It s been a truly insane election year. Two different Democratic candidates, two different presidential candidates, a Kennedy is supporting the GOP, the Cheneys are supporting the Dems, and there happens to be a new documentary that tracks it all, and I do mean up close and personally, by following President Donald Trump and providing access, few have ever gotten. It s called The Art of the Surge, and it s available for subscribers on Tuckercarlson.me/TheArtOfTheSurge.
00:02:31.800Joining me now, my pal Tucker Carlson, host of The Tucker Carlson Show, which you can find on all platforms.
00:02:37.980Don't forget, it's tuckercarlson.com to see the art of the surge.
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00:03:42.780I mean, there's so much, and thanks for having me, there's so much pageantry with Trump.
00:03:47.380I mean, not just the public events, but like at dinner, meetings, I mean, everything is a show.
00:03:53.460And I guess you either appreciate it or you don't, but those of us who do appreciate it, just almost like on an aesthetic level, it's cool to see it.
00:04:04.400I mean, obviously you've spent a lot of time with Trump and you know this, but it's kind of the same backstage as it is on stage.
00:04:11.740And to see it all laid out like this, you know, over a period of months is pretty cool, I think.
00:04:17.640Well, it's amazing because you and your Fox EP, Justin Wells, embark on this project in June, and you're not thinking you're going to have the kind of summer that we had.
00:04:27.960I mean, how could you possibly have been envisioning anything that happened?
00:04:33.860And yet, you know, you're up close and personal for the most bizarre, compelling, interesting, consequential election in U.S. history, at least one of them, modern history.
00:04:47.260I think it's fair to say, especially that debate in which Biden collapsed and the assassination attempt, the one where he was shot.
00:04:56.560I mean, you and Justin had to be behind the scenes like, oh, my God.
00:05:16.640I think I've got four and five are coming and it goes to six.
00:05:19.900But is the reaction shot backstage during the debate of all the, you know, VIPs who've been accompanying Trump, members of Congress, watching Joe Biden melt down on stage.
00:05:32.300And these are people who do politics for a living and know Biden personally and are sort of like have what they think is going to happen in mind.
00:05:40.080And what actually happens is so shocking to them that it's truly unscripted.
00:05:45.080Like you just can't they're sitting there with just jaws agape.
00:05:48.120They can't believe this guy is melting down the way that he is.
00:07:42.720But as you said in your open so nicely, it was.
00:07:46.240But you said this is a year where a Kennedy has endorsed Trump and Dick Cheney has endorsed Kamala Harris.
00:07:52.840I mean, that just kind of sums it up right there.
00:07:54.800Not just the obvious drama, the meltdown, Biden dropping out, the assassination attempts on Donald Trump, but just the total realignment in the most obvious, undeniable way of American politics where Bobby Kennedy is on the campaign trail for Donald Trump and Dick Cheney and his daughter are working for Kamala Harris.
00:08:13.200I mean, like who who could have predicted that?
00:08:52.920She had Liz Cheney just the other day.
00:08:54.640And she's like, you know, you said a lot of terrible things about Kamala just a few short years ago.
00:09:01.020You know, people might be left with the impression you're kind of insincere.
00:09:07.120That's not really going to be the takeaway.
00:09:08.580But does the Liz Cheney, Dick Cheney combo change the calculation here?
00:09:11.920Well, I mean, it just puts it into stark relief, as you just said correctly, I think.
00:09:17.260And it also raises questions for me personally as someone who defended Dick Cheney for, I don't know, like 25 years in public and always got the sense maybe there's something wrong with Dick Cheney.
00:09:26.600And why would you be so enthusiastic about shooting down a civilian airliner as he famously was on 9-11?
00:09:32.140And, you know, just the cost of these wars in human life was so high.
00:10:39.360Like I predict and I think you'll agree with me, notwithstanding the number of Republicans, even that work for Trump, that are now endorsing Kamala, the Republican Party will come home to Trump just as it did in 16 and 20.
00:11:08.840They don't think he's God, but he they do think he's the one politician doesn't hate them.
00:11:14.020And that's the basis of of their requited love for him.
00:11:17.680But what's interesting is that I think a huge percentage of the Republican leadership in Washington is going to vote for Kamala Harris, whether they say so or not.
00:11:25.280Mitch McConnell is voting Kamala Harris.
00:11:26.900I mean, there's just no question about it.
00:11:36.220But I just think there are a lot of Republican senators, for example, whose beliefs are much closer to Kamala Harris's than they are to Trump's or to the Republican electorate.
00:11:47.340Well, that that's what Liz Cheney was saying when trying to justify herself.
00:11:50.640I'll play the soundbite when she went on with Kristen Walker, 73.
00:11:54.200Back in 2020, you said Kamala Harris, when she was announced as President Biden's running mate, you called her a radical liberal whose policies, quote, are completely inconsistent with what most Americans believe in and stand for.
00:12:08.040I know that you don't view this as a policy election.
00:12:18.960And I would say the extent to which, you know, she and I certainly have had our disagreements.
00:12:24.660But when you look at the whole range of issues, for example, with respect to support for Ukraine, with respect to the fact that, you know, she is saying that the United States has to lead in the world.
00:12:38.040Do you regret any of the language that you used to describe Harris and Biden at the time they would dismantle our freedom, destroy our history, the type of language you're using now about Donald Trump?
00:12:46.180Look, I think certainly those were harsh things that I said.
00:12:50.520I think that they reflect absolutely that we had a policy disagreement on a series of issues.
00:12:55.580But I also think that's why it's so important for people to focus on the fact that I am supporting her now.
00:13:41.680Donald Trump was not some right winger, by the way, at all.
00:13:44.280He's on the moderate side of the spectrum on policy is not controllable by anybody.
00:13:49.880And that's either good or bad, you know, depending on your perspective.
00:13:52.960But if you seek to control politicians, which is what Liz Cheney's business really is and Dick Cheney's business really is, it's not going to work with Trump.
00:14:31.880But there's no guarantee that he won't just blurt it out in the I mean, I remember in the debates in 2016, he gets attacked for knowing Hillary Clinton.
00:14:41.720He's like, yeah, well, they actually paid me money to go to her wedding.
00:15:09.040It wound up in a Dave Chappelle skit honoring him for being, you know, this guy who actually did resonate with people sitting at home, like finally somebody who's who tells it like it is.
00:15:20.840And if you put enough pressure on Trump, he might intentionally or not just say so like, you know, well, Donald Trump, you changed your view on this.
00:15:47.120And of course, what the Cheneys and permanent Washington really cares about is war because it's the ultimate exercise of power, killing people.
00:15:59.760And that's the only thing she cares about.
00:16:01.860And back when she and her dad and the many like them ran the Republican Party, you know, they dressed it up as we're strong, you know, on defense or we're keeping the world safe.
00:16:12.660Well, of course, they've made the world much more chaotic and infinitely more dangerous.
00:16:15.520We're in the brink of nuclear war right now because of their policies and their, quote, leadership.
00:16:51.880But when I watch these completely empty soundbites, I think it's because she's dumb and she doesn't know anything and she's incapable of doing anything more.
00:17:00.760And your words, blank slate, kind of come at it from a different way that that she's intentionally being vague all the time because that's what makes her saleable to her party bosses who have chosen her and who are trying to elevate her to advance their own agenda.
00:17:17.340In the case of Cheney and so many others, it is wars, the military-industrial complex.
00:17:22.820And that is a different way of looking at it.
00:21:24.120Then on top of that, the Daily Mail, all of which he's admitted, he's admitted that.
00:21:28.620Then on top of that, the Daily Mail comes out with a second report saying he bragged to his next girlfriend that he made the nanny sign an NDA and paid her $80,000 to stay quiet.
00:21:39.500But because, and more at least in connection with this, she lost the baby under circumstances that she blames him for.
00:21:49.000We don't know exactly what happened, but the Daily Mail reports that there was an emergency at the nanny's home,
00:21:54.300that EMTs were called, and that it was a serious emergency, and after this, she blames him for losing the baby that he impregnated her with.
00:22:02.900This is all behind the back of the first wife.
00:22:04.920So then, in that second report, the Daily Mail reveals, this he hasn't admitted to, that he found a girlfriend in 2012, 18 months before he met Kamala.
00:22:16.940And they were at Cannes, they were in Cannes, France at some red carpet, black tie event, and for AIDS, to raise money for AIDS research.
00:24:30.720And so that doesn't, it doesn't shock me.
00:24:32.720What shocks me is that Joe Scarborough could do an interview with him and literally not mention it.
00:24:37.700But I just think there's no kind of depth to their shame either.
00:24:43.040Like, these are the same people who told us that Biden was a genius, not senile at all, and that it was a cheap fake, you know, the evidence to the contrary, and that all of us were right-wing extremists for suggesting Biden was senile until the day that they all, as one told us, he was in fact senile and had to step down.
00:25:06.360Speaking of no shame, so now Kamala, struggling in the polls mightily, is out there actually trying to make an issue of Trump's medical records.
00:25:16.100Suggesting he's old and he hasn't produced all of his medical records, and therefore what do we know what we're getting?
00:25:21.780You know, do we have somebody who's really together?
00:25:33.980They always accuse you of exactly what they're doing.
00:25:35.920I mean, they literally will build wind farms to kill endangered species, whether in the sea, whale, right whales, or California condors, and then yell at you about how you don't care about the environment.
00:25:48.280You're not worried enough about carbon dioxide emissions because, you know, you've got a wood stove or a suburban, but they're flying private and lecturing.
00:26:01.100So this is like the main way they communicate, which is by transferring their guilt onto the innocent.
00:26:07.320But it's every time I agree with you, it shocks me.
00:26:09.900Anyway, on that front, I don't know if you saw the other day, Chris Rufo dropped a bomb on the Kamala Harris campaign because he found she plagiarized multiple times in her book that she released years ago to try to seem like a tough-on-crime prosecutor.
00:26:26.140And surprise, surprise, she and her ghostwriter, and we don't know who wrote what, but ultimately it's her book.
00:26:39.420Do we get the rest of the media saying, well, this is serious, and we have to apply the same standard to her as we do across the board?
00:26:45.000Didn't they try to have Kellyanne Conway?
00:26:46.400Not Kellyanne Conway, Monica Crowley, our friend booted from the Trump administration because they said she plagiarized a couple lines here or there, which she denied.
00:26:53.600Okay, with Kamala Harris, totally different story.
00:26:55.800This is, it's a nothing burger, and the headline truly was like conservative activist seizes on some sort of minor dust-up about her book.
00:27:07.160It was a way they could say they'd cover it, they'd covered it without actually covering it, and they spend the entire body of the piece trying to minimize the controversy, misrepresent what Rufo actually broke, say he only found a couple of instances, 500 words, where in fact he had found thousands and thousands of words.
00:27:26.840I mean, you're not surprised, but it's just another example of the double standard.
00:27:30.500Well, you're the criminal for noticing.
00:27:34.440I mean, it is, it's just, it's just a different level of lying.
00:27:37.800I mean, we all lie, and I hate lying, and I don't want to lie, but I guess if you caught me doing something super embarrassing, I would lie about it.
00:27:59.620Like, you, you know, you catch me beating a woman in the face, like Doug Emhoff, apparently just been caught doing that, assaulting a woman in the face.
00:28:07.060By the way, who'd hit a woman in the face?
00:28:09.080I don't even know anyone who would do that.
00:28:10.520Who hit a woman in the face? Thank you.
00:28:10.900Honestly, I mean, I know some pretty sick people.
00:28:15.700I've been in the media since 1991, and with the exception of a few, Joe Scarborough or what, I mean, you know, but I just don't know anyone who's capable of that.
00:28:24.260That's a really weird behavior, in my opinion.
00:28:27.000So, what, what, what is his response to lecture you about how you don't care about women's rights?
00:29:15.860So, I don't think there's, like, an army of people between Kamala Harris's appearance and, like, you know, going to Austin and sitting with Joe Rogan.
00:29:23.140I think she could probably pull that off this afternoon just by getting on a plane.
00:29:28.460And there's, I don't think, I'm not good at predictions trying to make him, but I think there's roughly a 0% chance she goes on Joe Rogan in that range.
00:29:37.620I mean, I don't know the name of the guy who was just interviewing her, who was asking her, not even questions, just being like, oh, you're so beautiful.
00:29:45.520Is it hard being so beautiful and you smell good?
00:29:47.760That guy, she looked afraid in that interview.
00:29:50.160Can you imagine sitting down with Rogan?
00:29:53.140I mean, Rogan would be like, you know, like, what's your position on speech?
00:29:57.340I mean, there's no, for three hours, I don't think there's any possibility she doesn't.
00:33:21.920And I mean there's been no better example of this than the constant Trump's going to weaponize the DOJ against his enemies.
00:33:28.920Every day she's now amped that up into a campaign ad because Trump, when asked by, for example, Maria Bartiromo about Biden's claim that we're likely to see chaos around the election.
00:33:43.280And he was saying it'll be MAGA that causes it.
00:33:46.020And Maria was saying, what do you think?
00:33:47.400And Trump said, it won't be from my people if we see chaos on election day.
00:33:51.440And he said, but if there's chaos, then we're going to take care of it.
00:33:55.360You know, if that requires the National Guard, then it requires the National Guard or even military.
00:33:58.740We're not going to have that around here.
00:34:00.820Now it's been changed by Kamala Harris and Tim Walz into he will send the military to your home if you vote for me.
00:34:10.100That's what Trump is promising, that anyone who doesn't vote for him is going to be arrested by the National Guard or by the military or by the police.
00:34:20.580And this takes me back to the assassination attempts.
00:34:24.300Not saying that the Democrats were behind them, but certainly that second guy was not a Trump voter.
00:34:29.720That first guy seemed like a nutcase, but we don't know the full story on guy number one, the guy who actually managed to shoot Trump.
00:34:45.900He was there in Butler when Trump was shot, when Corey Compertori lost his life.
00:34:52.660And we showed on this program, Selena Zito, um, great Pennsylvania reporter on the ground hurt, not hurt, but in the moment when people were being hurt.
00:35:03.020And Justin was in that scrum and got incredible footage that I'd never seen before of Trump after the fact.
00:35:09.780Here is a little bit of that from, this is episode two, uh, of art of the surge and a clip of post the Butler assassination attempt.
00:35:18.320And look what happened to our country, probably 20 million people.
00:35:26.400And you know, that's a little bit old.
00:35:58.600And, I mean, Justin must have been in danger there, too, obviously.
00:36:01.920But it's just very rich, Tucker, to hear the Democrats talk about, like, the danger Trump poses.
00:36:07.460I'm just so grateful that Justin and the camera crew was there, the editor on this, Neil Edelstein, put it together.
00:36:18.620Because I think it exists, I hope for all time, as a documentary record of what happened, because that event has been memory-holed completely.
00:36:26.580I mean, that was fairly recently, very recently.
00:36:28.700There's been no systematic effort to explain, understand, rectify why the Secret Service allowed that shooter, which they did.
00:36:37.860They allowed it, intentionally or not, on the roof of that building, less than 150 yards away.
00:36:43.080And the entire event has just sort of disappeared from the public consciousness.
00:37:49.220Well, that's a distinct focus on violence, on the use of force against other American citizens.
00:37:56.780And now, apparently, there has been an order from the agencies that would allow the U.S. military to use violence against American citizens.
00:38:10.400And again, what explains it, the thread that connects all of this, the assassination attempt on Trump,
00:38:16.360the support for totally pointless foreign wars, whose only effect is to kill people, it's not to advance the ball for the United States in any sense, just to kill people,
00:38:25.460and then the arming of the federal agencies, it is a fixation on the use of violence for its own sake.
00:38:33.820And they can call you a Nazi or a fascist or whatever, use whatever language they want against you.
00:38:38.360But the truth is, if you judge people by the things that they do, by their actions rather than their words, the violence is coming overwhelmingly from one side and the threats of violence from one side.
00:38:48.500And I don't think they can obscure that.
00:38:50.460I mean, I think what I'm saying is not partisan.
00:38:53.380I think it's a fair representation of reality that anyone who's been paying attention has watched for 15 years.
00:43:05.440So she's been in trouble lately for going on very friendly forums like The View and not understanding how to answer the very basic question of what makes you different from Joe Biden.
00:43:14.080What would you would you have done anything different differently than what he did?
00:43:18.100And she says, no, no, I'm, you know, I'm right on board with Joe Biden's agenda.
00:43:38.220I mean, that's what a politician would do.
00:43:39.420But you cannot ignore what is happening with the massive amount of illegal immigration coming to a city near you with, you know, whether it's a Venezuelan gang infesting your apartment complexes or Springfield, Ohio, with a bunch of Haitians who are tearing about the grocery store and killing people with their hit and runs.
00:43:58.380It's coming to a city near you or already has.
00:44:09.880This brings up Dave Portnoy, who is a man who she would like to get because he's definitely pro-choice.
00:44:17.180He he went on a tear like a year ago about how the Republican Party, you can't vote for them because they're pro-life and they don't get it.
00:45:07.400This is the sitting vice president of the United States currently saying she's the candidate for change.
00:45:13.300She is the worst presidential candidate in the history of American politics.
00:45:18.500Honestly, now, if you still want to vote for her because you hate Trump that much and you can't stand him, you think he's all this evil shit, do it.
00:45:44.240He's not a conservative or a Republican or anything.
00:45:46.980But his instincts are, you know, sort of no BS.
00:45:50.640He's an entrepreneur, very successful one.
00:45:52.560But he also has a huge audience slash constituency of young men who are really the people of the kind that Kamala Harris, you know, hates most.
00:46:04.560And a lot of this just comes down to subverbal cues.
00:46:09.020Like, why do working class people of all colors, by the way, like Donald Trump?
00:46:13.660Because they sense that in the end, he kind of likes them.
00:46:19.680If you've got two personal bankruptcies and are, you know, making child support payments that are between jobs, do you really think Donald Trump's like, you know, you deserve it?
00:46:57.840Kamala Harris's base is the guy who just interviewed her in that bizarre little clip that you played.
00:47:03.820You know, that's who really loves Kamala Harris because she smells good.
00:47:07.320So I just think she should just hope that there are a lot more of that guy than there are of Barstool sports consumers in this country because, you know, in the end, if you feel that somebody hates you, you're not going to vote for that person.
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