Tucker Carlson on Venezuela Operation: America Explicitly Becomes an Empire and What That Means for Free Speech

What happened a few days ago in Venezuela is not 

just a big surprise to people who are watching   it. It's not just a kind of exciting fallen 

foreign policy story. It is the effectively   announcement by the US government that our system 

is changing that we are now explicitly an empire.   We're an empire. So of course the argument has 

been made and uh probably there's some truth to   it. The United States has been an empire for 

a long time, for at least the last 80 years,   since 1945 when we emerged victorious from World 

War II, or maybe even 1918 when the British Empire   effectively ended. Maybe even 1898 when we 

got Puerto Rico, and then a few years later,   Cuba from the Spanish Empire. So, you could 

argue that the United States, like all big,   prosperous countries, inevitably became an empire. 

But the difference between the last 120 years and   earlier this week is that we never before admitted 

it. And now we are. So every time we've gone into   foreign countries in Latin America, but not just 

Latin America, really around the world, there has   been a pretext for that, usually about human 

rights or democracy. we're not going to put up   with this or that government treating its people 

this way and we have to go in to stop the tyranny   because we are a force for openness and freedom 

and there's been some truth in that of course but   behind that has been the calculation behind every 

big foreign policy move made by every big country.   How is this good for us? Whether it's propping 

up the dollar or getting access to resources,   there's always another reason that we're doing 

it. And people who are paying close attention know   that. Of course, one of the reasons that American 

troops have been clustered around the Middle East   for as long as they have been is not just the 

Israeli lobby. It's because there's an awful lot   of energy in the Middle East, oil and gas, and 

that's important to our country. So, of course,   we have a stake in making sure it can be extracted 

and moved around the world, obviously. But what   makes what happened in Venezuela? taking the head 

of state out of the presidential palace with Delta   Force and bringing him to New York and putting him 

on trial. What makes that so very different from   say I don't know pick one killing Mosedc in 1953 

in Iran or whatever is that the US government,   the president of the United States basically 

just said we're doing this because of the   resources. Venezuela has the largest proven oil 

reserve in the world. It's in our hemisphere.   It's going to China. And how about no, this 

is our hemisphere. It's going to go to us.   He just said it out loud. And there's something 

kind of thrilling about that. There's something   thrilling about the honesty there. There's no 

fakery. No, we're the US. We're not going to   put up with that. This is our interest and we're 

going to protect it. That's what the president   said. And for the first time in a long time, 

there was pretty strong support from the right,   from Trump voters for foreign policy adventurism. 

Keep in mind a lot of them voted for the president   on the basis of his pledge to not start new 

wars. Well, here is effectively a new conflict   and they're supporting it. Why? Because the 

president justified it in terms of our national   interest. This is good for us. We're not upholding 

international law. We're doing it because we want   the oil. And again, there's something bracing 

and refreshing about someone finally telling   the truth about why we're doing what we're doing. 

And the president absolutely told the truth and   that's great and you saw an uptick in national 

pride. Understandably the US military is actually   capable of more than DEI. We can do complicated 

things and that is something to be proud of. The   US government is finally acting in the interest 

of the United States or says it is and that's a   massive improvement over yet another lecture 

about a hollow theory. But there are pitfalls   potentially and it's worth also considering those 

because this is a new era. As has been noted,   the United States has moved into the imperial 

phase of empire leaving the republic shifting   to empire. And that's a pretty familiar life cycle 

for civilizations. And so we sort of roughly know   what will happen. The first thing that's going to 

happen is that the energy and the power will vest   in the executive and not the legislative branch. 

Congress will inevitably wither. It already is.   They were not consulted before we took out the 

president of Venezuela. They had no role in this   whatsoever. They have a constitutional authority 

here. That was ignored as it has been many times   in the past. When was the last time Congress did 

something of note? It's been a long time. And   that, if you take three steps back, is probably 

not surprising. That's the way these things go.   The power moves to the executive, to Caesar 

or the president or whatever you call him,   to the national leader and that trend will 

accelerate over time for certain, not decelerate.   And that has all kinds of implications. One of 

which is national elections are now everything.   It's always mattered who the president is. Now it 

matters more than ever because the president has   the ability to act unilaterally in the way 

we just saw. And that's a lesson that every   aspiring president will internalize. And so the 

next presidential election 2028 means much more   than any presidential election in our history 

because the power has expanded so dramatically   in the office and once expanded it never contracts 

voluntarily. So that's the first implication. The   second implication is that now that we're telling 

the truth about why nations do what they do,   a lot of the arguments that we have relied upon, 

in fact, that have been the basis of a lot of   our foreign policy positions are now moot. So once 

you say out loud, we're grabbing Venezuela because   we're annoyed they're selling what is our oil to 

the Chinese, our rival. Once you just say that   out loud, and again, it's good to be honest. But 

once you are honest, it's kind of hard to make the   case that, well, for example, Russia doesn't have 

an interest in what happens in eastern Ukraine.   It's hard to scold Putin for moving into Ukraine. 

Here's a great power threatened on its border, and   it takes action to protect itself. And we've been 

calling that an unprovoked invasion. The Biden   administration called that. The State Department 

still calls it that and our policy is based on   the idea that this is illegitimate and that's why 

we've been waging a proxy war against Russia for   four years. You can't really make that argument 

anymore. How is it wrong for a great power like   Russia to protect itself? Well, under the rules 

that we're now operating under, it's not wrong.   But you can't point to some abstract principle and 

say it's absolutely wrong. Why would it be wrong   for China to retake Taiwan? The US government 

already acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China.   We have a so-called one China policy. And yet 

simultaneously, we suggest we would defend Taiwan   against Chinese aggression. But wait a second. 

Taiwan is Honchinese. Same people, same language,   tons of cultural similarities. We want the 

microchips in Taiwan. We hope it doesn't happen   because it would give China greater leverage over 

the United States. But as a matter of principle,   can you really say it's wrong for China to reunify 

with Taiwan? No, you can't say that anymore.   All you can say is we will try to prevent it if we 

can, but we can't appeal to any higher authority.   Now, some will say that higher authority was 

made up. Well, it certainly was made up, but   that principle was the basis of the entire fabled 

post-war order. What was the post-war order? It   was based on one idea. It is wrong for bigger 

comp countries to swallow up smaller countries   just cuz they want to. That's why we declared war 

against Germany when they went into Poland. that   weirdly did not declare war against the Soviet 

Union when they did the same thing the same day.   But whatever, the point is big countries are not 

allowed to act in a predatory way towards smaller   countries because that's wrong. And there's 

always been, as noted, tons of fakery around that,   of course, tons of pretending and pretense. We're 

all wearing a veil to hide our true motives. But   that has still been the basis of the way countries 

deal with each other. And that is no longer the   case as of this week because the world's great 

superpower, oldest superpower, the United States,   just acted purely in its own interest and said 

so out loud. So where does it leave all these   international bodies? The UN most famously, 

but all of them, the World Health Organization,   how about NATO? Do they have any authority at all? 

Is there a reason to have them once we've stopped   pretending? probably not. They may not know that 

yet. And of course, they're all very well funded   and will live on into the future to some extent, 

but basically they're dead ben walking. They're   over. That's all over. We now live in a world 

where countries will act in their own interest   without apology to the extent they are capable of 

doing so through force or guile, through economic   power or military power or trickery. But nobody's 

going to have to pretend that we're doing this   because we're upholding the rights of man. So 

again, that's great. A lot of people are excited   about it. Not going to argue against it because 

it's already happened. This is done. This is the   new world that we live in for good or for bad. 

So it is a waste of time and breath to complain   about it. Far better, far more constructive to 

think through what does this mean going forward?   What implications does this have for us? And 

what are the potential traps in an arrangement   like this? One that we've never lived in before. 

And the first is very obvious, and that's getting   over your skis. That's getting stoned on hubris, 

which is always the pitfall for for any man really   in life, powerful or not. Convincing yourself 

that you have more power than you actually have,   is the most basic trap in life. That's how you 

wind up hurting yourself because you overextend.   And the problem with military success is it 

does inspire that. This is not true just of   the current president, but it's true of every 

president. And all of a sudden you can wind up   in much deeper waters than expected. And of course 

in our government there's an entire constellation   of foreign lobbies around any president telling 

him do this, do that on behalf of other countries   trying to leverage the enormous power of the 

United States for their own ends. And so you could   very easily imagine soon the US government doing 

what it did in Venezuela in other countries. And   maybe in some it will work, maybe in some it won't 

work, but there are a couple of them where if it   didn't work, you could get in very, very serious 

trouble. In fact, you could wind up a nuclear war.   So it's worth remembering that even a great power 

is limited in its powers. You can't do everything   and things can go wrong very quickly in ways that 

you don't anticipate. And that's why above all   an empire needs serious men to run it. It needs 

people who understand the stakes, who understand   the burden that they are carrying, which is the 

future of the world, certainly the future of their   own people, and who make wise decisions with the 

national interest ever present in mind. What you   don't want are flighty, emotionally incontinent, 

silly people on the payroll of foreign nations   making the decisions in an empire cuz that's how 

you get in trouble. People like just throwing this   out there say Lindsey Graham. Here he is in the 

aftermath of Venezuela. To the people of Iran,   we stand with you tonight. We stand for you 

taking back your country from the Ayatollah,   a religious Nazi who kills you and terrorizes the 

world. We pray for you. We support you. Donald   J. Trump is not Barack Obama. He has your back. 

And to the Ayatolloas, you need to understand if   you keep killing your people who are demanding a 

better life, Donald J. Trump is going to kill you.   Every time you see that guy, Every time you see 

that guy in TV, it really just reminds you of   like getting pulled over for DUI with your drunk 

girlfriend in the passenger seat, screaming at   the cop, "You can't do this. Take your hands 

off him. He's going to beat you up." Lindsey   Graham really is the drunk girlfriend. Picking 

fights you'll never have to participate in. Um,   we're going to kill you. Settle down, son. No. 

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new line of service. That is not helpful in   any way. And it's that exact attitude and that 

lack of seriousness that can get you in trouble.   Once you strip away all the pretense, all the 

appeals to national sovereignty and human rights   and international law, once again, you need 

serious, smart people making the decision.   You do not need harpies screaming about how my 

boyfriend's going to beat you up if you arrest   him. You don't need people like that. You don't 

need people like Ted Cruz, Laura Loomer, buffoons,   bloodthirsty buffoons hovering around 

trying to lure you into a new conflict.   You don't need people like a Mark Levvin who 

told the president that you should bomb Qatar.   Bomb Qatar. Why would you do that? Our strongest 

ally in the region. Let's bomb them. And to the   president's great credit, to Donald Trump's 

great credit, he has in the last several days   resisted a lot of that. And we know that by how 

they handled the exit of Maduro in Venezuela.   So, there are a lot of ways to do this. The 

neocons had their candidate ready to go.   They awarded her the Nobel Prize recently, 

the abortion lady, the gay marriage lady,   the Claus Schwab acolyte, who's going to move 

the embassy to Jerusalem or something. They   were all set to install this Lady Machado in 

the presidency in Venezuela, and Donald Trump   shut it down. In fact, he mocked her at his first 

press conference announcing the capture of Maduro.   That is a good sign. That is the best possible 

sign that someone has thought this through in   a very serious way. And I have to say it looks 

like Marco Rubio and JD Vance played a huge role   in that. And a lot of people mock Marco Rubio 

for being a neocon, which he may or may not be.   But my impression was that his influence on 

this operation uh was was real and that his   preference was not to install the Nobel Prize 

lady um but instead to continue continuity of   government. So what does that mean? Well, it's 

an imperfect solution. It means taking Maduro's   number two and letting her continue to run the 

country. Now, why would you do that if you were   operating under the previous framework, which was 

basically an emotional framework? Well, we need to   bring human rights to Venezuela. We can't depose 

the dictator and put him on trial in New York and   then put his number two in charge of the country. 

That'd be bad. We need to kill Saddam and then   disband the Iraqi army. So, someone has learned 

a lesson from that. And let's hope no one ever   forgets the lesson, which is that tyranny is bad, 

chaos is worse. And Donald Trump clearly learned   that lesson because he arrived at an imperfect 

but wise solution. Let's keep people in charge   who can actually keep the country together. Now, 

we'll see if Deli Rodriguez can actually do that.   We don't know yet, but it's the intent of the 

administration to do that, to not turn Venezuela   into a Libya or an Iraq in our hemisphere with the 

ensuing migrant crisis and just the disaster, the   complete loss of the oil fields, the insurgency, 

the civil war, massive death toll. I mean,   just the pure disaster that US foreign policy 

has created again and again and again with regime   change. that is not necessarily going to happen in 

Venezuela and that's a massive improvement and we   should be grateful for that. Whatever whatever you 

think of grabbing Maduro, that is a really good   thing and a really good sign because it suggests 

that the administration understands that resource   extraction, national interest is a huge part of 

running an empire, but it's not the only part. The   main part is stability. That's the most important 

part. From stability flows prosperity and every   other good thing, decency. Nothing good can grow 

in chaos. And they seem to understand at the   height of the Roman Empire, the most famous empire 

in history, there were very few wars. It was   called Pox Romana, the Roman peace. The empire was 

powerful enough to establish peace, to establish   order and tranquility. And you know almost 2,000 

years later we're still talking about it because   it was a rare and beautiful thing. So ultimately 

an empire exists. Its first job is to preserve   stability in the world or the portion of the world 

over which it rules. And the Trump administration   seems to understand that and seems to be moving 

in that direction. And if so that's a huge win. So   get rid of the dumb shrill harpies. Don't let them 

have any influence. We can't bomb Qatar. We're   not going to threaten to murder the Ayatollah on 

Fox News. That's not how an empire behaves. We're   going to make calculated, wise decisions about 

what's good for us and what's good for the part   of the world that we rule over. The second thing 

you do once you announce that you're an empire   is think through where this is going to go in the 

next several years. Like what does the world look   like 5 10 years from now? Well, today about an 

hour and a half ago, the president announced that   he is hiking the Pentagon budget from 1 trillion 

to 1.5 trillion. Just announced that. Why? Well,   it's hard to know without asking him. He'll 

explain, but big picture, obviously, that's the   kind of budget that a country that anticipates 

a global or regional war has for its military.   There's no other reason to do that. That's 

not a peacekeeping budget. It's a war budget,   a big war budget. So, I think it's fair to expect 

and all the signs suggest that we're going to have   a big war soon. A big war soon. I think everyone 

expects that to happen. Hope it doesn't happen,   but obviously we're moving in that direction 

toward a world war. Sorry. So, how do you position   yourself for that? Well, you look at a map and you 

ask the most basic questions. What areas do I want   to control? Where are the trade routes? Who's got 

the resources? Who do I share a language with? Who   do I share a common history with? Who do I share a 

civilization with? And you proceed on that basis.   And you try and shore up your team, the allies, 

against the other team, the Axis or whatever.   But you think soberly about how the world is going 

to cleave once this begins. And if you were to do   that for about, I don't know, 25 or 30 seconds, 

you would arrive at the most obvious conclusion   of all, which is the United States has to have 

a relationship with Russia in order to survive   anything like that. And the reason is really 

simple. Scale and resources. Russia is the largest   country in the world. It has the most resources 

in the world. That means energy, oil, and gas. It   means all kinds of minerals. It means gold. And 

in a world where the US dollar is probably not   going to be as powerful as it once was, it already 

declining uh in value. Massive incentive for other   countries to get off the dollar to trade in energy 

in other currencies. You need to think about gold   and people are thinking about gold. And by the 

way, if you are wondering whether volatility is   coming up, look at silver prices. Look at gold 

prices over the last year. Investors understand   this is a new time. You need to be aligned with 

Russia. And the number one thing you can't do,   Donald Trump has said this many times over the 

years, is allow Russia and China to become a   block because if you do, then you are facing off 

against the majority of the world's population,   the biggest population block in the world, 

the biggest land mass in the world, and the   biggest economy in the world if you combine those 

two. So you can't do that. And it's pretty clear   that the last administration intentionally 

drove Russia into an alliance with China,   which they now have. Just to be really clear, 

just to bottom line it, if Donald Trump wants   to commit one act as president that will secure 

him a place in history forever as a hero, it would   be to bring Russia back into alliance with the 

United States. Oh, Russia's bad, right? kind of   hard to say that after Venezuela and it's tiresome 

anyway. No, Russia is not bad or good. Russia is   essential to the United States. We cannot survive 

a global conflict if Russia and China are aligned   against us. Period. And it couldn't be more simple 

and it shouldn't be very hard at this point to   make that deal. There is no reason to pay any 

attention to the unelected leader of Ukraine. Now,   the obstacle in the way is not geostrategic. 

There is no argument for continuing a proxy war,   which is what it is. United States versus Russia. 

We've been at war for four years. All of us are   pretending we're not. we are. There's no reason to 

continue that on the basis of America's national   interest. That is not in our interest and it never 

has been in our interest. And by the way, Russia   is a Christian country, a remarkable country, a 

very serious country that we have a lot in common   with whether you like it or not. Oh, he's bad. 

Okay, stop. We need Russia. And the only reason   we are not in alliance with Russia is because the 

foreign policy establishment in the United States,   the weapons manufacturers, and particularly the 

neocons believe that they somehow own Russia or   want to retake Russia or something. And Putin 

is in the way. He kicked out the oligarchs.   That was gravely offensive to the American finance 

establishment and to the American foreign policy   establishment and acted on his own country's 

behalf. Whatever. None of that even matters at   this point. Ignore these people. He has to be our 

enemy. No, if Putin is our enemy, if Russia is our   enemy, we cannot survive a global conflict. Sorry. 

And if you think we can tell us how, with the help   of NATO, which by the way is now done, NATO is 

done. Once the United States takes Greenland,   which is owned by a fellow NATO member, what 

will be the rationale for keeping NATO? The whole   illusion has shattered in the past 4 days. None 

of this is real. and now everyone admits it's not   real. So, it's time to start thinking about the 

next step. The third thing to remember is that a   functioning empire benefits from the empire. Rome 

at its height was a gleaming, clean, prosperous   city. Rome benefited in the end, of course, it 

was destroyed by its empire. It was invaded by   the people it had subdued and that is ultimately 

the fate of all empires, all of them. London is   filled with former colonial subjects. That's what 

that is. And that will happen to every empire. But   in the meantime, the point is to help the seat 

of empire. And so if you can't fix Baltimore,   you don't really have a shot of making Caracus 

functional. And so as you administer this empire,   you need to remember the point of this is your own 

country. Making your own country more prosperous,   but also stable and cleaner and better for its 

own citizens. It can't just be, oh, Paul Singer   gets rich, therefore it's a good thing. No, 

no, no. All Americans, not just Paul Singer,   have to benefit from this. And they can, 

and they absolutely can. And the president,   to his great credit, has made a huge effort 

to clean up American cities. Washington DC,   for example. People mocked him for sending the 

National Guard in. Washington is safer. It's   just a fact. He did that. The last guy didn't do 

that. Trump did that. Keep doing that. Remember,   an empire should be impressive. Not just its 

satellites or its colonies, but the but the mother   country should be impressive. And ours can be. It 

is inherently, but the point of this is to help   us. And the last thing to remember about being 

an empire is that it can corrupt you. And this   is the fate ultimately of all empires. They are 

corrupted by the imperial project. And they become   coarser. As Rome grew, as its territory grew, so 

do the number of people dying in Circus Maximus.   So that does happen over time, but fight 

back against it. You want to retain the   fundamental decency of your country even as you 

expand, as you take Greenland, take Venezuela,   wherever else we're going, you need to remember 

we are decent people and we're going to continue   to live as though we are with dignity. you are not 

going to become hardened by the violence that you   sometimes commit on other populations. And that 

is really difficult to maintain. And you see this   even in Washington. You saw this in fact 5 years 

ago yesterday when Ashley Babbot was shot in the   chest for doing nothing. An unarmed woman, an 

Air Force veteran, murdered by James Bird in the   Capitol building. And nothing happened. And the 

reason nothing happened, the reason the guy who   shot Ashley Babbot, who'd already been disciplined 

for leading a loaded handgun in the men's room,   so he had a documented record of recklessness, 

there was no reason to kill her. She posed no   conceivable threat to him. But the reason 

that nothing ever happened is because there   were almost no members of Congress who thought 

it was a big deal. Now, why is that? Why would   members of Congress, 535 members of Congress, 

why would are they uniquely hard-hearted? Well,   they are actually. And why is that? Because they 

spend a huge portion of their day every single day   talking and thinking about killing people in other 

countries. And if you watch enough snuff videos of   the US military taking out this or that bad guy, 

after a while it ins you. After a while, it's   not such a big deal to kill somebody. And you can 

make a case for that if there are foreigners who   threaten you. You can never make a case for the 

US government casually killing Americans. All of   us should be offended by that every single time. 

And we should push back against it. Hey, whoa,   whoa, whoa. I'm not a Houthy. Don't treat me like 

one. I'm not a Venezuelan. Stop. Americans have   to remember that the point of this exercise is to 

secure the homeland and everything good about it.   And one of the very best things about the United 

States is the regard that Americans have for human   life and for dogs. There's a sweetness and a 

sentimentality to Americans that would be sad   as hell if we lost. Don't allow the killing that 

takes place overseas to make you think it's okay   for the US government to treat you that way. But 

they naturally do. And it's one of the reasons,   and I hate even to say this, but I've just noticed 

it from living around it for so long, that some   of the most authoritarian members of Congress, 

almost all of them actually, are career military   officers, not enlisted, they're all officers, but 

they're career officers who spend an awful lot of   time thinking about how to kill America's enemies 

or rivals. Not even attacking that. That was their   job. But that attitude seamlessly transfers to 

American citizens. And our government is never   allowed to have that attitude toward us. Again, 

we're not Houthis. We have rights because we're   citizens. You serve at our pleasure. We own this 

government. You may say you own Venezuela. Okay?   You don't own me. I own you because I'm 

the citizen and you're the servant. That   posture is essential and very hard to keep up 

during the empire phase of civilization. Very,   very hard because again, there are a lot fewer 

meaningful democratic structures in an empire.   Nobody cares about the Congress anymore. It's all 

about the president. And that's great when you   have a great president and hopefully we always 

will because once again so much power has been   vested in that office that at this point you kind 

of can't let AOC have it because you can't let any   irresponsible person who like hates whites or 

believes in transgenderism or wants to destroy   America. People like that cannot be president, 

period, anymore because there's so much power now   in the presidency that they could do the kind of 

damage you don't even want to think about. But you   have to push back against an imperial government 

treating you like a subject. And there is no issue   on which this is clearer than free speech, which 

once again is the basis of our country. It's not   just some line in the Bill of Rights. It's the 

whole reason the United States is exceptional.   And that's clearer than it's ever been because the 

country that gave us the concept of free speech,   Great Britain, puts thousands of people in jail 

every single year for thought crimes. And so it's   not like this is a distant they only do it in 

China or North Korea kind of problem. This is   happening in the country that gave birth to us, 

Great Britain. It could very easily happen here.   And the only way that it won't is if American 

citizens draw a line in the sand and say,   "You will have a revolt if you take away my 

right to say what I think." Period. You will   have a revolt on your hands. And they should 

because that is the only remaining power for   most American citizens. They don't have economic 

power. Of course, the power of labor is basically   gone. AI will erode it still further. We're 

going to go on strike. Who cares? You're being   replaced by machines. Shut up. They don't have 

economic power. Does voting matter? You know,   we can debate that. Most people kind of doubt that 

it does. So, what power do you have left? What's   the equalizer here? There's the guy in charge. 

There's you, the subject. What makes you both   human? Only one thing. That's your inaliable, 

God-given right to say what you really think.   No matter how kooky your opinion is, no matter 

how offensive it may be to the people in charge,   you have an absolute right. inaliable mean 

it can't be taken from you because it wasn't   granted to you by any temporal authority. you 

have that. If you give that up, you are a slave.   And not surprisingly at all, given the way these 

things roll, given this new era that we're in,   all of a sudden you are hearing calls, not just 

from the left, not even primarily from the left,   to end the freedom of speech in the United States. 

And this is the red line. Here's one example.   This, I think, was on CNBC New Year's Day. Watch 

this. I know it's difficult to hear, but it's time   to limit the first amendment in order to protect 

it and quickly before it's too late. What do you   mean? I mean that uh we need to uh control the 

platforms uh all the social platforms. We need   to stack rank the h authenticity of every person 

that h expresses themselves online and take uh   control over what they are saying based on that 

ranking. The government should social media. Yeah. So, here's a foreigner coming to our country and 

saying with a straight face, "You need to get rid   of the First Amendment because people are using it 

to criticize my country." Sitting on a TV set in   New York City lecturing a country that's not his 

own about how they're not allowed to criticize him   and the government should punish them for doing 

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Cheeky doesn't begin to describe it, but he is   a foreigner, right? So, okay, you could say, well, 

he just doesn't know what the rules are. He's   obviously got a lot of brass to say something like 

that. A lot of hutzbah to say something like that,   but who cares? I mean, yes, he's a billionaire. 

There are a lot of Israeli billionaires who've   been calling in an Israeli prime minister 

for censorship in the United States and   it's offensive and we should obviously stop giving 

them any money. We shouldn't be paying for that.   But they're still not Americans. Oh, but there are 

Americans saying that. Here's one actually happens   a career US military officer called Jay Collins. 

This man is the lieutenant governor of Florida,   which is the most conservative state 

in the union. If you ask Jay Collins,   "What are your politics?" You say, "Oh, of course 

I'm straight MAGA Republican. I'm a conservative.   I share your values." This is real. We check. This 

is not AI. Watch. Here's Jay Collins of Florida.   And here's a critical thing. You have a right to 

free speech, but you don't have the right to harm   other people with your words. And you don't have 

the right to say things that have really negative,   really horrible meanings. When you want 

people to destroy Israel, that matters.   Oh, you don't have the right to say things that 

people in charge don't like. You don't. That's the   whole point. If you don't have that right, you are 

a slave and Jay Collins is your master. Notice,   by the way, he didn't say you can't attack 

America. That's totally fine. Jay Collins,   military officer. No, no, you can't attack 

Israel. You can't call for the destruction of   Israel. Well, of course you can call for the 

destruction of any foreign country you want.   It's a staple on Fox News. Lindsey Graham does it 

every single day. You just can't you can't call   for destruction of Israel. And that's a crime. 

Of course, it's not a crime. It may be an ugly   opinion. It may be an unsustainable argument. 

You may be an idiot. You have a god-given right   to that opinion and a god-given right to express 

it. And this is the only country on planet Earth   where you still can. And again, if they try and 

take that away, you need to have an insurrection   against the government because you're done at that 

point. An insurrection against the government if   they try and take away your right to say what you 

think, your right to your own conscience. Period.   That that has to be it right there. It's fine 

to attack America, but you can attack Israel.   This is by the way part of the problem with 

administering an empire is that a lot of people   and Jay Collins clearly one of them might 

be good people might be right about a lot   of different things but they come to identify so 

strongly with foreign countries that they forget   about their own. This was a huge problem during 

the British Empire. There were tons of colonial   military officers and administrators who spent 

their careers in India and kind of cared a lot   more about what happened on the subcontinent. they 

cared about in England because that's where they   spent their lives. Those are the problems they 

they spent their career solving. So they went up   identifying with foreign countries more than their 

own. This is absolutely a feature of empire. Hard   to fight against but it's essential that we do 

fight against it. No, what matters is the United   States. That's who's paying for this. That's who's 

in whose name these actions are being conducted.   The only justification for any of this is to serve 

American citizens. Not the citizens of Israel or   Sri Lanka or any other place, Venezuela, but 

America. So, you'd think this would all be very   very obvious, but somehow, and actually called 

around on this and was told, "Oh, it's not a   real position." But there is a there's a current 

administration official like an actual official   in the executive branch right now who's making 

this case that Americans actually don't have oh   they have a first amendment but it turns out that 

actually you can't say anything I don't like or   else you go to jail. This guy's name is Rabbi. I 

don't think he actually has a congregation. He's   I don't know if he's I don't know what it means 

to be a rabbi. I don't think he actually runs a   congregation. Yehuda Kaplon actually met him. 

Seems like a nice guy. But here are his views.   And you should keep in mind that the views you're 

about to hear are much much more common than   you may realize. Here he is. The amount of hate 

speech that we've seen during this time, I mean,   it's it's off the charts. You look through social 

media, you see it even on uh television, the the   lines, they're not even blurred anymore. They're 

gone. How do you even begin to to tackle such a   a phenomenon? Well, I think we have to have an 

understanding that first of all, in this country,   we believe very strongly in free speech. It's the 

basis in our constitution and we also believe in   the freedom of religion. You have to balance 

that. But you balance that in two ways. Europe   has paid speech laws, probably some of the best on 

the books, but it's selectively enforced. So, if   you selectively enforce the rule, it's not going 

to have any effect whatsoever. And you can see   how it's had no effect in Europe in monitoring and 

stopping the hate. So this guy is something called   the anti-semitisms are. It's an office set up 

by George W. Bush like most insane unjustifiable   things. Anti-semitisms are at the State Department 

focused on one specific kind of ethnic hate,   not protecting all Americans. There is no like 

stop anti-white hate zar of course and there never   will be because the same people who are upset 

about hate are promoting that kind of hate. But   whatever it's one specific group protected somehow 

by the United States state department. But this is   a guy who actually has a job in the administration 

saying it's great. European hate crimes laws are   great. Well, first of all, every single one of 

them is immoral. And two, they're all contrary to   the first amendment. You couldn't have laws like 

that here. And three, when you actually look at   those laws that Rabbi Yehuda Kaplon is saying are 

so great, they're used to suppress Christianity.   That's what they actually are, of course. And 

creativity and freedom of thought and individual   conscience and the humanity of the populations of 

European countries, all suppressed by this. But   Christianity is always number one. So in Finland, 

for example, one of the lead opposition political   leaders is now on trial. Why? Why is she on trial? 

Because she tweeted a quote from Romans, the   epistle to the Romans by St. Paul. You may have 

heard of it. It's a significant book in the New   Testament. And in it, he describes basic Christian 

sexual ethics. You know, like one man, one woman   against other forms of sexual expression. 

That's Christianity. And that was deemed a   hate crime under the law, under those European 

hate crimes laws, hate speech laws that Rabbi   Yehuda Kaplon is saying we should emulate, but 

maybe enforce a little tougher, more selectively. This is what will destroy the country and 

divide the country and make people hate each   other. Whenever the US government protects 

one group and allows others to be attacked,   whenever the US government promotes one group 

and suppresses another group, it's primopacia   unfair. But it's also the most divisive thing you 

could ever do to any country. If you treated your   children differently, they wouldn't hate you. 

They'd hate each other. And every parent knows   that. So all of this stuff is corrosive to 

the United States at exactly the moment when   national cohesion is going to be essential because 

there is a rocky road ahead. That's very obvious.   And here you have an administration official 

calling for hate crimes laws. So the answer   has to be no. And it has to be no now more 

than ever because once again we're entering   into a brand new phase with new rules and all of 

us are going to have to adapt to those rules. We   may support them. We may not support them. But 

that's what we're doing. But in the process,   we cannot give up what it means to be American 

on the most basic level. You don't need to be an   economist to see what's happening. The dollar 

is in trouble. It's getting weaker. It's sad,   but we're not in charge of it. So, we have to 

respond appropriately in ways to protect our   families. When paper money dies, it's going to 

be replaced by programmable digital currency or   gold. Gold survives. The same Americans who think 

they're protecting themselves with gold are the   ones getting ripped off by big gold dealers. After 

we left corporate media, we got offered tens of   millions of dollars to promote gold companies. 

How do they get the money to spend that much on   marketing? Cuz they're scamming their customers. 

We didn't want anything to do with that. So,   we sought an honest broker and together we formed 

a precious metals company that you can actually   trust. It's called Battalion Metals. At battalion 

metals.com, we publish actual spot prices.   We're totally transparent about the vig what 

we take and we treat everyone with honesty.   So if you've been watching what's happening, 

you know it's not just about money. It's about   sovereignty and holding something that endures 

and cannot be manipulated or taken from you. So   if you've been waiting for the right time to 

act, this is it. Visit battalion metals.com. Someone who has watched this more carefully 

than almost anyone I know and whose instincts   are admirable and wise uh is Megan Kelly. And so I 

want to bring her in now to get her sense of what   exactly Venezuela means. Megan, thanks so much for 

doing this. I have a million questions for you,   but first I you you said right after Maduro got 

grabbed that you weren't exactly sure, you were   skeptical. What are your views of it now? Yeah, 

still skeptical. Um I said I'm not on a green   light posture on this. I'm not on a red light. 

I'm on a yellow. And uh I don't I don't love it.   I got to be honest. I first of all would prefer we 

use our military defensively and not offensively,   which may be anacronistic, but I'm not really 

in the mindset at all, especially now with three   kids who are two out of three in their teens, 

of being super bellose in our language or our   approach to the world. And I I don't really 

see this as necessary. I don't see this one as   necessary. I understand what Trump is saying is 

the reason, and I too appreciate the honesty. I   actually appreciate that we're not cloaking it in 

democracy like we wanted the oil. He he was really   explicit and we didn't want them playing footsie 

with China and Iran and Cuba. U okay so at least   he's being honest about it. But I worry very much 

about unintended consequences and you know I I   realize it's not Libya, it's Venezuela, but okay, 

couple things happened in Libya. First of all,   when we killed their leader, it's been chaos 

ever since. And I see the same sort of power   vacuum there potentially, even with this vice 

president left in place that happened in Libya. I   don't think we actually are going to run Venezuela 

Venezuela because we don't want to and we don't   want to have a long-term presence there. So, I do 

wonder what the power vacuum will be. I'm not so   sure this vice president is going to be able to 

rule there with the same iron fist as Maduro. I   don't know what's going to happen. Um, but I also 

think about what happened in Libya. Tucker, when   we were even younger, um, and that's when you and 

I were in college and for the years prior to that,   Libya was doing some bad things in the world. They 

were they bombed the nightclub in Berlin and some   Americans got killed and Reagan then bombed them 

and we were sort of ratcheting up. It wasn't an   outright war with Libya, but we were escalating 

tensions here and there with them. And the next   thing we knew, we just sort of thought we had 

settled the matter because we are the big bad   United States and once we sort of bomb you, you're 

supposed to go away and realize it's going to get   worse for you. But what Libya actually did was 

they planted a bomb on Panm 103 and brought down   that flight over Lockerby, Scotland, killing 259 

people, most of whom were American, including 35   students from Syracuse University, where I was 

going to school as a freshman. And every year   I was there for four years, we had the memorial 

honoring those 35 18 and 19 year olds who had been   studying abroad in London and had been killed over 

Scotland on their way home from their study abroad   program because of this these little sort of power 

battles that had happened that weren't supposed to   mean anything. We're supposed to be just sort 

of asserting our power and teaching somebody a   lesson. Did anybody anticipate that? I don't think 

so. Okay. You know, Venezuela is not Libya. It's   not full of a bunch of Middle Eastern potential 

terrorists, but it's not it's not great. Like,   they've got a bunch of gangs down there who have 

zero problem killing Americans. Let's check in   with Trenda Aragua. Let's check in with um Lake 

and Riley's family to find out whether they have   any empathy for Americans. Doesn't seem so. 

And I don't know what faction of that group   we're ticking off right now with our behavior 

and going in there and saying, "The oil's now   ours. We're going to sell it." you know, we'll 

give you a piece of it, but we're taking it. So,   I really do worry about unintended consequences, 

and I object to empire. I I much prefer the way we   started with the original George Washington. Let's 

avoid foreign entanglements. Let's not cozy up too   much to any one country. Let's enjoy the beautiful 

blessing of the two huge oceans on either side. I   don't want to have to take care of Venezuela. I 

really don't. I'm not particularly worried about   them cozying up too much to China and Russia, 

neither of whom are in a position right now   to attack us. Uh, and don't I don't think they 

have a reason to attack us at the moment. So,   I I don't like it. I still support Trump 

obviously, but I don't think this is something   he ran on at all. I think he actually ran on the 

opposite promise that we weren't going to be doing   this stuff. I don't think anybody who voted 

for him was thinking about this when we voted   for him. Everyone's rooting for him. everyone 

who's sane and, you know, independent-minded. Um,   but this is a massive distraction from where his 

attentions should be in my view, which as you   point out are rightly Baltimore and other cities 

that are genuinely suffering. And I think if we   roll into these midterms, you know, he gave a 

big speech before the Republicans in Congress   yesterday about we need to win the midterms. If we 

roll into these midterms and we have a year almost   of Trump focusing on running Venezuela as the 

so-called affordability message is ubiquitous in   the left string press every day. It's not going to 

help. He's going to lose control of the House. I   don't think the Republicans will lose the Senate, 

but we're going to have non-stop two years of   investigations. And look, Trump hasn't been doing 

a great job of getting his agenda pushed through   as legislation the first year because, as it turns 

out, you really do need 60 senators now in order   to act enact legislation unless you get rid of 

the filibuster. Um, so think how we'll do when   Republicans don't even control the House. We will 

have absolutely no laws passed, which Tucker will   only feed into what you're talking about, which 

is this idea of empire and the executive branch   growing bigger and bigger. He's already rendered 

Congress almost irrelevant. They'll become even   more so with the Democrats in control of the House 

because all they're going to be doing is snipping   at his heels trying to investigate everything he 

does, but they won't even be relevant in terms of   potentially passing legislation because it'll be 

an absolute no-brainer. Nothing will happen. The   executive branch will grow. And okay, maybe I can 

get, you know, comfortable with Empire if I must   if we're thinking about a JD Vance. But we we are 

not going to have a Republican in the White House   forever. Never mind the right Republican in the 

ha in the White House forever. We are going to   wind up with a Gavin Nuome one of these days or 

an AOC and then what? And by the way, even if   we move on from Trump or a JD type, you know, 

president just and stick with like Republican,   who's going to run the empire? Like what if we 

wind up with a Mitt Romney? What do what do we do   with Venezuela then? What if the collapse happens 

then because we no longer have a strong hand at on   the tiller the way we might with Trump here? What 

chaos will ensue? We just I don't think we have an   accurate feel for what we've unleashed and I again 

I think it was unnecessary. I I think you make a   strong case. Um I've I've thought all of that. I 

don't think I articulated it quite as well as you   just did. And of course I'm I'm totally opposed to 

Empire 2. kind of for an agrarian society with no   electricity is, you know, small communities. I'm 

serious. I mean it. But we're not in charge. And   so this is a new system. Clearly, we're moving 

toward it. At some point, this president or some   president is going to start ignoring the courts, 

too. And you're going to have just total power   in the executive. And there's a lot of evidence 

that the emerging America demographically wants   that. I mean, that's the case in most countries, 

and it will be the case here probably. I'm not   endorsing that at all. I'm just sort of looking 

ahead generally generationally and we're going   to get we're going to get something like that. So 

given that I I feel like you need to make smart   decision, wise decisions with the future in mind 

always, especially now and there all these ghouls   who've somehow attached themselves like barnacles 

to the executive branch like Mark Leavvin and   Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz screeching about 

how okay that was a great success 4 days ago.   Now we need to roll into Tyrron. Do you think that 

will happen? Oh yeah. I mean it's like you watch   Lindsey Graham. It's like he's got the taste of 

blood in his mouth and he's excited. I mean he's   practically frothing. It was disturbing. And 

you know this is who for right now Trump is   surrounding himself with. You know you had Lindsey 

Graham on Air Force One with him. You had Levin at   the White House with his arm around Trump almost 

trying to like manhandle him like sort of assert   power over Trump like kind of pulling him in. 

And you know Trump doesn't like that. Even when   you shake hands with Trump he makes sure he's in 

command and he's in the dominant position. But   Mark Leavvin goes in there and almost tries 

to emasculate him like with the arm around   like this is my guy which is exactly the wrong 

messaging to allow and to send in Levin's case.   So it is disturbing like how close not just the 

neocon I think there there are some normal neocons   like I would consider probably you know Britt 

Hume is probably neoconie some of my pals over at   national review are neo but they're not frothing 

at the mouth crazy for blood neocons that's right   I mean what what's it Lindsey Graham stands for 

is deeply disturbing to me and that stuff about   the ayatollah like you know our president is going 

to come kill you would you just stop like you said   just hey as far as I know Lindsey Graham doesn't 

have teenaged children who are going to have to   go fight his war he now wants against Iran. But 

I do and you have kids in their 20s and some of   us actually have a real stake in making sure that 

does not happen. We do not want that. It's again   unnecessary. So it it's really kind of getting 

crazy. And I also think you're right about the   alarming increase in military budget. What is the 

reason for that? Trump's speaking in a disturbing   way about Greenland. Um, my hope is that all the 

talk about Greenland, because even yesterday,   Caroline Levit was saying military options are 

still on the table if that's what the president   wants explicitly about Greenland, um, that he's 

just asking for a 10 where he intends to settle   for a six, which is I'm going to scare you so 

that you actually will cut a better deal with   me on your raw earth minerals and give me more 

access to your country if I need it for those   andor military purposes. But obviously we can't 

go around invading Greenland. We can't go around   invading any countries. We can't go invade Cuba. 

He mentioned them. We can't go invade Iran. We   we cannot go invade Colombia or just kick the 

guy's ass as Trump is saying and not expect any   negative consequences to us. Like we are actually 

are rebuilding the economy. Trump is rolling back   regulations. He's allowing modern business to 

thrive. The tariffs, I think, have not worked   out too poorly and I think have a very good shot 

of working out even better. Interest rates are   coming down. Inflation is coming down. Why can't 

we just roll that agenda into a stronger economy   than ever come midterms and maybe possibly win 

more seats in the House such that Trump and may,   you know, God even knows convince some senators 

to vote Republican uh when a vote comes up and   actually enact an agenda that could stick and that 

could be popular and stop worrying about being   policemen of the world, worrying about the bad. Of 

course, there are bad guys. We know there are bad   guys in Cuba. We know the guy who runs Colombia 

is not great. We know Maduro wasn't great. Iran.   Obviously, we're not big fans of the Ayatollah and 

vice versa. We're not the policemen of the world.   It was never intended to be this way. And look, 

if that's what we're going to use the 1.5 trillion   uh for, that's alarming, too. Even if it's not 

world war, if it's just that we can be the world   cop or the world invader or like sort of the 

badass with swagger with the amazing military   and now we want to use it, that that's going 

to cause a host of unintended consequences   that Trump's never going to be around to even 

see through. You know, it you and I are still   going to be here. Our kids are still going to be 

here. Trump's grandkids are going to be here. Um,   but it almost feels at times to me like Trump has 

discovered he's got this exciting efficient tool   called the US military and he's dying to try it 

out. And uh, unfortunately when you're dying to   try out the US military as the commander-in-chief, 

you ultimately are not the one who will be dying,   but others will, and they include Americans 

eventually. Yeah. And, you know, it's always   possible for any president to get over his skis. I 

mean, it's just you once these enterprises begin,   it's sort of hard to know where they're going 

to go and thing unanticipated things happen and   there's just a lot of risk in in all of this. 

Rubio seems much more level-headed than I ever   gave him credit for being and smarter. GD Vance 

obviously uh has always been both of those things,   but I does seem like now is the time to clear 

out some of the emotionally unstable lunatics.   It'd be nice. And you know, your point about free 

speech is absolutely spot-on. Um, you know, you   play I was amazed to hear that the one sound bite 

by Jim Collins in Florida. Incredible. I actually   wrote down what you said. He said, "You don't 

have the right to harm other people with your   words. I absolutely do. And it's actually what 

makes us fundamentally American." It's awesome. I   have every right to insult you, to speak hatefully 

about you, and it's glorious. It's it's what makes   it wonderful to live here. I mean, the First 

Amendment, of course, is there to protect hate   speech. Hate speech is not only constitutional, 

it's written right in there that you can say,   you can say the most hateful things possible. 

Sorry, but I can. And if you don't like it,   too, you're the one who needs to move, not me. 

I don't need to move out of the United States of   America. That's my fundamental right to say things 

that offend. And that's what's so upsetting about   what is happening in Europe. Not to mention your 

in Israel too because you mentioned uh you know   the rabbi and and the the guy on CNBC. I mean 

Israel's been on the press quite a bit over the   past year or two for cracking down on free speech 

rights in its country. The rights of journalists   to report openly and honestly on what's happening 

over there. And Europe is in a place where they're   now arresting people for thought crimes for 

actually just causing offense. That's it.   Not to mention in England arresting a woman for 

silently praying outside of an abortion clinic,   literally not saying a word, just praying in her 

head. And a cop saw her standing there and asked   her what she was doing and she admitted the truth 

and she got arrested. Um, our friend uh Lawrence   Fox, he got arrested because he was over there 

saying he was thinking about tearing down the   pesky uh traffic cameras that they put in various 

places in London to police the gas guzzling cars   because they don't want these non-eco-friendly 

cars in London. And he was thinking about tearing   down the the cameras. He got arrested. They raided 

his home. So, yeah, you need to be able to think   what you want. You need to be able to say what 

you want. In all three of those examples that you   showed of people saying it's time to crack down 

or we should control the internet, you can't say   things that hurt people or that are hateful are 

exactly the opposite of what we actually stand for   in this country and we better be really loud about 

it or we're going to be following our friends in   Germany and England down the drain. I mean, there 

does seem to be a connection between war footing   and a clampdown on civil liberties in the country 

that's on war footing, right? So the presidents   that clamped down on free speech most aggressively 

in our history, Abraham Lincoln during the civil   war, Woodro Wilson during the First World War, 

FDR for his entire term, and Lyndon Johnson during   Vietnam who sent the FBI after his critics and CIA 

to do all kinds of things that are shocking. Um,   so that's I guess my concern. If like all of a 

sudden you become permanently at war, your own   population in some ways becomes the government's 

enemy. I've noticed. Well, look, we were in a way   a part of that during the Iraq war. Yeah, I know. 

Um at Fox, right? Like they they didn't allow and   we didn't allow people who were criticizing the 

war a platform. We mocked them and made fun of   them because I think we thought it was our duty to 

defend the war and I see Fox News doing that right   now. Um there's not really a skeptical voice over 

there about what we're doing in Venezuela. And I'm   fine with the people who support the Venezuela 

move. Then I I've been having them on my show   all week and giving the president his due to 

hear what are the detractors saying and what   are the supporters saying and that's up to for the 

audience to make up their mind. If they disagree   with me on my stance, that's fine. It's great. 

No, more power to them. But, you know, that's not   the job when you're on Fox News. And when I was 

there, I'll speak for myself, it was very clear   to me what the what the job was, which was to root 

for it, to defend it, period, and not to allow   skeptics on to express, you know, why they thought 

it was a bad idea, but instead to mock them and to   belittle them, which has an effect of shaming 

people out of the view, at least maybe not the   code pinks of the world, but like normies, whether 

they're Republicans or independents who would come   on Fox, they understood that message is going 

to get you banned. you're not going to get an   invitation back because this is not play a place 

to come for a full and fair discussion. So yeah,   we we've already slipped into that in our past, 

our not so distant past. And look what it got   us. You know, the Iraq war was not a good idea. 

I wish I hadn't defended it. I know you feel the   same. I wish I had let more dissenting voices on 

and really listen to them to see whether they had   a good point. And I think now more than ever, 

that's why independent channels like the ones   that we're operating on currently are incredibly 

important because there is no agenda. You know,   people want to say you're bought and paid for. 

You're not bought bought and paid for by anybody.   You're totally independent. As am I. I don't 

take anybody's money other than like cozy earth,   but they're not involved in this conflict. No, 

they're not. They're great. Um, they're great.   So there, what do you make of the division within 

the Trump voting base? Um, you've been sucked   into this, I think, against your will. I I always 

think of you as the most sensible, least radical,   least crazy person ever, always willing to 

entertain both sides, measured, and somehow you've   been held up as some kind of Nazi or something by 

a few very, very active people on social media,   Mark Leven, chief among them. I look at that and 

I'm like, this is if you're attacking Megan Kelly   for this stuff falsely, this is clearly an effort 

to split Trump's base. That's my view. But tell   me what you think is going on. So Mark Levin 

is in a special class, shall we say? Uh he's   in the special class. Uh because I truly think 

he's not well. I genuinely think he's unwell,   which is when I stopped fighting with him. Like 

I over the even though over the holiday break,   he was in incendiary and his rhetoric and 

I thought, you know, I I went after him a   little because he kept attacking me and others and 

like was calling Dave Smith a Nazi, a neo-Nazi,   like crazy stuff. And then I just realized what am 

I do? He's trul he's an insane person, you know,   and as my therapist ironically always says, stay 

away from crazy. And he's not wrong. He doesn't   take the truly crazy ones, which bodess well 

for me. Um, but I I I genuinely think like he's   not well, and I really don't think the president 

should let Mark live in within 10 ft of him. Like   he's not a well person. Um, but the but there is 

a very ardent, extremely pro-Israel and indeed I   will say Israel first crowd that is doing what 

you said right now. And sure is one of them,   but I'm just saying he's just such a nutcase. How 

can we really factor him into this argument? But   I I don't know whether the point is to cause 

losses for this president or stop his agenda.   I really think that the Israel firsters have no 

tolerance for anyone who will not defend Israe