The Tucker Carlson Show - Dennis Quaid

00:00:00.000 Dennis Quaid is one of the most famous actors in the world, he's been in about 150 movies spanning almost 50 years and he is at the same time a really interesting and engaged person with a lot to say who thinks a lot and thinks freely.

00:00:25.000 He's also an accomplished musician, but he has a project coming up that you probably ought to know about.

00:00:30.000 We thought it was definitely worth telling you about.

00:00:32.000 And so we're grateful that Dennis Quaid is joining us on set right now.

00:00:35.000 Thank you for joining us.

00:00:36.000 Thank you, Tucker.

00:00:37.000 We're so glad to be here.

00:00:38.000 So, I mean, I could ask you a million questions, but I want to get right to the project that's coming up right now about our power grid that you did.

00:00:47.000 Can you just give us a quick overview of what this is and why did you do it?

00:00:50.000 Well, it's called Grid Down Power Up and it's about an issue which concerned me really for quite some time.

00:00:58.000 They did a segment on 60 Minutes about this, but basically there is a 100% probability that our sun generating what they call a GMD, which is a solar storm, that hits our Earth and the magnetic field that we have around the Earth and can fry everything that is electric above the ground, including our entire grid.

00:01:27.000 And this would happen organically, naturally?

00:01:29.000 That's just what the sun does?

00:01:30.000 It has happened.

00:01:31.000 There was a, they call it a Carrington event, which happened in, I think it was 1859.

00:01:38.000 And at that time, basically we had telegraph lines as far as electricity goes.

00:01:44.000 And it fried our entire telegraph system.

00:01:48.000 It was set up, had to be replaced.

00:01:51.000 And the entire thing?

00:01:52.000 The entire thing.

00:01:53.000 And so imagine what that would do now with a very large storm, which there's a 100% chance of it happening.

00:02:03.000 And that was a 100 year event, they call that one.

00:02:07.000 And I'm not good at math, but 1859.

00:02:09.000 The trillions of dollars that it would take to replace all that.

00:02:12.000 Plus there wouldn't, we wouldn't even get to spend those trillions of dollars because the, it would take out not only the electricity, but you know, all of our entire infrastructure and our society runs our electricity.

00:02:28.000 We don't, we don't know how to live without it.

00:02:31.000 You know, you turn on, there wouldn't be any water in your tap.

00:02:34.000 There wouldn't, you couldn't get gas for your car because the, the whole system is broken down.

00:02:40.000 Everything that we rely upon would be gone.

00:02:44.000 The food would melt in our refrigerators.

00:02:48.000 There would be a, and they predict within a year, about 90% of the population would be dead from starvation, disease,

00:02:57.000 or, you know, people, it gets back to the stone age again.

00:03:03.000 Killing each other.

00:03:04.000 Yeah. 0.96

00:03:05.000 Well, that's shocking.

00:03:07.000 Yeah.

00:03:08.000 A bit of information.

00:03:09.000 It really lifts your day, doesn't it?

00:03:10.000 It does.

00:03:11.000 I mean, I just sort of, I'm adding that to the Armageddon file that's growing.

00:03:15.000 Nobody's, nobody's really talking about it.

00:03:17.000 And, and in fact, President Trump actually signed an executive order to, to harden our grid to protect ourselves against an event like this happening.

00:03:31.000 Obama tried to get that going as well.

00:03:34.000 And it, it's stuck in these regulatory agencies that, you know, and lobbyists because money needs to be spent.

00:03:45.000 Most of our grid power companies are privately owned and you can understand them not wanting to spend money on something that might occur.

00:03:53.000 But this is definitely going to occur.

00:03:56.000 And so it would mean, and this is not from a foreign adversary.

00:04:00.000 This is just a solar cycle or, or.

00:04:03.000 Well, we'll get to that in a minute.

00:04:04.000 Okay.

00:04:05.000 But this is, but we're starting with just what nature might do.

00:04:07.000 Yeah.

00:04:08.000 This is not what you call an enemy.

00:04:09.000 This is, you know, our, the sun that we rely upon every day.

00:04:14.000 And these solar storms that happen and they, they happen with, you know, frequency and you've seen, everybody's seen, you know, pictures of the sun where, you know, the storm is happening and these flares come out and they're ejected out into the, into the solar system.

00:04:31.000 And we just, you know, like in packets and we, I think it was 2014.

00:04:39.000 We barely missed one by, uh, five days that went across our path of orbit around the sun.

00:04:47.000 And it's going to happen.

00:04:50.000 And then, you know, once it hits the earth, there's a 50% probability of it either being us or the Eastern hemisphere.

00:04:59.000 Who's ever exposed to that's the sun.

00:05:04.000 Sure.

00:05:05.000 So is there anything that you can do?

00:05:08.000 I mean, could you harden our electrical?

00:05:11.000 Yes.

00:05:12.000 There, there are simple things that we could actually do, uh, to, uh, that could be built in that would, you know, not only for the military, which we'll get to, but, uh, civilian, uh, infrastructure to protect it.

00:05:28.000 That, uh, relatively inexpensive compared to what it would cost.

00:05:34.000 If, uh, an event like this happened and overall over time, it'd probably be about a hundred billion dollars, about the same that we just gave to Ukraine.

00:05:47.000 So, you know, to protect them from the Russians, uh, and, uh, it'd be money spent. 0.97

00:05:54.000 Plus also, uh, the, you know, the process of doing this, we, you know, it's like a space program.

00:06:02.000 You find out all kinds of other things that actually, uh, help society and advance us in our technology.

00:06:10.000 But, uh, it's basically relays, uh, protective relays that could be put in our, our substations and transformers that, in an event like this happens, uh, kind of similar to kind of a surge protector that you have in your computer.

00:06:25.000 That, that since that, you know, there's a surge like that and cut it, cut it off to protect it, frying our, uh, transformers.

00:06:35.000 Would, uh, pardon my total ignorance on this topic, I'm embarrassed.

00:06:39.000 Um, but would such a solar storm hurt people or just electrical components?

00:06:44.000 No, it doesn't hurt people.

00:06:45.000 Uh, in fact, it, uh, it's, uh, it's only like the, you know, transistors, uh, and, you know, anything electrical and you can melt it.

00:06:57.000 And these transformers that we have, uh, I think there's, uh, there's, you remember the, the blackout that happened in New York, uh, not too long ago.

00:07:10.000 And, uh, that it, you know, it took, it was trees that were hanging over a power line just like that, which caused, you know, a surge of power and upset the balance.

00:07:20.000 And it all relies on these transformers that, uh, get overheated and they, the, if you need to replace one, you don't just replace one.

00:07:31.000 They weigh about 500,000 pounds to begin with to get them.

00:07:35.000 It takes, if you want another one, it takes two years to get one.

00:07:38.000 We just don't have them sitting around, uh, uh, just ready to replace either.

00:07:45.000 They're, it's really difficult.

00:07:46.000 It takes time.

00:07:47.000 And if you had a situation where your, your supply chains cut off and, you know, we get some of them from China, by the way.

00:07:55.000 And, uh, it's, you know, it's just tough to do. 0.94

00:07:59.000 If I can just ask you a dumb question.

00:08:00.000 So this, an event like this happened in 1859 and it took out our entire telegraph system. 0.96

00:08:06.000 So this has been known for quite some, quite some time.

00:08:11.000 Yeah.

00:08:12.000 Um, and yet we built a system that's vulnerable to it.

00:08:15.000 Yeah.

00:08:16.000 Well, the storms, the storms come in varying intensities.

00:08:19.000 The, that carrying Tingen event, uh, I don't, I don't, I must have been, you know, upwards of like 85, 85 volts per meter.

00:08:29.000 I think that's what the, the figure is the way they measure it.

00:08:34.000 Uh, and our system is built to take on like eight volts, uh, per, uh, kilometer.

00:08:43.000 I mean, eight kilometers, but, uh, and, uh, it, it won't handle it.

00:08:50.000 That's what Obama wanted.

00:08:54.000 That's what Obama did when he, uh, by executive order wanted to, uh, harden our, our system.

00:09:02.000 Uh, what did it brought up to, to that?

00:09:05.000 And the regulatory people, the NERC and FERC took it and said, had wound up just protecting, uh, our, uh, infrastructure to eight volts.

00:09:18.000 It's like 10 times less.

00:09:20.000 There was, because of these other storms that came through, you know, one, I think was like 12.

00:09:25.000 Another one was this or that.

00:09:26.000 And so they, it wasn't a worst, uh, worst case scenario.

00:09:31.000 In other words, that they prepared for, and that's what you need to prepare for.

00:09:37.000 Of course.

00:09:38.000 Of course.

00:09:39.000 You're describing what we used to call when we believed in God, acts of God.

00:09:42.000 Yeah.

00:09:43.000 Probably our acts of God, but whatever.

00:09:44.000 Um, but things that no human can control.

00:09:46.000 Right.

00:09:47.000 But there's a whole.

00:09:48.000 Course majeure.

00:09:49.000 Exactly.

00:09:50.000 So there's a whole nother category though of attacks from adversaries or terrorists or whatever.

00:09:56.000 Yes.

00:09:57.000 That's the other thing.

00:09:58.000 What are those?

00:09:59.000 Uh, another scary thing, I think, you know, the world as far as the danger in the world

00:10:07.000 today is much greater than when I was growing up.

00:10:10.000 I grew up at the, at the height of the cold war where, you know, we had duck and cover.

00:10:13.000 Yeah.

00:10:14.000 I lived in Houston, which was within that circle during the Cuban missile crisis of getting

00:10:19.000 hit and probably would have been hit.

00:10:21.000 And, uh, you know, by the bomb and it's scarier today than it was then.

00:10:28.000 At least we had mutual, uh, uh, mutual annihilation.

00:10:32.000 Yes.

00:10:33.000 And we had deterrence, you know, based on that, that we wouldn't pull the trigger because the

00:10:38.000 other, your, your adversary was going to destroy you too.

00:10:42.000 And today, you know, that, that club has grown to where it's not only Russia, the United States, it's North Korea.

00:10:52.000 Yeah.

00:10:53.000 Pakistan.

00:10:54.000 That everybody knows.

00:10:55.000 Pakistan, India, Iran, which, uh, you know, they, they believe they already, they already have the nuke.

00:11:02.000 They just don't have the delivery system for it that could reach the United States.

00:11:06.000 And, uh, you know.

00:11:09.000 Do you believe Iran has a nuclear weapon?

00:11:11.000 I think they do.

00:11:12.000 Yeah.

00:11:13.000 You know, the Russians have been helping them out.

00:11:16.000 And, uh, if they don't have one, they're going to have one within six months to a year.

00:11:23.000 And it's really, uh, the, we've been approaching it.

00:11:28.000 Well, they don't have the delivery system.

00:11:30.000 They don't have the, you know, the ICBMs that can deliver that all the way to the United States.

00:11:35.000 They definitely could hit Israel, though, who they're committed to destroying. 1.00

00:11:40.000 And, um, you know, and, but they also have their terror organizations.

00:11:47.000 And it's gotten to the point now where it's getting so condensed.

00:11:52.000 You know, these suitcase dirty bombs, whatever they are.

00:11:55.000 Yes.

00:11:56.000 You could definitely rig one of those up and hook it to a, uh, a Scud missile, put it on a cargo ship just off the United States, uh, coast.

00:12:04.000 Send it up to a certain altitude, explode it.

00:12:08.000 And, uh, how that would have, what they call a super EMP, which is electromagnetic pulse.

00:12:15.000 Yeah.

00:12:16.000 The same thing as a geothermal event, you know, with the sun.

00:12:19.000 It's, uh, if you send up a missile, a nuclear, uh, with a nuclear bomb on it, it exploded at 400 kilometers.

00:12:33.000 It's, uh, kilometers above the earth in space, basically.

00:12:38.000 You won't, you won't see it.

00:12:40.000 You won't see the explosion because it's in a vacuum of space.

00:12:43.000 You won't, you won't hear it.

00:12:45.000 No people will be killed.

00:12:47.000 But the gamma rays, which are thrown out from that, would encompass most of the United States and take out this very same grid.

00:12:58.000 And within, which could cause a power outage all across the United States up to months, even a year.

00:13:11.000 And we'd have the same scenario that we described before.

00:13:14.000 So if, I mean, you, you hate even to game it out, but like, if that happened, if huge parts of the United States had no power for a year, I mean, that, that would be an extinction event for a lot of people.

00:13:24.000 Yeah, they'd done a study and 90% of the population would be dead within a year.

00:13:31.000 You know, in 18, during this Carrington event, I mean, one thing, we didn't rely on electricity, you know, and everybody had a cow if you wanted milk and you had a horse if you wanted to drive.

00:13:43.000 You know, your car wouldn't work.

00:13:45.000 You, what do you do? Your telephone doesn't work.

00:13:48.000 There's no way to inform the public about, you know.

00:13:52.000 Anything.

00:13:53.000 Anything.

00:13:54.000 So, you're kind of messed up.

00:13:56.000 So, I mean, that in some ways seems far more effective than nuclear weapons.

00:14:02.000 Mm-hmm.

00:14:03.000 Not only that, you're not, you're not killing people.

00:14:08.000 And so, that makes the decision to use them a little, you know, it's not, you don't have to, you don't have to wrestle with your, your morals.

00:14:19.000 Right.

00:14:20.000 There's no smoking hole at Hiroshima.

00:14:22.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:14:23.000 And just like, because there are so many actors doing this, and you know, there are terrorist subgroups as well, who do you retaliate against if it's, if it's done from a cargo ship?

00:14:39.000 And you don't even know where it came from.

00:14:40.000 So, who was, who was the perpetrator?

00:14:42.000 And who do you retaliate against?

00:14:46.000 And yes, the, the military has hardened most of, of their infrastructure when it comes to this.

00:14:57.000 But they get their electricity, 90% of their electricity comes, 99% of their electricity comes from civilian infrastructure.

00:15:06.000 So, how long is that going to last?

00:15:09.000 And, uh.

00:15:10.000 So, so do you think, uh, when it's magnified EMP attacks would take out a lot, I mean, what, like most civilian power plants?

00:15:20.000 Yeah, just one, what they call a super EMP.

00:15:23.000 And that, that has to do with the, uh, the altitude where it is exploded, you know, from the center of that covers a certain area.

00:15:33.000 Whereas if you were lower down, you would only be able to cover that much area.

00:15:37.000 Yes.

00:15:38.000 Because it spreads out in a circle.

00:15:40.000 So, and, uh, it just fries everything.

00:15:43.000 So why, I mean, I know there are a lot of things to worry about.

00:15:46.000 Yeah.

00:15:47.000 Because a lot of things are failing at once, obviously.

00:15:49.000 But, um, this seems like you might want to move it toward the top of the list of things to worry about.

00:15:53.000 Yeah, I would, I would think so.

00:15:55.000 I really would think so, but it's, uh, and indeed the, uh, you know, the Russians and the Chinese have,

00:16:03.000 have done so much more to harden and to protect their infrastructure than we have.

00:16:10.000 And so it, it gets down to that whole thing about survivability.

00:16:15.000 You know, being able to survive an attack and, uh, to attack someone and then being able to survive the, uh, when they retaliate.

00:16:26.000 And, uh, they've got that going for them.

00:16:29.000 And it also makes somebody like, you know, Iran, who, it, it's a fraction of what they, their military budget is.

00:16:38.000 And they know they can't defeat the United States.

00:16:41.000 But, I mean, even a, even a simple terror group, you get their hands on a Scud missile and a, and a nuclear device, you can really do some damage.

00:16:50.000 And I don't know why that our government has not been informing us more about this.

00:16:59.000 Back during the Cold War, when I was a kid, I was, you know, in the fourth grade, we, we kids were informed about what could happen, what to do if, if something happened.

00:17:10.000 At least that.

00:17:12.000 And also, uh, let's get something done.

00:17:17.000 I, I mean, I don't think the average person has any idea that this threat exists.

00:17:22.000 Yeah.

00:17:23.000 No, they don't.

00:17:25.000 Uh, the majority, the vast majority of the people don't.

00:17:29.000 Where, where is the climate lobby on this?

00:17:32.000 I mean, they're very involved in trying to remake the grid.

00:17:37.000 Right.

00:17:38.000 You know, change our sources of energy and they're energy experts.

00:17:41.000 Um, but is this something that they're taking up?

00:17:44.000 No, not to my knowledge, no.

00:17:47.000 Are windmills?

00:17:48.000 This really definitely, this has to, well, they would be affected too, you know, of course.

00:17:53.000 But it's, it's, you know, it's, that's all about the fuel that comes, you know, to the power agency or, you know, whether it be coal or wind or whatever it is.

00:18:04.000 But if, if you knock out the, these relay stations, the power can't go anywhere.

00:18:09.000 It just fries everything.

00:18:11.000 So this does suggest, I mean, our country, our country's population is clustered in cities.

00:18:17.000 Yeah.

00:18:18.000 Those probably aren't kind of fair as well.

00:18:20.000 No.

00:18:21.000 It'd be easier to live in the country, of course.

00:18:23.000 And people who live in the country, you know, would probably have better ideas, better knowledge of how to survive after an event like this.

00:18:32.000 But, uh, it's, it's a scary proposition.

00:18:37.000 I mean, there needs to be education and, and there needs to be something done about it.

00:18:41.000 And, uh, done about it pretty quick.

00:18:44.000 I mean, these, these protective relays that, that could be installed in the transformers, starting with that.

00:18:50.000 I mean, we have the technology, we know how to do this.

00:18:53.000 It's not something mysterious that we have to get involved in.

00:18:57.000 What we do need is something like a Manhattan project that we had back during World War II, where, you know, the Germans, we knew that the Germans were trying to develop a bomb.

00:19:09.000 And so we, we, we got there quicker and somebody to cut through all the bureau, bureaucratic, uh, red tape and be vested with the authority to just to get this done.

00:19:24.000 We could do, we could do it in a couple of years.

00:19:27.000 So you mentioned FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

00:19:30.000 Yeah.

00:19:31.000 I mean, that would be, wouldn't that be the agency that would be thinking about this?

00:19:34.000 They, they, yes, you would think that, but it, that's not the way it works.

00:19:39.000 It, you know, Obama, like, sent this to Congress, I mean, to, to get it done.

00:19:44.000 And then it gets caught in FERC and NERC because they're controlled by, uh, the lobbies, the, you know, the lobbies of, uh, the energy lobbies that it, it's about, they'd have to spend money.

00:19:59.000 And, um, which they don't necessarily want to do because, you know, it costs a lot.

00:20:06.000 Yes, it would cost a lot.

00:20:07.000 I think the government should, should, uh, help in this.

00:20:11.000 And there's so many of them too scattered across the United States.

00:20:16.000 You know, they're locally owned, most of the energy companies.

00:20:20.000 Uh, there's a energy company in South Carolina that is, uh, really doing something about it.

00:20:27.000 And there, there have been some cases where, uh, you know, we've had energy companies that are, uh, making moves to protect the grid, but that's only one little part of the grid.

00:20:39.000 You know, it's, uh, when it comes down to it, they, they depend on the, on the one next door to them and the one next door to them.

00:20:46.000 It would cure the AI problem pretty quick though, right?

00:20:49.000 Yeah.

00:20:50.000 You'd have no AI within electricity.

00:20:51.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:20:52.000 But you wonder, there's all these, I mean, a huge part of the American economy is based on digital commerce, digital innovation.

00:21:00.000 I mean, this is being.

00:21:02.000 Right.

00:21:03.000 Financial system is going to break down.

00:21:04.000 Exactly.

00:21:05.000 Transportation breaks down.

00:21:07.000 Your water doesn't work.

00:21:09.000 Food delivery is gone.

00:21:11.000 Uh, your telephones don't work.

00:21:15.000 You go back to, basically we go back to that current event.

00:21:19.000 The world goes back to 1859 and we're all in the dark and the lights are out.

00:21:24.000 So you'd think, and you would think that all these other sectors, the economy would be lobbying because they all are dependent on electricity.

00:21:30.000 Everybody's dependent on electricity.

00:21:32.000 So if I'm Google or if I'm Microsoft running AI or whatever, like I need, I would be lobbying for this.

00:21:41.000 Yeah, especially you, you've got to have that.

00:21:43.000 And, uh, plus also the, just the effects of, uh, of the gamma rays, you know, upon these microchips that, uh, they're melted.

00:21:56.000 Actually, you know who the, the largest manufacturer of vacuum tubes is?

00:22:01.000 Russia.

00:22:02.000 Vacuum tubes?

00:22:03.000 Vacuum tubes, Russia and China.

00:22:05.000 They, they are still in the business of manufacturing vacuum tubes because they are far more resistant.

00:22:13.000 They are far more resistant to this, these, uh, gamma rays.

00:22:18.000 Are you serious?

00:22:19.000 Yeah.

00:22:20.000 Than the microchips.

00:22:21.000 Do they, do they make old, old analog technology is, is, you know, would, would, uh, work with internet dial up, you know?

00:22:32.000 Are they making horse carriages too?

00:22:34.000 They probably should be.

00:22:35.000 They probably should be.

00:22:36.000 Yeah.

00:22:37.000 So, okay.

00:22:38.000 Well, you just blew my mind.

00:22:40.000 Yeah.

00:22:41.000 I want to go out and join the cavalry, I guess.

00:22:43.000 So what kind of reaction are you getting when you tell people this?

00:22:47.000 Uh, uh, Mal's agape, kind of like you. 0.99

00:22:50.000 Yeah.

00:22:51.000 Yeah.

00:22:52.000 Because nobody hears about it.

00:22:53.000 And it's, I don't, it's something we don't like to think about.

00:22:57.000 But it's, you know, I think people think of it in terms of an asteroid, which is on its way to destroy the earth.

00:23:05.000 Right.

00:23:06.000 You know, that seems like a very remote, in fact, is very remote.

00:23:09.000 Uh, and, um, but this is, you know, whether from the sun or a bad actor, this is something that a hundred percent chance it's going to happen.

00:23:21.000 And we are just no, nowhere, no way prepared for it.

00:23:28.000 That's absolutely terrifying.

00:23:30.000 Um, so of all the projects you've done, 150-ish, I mean, this has got a rate among the most significant.

00:23:39.000 Yeah.

00:23:40.000 Uh, David Tice, uh, he was, he was a producer.

00:23:44.000 He produced Solsa for that movie.

00:23:45.000 Yes.

00:23:46.000 And, uh, he's a patriot and a really smart individual.

00:23:51.000 And, uh, he was, he called me up because he, he, he created this, uh, movie, Grid Down Power Up.

00:24:00.000 That's the name of it.

00:24:01.000 And, uh, asked me if I wanted to be involved and I'd seen that 60 Minutes episode, you know, about the geothermal event happening like that.

00:24:10.000 And it's, I just said yes, because I remember it really, uh, frightened me when I saw it.

00:24:16.000 And I, like everybody else, had just gone on and forgotten it because you have, we have so many threats that are right in front of us.

00:24:24.000 Right.

00:24:25.000 Yeah.

00:24:26.000 That, uh, you know, this gets pushed to the background.

00:24:29.000 It seems like a pretty obvious one though.

00:24:31.000 Yeah.

00:24:32.000 And it's always, it's, it's always the one you, you don't see, you know, it's the, they get you.

00:24:37.000 It's, it gives us feet of clay, basically.

00:24:40.000 You know, we may be the big, bad, great, greatest nation on earth, United States with all our, uh, it's, but in some ways, all of this technology, uh, this highly industrial, uh, complex that, that we've built is,

00:24:58.000 is, has feet of clay because of this little simple thing.

00:25:04.000 It's kind of perfect though, isn't it?

00:25:05.000 Yeah.

00:25:06.000 I mean, it is Tower of Babel stuff.

00:25:07.000 Like people build this.

00:25:08.000 Yeah.

00:25:09.000 It's the Trojan horse.

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00:25:22.000 Today, Marxism goes by different names to make itself seem less dangerous.

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00:25:46.000 That's Tucker, F-O-R, Hillsdale.com.

00:25:51.000 Tucker says it best.

00:25:53.000 The credit card companies are ripping Americans off and enough is enough.

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00:26:36.000 I'm asking you to call your senator today and demand they pass the Credit Card Competition Act.

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00:26:45.000 Not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee.

00:26:47.000 www.merchantspaymentscoalition.com.

00:26:54.000 Looking back on all you're talking off air about all the movies that you've done, what are the ones that you remember most vividly?

00:26:59.000 Well, The Right Stuff is my favorite.

00:27:01.000 Why?

00:27:02.000 Period.

00:27:03.000 Because it was when I grew up in Houston, I wanted, you know, John Glenn went up.

00:27:09.000 I was in the second grade that rolled the TV and everybody that replaced wanting to be a cowboy, everybody wanted to be an astronaut back then.

00:27:17.000 And so, you know, I grew up wanting to be.

00:27:21.000 And then along came the book and I read it like in two days and wanted to play Gordo Cooper because he was my favorite astronaut back then.

00:27:32.000 He was the youngest one.

00:27:33.000 He was like the rock and roll astronaut.

00:27:35.000 Yeah.

00:27:36.000 And then, couldn't believe it, I got the part.

00:27:38.000 And then it turned out Gordo Cooper lived three miles from me in L.A.

00:27:42.000 No way.

00:27:43.000 So I called him up and we became good friends and he turned me on to a flight school and I learned to fly.

00:27:52.000 I got my pilot's license from that and still flying, fly jets now, in fact.

00:27:58.000 But it was like the ultimate boyhood fantasy, that role.

00:28:05.000 And it took nine months to do it and Chuck Yeager, legendary Chuck Yeager, was on the set every day.

00:28:14.000 So it was, it was a great time.

00:28:17.000 It sounds unbelievable.

00:28:18.000 Yeah.

00:28:19.000 So you said, you were saying off camera that when you started, I think your first movie that you were in or around was 1975.

00:28:26.000 It, like how long did it take to make a movie then?

00:28:30.000 It was at least, at least three months, you know, to make a movie back then.

00:28:36.000 Because, because of the cameras, you know, you shoot one side of a scene and then you got what they call turn around and shoot the other person going the other way and seeing the background the other way.

00:28:46.000 And the lights and the cameras that we had at the time meant that it was at least, you know, a two to four hour turnaround.

00:28:54.000 So you just sit in your trailer, wait for that to happen.

00:28:57.000 Now all that happens like in 15 minutes.

00:29:00.000 And so movies just moves really quick.

00:29:04.000 But if you're on, if you're taking, you know, months out of your life to go to a location far from your home and you're in this like biosphere with the other actors.

00:29:13.000 Right.

00:29:14.000 I mean, that's like its own world.

00:29:15.000 Yeah, that's exactly.

00:29:18.000 And it, you know, it's, it's real time consuming.

00:29:22.000 That's the reason, I mean, now you see actors, you know, doing maybe like three, four movies a year because it doesn't take that long.

00:29:31.000 It's not that they're so picky.

00:29:33.000 You must get to know the other people on set pretty well.

00:29:36.000 Yeah, you do.

00:29:37.000 Yeah.

00:29:38.000 Yeah.

00:29:39.000 It becomes, you know, it becomes your world.

00:29:41.000 You're, you're, it's a gypsy life basically being an actor. 1.00

00:29:45.000 And, you know, still work a lot.

00:29:48.000 And, but it's been a lot more time at home now, which I like.

00:29:52.000 But I mean, for decades, you must have spent like no time at home.

00:29:55.000 Yeah.

00:29:56.000 But that's, that's your life.

00:29:58.000 Huh.

00:29:59.000 You know?

00:30:00.000 What's the most fun location?

00:30:01.000 It's better than working for a living.

00:30:02.000 Oh, I agree with that.

00:30:03.000 Let me put it that way.

00:30:04.000 Yeah.

00:30:05.000 Yeah.

00:30:06.000 What are the coolest locations to shoot a movie at?

00:30:07.000 Oh, it's, I've been everywhere.

00:30:08.000 I, I did one in Svalbard.

00:30:10.000 Uh, this was a, a television streaming series.

00:30:14.000 Svalbard is the, has the northernmost airport in the world.

00:30:19.000 It's up there.

00:30:20.000 Long Yardin.

00:30:21.000 It is where Admiral Perry is last stop before the North Pole.

00:30:25.000 It's above Greenland.

00:30:26.000 Wow.

00:30:27.000 It's 400 miles from the North Pole.

00:30:30.000 Like the North, the North Star, which if you're, you know, here in our, uh, where we

00:30:36.000 are in our latitudes, you know, it's about like right there, about 45 degrees there.

00:30:40.000 It was up here.

00:30:42.000 And we were inside the Arctic Circle, which means you, the, the Northern Lights, you, you

00:30:49.000 see a complete circle of it.

00:30:51.000 It was, it was like being on another planet.

00:30:53.000 So the earth is round.

00:30:54.000 You're confirmed.

00:30:55.000 The earth is completely round.

00:30:57.000 Okay.

00:30:58.000 So, but you know that.

00:30:59.000 Yeah.

00:31:00.000 Yeah.

00:31:01.000 Yeah.

00:31:02.000 Where were you staying there?

00:31:03.000 I can confirm that.

00:31:04.000 We had a great little hotel there.

00:31:06.000 It's kind of a tourist spot for people to come.

00:31:08.000 Uh, there were 1500 people there, uh, and 3000 polar bears, they like to say.

00:31:14.000 And, uh, it, uh, it was, if that's an interesting community actually, because it was started by,

00:31:21.000 uh, an American, uh, which is Goodyear, Goodyear tires.

00:31:25.000 Yeah.

00:31:26.000 It was, he, that guy went over there because they had a lot of coal there on, on that island.

00:31:33.000 And, uh, he, he started a coal mine and people from all over the world came, came there because

00:31:40.000 it was guaranteed work.

00:31:42.000 And that, uh, so it was extremely diverse within that.

00:31:49.000 And it still continues to be that today.

00:31:51.000 It's, it's, uh, it's, it's where a lot of people would come there to get like an, uh,

00:31:59.000 an EU passport.

00:32:01.000 So he had like, at the time that I was living there, uh, you, there were like 800 people

00:32:08.000 from Thailand there and you can only stay there like two years and you're not allowed to die

00:32:13.000 there.

00:32:14.000 Really?

00:32:15.000 Yeah.

00:32:16.000 You can't be buried there.

00:32:17.000 They're pretty strict.

00:32:18.000 There's no such thing as, yeah.

00:32:19.000 It's supposedly kind of owned by Norway, but it's also, uh, the same place where we had

00:32:25.000 our listening post observation post during the cold war.

00:32:29.000 If the ICBMs were coming over from Russia because they'd come over and then two miles 0.95

00:32:34.000 from where we had ours, the Russians had theirs. 0.99

00:32:38.000 And, uh, that little town is like a ghost town.

00:32:41.000 That's another little tourist spot there.

00:32:43.000 It's a fascinating place to go.

00:32:45.000 And no dying.

00:32:46.000 No dying allowed.

00:32:48.000 It's a death free zone.

00:32:49.000 Right.

00:32:56.000 So you brought a guitar.

00:32:58.000 Yeah.

00:32:59.000 Tell us about your interest in music.

00:33:01.000 I've been playing guitar.

00:33:02.000 Music was first for me, really, you know, from the time I was 12.

00:33:06.000 Uh, you, you can't act alone in your room.

00:33:09.000 I guess you can.

00:33:11.000 Many have tried.

00:33:12.000 I guess you can, but there's no one to act with.

00:33:14.000 Uh, acting is reacting for me.

00:33:17.000 But music is, you know, is a thing that your friend, uh, as a kid did that.

00:33:22.000 That was, I was kind of like music acting, music acting.

00:33:25.000 I, uh, I didn't know.

00:33:27.000 And, uh, it became acting.

00:33:30.000 But music has always been laced in there and I've always had a band.

00:33:34.000 And, uh, I knew I was never going to shred a guitar, but I, uh, so I took up songwriting

00:33:40.000 to go with that.

00:33:41.000 How hard is that?

00:33:42.000 Songwriting?

00:33:43.000 Uh, it's, it's not a question being hard.

00:33:45.000 I think if you ask any songwriter, it's, it's like an affliction.

00:33:49.000 It's something that you either have or you don't.

00:33:52.000 And you get an idea that's a song or whatever.

00:33:55.000 And you, it just, it's gonna bother you until you finish it.

00:34:00.000 Do you have some working their way out of you right now?

00:34:05.000 Yeah.

00:34:06.000 At this moment.

00:34:07.000 Can you play one?

00:34:10.000 It has nothing to do with EMPs.

00:34:12.000 No.

00:34:13.000 Oh my God.

00:34:14.000 I need a respect for that.

00:34:15.000 That was dark, man.

00:34:16.000 I will play a song.

00:34:17.000 I'll tell you what, I'll play you a song that I think probably applies to you, Tucker.

00:34:21.000 All right.

00:34:22.000 As well.

00:34:23.000 I wrote this because of, uh, Chris Christofferson, who's, who, uh, he and Kenya Tucker and Randy

00:34:30.000 Carlisle did a song of mine.

00:34:31.000 It's gonna be out.

00:34:32.000 Did you know Chris Christofferson?

00:34:33.000 Oh yeah.

00:34:34.000 He's a great guy.

00:34:35.000 Fantastic.

00:34:36.000 But his wife said that nobody calls Chris because they think he's such a legend.

00:34:41.000 Oh yeah.

00:34:42.000 He wouldn't take the call, you know?

00:34:44.000 So.

00:34:45.000 But does he want people to call?

00:34:47.000 He wants people to call.

00:34:49.000 So now in my act, when I get up to playing this song, I call his wife, Lisa.

00:34:54.000 And, and we, we all leave a message where the entire audience says, hello, Chris.

00:35:00.000 It's good.

00:35:01.000 But I, I found that myself, it's about me as well.

00:35:04.000 But I, cause when you get to after a certain age, after 60, people start giving you undue

00:35:09.000 respect for, for, for things.

00:35:12.000 I look forward to that.

00:35:13.000 By calling you.

00:35:14.000 Yeah.

00:35:15.000 By calling you legend, right?

00:35:16.000 Legend.

00:35:17.000 So I wrote this song for that.

00:35:18.000 Please don't call me legend.

00:35:19.000 My humble life's not through.

00:35:20.000 It's got a beginning, a middle, but there still ain't no end to what I might yet do.

00:35:24.000 I might just climb all the Himalayas, plant a flag on a planet or two.

00:35:31.000 But if you call me legend again, please wait until I'm in my tomb.

00:35:38.000 Oh, and please don't treat me special.

00:35:39.000 It makes me feel alone.

00:35:40.000 How can I be the simple person I've always been?

00:35:45.000 If you put me up on some throne.

00:35:46.000 I'm quite capable of making my own mistakes.

00:35:49.000 And I'm not afraid of failure.

00:35:50.000 And I'm not afraid of failure.

00:35:51.000 So if you call me.

00:35:52.000 If you call me.

00:35:53.000 If you call me.

00:35:54.000 If you call me.

00:35:55.000 If you call me.

00:35:56.000 I'm a legend again.

00:35:57.000 Please wait until I'm in my tomb.

00:35:58.000 Oh, and please don't treat me special.

00:36:00.000 It makes me feel alone.

00:36:03.000 How can I be the simple person I've always been?

00:36:07.000 If you put me up on some throne.

00:36:11.000 I'm quite capable of making my own mistakes.

00:36:15.000 And I'm not afraid of failure.

00:36:18.000 So if you call me legend again.

00:36:22.000 I might just have to see you later.

00:36:25.000 One more verse.

00:36:26.000 Please don't call me legend.

00:36:29.000 It makes me feel like I already died.

00:36:32.000 That's just a squat.

00:36:35.000 A third hand story about some has been.

00:36:39.000 And it's probably a lie.

00:36:42.000 So I'll just keep on keeping on trucking.

00:36:47.000 Year after year.

00:36:50.000 And if you call me legend again.

00:36:54.000 I might just have to box your ears. 0.99

00:36:57.000 You know I will.

00:36:58.000 I might just have to see you later.

00:37:00.000 Bye bye.

00:37:01.000 I might just have to see you later.

00:37:06.000 I might just have to see you later.

00:37:13.000 Excellent.

00:37:14.000 That was awesome.

00:37:16.000 You're welcome, Tucker.

00:37:19.000 I love that.

00:37:21.000 I love that kind of music.

00:37:23.000 Yeah.

00:37:24.000 How would you describe that?

00:37:25.000 That, I don't know, Americana, whatever.

00:37:27.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:37:28.000 Good old summertime, that one.

00:37:29.000 That's amazing.

00:37:30.000 Yeah.

00:37:31.000 When did you write that?

00:37:32.000 About two years ago.

00:37:33.000 Yeah.

00:37:34.000 In rage?

00:37:35.000 I mean there are threats of violence in the song.

00:37:39.000 I'm just saying.

00:37:40.000 That was after meeting Chris, that episode.

00:37:45.000 Kind of sparked that idea.

00:37:47.000 Who are your favorite musicians?

00:37:48.000 Who do you listen to?

00:37:49.000 Oh, he was definitely one of them.

00:37:51.000 Yeah.

00:37:52.000 Currently I'm going through the Frank Sinatra song book.

00:37:54.000 Really?

00:37:55.000 Yeah.

00:37:56.000 Because nobody could sing like Frank.

00:37:58.000 I mean, just as a musician, you know, the voice is an instrument and his phrasing.

00:38:03.000 Incredible.

00:38:04.000 You know, Jerry Lee Lewis was one of my piano teachers when I did The Great Balls of Fire.

00:38:11.000 You knew him?

00:38:12.000 Yeah.

00:38:13.000 The whole time we were doing the movie, he was right over my back going, you're getting

00:38:17.000 it wrong, son.

00:38:18.000 He was really quite an amazing human being in all kinds of ways.

00:38:25.000 He was an animal.

00:38:26.000 Yeah.

00:38:27.000 What was John Prine like?

00:38:29.000 John Prine, yeah, he was just a sweetheart of a person.

00:38:34.000 You know, really extremely talented.

00:38:36.000 Oh.

00:38:37.000 And such a, like a pure musician.

00:38:39.000 Yeah.

00:38:40.000 You know, it wasn't about the fame and fortune for him as much as it was about the music.

00:38:45.000 And as a songwriter, I mean, nobody could turn a phrase like him.

00:38:50.000 Kind of by himself in that category.

00:38:52.000 Yeah.

00:38:53.000 But he never really became a household name.

00:38:56.000 Yeah, but a lot of people know him.

00:38:59.000 And it's, you know, and his music will go on.

00:39:04.000 I mean, take somebody like Chris Christopherson, you know, I think that's really kind of the measure.

00:39:09.000 You know, I think a song like Bobby McGee.

00:39:11.000 Yeah.

00:39:12.000 They'll be singing 500 years from now.

00:39:13.000 100%.

00:39:14.000 You know.

00:39:15.000 But no one will, they, everyone thinks Janis Joplin wrote it.

00:39:18.000 Yeah.

00:39:19.000 But, it's okay.

00:39:21.000 She didn't.

00:39:22.000 Yeah.

00:39:23.000 I particularly like songs that sound like they were written by Anonymous.

00:39:26.000 You know, a lot of those, those American songs that are like written on the frontier.

00:39:32.000 Yeah, just as traditional on it.

00:39:34.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:39:35.000 Did you ever know Willie Nelson?

00:39:37.000 Yeah.

00:39:38.000 Yeah.

00:39:39.000 Yeah, I've played with Willie Nelson, in fact, on stage a couple of times.

00:39:43.000 What's he like?

00:39:44.000 He's a very generous man.

00:39:45.000 And I mean, gosh, what his contribution to music.

00:39:49.000 And he's still doing it, man.

00:39:51.000 He's still doing it just as great as ever.

00:39:54.000 Yeah, he's like 90 years old.

00:39:56.000 Yeah.

00:39:57.000 Unbelievable.

00:39:58.000 In the end, looking back on your life, are you more excited about making movies or playing music?

00:40:06.000 Living life.

00:40:07.000 Yeah.

00:40:08.000 That's, that's what it is for me.

00:40:09.000 You know, you know, it's like, I've been really, I, my autobiography is going to be called My Lucky Life.

00:40:16.000 Because I have really gotten a chance to do so many kinds of things that I never would have thought I could have done.

00:40:24.000 And at this point, you know, my movie career, which has been so fantastic, so fulfilling, really, I enjoy it so much more now, making movies, because I'm not trying to get anywhere.

00:40:39.000 I'm not trying to attain something.

00:40:41.000 I'm just doing the things that really interest me.

00:40:45.000 And, you know, that keeps the joy in, in life.

00:40:50.000 Of course.

00:40:51.000 You know.

00:40:52.000 Do you think that, you know, in 30 years, Hollywood will still be a creative force?

00:40:58.000 I don't know.

00:40:59.000 I really don't know.

00:41:00.000 It seems to be spreading out.

00:41:02.000 Yeah.

00:41:03.000 You know, we're trying to get a Hollywood started in Texas, actually.

00:41:05.000 We're trying to bring filmmaking there as an industry, not just as a destination.

00:41:11.000 Right.

00:41:12.000 For Hollywood, you know.

00:41:13.000 And, I mean, the way it is now, not so many movies are made in California anymore anyway.

00:41:19.000 Right.

00:41:20.000 And a lot of the ones that I see in the previews, they all look like the same movie.

00:41:26.000 Yeah.

00:41:27.000 You know, a few really sneak by there every once in a while.

00:41:31.000 Occasionally.

00:41:32.000 Yeah.

00:41:33.000 So, I just, I gotta ask, gotta end it with the question I ask everybody, but I'm just

00:41:38.000 interested, like, where do you see the country in a year?

00:41:40.000 In a year?

00:41:41.000 Yeah.

00:41:42.000 Well, I'm really, I'm really tense about next year.

00:41:46.000 Yeah.

00:41:47.000 The election year.

00:41:48.000 It seems that, you know, more than any other time, it's, everybody's gotta, like, pick a side.

00:41:55.000 Yeah.

00:41:56.000 And, uh, it's, it's both Democrats and the Republicans.

00:42:03.000 I'm an independent, by the way, and always have been.

00:42:05.000 Yeah.

00:42:06.000 I thought in both ways, you know, according to what the pendulum, I thought the country needed,

00:42:11.000 but both sides seem to think that, uh, our country is, is gonna be doomed.

00:42:16.000 It's, that, uh, democracy is gonna be over if, uh, one or the other wins.

00:42:23.000 Yes.

00:42:24.000 And so how do we get to that place where we can have that transition of power like we

00:42:31.000 did not so long ago where at least people could tolerate it without having to, you know,

00:42:39.000 uh, basically have a coup in one way or another.

00:42:42.000 Yes.

00:42:43.000 A military coup.

00:42:44.000 We really are, I'm afraid of us becoming like a banana republic like that. 1.00

00:42:49.000 And we're the United States of America.

00:42:51.000 We're Americans.

00:42:52.000 Yes.

00:42:53.000 Yeah.

00:42:54.000 And, um, I do, I do believe, I mean, things are a little bit more, they're scarier than the

00:43:03.000 word 68.

00:43:04.000 I mean, Kennedy, Kennedy, uh, Bobby Kennedy was shot.

00:43:08.000 Martin Luther King was shot.

00:43:10.000 All the riots, you know, cities were burning.

00:43:13.000 Uh, dead.

00:43:16.000 Uh, we knew who the, we knew who the leaders were back then, you know, but now it's, it's

00:43:21.000 just this kind of underground simmering rage, uh, on both sides.

00:43:26.000 And, uh, I, you know, setting aside who's right, who's wrong or whatever, I just think

00:43:37.000 we need to find ways to unite.

00:43:40.000 And America's always found a way to unite.

00:43:43.000 Uh, I mean, things, back when they were making the, uh, forming the constitution, uh, you

00:43:50.000 know, it, there was a guy, there was, who was it that came the other senator, in fact, in,

00:43:57.000 uh, in the chambers.

00:43:58.000 It was, it got really bitter.

00:44:01.000 It's, it was always about to fall apart.

00:44:03.000 Yeah.

00:44:04.000 It's fragile.

00:44:05.000 And Reagan is right.

00:44:06.000 You know, uh, our democracy is only, you know, can be lost in a generation.

00:44:14.000 It only takes a generation to lose it.

00:44:17.000 Yeah.

00:44:18.000 And, uh, I think we need to educate our kids.

00:44:21.000 What a great country this is.

00:44:23.000 And that we're in spite of our way.

00:44:26.000 We don't agree that we agree to that we're Americans.

00:44:34.000 And, uh, so God bless us.

00:44:38.000 And, uh, and, uh, uh, you know, uh, I just like to see cooler heads prevail.

00:44:44.000 Do you feel that there are cooler heads out there?

00:44:47.000 Yeah.

00:44:48.000 I think as individuals, we're, we can be, we have, in general, we have cooler heads.

00:44:55.000 You know, it's, I guess it's the mob that, that, whether it be on the right or the left

00:45:02.000 or somewhere else, you know, that, uh, it's, it gets confusing, you know.

00:45:09.000 Very.

00:45:10.000 It gets really confusing.

00:45:12.000 Well, I hope I see you in a year.

00:45:15.000 I think I will, Tucker.

00:45:17.000 I think so too.

00:45:18.000 That's good.

00:45:19.000 Either here or in Maine.

00:45:20.000 Here or in Maine.

00:45:21.000 Great to see you.

00:45:22.000 Thank you.

00:45:23.000 On that note.

00:45:24.000 Amen.

00:45:25.000 Thank you very much for having me.

The Tucker Carlson Show - January 13, 2024

Dennis Quaid

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