The Tucker Carlson Show - Dennis Quaid

Episode Date: January 13, 2024

At some point, America’s power grid will fail. What happens then? Dennis Quaid on a risk the government seems to be ignoring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. He's also an accomplished musician. But he has a project coming up that you probably ought to know about. We thought it was definitely worth telling you about. And so we're grateful that Dennis Quid is joining us on set right now. Thank you for joining us. Thank you, Tucker. We're so glad to be here. 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. Can you just give us a quick overview of what this is and why did you do it? It's called Grid Down, Power Up. And it's about an issue which concerned me really for quite some time. They did a little 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. And this would happen organically, naturally? That's just what the sun does? It has happened. They call it a Carrington event, which happened in, I think it was 1859. And at that time, basically, we had telegraph lines as far far as electricity goes and it fried our entire telegraph system it was set up had to be replaced and the entire thing the entire thing and so imagine what that would do now with a very large storm which there's a hundred percent chance of it happening. That was a hundred year event. They call that one and I'm not gonna make the millions of dollars that it would take to replace all that 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, but all of our entire infrastructure and our society runs our electricity. We don't know how to live without it. There wouldn't be any water in your tap. You couldn't get gas for your car because the whole system is broken down. Everything that we rely upon would be gone the food would melt in our refrigerators there would be and they predict within a year about 90% of the population would be dead from starvation disease or you know people it gets back

to the Stone Age again killing Killing each other. Yeah. Well, that's shocking. Yeah, so... A bit of information. That really lifts your day, doesn't it? It does. I mean, I'm adding that to the Armageddon file that's growing. Nobody's really talking about it. And in fact, President Trump actually signed an executive order to harden our grid to protect ourselves

against an event like this happening. Obama tried to get that going as well. And it stuck in these regulatory agencies that lobbyists, because money needs to be spent. Most of our grid power companies are privately owned, and you can understand them not wanting to spend money on something that might occur. But this is definitely going to occur. And so it would mean, and this is not from a foreign adversary. This is just a solar cycle.

Well, we'll get to that in a minute. Okay, but this is, but we're starting with just what nature might yeah this is not what you call an enemy this is you know our uh the sun that we rely upon every day 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 these flares come out and they're ejected out into the into the solar system and we just in like in packets and we I think was 2014 we barely missed one by five days that went across our path of orbit around the sun. And it's going to happen.

Then once it hits the earth, there's a 50% probability of it either being us or the eastern hemisphere who's ever exposed to that's the Sun so is there anything that you can do I mean could you harden our electrical yes there there are simple things that we could actually do to 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 that uh relatively inexpensive compared to what it would cost if uh an event like this happened and overall over time it'd probably be about $100 billion, about the same that we just gave to Ukraine. So, to protect them from the Russians

and it'd be money spent. Plus also, the process of doing this, it's like a space program. You find out all kinds of other things that actually help society and advance us in our technology. But it's basically relays, protective relays that could be put at our substations and transformers that in an event like this happens, kind of similar to kind of a surge protector that you have in your computer, that since there's a surge like that,

you can cut it off to protect it from our transformers. Pardon my total ignorance on this topic. I'm embarrassed. But would such a solar storm hurt people or just electrical components? No, it doesn't hurt people. It's only like the transistors and anything electrical. And you can melt it. These transformers that we have, I think there's – you remember the blackout that happened in New York not too long ago, that, you know, it took, it was trees that were hanging over a power line just like that,

which caused a surge of power and upset the balance. And it all relies on these transformers that get overheated and they the if you need to replace one you don't just replace one they weigh about 500,000 pounds to begin with to get them it takes if you want another one it takes two years to get one we just don't have them sitting around just ready to replace either. It's really difficult. It takes time. And if you had a situation where your supply chain's cut off, and, you know, we get some of them from China, by the way,

and it's just tough to do. If I can just ask you a dumb question. So an event like this happened in 1859, and it took out our entire telegraph system so this has been known for quite some yeah quite some time yeah um and yet we built a system that's vulnerable to it yeah how did that happen well the storms the storms come in varying intensities the that carrying ting an event uh i don upwards of like 85 volts per meter. I think that's what the figure is, the way they measure it.

And our system is built to take on like eight volts per kilometer. I mean, eight kilometers. And it won't handle it. That's what Obama wanted, that's what Obama did when he, by executive order, wanted to harden our system. What it had brought up to that. And the regulatory people, NERC and FERC took it and wound up just protecting our infrastructure

to eight volts. And so it's like 10 times less. Because of these other storms that came through, one I think was like 12, another one was this or that. And so they, it wasn't a worst, worst case scenario. In other words, that they prepared for. And that's what you need to prepare for. Of course.

You're describing what we used to call when we believed in God, acts of God. Yeah. Probably our acts of God, but whatever. But things that no human can control. Right. But there's a whole... Force majeure. Exactly.

So there's a whole other category, though, of attacks from adversaries or terrorists. Yes, that's the other thing. What are those? Another scary thing. I think the world as far as... The danger in the world today is much greater than when I was growing up. I grew up at the height of the Cold War where, you know, we had duck and cover. Yeah.

I lived in Houston, which was within that circle during the Cuban Missile Crisis of getting hit and probably would have been hit by the bomb. And it's scarier today than it was then at least we had mutual uh uh mutual annihilation and we had deterrence you know based on that that we wouldn't pull the trigger because the other your your adversary was going to destroy you too. And today, that club has grown to where it's not only Russia, the United States, it's North Korea, that everybody knows, Pakistan, India, Iran, which they believe they already have the nuke. They just don't have the delivery system for it

that could reach the United States. You believe Iran has a nuclear weapon? I think they do. The Russians have been helping them out. And if they don't have one, they're going to have one within six months to a year and it's really uh the we've been approaching it well they don't have the delivery system they don't have the you know the icbms that can deliver that all the way to the united states they definitely could hit israel though who they're committed to destroying and uh you know and but they also have their terror organizations and it's gotten to the point now where it's getting so condensed you know the

suitcase dirty bombs whatever they are you could definitely rig one of those up and hook it to a scud missile put it on a cargo ship just off the United States coast, send it up to a certain altitude, explode it, and how that would have, what they call a super EMP, which is electromagnetic pulse, which is the same thing as a geothermal event with the sun. If you send up a missile, a nuclear bomb on it, it exploded at 400 kilometers above the Earth in space, basically. You won't see it. You won't see the explosion because it's in a vacuum of space. You won't hear it. no people will be killed but the gamma rays which are thrown out from that would encompass most of the United States and take out this very

same grid and within which could cause a power outage all across the United States up to months, even a year. And we'd have the same scenario that we described before. You hate even to game it out, but if that happened, if huge parts of the United States had no power for a year, that would be an extinction event for a while. Yeah, they've done a study, and 90% of the population would be dead within a year. You know, during this Carrington event, I mean, one thing, we didn't rely on electricity. Everybody had a cow

if you wanted milk, and you had a horse if you wanted to drive. Your car wouldn't work You what do you do your telephone doesn't work? There's no way to inform the public about you know anything anything so You're kind of messed up. Yeah, so I mean that in some ways seems far more effective than nuclear weapons. Mm-hmm Not only that you that, you're not killing people. And so, that

makes the decision to use them a little you know, it's not you don't have to wrestle with your morals. There's no smoking hole at Hiroshima. Yeah, exactly. And just like, because there are so many actors doing this and they're terrorist subgroups as well, who do you retaliate against if it's done from a cargo ship and you don't even know where it came from?

So who was the perpetrator? And who do you retaliate against and yes the the military has hardened most of their infrastructure when it comes to this but they get their electricity ninety percent of their electricity comes ninety-nine percent of their electricity comes ninety nine percent of their electricity comes from civilian infrastructure so how long is that going to last and uh... suits and you think uh... but was magnified in p attacks

could would take out a lot i mean what like most civilian power plants yeah just one's with a call a super in pnMP and that that has to do with the the altitude Where is exploded, you know from the center of that covers a certain area Whereas if you were lower down you would only be able to cover that much area because it spreads out in a circle So and just fries everything so why I mean, I know there are a lot of things to worry about yeah a lot of things are failing at once obviously but this seems like you might want to move it toward the top of the list of things to work

yeah I would I would think so I really would think so but it's and indeed the you know the Russians and the Chinese have have done so much more to harden and to protect their infrastructure than we have. And so you get down to that whole thing about survivability, being able to survive an attack and to attack someone and then being able to survive when they retaliate. And they've got that going for them. And it also makes somebody like Iran, who it's a fraction of what their military budget is,

and they know they can't defeat the United States, but even a simple terror group, if you get their hands on a Scud missile and a nuclear device, you can really do some damage. And I don't know why that our government has not been informing us more about this. Back during the Cold War, when I was a kid, I was in the fourth grade. We kids were informed about what could happen what to do if if something happened at least

that and also let's get something done I I mean I don't think the average person has any idea that this threat exists yeah Yeah. No, they don't. The majority, the vast majority of the people don't. Where is the climate lobby on this? I mean, they're very involved in trying to remake the grid and change our sources of energy and they're energy experts, but is this something that they're taking up? No, not to my knowledge. No, but this really definitely, this has to, well, they would be affected too, you know, of course. But it's, you know, that's all about the fuel that comes to the power agency, whether it be coal or wind or whatever it is.

But if you knock out these relay stations, the power can't go anywhere. It just fries everything. So this does suggest, I mean, our country's population is clustered in cities. Yeah. Those probably aren't going to fare as well. No. It would be easier to live in the country, of course, and people who live in the country would probably have better ideas,

better knowledge of how to survive after an event like this. But it's a scary proposition. I mean, there needs to be education, and there needs to be something done about it. And done about it pretty quick. I mean these these protective relays that that could be installed in the transformer starting with that I mean we have the technology we know how to do this it's not something mysterious that we have to get involved in what we do need is something

like a Manhattan project that we had back during World War two where you know the Germans we knew that the Germans were trying to develop a bomb and so we we we got there quicker and somebody to cut through all the bureaucratic red tape and be vested with the authority to just to get this done we could do we could do it in a couple of years you see you mentioned FERC the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Yeah, I mean that would be wouldn't that be the agency that we think about this they are they Yes, you would think that but that's not the way it works. You know Obama likes sent this to Congress I mean to get it done and then it gets caught in FERC and NERC because they're controlled by the lobbies, the lobbies of the energy lobbies.

It's about, they have to spend money, which they don't necessarily want to do because it would cost a lot. Yes know, it costs a lot. Yes, it would cost a lot. I think the government should help in this. And there's so many of them, too, scattered across the United States. You know, they're locally owned, most of the energy companies. There's an energy company in South Carolina that is really doing something about it. And there have been some cases where we've had energy companies that are making moves to protect the grid,

but that's only one little part of the grid. When it comes down to it, they depend on the one next door to them and the one next door to them. It would cure the AI problem pretty quick, though, right? You'd have no AI within a little bit. Yeah, exactly. But you wonder, there's all these, I mean, a huge part of the American economy is based on digital commerce, digital innovation. I mean, this is being. Financial system is going to break down.

Transportation breaks down. Your water doesn't work. Food delivery is gone. Your telephones don't work. You go back to basically we go back to that current event. The world goes back to 1859 and we're all in the dark and the lights are out so you'd you would think that all these other sectors the economy would be lobbying because they all are dependent on electricity everybody's dependent on electricity so if i'm google or if i'm microsoft running ai or whatever like i need us yes i would be loving especially you you've got to have that. And plus also just the effects of the gamma rays upon these microchips that they're melted. Actually, you know who the largest manufacturer of vacuum tubes is? Russia.

Vacuum tubes? Vacuum tubes. Russia and China. They are still in the business of manufacturing vacuum tubes. Vacuum tubes like the vacuum TV? They are far more resistant to these gamma rays. Are you serious? Yeah.

Than the microchips. Do they make old old analog technology is is you know would bit would work with internet dial-up you know I don't horse carriages to probably should they probably should be yeah so okay well you just blew my mind yeah I want to go out and join the cavalry, I guess. So what kind of reaction are you getting when you tell people this? A mouth agape, kind of like you. Yeah. Yeah, because nobody hears about it.

And it's something we don't like to think about. But I think people think of it in terms of an asteroid, which is on its way to destroy the Earth. Right. You know, that seems like a very remote in fact is very remote uh and um but this is you know whether from the sun or a bad actor this is something that 100 chance it's going to happen and we are just no Nowhere, no way prepared for it. It's absolutely terrifying so of all the projects you've done 150 ish I Mean this has got a rate among the most significant Yeah, David Tice. It was

He was a producer. He produced Soul Surfer. Yes. And he's a patriot and a really smart individual. And he called me up because he created this movie, Grid Down, Power Up. That's the name of it. And 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 in

this I just said yes because I remember it really frightened me when I saw it 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 that this gets pushed to the background. It seems like a pretty obvious one, though. Yeah, and it's always the one you don't see that gets you. It gives us feet of clay, basically. We may be the big, bad, greatest nation on earth, the United States, but in some ways, all of this technology, this highly industrial complex that we've built has feet of clay because of this little simple thing. It's kind of perfect, though, isn't it?

Yeah. I mean, it is Tower of Babel stuff, like people build this. Yeah, it's the Trojan horse. At Desjardins Insurance, we know that when you're a building contractor, your company's foundation needs to be strong. That's why our agents go the extra mile to understand your business and provide tailored solutions for all its unique needs. You put your heart into your company,

so we put our heart into making sure it's protected. Get insurance that's really big on care. Find an agent today at Desjardins.com slash business coverage. No frillsills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum points on your first five orders.

Shop now at nofrills.ca. Looking back on all we were talking off air about all the movies that you've done, what are the ones that you remember most vividly? Well, The Right Stuff is my favorite. Why? Period. Because it was when I grew up in Houston, I wanted, you know, John Glenn went up. I was in the second grade and they rolled the TV in. Everybody that replaced wanting to be a cowboy, everybody wanted to be an astronaut back then and uh so you know i grew up wanting to be 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 he was the youngest one he was like the rock and roll astronaut yeah and then couldn't believe it I got the part and then it turned out Gordo Cooper lived three miles from me in LA no way so I called him up and we became good friends and he he turned me on to a flight school and I learned to fly I got my pilot's license from that. And still flying. Fly jets now, in fact. But it was like the ultimate boyhood fantasy, that role. And it took nine months to do it. And Chuck Yeager, the legendary Chuck Yeager, was on the set every day.

So it was a great time. It sounds unbelievable. Yeah. So you were saying off camera that when you started, I think your first movie that you were in or around was 1975. How long did it take to make a movie then? It was at least three months to make a movie back then because of the cameras. You shoot one side of a scene,

then you've got what they call turnaround, and shoot the other person going the other way and seeing the background the other way. 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. So you just sit in your trailer wait for that to happen now all that happens like in 15 minutes and so movies just moves really quick 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 all the other actors right i mean that's like its own world yeah that's exactly and it you know it's real time-consuming 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 it's not that they're so picky you must get to know the other people on set pretty well yeah you, you do. Yeah. Yeah, it becomes your world. It's a gypsy life, basically, being an actor.

And, you know, I still work a lot. But I spend a lot more time at home now. Which I like. For decades, you must have spent, like, no time at home. Yeah. But that's your home. Yeah. But that's your life. Huh.

You know? What's the most fun location to shoot? It's better than working for a living. Oh, I agree with that. Let me put it that way. Yeah. Yeah. What are the coolest locations to shoot a movie at?

Oh, I've been everywhere. I did one in Svalbard. This was a television streaming series. Svalbard has the northernmost airport in the world. It's up there, Long Yard, and it is where Admiral Perry's last stop before the North Pole. It's above Greenland. It's 400 miles from the North Pole.

Like the North Star, which if you're here in our, where we are in our latitudes, you know, it's about like right there, about 45 degrees there. It was up here. And we were inside the Arctic Circle, which means the northern lights, you see a complete circle of it. It was like being on another planet. So the Earth is round, you're confirming.

The Earth is completely round. Okay, but you know that yeah yeah yeah yes where were you saying confirm that they had a they had a great little hotel there it's kind of a tourist spot for people to come there were 1500 people there and 3 000 polar bears they like to say. And that's an interesting community, actually, because it was started by an American, which is Goodyear. Goodyear Tires? Yeah. That guy went over there because they had a lot of coal there on that island. And he started started coal mine and people from all over the world came came there because it was guaranteed work and that so was

extremely diverse within that and it still continues to be that today it's it's it's it's where a lot of people would come there to get like in an EU passport so he had like at the time that I was living there you there were like 800 people from Thailand there and you can only stay there like two years and you're not allowed to die there really yeah the price you can't be buried there. They're pretty strict about no dying. There's no such thing as, yeah.

It's supposedly kind of owned by Norway, but it's also the same place where we had our listening post, observation post during the Cold War, if the ICBMs were coming over from Russia because they'd come over. And then two miles from where we had ours, the Russians had theirs. And that little town is like a ghost town. That's another little tourist spot there. It's a fascinating place to go.

And no dying. No dying allowed. It's a death-free zone. Whether it's a family member, friend, or furry companion joining your summer road trip, enjoy the peace of mind that comes with Volvo's legendary safety. During Volvo Discover Days, enjoy limited-time savings as you make plans to cruise through Muskoka or down Toronto's bustling streets. From now until June 30th, lease a 2025 Volvo XC60 from 1.74% and save up to $4,000. Conditions apply. Visit your GTA Volvo retailer or go to volvocars.ca for full details.

Breaking news! A brand new game is now live at Bet365. Introducing Prize Matcher, a daily game that's never ordinary. All you have to do is match as many tiles as you can, and the more you match, the better. We also have top table games like our incredible Super Spin Roulette, Blackjack, and a huge selection of slots. So there you have it. How can you match that? Check out Prize Matcher and see why it's never ordinary at Bet365.

Must be 19 or older, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you or someone you know has concerns about gambling, visit connexontario.ca. T's and Z's apply. So you brought a guitar. Yeah. Tell us about your interest in music.

I've been playing guitar. Music was first for me, really, you know, from the time I was 12. You can't act alone in your room. I guess you can. Many have tried. There's no one to act with. Acting is reacting for me. But music is, you can, but there's no one to act with. Acting is reacting for me. But music is a thing that your friend as a kid did.

I was kind of like, music, acting, music, acting. I didn't know. And it became acting. But music has always been laced in there, and I've always had a band. And I knew I was never going to shred a guitar, so I took up songwriting to go with that. How hard is that? Songwriting? It's not a question of being hard.

I think if you ask any songwriter, it's like an affliction. It's something that you either have or you don't, and you get an idea that's a song or whatever, and it's going to bother whatever and you it just it's gonna bother you until you finish it do you have some working their way out of you right now yeah at this moment can you play one has nothing to do with the mps i need a respite that was. That was dark, man. I would play a song.

I'll tell you what. I'll play you a song that I think probably applies to you, Tucker. All right. As well. I wrote this because of Chris Christopherson,

who he and Kenya Tucker and Randy Carlock did a song of mine that's going to be out. Did you know Chris Christopherson? Oh, yeah. He's a great guy. Fantastic.

But his wife said that nobody calls Chris Because they think he's such a legend Yeah, I'm take the call, you know So but does he want people to call? He wants people to call so now in my act when I get up to playing this song. I call his wife Lisa and and We we all leave a message where the entire audience says hello this is good but I found that myself it's about me as well but I because when you get to after a certain age after 60 people start giving

you undue respect for for things I look forward to that. By calling you, yeah, by calling you legend, right? Legend. So I wrote this song for that. Please don't call me legend. A humble life's not through. it's got a beginning, a middle, but there still ain't no end to what I might yet do. I might just climb all the Himalayas, plant a flag on a planet or two. But if you call me legend again, please wait until I'm in my tune oh and please don't treat me special it makes me feel alone how can I be the simple person I've always been if you put me up on some throne I'm quite capable of making my own mistakes and I'm not afraid of failure. So if you call me legend again, I might as well have to see you later. One more verse.

Please don't call me legend. It makes me feel like I already died. That's just a third hand story about some has-been and it's probably a lie. So I'll just keep on keepin' on truckin' year after year. And if you call me legend again, I might just have to box your ears, you know I will. I might just have to see you later, bye bye. I might just have to see you later. Excellent! That was awesome!

You're welcome, Tucker. I love that! I love that kind of music. How would you describe that? That? I don't know. Americana, whatever. Good old summertime, that one. That's amazing. When did you write that? About two years ago.

Yeah. In Rage? I mean, there are threats of violence in the song, I'm just saying. uh... about two years ago in rage the though that violence i was on the job after uh... uh... uh... meeting uh... chris that episode that sparked that idea who are your favorite musicians uh... he was he was definitely one of them yeah apparently i'm going through the franks on the senator songbook

really yeah because there was because nobody could sing like Frank. I mean, just as a musician, you know, the voice is an instrument. It's phrasing and incredible. You know, Jerry Lee Lewis was like, yeah. He was one of my piano teachers when I did The Great Balls of Fire. You knew him? Yeah. He was behind.

The whole time we were doing the movie, he was right over my back going, you're getting it wrong son. So he was really quite an amazing human being in all kinds of ways. He was an animal. Yeah. What was John Prine like? John Prine, yeah, he was just a sweetheart of a person. Really extremely talented. Such a, like a sweetheart of a person. Really extremely talented.

Such a pure musician. It wasn't about the fame and fortune for him as much as it was about the music. And as a songwriter, nobody could turn a phrase like him. Kind of by himself in that category. But he never really became a household name. Yeah, but a lot of people know him. And his music will go on. I mean, take somebody like Chris Christopherson.

I think that's really kind of the measure. I think a song like Bobby McGee, they'll be singing 500 years from now. A hundred percent. But everyone thinks janice joplin wrote it yeah but it's okay she didn't yeah i particularly like songs that sound like they were written by anonymous you know a lot of those those uh american songs that like written on the frontier that yeah just as traditional yeah on it. Yeah, exactly. Did you ever know Willie Nelson?

Yeah. Yeah, I've played with Willie Nelson, in fact, on stage a couple of times. What's he like? He's a very generous man. And, I mean, gosh, his contribution to music. And he's still doing it, man. He's still doing it just as great as ever.

Yeah, he's like 90 years old. Yeah. In the end, looking back on your life, it man he's still doing it just as great as ever yeah he's like 90 years old yeah humble in the end looking back on your life are you more excited about making movies or playing music living life yeah that's that's what it is for me now you know it's like i've been really i my autobiography is going to be called My Lucky Life because I've really gotten a chance to do so many kinds of things that I never would have thought I could have done. And at this point, you know, my movie career, which has been so fantastic, it's so fulfilling, really.

I enjoy it so much more now making movies because I'm not trying to get anywhere I'm not trying to attain something I'm just doing the things that really interest me and you know that keeps the joy in in life of course you know do you think that you know in 30 years Hollywood will still be a creative force? I don't know. I really don't know. It seems to be spreading out.

We're trying to get Hollywood started in Texas, actually. We're trying to bring filmmaking there as an industry, not just as a destination for Hollywood. I mean, the way it is is now not so many movies are are made in California anymore anyway and a lot of the ones that I see in the previews that they all look like the same movie yeah you know if you were really sneak by there every once in a while occasionally yeah so I just I gotta ask gotta end it with the question

I ask everybody, but I'm just interested, where do you see the country in a year? In a year? Yeah. Well, I'm really tense about next year, the election year. It seems that more than any other time, everybody's gotta pick a side.

Yeah. And it's everybody's got to like pick a side yeah and it's it's both Democrats and the Republicans I'm an independent by the way and always have been I thought in both ways you know according to what the pendulum I thought the country needed but both sides seem to think that our country is going to be doomed. Democracy is going to be over if one or the other wins. And so how do we get to that place where we can have that transition of power like we did not so long ago where at least people could tolerate it without having to you know uh basically have a coup in one way or another a military coup we really are i'm afraid of us becoming like a banana republic like that and we're the united states of america we're americans We're Americans. Yes. And I do believe, I mean, things are a little bit more, they're scarier than the word 68.

I mean, Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy was shot. Martin Luther King was shot. All the riots, you know, cities were burning. But we knew who the leaders were back then. Now it's just this kind of underground simmering rage on both sides. And I, you know, setting aside who's right, who's wrong or whatever, I just think we need to find ways to unite. And America's always found a way to unite. I mean, things, back when they were forming the Constitution, you know, there was a guy,

who was it that came the other senator in the chambers. It got really bitter. It was always about to fall apart. It's fragile. And Reagan is right. Our democracy can be lost in a generation. It only takes a generation to lose it you know and uh i think we need to educate our kids what a great country this is and that we're

in spite of our way we don't agree that we agree to that we're americans and uh so God bless us. And, you know, I just like to see cooler heads prevail. Do you feel that there are cooler heads out there? Yeah, I think as individuals we can be. In general, we have cooler heads. I guess it's the mob that, whether it be on the right or the left or somewhere else, that it gets confusing. It gets really confusing.

I hope I see you in a year. I think I will, Tucker. I think so, too. Either here or in Maine. Here or in Maine. It's great to see you. Thank you. On that note, thank you very much for having me.