April 27, 2017 - Tucker Carlson Show, 2nd & 3rd segments, FOX News Chanel
Tucker: Well, this week Ann Coulter was forced to cancel a speech because a school would not provide a venue or a time, and it was just too unsafe, and you can tell it's not an exaggeration from looking at those pictures. As you can see right now, despite the cancellation, hundreds of people have taken to the streets, anyway. Riot police are out in force to keep the situation under control. This is pretty crazy. Ann Coulter is in San Francisco right now and she joins us live.
Tucker: Um, Ann, just clarify for us, there's been a lot written about this, why were you not able to speak at Berkeley?
Ann: Well, they change the rules every ten minutes, um, I kept agreeing to all of their conditions - they were hoping I would cancel - but no matter how, and I kept saying, "Okay, okay, whatever you want." um, and then they just up and cancelled it, and then they randomly rescheduled it, and, um, then my allies turned tail and ran at the last minute when I thought we'd achieved total victory. So, I didn't have any sponsors for Berkeley.
Tucker: So, but is it...
Ann: My Berkeley cancelled, my sponsors acquiesced.
Tucker: So, but is it fair to say that the bottom line is that the threat of violence is what prevented you from speaking?
Ann: Well, that's what Berkeley claims, or course, there are ways of dealing with violence. That's why we have a police force. That insane press conference that Berkeley administrators and Capt. Alex Yaow, I think his name was, with the Berkeley Police last week... the police captain's argument was, "We can't have any Ann Coulter, there's gonna be violence!" Well, I don't know, call a cop! What's your job? It's like you're on a plane about to take off and the pilot says, "How am I supposed to get this thing across the country?" That's your job!
Tucker: Well, the whole point of having people with guns is to protect your right to say what you think. So, what would you have said, I mean, I guess it's too late, but you've got a venue right here. What would you have said, had you been allowed to speak?
Ann: Yes, well, you're getting it exclusively, so the thugs do not win. Um, well my seditious and hateful speech, the theme of it was going to be, obviously, was going to be a searingly brilliant speech on immigration. Um, but the main point of which was, federal written law, on the books about immigration, developed over generations by both Democrats and Republicans should be enforced.
Tucker: Huh... that was it?
Ann: (Nodding her head) Well, that was the overall theme. (Tucker laughing) The laws, we should enforce them.
Tucker: I agree with you emphatically, but you weren't going to call for war, or violence, or anything like that. (Ann is laughing in response.) Your were just going to say existing laws ought to be enforced, and that was considered too radical.
Ann: ...ought to be enforced. And, you know, I might have a little... I mean, it's topical to this week. I started a Tweet today that I'll be sending out every morning as we watch the progress. Um, the border wall update... number of miles built today, Zero. Number of miles built since inauguration, Zero. Look for the next update tomorrow. I mean, I'm a little annoyed. This was the campaign promise that shook up the political world. You would think that if you were someone like Paul Ryan, after spending the entire Trump campaign trying to undermine Trump, and still to have him elected and be elected in a pretty stunning victory, and winning Wisconsin, Paul Ryan's home state, something Republicans haven't won for twenty years and when - ha, ha - Paul Ryan was on the ticket, you'd think the day after November 8, so, November 9th, Paul Ryan wakes up and Paul Ryan thinks, "I don't think I'll go for my four hour weight lifting routine today, I think I'll start working on the 'signature' promise that just won Donald Trump the election and not wait until April 27th to say to the President of the United States, you know, we're going to have to drop funding for the wall, because we don't want a government shutdown." When, of course, as I wrote in my column this week, they're not funding a wall to avoid a government shutdown. NOT having the wall is the definition of a government shutdown! The basic purpose of government is to keep us safe. If we can't protect our borders, I'd say that's a government shutdown.
Tucker: Yea, it does seem like a pretty basic function of government. Ann Coulter, you always have a place to talk here. Thanks for joining us.
Ann: Thank you!
New segment:
Tucker: Well, something brand new appears to be going on with free speech on campus and in the country, is it new? We're joined now with actual perspective, author and columnist, Charles Krauthammer. Charles, when you're in the middle of something like this and things seem to be going crazy, and they do seem to be going crazy, the question is, is this really a new thing, does this, it does seem... I've never seen anything like this.
Charles: Well, I mean, we saw some of it in the sixties, and when the university administrators would 'cave in' - a famous case at Cornell, some radical students carrying guns - and by and large administrations were supine, they still are. But the danger here is that we're reaching a situation where thugs threatening violence - basically fascist gangs - can shut down free speech. You talked about how we're fundamentally divided in ways, even down to the foods we eat and what we read [in your introduction tonight]. But the one thing that used to unite left and right, even in the bitterest times in the '50s - McCarthyism - people would say things, like liberals, would say, 'I don't believe, I don't support anything you say, but I'll defend your right to say it.' That was a cliche'. It became, I mean it was so obvious that you could mock it. But where has that gone? If you can't have the government guaranteeing the safety of speakers, then we have lost one of the fundamental uniting elements of our society. If there's anything that unites us, it's a belief in the first amendment. Belief in free speech. Whenever you talk about America, what makes us unique is we believe in liberty, that begin with religious liberty, and it also begins with free speech. And, if you can't get agreement on defending that... I mean, the obligation of any authority, right now, is to say Ann Coulter can speak and we will protect her. That's why you pay your taxes, that's why we have a police, and we are not going to allow a gang of thugs - really fascist gangs, this is how it started in Europe in the '20s and
'30s, fascist gangs would literally intimidate their opponents to the point where they became dominant - I don't think they're going to take over, this is not Mousillini, but nonetheless, it is very disturbing that in America someone can not speak because there are thugs who threaten violence...
Tucker: I agree with that. I first started reading you when I was a kid, you know, the liberal magazine The Republic, I think everyone on the masthead would agree with you with what you just said. Where are those people, not specifically the writers, but where is the reasonable, principled left, to defend Ann Coulter's right to speak?
Charles: That's the first question I had after your first segment with Mark Reed. Mark Reed is a very smart guy. He's had official positions in the government in New York City. I mean, he's run for N.Y. mayor and lost, but that happens to the best of them. But I mean, he was completely, he was pretending that we don't really have a President because he detests him. He's a divider, I don't like him, so I don't have to respect his authority. This is nuts! This doesn't happen. This is a poisoning and I think it's a sign of decadence. If the left will not stand up for the elementary principles; we have a President, he's elected, he has authority, legitimate authority and we proceed from there. We have free speech and you should not be shut down. If we can't get agreement on those principles, then we really are in a dangerous situation. And it is, I think, a manifestation of decadence, a civilization that doesn't have enough confidence in its own righteousness, in the end, for all of our flaws, if you don't have that kind of civilizational consciousness, you're finished!
Tucker: That is absolutely... I agree one hundred percent, I was hoping you were going to make me feel better; you didn't, but you did explain it. Thank you.
Charles: Well, if you're feeling really bad, I'm still a licensed psychiatrist, and I'm happy to write you a prescription for any depressant. (Tucker laughing)
Tucker: You're the only one person I'd take pills from, doctor. Thank you.
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