybe I shouldn't make fun of it. I'm not quite sure what it is. But it sounds embarrassing. Can you unpack this for us?

TAMMY BRUCE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, maybe I should womansplain it to you. I don't -- I think that'll upset even more people.

Look, I don't even think the left understands what it is. The left doesn't understand what it is. They have boxed themselves into a horrible corner, where they have allowed women to be categorized as special because of our gender, and then they want to be able to, you know, perpetuate that.

And yet they've also argued for equality. And yet, how can you be special and separate, but equal? So what they want is to use this idea --

CARLSON: Good question.

BRUCE: Right? I mean, it's a conundrum.

CARLSON: Yes, it is.

BRUCE: And becomes a problem, because then you've got to be able to deliver, and the issue here is that people have been elevated on the left, who believe and have been elevated on occasion simply because of their gender as an example, and then, they are never challenged.

And when you're challenged, you do -- when you're not challenged, you can't become strong. You don't know the answers to things, and the way to keep them from being able to be, you know, exposed as weak. Suddenly, you're not allowed to critique them. You're not allowed to challenge them. You're not allowed to question them or even insult them sometimes even if they should be insulted and confronted, because that's mean. That is sexism. You're being a man.

And that is why in my humble opinion, Kamala Harris did not do well last night. She is not -- she has only debated Democrats previously and not well. She, when confronted by Tulsi Gabbard during the primaries, she did not -- she did not know how to come back.

This is a woman who expects to be protected, it appears; and the left is doing everyone a disservice, every woman a disservice, because it's the 21st Century, and they insist that we be treated like infants, as we wear pearls and that is not going to assist any woman up any ladder.

We should be treated equally, and that means if you're powerful, you should be confronted, you can answer questions, you better be prepared, and you better understand on how to convey your opinions on policies. Senator Harris was unable to do any of that.

CARLSON: Yes, I noticed. Thank you for explaining that. That is a paradox, the center of their argument, and you've outlined as clearly as we have ever heard it.

BRUCE: It is indeed.

CARLSON: Thank you, Tammy Bruce.

Well, as we told you earlier, if you were watching last night, you saw an insect descend onto the forehead of the sitting Vice President during the debate. You probably assumed it was just a housefly. Oh no.

According to some of our experts on cable news on the other , something much more sinister was afoot, something spiritual perhaps. We will review the evidence with Adam Carolla, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: Well, if you had your glasses on last night, you may have seen a small insect land on Mike Pence's head during last night's debate. If you thought it was just a common housefly, you were mistaken.

According to this character on MSNBC, it was in fact a sign of demonic possession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE SCHMIDT, CO-FOUNDER, LINCOLN PROJECT: I mean, I don't think it's ever a good sign when a fly lands on your head for two minutes. You know, that's a -- that's a sign all through history of sin.

A fly -- he who commands the fly has always been seen historically as the mark of the devil.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, I have to ask for the record. Are you joking because the fly could have landed on anyone?

SCHMIDT: Yes, but it did it. It landed on Mike Pence and it says something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARLSON: It says something says hold the wine with dinner before TV hits. But does it say something else? Something deeper? Something spiritual?

For that we go to Adam Carolla, our resident expert on the occult and of course, the host of "The Adam Carolla Show." We're happy to have him tonight. Adam, thanks for joining us.

You saw the fly descend on Mike Pence's head. What did you think?

ADAM CAROLLA, COMEDIAN AND AUTHOR: Well, I had a couple of thoughts. One is, I thought I'm glad it didn't land on Joe Biden because it would have taken him down. Joe Biden would have collapsed under the weight of that house fly, number one.

Number two, I was also glad it didn't land on Kamala Harris, because if it would have landed on Kamala, CNN would have labeled it a hate crime. So I was so happy that those things didn't happen.

Now, if it had landed on Nancy Pelosi, I think it would have just crawled in one ear and walked out the other.

CARLSON: That is so good. I'm glad I asked you.

So it didn't occur to you, I guess my question is, as a noted expert on demonic possession, it didn't occur to you as an exorcist type moment, as it did to MSNBC?

CAROLLA: No, no, I actually know what happened. The Fly was disoriented because it had just fled California, it couldn't take it anymore.

The fly -- sure there was all the fecal matter all over the streets. That was great, but it couldn't take Gavin Newsom anymore, so the fly left for Utah.

CARLSON: Like so many. So even the insects, even the dung beetles, the carrion-eaters, they are leaving, too? The whole food chain.

CAROLLA: Homeless, taxes, the wildfires, gas prices. Yes, the insect community.

CARLSON: I don't know if your camera is frozen. It is so good. And so worth it. Are you back?

CAROLLA: I'm back. Sorry.

CARLSON: Are you -- in California, even the internet doesn't work. But just to probe a little deeper. You don't see this, to clarify for our viewers once and for all, as a sign that Satan has Mike Pence under his personal command.

CAROLLA: No, but I bet if we pulled up Kamala's hair, we'd find the triple six. I think Dr. Drew is calling me on the other line actually.

CARLSON: Because he has concerns about that.

CAROLLA: Yes. He is literally calling me as we speak.

CARLSON: What did you -- so you watched the whole debate, not just the fly interlude, I suppose. What did you think of it?

CAROLLA: I thought Pence did a great job. I think everyone -- I think Trump should sit down because I think when he stands up, he is too beefed up and revved up. He thinks he's on a street corner, standing over a lit trashcan with you know, the guys, the Bowery boys.

So I think sitting down worked. I think Pence just shot a whole lot of information their direction and that's what happened.

CARLSON: How'd you think she did? Your senator?

CAROLLA: Oh, God, she's my senator. Oh, that's probably why the fly left. She does what she does. She does a lot of just stipulating and laughing and sort of condescending smiling and head nodding. But there's not a whole lot of meat on that bone.

So I felt like Pence won this one. Trump lost the first one. I don't know if anyone won the first one and it would be nice if there was a second round.

CARLSON: Mike Pence was accused last night in the after action analysis on the other s of something called mansplaining. Have you ever -- and I know this is live but you can be honest -- have you ever mansplained?

CAROLLA: I figure every time a man opens his mouth, he is potentially mansplaining in this new world order we're living in, right? So I guess if you're heterosexual, you're white and you're male, and you open your mouth, then you may possibly be involved in a mansplaining type hate crime.

So I'm assuming I have mansplained many times; on the other hand, I got some goodsplaining to do, so people should listen.

CARLSON: You should change the name of your show, "Mansplaining with Adam Carolla."

Adam Carolla, great to see you tonight. Thank you.

CAROLLA: Thanks, Tucker.

CARLSON: Well, you often hear Republicans in Washington say they care about how Silicon Valley is suppressing free speech. Well, tonight, they have a chance to do something about it, but they're not. It's not a happy story, but we feel duty bound to tell you the story after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CARLSON: The political landscape is volatile right now, God knows what's going to happen, so you'd think Republicans in Washington would be awake and alert trying to accomplish all they can. Republicans still control the Senate, so you would imagine they'd be busy confirming the President's nominees while they're still able to.

But they're not, in some cases they are blocking conservatives from getting appointments even now.

Here's one example. A month ago, the president nominated a man called Nathan Simington to serve on the F.C.C. If you're worried about the unchallenged power of Big Tech and you should be, you ought to support Simington's appointment.

But Senate Republicans do not support it. They are sitting on his nomination. They're hoping instead they will be able to confirm a Joe Biden appointee next year.

The President has complained about this, including on Twitter, but they've ignored him.

Remember that the next time you hear Republicans in Washington pretend that they care about free speech, pretend you're going to do something about the shocking abuse of the tech monopolies. Right now, they have a chance to help fix that problem, but they are refusing to do anything.

It tells you a lot.

We are out of time tonight. We'll be back tomorrow night 8:00 p.m. The show that is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and groupthink.

Amy Coney Barrett's hearing start next week. Of course, we'll be following those in great detail.

In the meantime, we hope you have a great night with the ones you love. That's all that matters in the end.

And we hope you stay tuned for the next hour, which is going to be hosted as always by the Great Sean Hannity.

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