Monday on Fox News Channel’s ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson opened the show questioning the reasoning put forth by some Democrats to not proceed with the effort to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left behind by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Carlson argued the notion President Donald Trump and Republicans should forego naming her replacement because it was her dying wish was not a justification and that Democrats know such reasoning was “ridiculous.”
Transcript as follows:
As you know, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last Friday. She passed away of cancer.
It was a sad moment because death is always sad no matter who dies. Death is coming for all of us someday. For that reason, we ought to mark a person’s passing with a bow of respect. Take a moment for humility and perspective, meditate on the fragility of our own lives and the lives of those we love.
Remember that death is the one thing that unites every human being. No matter how powerful we imagine we are, at some point, we will be gone, all of us.
In our case, we almost never agreed with Justice Ginsburg’s decisions. But on Friday night’s show, we did our best to show some reverence because that’s the right thing to do.
The left by contrast, made no attempt at all. Prominent progressives immediately descended into hysteria and rage, unbridled rage. They told us that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death was more than sad. They said it was a national crisis that imperiled this country’s freedoms.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg they told us, singlehandedly kept America from descending into fascism and tyranny. Now that she’s gone, only her words can keep us safe.
That’s an odd claim, if you think about it. This is supposed to be a democracy. No one ever voted for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. No matter how much you liked her or agreed with her, she was in the end a single judge in a country of 350 million people. She was not a god.
Yet, according to the left, Ginsburg was all we had. We must obey her dying words as if they were a religious text. Her final wish supersedes our founding documents. What would Ruth Bader Ginsburg do? We must ask ourselves that and then do it. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: As a nation, we should heed her final call to us, not as a personal service to her, but as a service to the country, our country at a crossroads.
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): Honor her last words that she not be replaced until a new President is installed.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): She said, my most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new President is installed.
We believe that.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Her fervent wish is that the next President pick — that was the last thing she said to the public.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): We know who this man is. We know who this man is. This is a man who does not care about a dying woman’s final wish, clearly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So turn down the volume and consider for a moment the reasoning here, the argument that they’re making. Nothing is more important than our Constitution. That Constitution is in grave jeopardy. That’s why we must substitute an 87-year-old woman’s final wish for the constitutionally prescribed process for filling a Supreme Court seat.
That’s what they’re arguing. Got that? Pretty amusing.
Keep in mind, we don’t really know actually what Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s final words were. Did she really leave this world fretting about a presidential election? We don’t believe that for a second. If it were true, it would be pathetic, because life is bigger than politics even this year.
We wouldn’t wish final words that small on anyone. So we’re going to again choose to believe that Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn’t really say that, that in real life, she was thinking at the end about her family and where she might be going next. Human concerns, not partisan ones.
But in practical terms, it’s irrelevant what she said. Ruth Bader Ginsburg doesn’t get to pick her replacement from her deathbed. That’s not how it works. We have a Constitution we’re supposed to be defending, remember? And that’s the whole point of the Constitution.
If Justice Scalia had said something like that, nobody would have cared. We would have been embarrassed for him. Thankfully, he didn’t say that.
On some level, Democrats know all this, all this talk about Ginsburg’s dying wish is ridiculous and insulting to all of us and our country, and they’ll stop soon. Democrats have an alternative argument at the ready and that’s one they’ve been honing all year. It goes like this, “Do what we want, or we will hurt you.” That’s the real argument they’re making.
Reza Aslan, a longtime CNN employee wrote this in the hours after Ginsburg died, quote, “If they even try to replace RBG, we burn the entire effing thing down.” That effing thing being our country that we built.
On Friday night, another Democrat tweeted instructions for how to begin that process quote, “We’re now walking to Mitch McConnell’s house to protest.” More than 120,000 people liked that post. Shockingly. The follow up came a few minutes later, quote, “His house is entirely dark. Significant police presence out front.” It’s not clear that he’s here. It’s good that he is not here as confirmed by a neighbor who is not fond of him. People are going home.
That’s not a protest. That’s a threat. The point of it was to terrorize Mitch McConnell and his family. We kind of knew it was coming because that’s how things seem to work now. The police guarding his house are probably the only reason it’s still standing. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GROUP: (Chanting “Vote Him Out. Vote Him Out.”)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move Mitch, get out of the way.
GROUP: Move Mitch, get out of the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: We shouldn’t be surprised by that. It was just last year that another group of Democrats gathered outside Mitch McConnell’s home chanting death threats. It was all on video. We put up with it, of course. So it’s happened again. You get what you put up with.
That’s true of children. It’s true of countries. And we’re putting up with this. So we shouldn’t be surprised. Who is doing it? Well, Trump voters are fascists they tell us.
But when was the last time Trump voters threatened Democratic politicians in their home? It’s hard to recall that happening. No. The tactics are always the same and it’s always the same people doing it.
Then in case Mitch McConnell didn’t get the message, Biden voters assembled at the home of Senator Lindsey Graham, Graham chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. They wanted to honor Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish by making sure that Graham was intimidated. Watch.
[VIDEO CLIP PLAYS]
CARLSON: These aren’t spontaneous demonstrations. No, of course not. They’re organized on social media and they’re happening for a reason. The Democratic Party has encouraged this extremism over and over and over again. Nightly, we tell you about it, but it never ends. It gets worse.
Last night, the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York held a press conference targeting Mitch McConnell by name. Hard to imagine that, but it happened and Schumer invited Sandy Cortez, a first term Congresswoman from the Bronx. Here’s what they said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): If you want to get back at Mitch McConnell’s blatant, nasty, hypocrisy, call your senator and tell them not to listen to Mitch McConnell, not to be afraid of Mitch McConnell.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): And to Mitch McConnell, we need to tell him that he is playing with fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: We need to tell him that he is playing with fire. Really? That’s a threat. And on Instagram, Sandy Cortez, America’s most pampered revolutionary went ahead and suggested that Democrats go further, maybe even embrace violence. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OCASIO-CORTEZ: Let this moment radicalize you. We are focused on voting for Joe Biden. I don’t care if you like them or not. This is not over. You know, we win in November. I’m sorry to tell you, you’re not going back to brunch. We’re not going back to brunch. That’s not happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: We’re not going back to brunch. So now you know what a freshman Member of Congress was doing standing at the podium with the most powerful Democrat in the Senate.
Why would he choose Sandy Cortez? Well, because Sandy Cortez doesn’t simply represent a congressional district, she doesn’t do that very well. No, her real role is as commander of the youth wing of the Democratic Party, the direct action wing, the thugs who have spent the last three and a half months burning and destroying in some cases killing on behalf effectively of the Joe Biden for President Campaign.
Cortez and her followers use these tactics for one simple reason. You know why? Because they work.
This summer, a bar owner in Omaha called Jake Gardner was attacked during a BLM riot there. A man called James Scurlock jumped on Gardner’s back and put him in a chokehold. Gardner shot Scurlock in order to save his own life. It was clearly self-defense, and that’s what prosecutors concluded.
But then Biden voters took direct action, they took to the streets. What does that mean exactly? Well, in this case, it means they gathered outside the home of Douglas County attorney, Don Kleine and they threatened him. Their presence was a threat. And guess what? It worked.
Last week, Gardner was charged with manslaughter. This weekend, Gardner killed himself.
See how that works. Do you want to live in a country like that? Megan Hunt does. Megan Hunt is a State Senator from Omaha. She is glad Jake Gardner is dead. Megan Hunt congratulated the mob on Twitter for pushing Jake Gardner to suicide. Hunt encouraged them to do it to others.
As Hunt wrote on Twitter, and we’re quoting, “Jake Gardner is gone, but the white supremacist attitudes that emboldened him are still with us today.” End quote. In other words, you know what to do?
This should terrify you. Democratic leaders have decided that everything is allowed in pursuit of power. Nothing is off-limits. Give us what we want or we will hurt you. In terms Nancy Pelosi can understand, that means maybe another impeachment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS HOST: Some have mentioned the possibility if they try to push through a nominee in a lame-duck session that you and the House could move to impeach President Trump or Attorney General Barr as a way of stalling and preventing the Senate from acting on this nomination?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Well, we have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that I’m not about to discuss right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Oh, impeach the President. For what? For following the Constitution’s letter, for doing what the Constitution tells Presidents to do when there’s a Supreme Court vacancy. Could that really happen? What would the trial look like? We accuse you of following the law? Probably not going to happen. Plus, he knows that. That’s why she’s got other arrows in the quiver, as she said. One of those arrows is direct force.
On Saturday, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Chief of Staff tweeted this, quote: “I am ready to fly to D.C. in the middle of COVID-19, and lay my body on the floor of the United States Senate to prevent a vote from occurring before the next term of Congress.” End quote. If she did that, many would join her and maybe they’ll do it. Maybe they’ll come to Washington and physically prevent lawmakers from voting.
That’s never happened before in the history of our country. It could happen now. People are calling for it. Does that seem like extremism to you? Yes. But if it does, keep in mind, you’re the extremist. You’re the one who is willing to do anything for power, including use force.
Here’s Hillary Clinton neatly explaining that her sins are in fact, your sins.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What’s happening in our country is incredibly dangerous. Our institutions are being basically undermined by the lust for power, power for personal gain in the case of the President or power for institutional gain in the case of Mitch McConnell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Okay, so if you’re following at home, I just want to be clear on how this works. Democrats are so worried about your attempts to undermine our institutions that they in the end may have to burn those institutions down. Sorry, your extremism did it.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor