Tucker Carlson: Putin, Navalny, Trump, CIA, NSA, War, Politics & Freedom | Lex Fridman Podcast #414

Lex Fridman opens by defending his choice to interview Tucker Carlson and his philosophy of talking to everyone in long-form. Carlson then recounts the experience of interviewing Vladimir Putin in Moscow, why he let Putin filibuster on Russian history, and his stance that the US public is being lied to about the Ukraine war being winnable. The conversation ranges across Navalny's death, US intelligence agencies surveilling and leaking against him, the contrast between Moscow's cleanliness and American urban decay, and his critique of leaders, media figures like Jon Stewart, and figures like Boris Johnson and Nikki Haley. They also discuss the 2020 election, Trump's prosecutions, the CIA's domestic role, technology's effect on society, and Carlson's advice to have children and pursue creation over money.

• Carlson says he was being intensely surveilled by the US government, and the NSA admitted years ago they accessed his Signal account and leaked it to The New York Times.
  00:29:53
• Carlson reveals only his wife and two producers knew he was going to interview Putin, yet New York Times reporters knew, indicating the government leaked it.
  00:30:23
• Carlson had a secret dinner with Ed Snowden in his Four Seasons hotel room in Moscow, which Semafor then reported using leaked US intel information.
  00:30:54
• Carlson recounts that his 2004 Crossfire clash with Jon Stewart was one of the first big viral YouTube videos.
  01:09:51
• Carlson states Russia tried to join NATO in 2000 and was turned down, and Putin proposed designating Iran as a common enemy, which Condoleezza Rice and Bush rejected.
  01:39:38
• Carlson reveals he applied to the CIA's operations directorate in college and was rejected on the basis of drug use.
  02:30:24
• Carlson claims the CIA was involved in the Kennedy assassination, saying he confirmed it from someone who read still-classified documents.
  02:31:26
• Carlson recounts being friends with Larry King and serving as his fill-in host, praising King's intense curiosity.
  02:43:33
• Carlson describes sitting with Klaus Schwab, who openly talked about implanting chips in the human brain, which Carlson calls totally evil.
  03:00:25

• Carlson cites that Russia produces artillery shells at a ratio of seven to one compared to all NATO countries combined, calling it the single most significant fact of the war.
  00:11:04
• Carlson describes Moscow as the largest city in Europe with 13 million people, which he found cleaner and nicer than any American city despite two years of sanctions.
  00:42:21
• Carlson asserts Google holds about 90 percent of search and is a monopoly that operates in violation of US law.
  00:53:43
• Carlson claims NATO blew up the Nord Stream pipeline, calling it the largest act of industrial terrorism and environmental crime in history.
  01:03:36
• Lex notes the US scores 71 on the World Press Freedom Index, the same as Gambia, with Ukraine at 61 and Russia at 35.
  01:04:08
• Carlson states Putin has effectively been in power 24 years and became weird and cloistered during COVID.
  01:34:57
• Carlson observes South Korea is below replacement fertility with an astronomical suicide rate, linking it to heavy technology penetration.
  02:00:36
• Carlson notes the man who removed Iran's Mossadegh, a Roosevelt CIA officer, lived on his street growing up.
  02:30:24
• Carlson names Sheikh Mohamed (MBZ) of Abu Dhabi as the greatest leader he has ever met, attributing it to humility about his own limitations.
  02:49:48
• Carlson reveals he and his wife have been together 40 years since 1984 and married since August 1991.
  02:45:05

Books, products and media the guest or host genuinely endorsed here — with the buy link.

Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.