Q&A with Tucker and Uncle Buck: How Trump Can Redeem Himself, Drugs, and Firearms Источник: https://tuckercarlson.com/tucker-show-buckley-carlson-051426

Q&A with Tucker and Uncle Buck: How Trump Can Redeem Himself, Drugs, and Firearms

Источник: https://tuckercarlson.com/tucker-show-buckley-carlson-051426

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Tucker [00:00:04] Uncle Buck, welcome back. In your home territory, sitting at your own table in Maine. Post sauna. Post cold shower. How was your sauna? It was fantastic. It was restorative. It's my favorite. Okay, so what we're doing today is we're gonna go through viewer mail from our subscribers. Excellent. And these are all real. There's no fakery here, no makeup, no special lighting, no special effects. AI plays no role in the production of this show. And so this is a real letter from Karen from Grapevine, Texas, and I'm reading this verbatim. Dear Uncle Buck, it was pure broadcast gold listening to you. I'm such a huge, all caps, fan of yours. You're the John Wayne of our times, exclamation point. A no BS stud of a guy, exclamation point. I could listen all day, excclamation point. My sincere question is, Colin, can we get all caps more Uncle Buck on the show? Question mark exclamation point.

Buckley Carlson [00:01:04] And that's a lot of exclamation points. And I hope the answer to that is yes. I love being here. Love talking to my brother. Love being in this setting. Thank you for it. I hope so. Sorry, I just started on an enthusiastic note from Karen.

Tucker [00:01:23] Here's the first question, Tom from Long Island. Uncle Buck, I've heard you say the way that Ted Cruz and Mark Levin talk about Donald Trump. It's all about how he's the greatest man who ever lived and how brilliant and fearless he is. The praise is borderline pornographic. Do you think it's kind of gay to talk about another man this way?

Buckley Carlson [00:01:42] Well, you know, I do actually, I think the sick offense is obscene and also actually especially obscene because they didn't like Donald Trump and had nothing good to say about him before he was doing their bidding.

Tucker [00:01:54] Would you rather personally be sincerely criticized or falsely praised?

Buckley Carlson [00:02:00] Sincerely criticized as the only way to grow actually I yeah, I don't want any icky praise

Tucker [00:02:06] What about sincere praise? Sincere praise I can handle. You know, a measure. A measure. But which do you think is more corrosive to the soul, praise or criticism?

Buckley Carlson [00:02:16] Oh, praise for sure. Absolutely, people absorb it and they believe it. Yeah, and that's corrupting for sure-

Tucker [00:02:23] I think of praise as the Benzodiazepine of human interaction. Yes. Its danger comes from the fact it works so well and feels so good. Yes, you're narcotized by praise. You are, no, it's... And like Benzo's, the withdrawal period is tough. Yes, like you're seeking it out forever, never to find it again. So now that you've entered the public sphere on the internet and you're, you know, he went from being a... An unusually private person. I don't mean, you know, I'm not putting any, like, hidden implications there, but you were very private. Like, you made a point of staying out of any kind of public record, I would say. Perfectly content, I must say. So you pivoted from that in the space of six months to becoming, you, know, pretty darn famous, and now your name is everywhere on the internet, and you have unusual names. You know, it's, well, I guess there is one other Buckley Carlson, but there are not 100 other Buckly Carlsons. Do you, how do you feel when you see your name in print?

Buckley Carlson [00:03:29] I haven't really thought about it, actually. I get a lot of interesting commentary, a lot a nice, not a lot, of praise. A lot of attacks, actually, I'm not really sure how to answer that question. I don't read about myself at all. I do interact with a lot more people than I would have before, for sure. I think it's valuable. And I'm daily amazed with how many smart people there are. Really? Yes, daily. Amazed how smart and interesting and totally committed, like who actually one of them is top of mind because you just interviewed him and we had an amazing dinner with him, but Owen Benjamin out in Idaho, who'd previously been in LA and they tried to cancel him. And as often happens, he thrives exponentially as a result of the evil attacks against him. I mean, the guy. Is probably the richest man I've encountered in a long time. And by that, I mean, rich in the right ways with children, self-sustaining farm, a huge community of people who love and trust him. And he's having a huge effect on young people. I get this sense, and Americans in general who want to embrace the things that actually matter. So I encounter people like him. Can I just ask,

Tucker [00:04:51] If no one was around, no one was watching, there's no record of it, and you had two buttons in front of you and you could assume the life of one of two people. Larry Fink, one of the richest people in the world, is gonna own the majority of our data centers, head of BlackRock, more powerful than almost any head of state on the planet. You could live Larry Finks' life and have unlimited power and wealth, or live on Benjamin's life. It canceled former standup comic who lives on 15 acres in northern Idaho. Which would you choose?

Buckley Carlson [00:05:21] Would I rather drowned in total corruption and sadness and darkness, you mean? Or, or luxuriate in the love of my family and real Americans and friends and have an honorable, truthful life, productive life, making a difference in others' lives. I would choose that in a moment. That's not even a choice. It wouldn't even be a hesitation for you. No, after meeting Owen Benjamin, I thought his four children are the luckiest four children in this country at the moment. Yeah. All the fathers I've met.

Tucker [00:05:57] Do you think it's funny that Owen Benjamin, I haven't Googled Owen Benjamin but I bet if I did and went onto the CIA website, Wikipedia, that I would find that Owen Benjamin is one of the worst people in America. One of the most dangerous. He's crazy. He's a hater. He's...

Buckley Carlson [00:06:15] Purveyor of evil. I haven't Googled it, him either, but I'm certain it would be a run-on sentence with multiple, multiple commas. And yeah, the descriptors that you would just make you cringe, but also make you laugh because it's so absurd in this upside-down world that we celebrate the worst people in the world, the Larry Flinks of the world. Larry thinks of the word. Did you say Larry Flynn?

Tucker [00:06:38] Yeah, I did, sorry. For an older generation, they all immediately noticed that is. That was the publisher of Hustler magazine. Particularly outspoken, odious character. Yeah, well a pornographer, the most famous pornographer in America, a hero in the Democratic party.

Buckley Carlson [00:06:58] Yeah, but Owen Benjamin is a true hero. I agree. I mean, boy, the fact that they tried to crush him and in on every front relentlessly and the fact that he's blossomed as a result of it. I mean really the new growth there is remarkable.

Tucker [00:07:16] Well, it's interesting to me if you just think about like what a country needs in order to thrive and grow and just sustain itself, like remain great over generations, you need smart, dedicated people, good people running your country.

Buckley Carlson [00:07:32] Strong, honest men who actually procreate.

Tucker [00:07:35] Who are smart!

Buckley Carlson [00:07:36] Yes.

Tucker [00:07:37] And I don't think intelligence is everything at all. In fact, I don't think that. I don't worship intelligence, but I would say just on a pure IQ level, Owen Benjamin's one of the smartest people I've ever met in my life. For certain. Yeah. And Owen Benjamin is kind of basically unemployed. Yeah. And so are all these other people. Who you're referring to on the internet, I often think like how do they have time to be posting on Twitter at 2 p.m. On a Wednesday because they don't have real jobs, that's why. Yes. And it does seem like we have a system that identifies smart, the smartest and most free-thinking people and excludes them from the economy. Well, they're afraid of people like.

Buckley Carlson [00:08:18] That, who are independent and have good judgment and recognize truth from falsity and good from evil. It's that simple. I think, I mean, that's what I took from our conversation with Owen Benjamin is radar for BS and for the satanic was as sharp as I've ever seen.

Tucker [00:08:36] Yes, that's so smart. So they being the people who are organizing and running society can smell.

Buckley Carlson [00:08:47] The threat, is that what you're saying? They're afraid of nothing more than people who can recognize. Actually, one of the points that Owen made, I thought, that was most powerful and he made a lot, was the idea, I mean, first of all, you understand, biblically, God made it very clear, Jesus made it very clear that we have free will, we accept the right way, we accepted the truth. Owen's point was, the only way for the charade, the satanic charade to continue is through our complicity. Us as Americans, us as free thinking people, if we accept the satanic, the dishonesty, then we are complicit in ourselves. And it's much easier just to say, no, that's false. We reject it. We reject not just the little lies, but the big lies as well. And through that you get real freedom and peace and success. And yes, the people in power recognize that. They can identify people who are, who have good judgment and good radar about that.

Tucker [00:09:51] But I think it's obvious. And since it's, so I would say it's sincerity is the most threatening thing to the people in charge, people who mean it, who aren't doing it because they're getting paid by Qatar or Israel or anybody else or BlackRock for that matter, they're not doing it for the money. They're doing it cause they think it is true. People who have integrity, people who are strong, who are brave. Um, people like MTG, like they recognized immediately. You could say, well, she's right or wrong, or she's smarter, she is dumb. She's right and smart, but even if you thought she was wrong and dumb, the main fact about Marjorie Taylor Greene is she's not joking at all. She's not in it for some weird reason. She's in it because she really believes it and she's a woman and she is mad, so you can't stop her. And they saw that instantly and they instantly tried to attack her as an anti-semi-crazy, you know, whatever, the usual. Couldn't get her for a sex crime because she's woman, but. Wouldn't you want people like that running your society?

Buckley Carlson [00:10:53] People who can look you right in the face and tell you the truth, as Oman says, as you often say, I'm maybe wrong, but I'm not lying. Yeah, exactly. In that way, you can only look at those who you know and love, look at other people without shame and feel good about yourself. Even if you don't have money and you don't have a job or in his case, you didn't have any payment processors to process. You know, to engage in normal commerce. I mean, they've done everything to crush him. And yet he survived because he stuck to the truth and was tough about it.

Tucker [00:11:29] But if you, I mean, why wouldn't you want people like that? I mean I guess that's why they've killed all the heroes. So you won't be able to identify what a hero.

Buckley Carlson [00:11:38] Looks like, especially when our country was founded by people exactly like that, against great odds, I mean overwhelming odds.

Tucker [00:11:45] So instead it's like George Floyd is our new hero, like the unemployed fentanyl addict counterfeiter porn star.

Buckley Carlson [00:11:51] Well, every hero in the last half of my life has been a supposed victim. There's never anybody who's labeled a hero who's actually done something courageous or something productive or something truly heroic. It's always someone who's been the victim of, or the supposed victim of something. And that creates, it does not produce more heroes. I don't think, you need to celebrate real people of accomplishment.

Tucker [00:12:19] No, I totally agree with that, but why wouldn't you want to?

Buckley Carlson [00:12:23] I think if your entire society, your entire economic system is built on a lie that is only sustainable if people either ignore it and don't see it or pretend they don't it, then it's sustainable. As soon as people recognize the falsity and the absurdity of it, then it cannot be sustained, it can't stand on its own. I think that's totally true. What's the lie, the economic lie?

Tucker [00:12:49] At the heart of the system.

Buckley Carlson [00:12:52] Oh, that we're all in it together, that it's fair, that it is a meritocracy, that is a free market. I mean, I'm not a financial guy, but we're pretty far from a free-market. You can only succeed if you're friends with the president or, yeah.

Tucker [00:13:09] Not an oligarchy run by like the creepiest, most dishonest people in the world.

Buckley Carlson [00:13:16] Whatsoever yes, I take heart there their children don't respect them or like them. No, I think that's right. That is

Tucker [00:13:21] justice. So I was complaining about Larry Fink who I don't know. One day to somebody who knows Larry Fink really well and I said he just seems so awful and he goes oh you should feel sorry for Larry Fink. I was in a car with him the other day, someone knows him really well, and his wife called and was like screaming at him and you could hear you know her yelling through the phone at him and he was just totally, the back of a car in Manhattan he's telling the story and this is number of years ago. And his wife was just yelling at him and like Larry Fink is the most unhappy person who's ever lived.

Buckley Carlson [00:13:58] And I thought, that's so perfect. I mean, I don't wish unhappiness on anyone, but if I were to wish un-happines on someone, it would be Larry Flynn.

Tucker [00:14:05] It would be Larry Fink. Yes. Okay, here's a question that I'm interested in hearing the answer to. Uncle Buck, you were pretty tough on Trump last episode. Is there anything Trump could do to win you back?

Buckley Carlson [00:14:21] He could be courageous. He could meet the moment. He could, yes, he could just be straightforward and, well, he can apologize to the American people. Or he could start with explaining exactly what the mission is in Iran, if there is one, and he could articulate it clearly and consistently. He clearly can't do that or has no interest in doing that. So I think now, yes. He could stop pretending to be the Messiah. Yeah. And he could... What do you mean pretending? I mean, he, I mean... You think he's not? I don't have a lot of faith that Trump is the Messiah, no, I do not. And I'm unclear if he actually thinks that or if it's just his sense of humor, but whatever it is, it's dark and it's unacceptable. It's unacceptable to me, it's an acceptable to most people I know, actually every single person I know. So he could apologize, he could stop playing around and he could apologize. And he could resign, actually, maybe seek forgiveness, maybe repent, maybe accept Jesus in his life.

And then, yeah, if he did those things, I would forgive him.

Tucker [00:15:33] Begins with putting himself in the natural order as a man, not a God. Yes.

Buckley Carlson [00:15:39] Because he's clearly fallible, as we all are. That is the root of wisdom, isn't it? It seems like it. And I don't understand why it's difficult, either. I think strong men are capable of acknowledging when they've made bad decisions. Of course. And everybody can seek forgiveness, not just from God, but from each other. And if you've been elevated to the position he's been elevated, too, which is the greatest in the world, apparently. He apparently has all this power. He should also have some humility

Tucker [00:16:11] Yeah, I mean, I think going, if we're gonna learn one thing from this period, and this period not just being like the last 10 years with Trump, but like really post-war America. Yeah. Since Truman. I think it's that people need to stop pretending to be God.

Buckley Carlson [00:16:29] Yes, stop pretending to be God. And once they acknowledge they're not God and once they acknowledged they're followable, I actually think the American people, the most charitable people on earth, by the way, the nicest people on Earth who recognize their own flaws, every calm, reasonable person does, would go along, would understand. And... Look, if he identified the pressures that he's under, honestly, that everybody suspects he's under, everybody knows he's under, if you just acknowledge it, he could rally the American people behind him. He could shed that monkey from his back. That's right. With the help of the American people, that's their strength, like their collective strength and their support. I think that'd be huge. I think he would go down actually as the best president in our history. I completely agree. And I would be all in.

Tucker [00:17:20] And it's attainable too. I like Trump anyway. I've always liked Trump just because he's just likable, you know, and I've known him for so long. And so if he were to do that, I would, I mean, I immediately admit I was wrong about Trump. I mean I don't, I lost anything you only gain when you're honest about yourself. Yes, yes. No, I completely agree. It does seem like he's trapped, of course, by the Israelis in the Israeli lobby. But not just the Israelis and the Israelis. I mean, that's unacceptable because they're foreigners and they should have no role in our political system at all. The whole thing is disgusting. And the attempt to slander people for noticing it, the whole thing's so outrageous. I don't think it'll continue because there's just no defense of it. The best they have is shut up, anti-Semite, Jew hater, Holocaust denier, whatever. Call me names, fine. But like foreign countries shouldn't be in charge of our country.

But it's not just Israel and the Israel lobby. It's the Congress, it's the parties, it's both parties. Do you feel that?

Buckley Carlson [00:18:24] For sure, I mean, they're there. They are in power actually because of the same people who voted Trump into office. It's that basic. That's right. They were there to carry forward the program that Trump articulated for a decade. No one who voted for Congress was inspired by Congress because they've humiliated themselves for the past decade too. I mean they worked against Trump aggressively during the first term, continued to work against Trump, worked against him when the election was stolen. So no one has a lot of respect for the Republican caucus in general. They've never, ever exhibited any kind of gratitude towards Trump voters, obviously, or even towards Trump himself, is my understanding. I think there's still a great amount of disdain that they hold Trump in, that don't take him seriously. So yes, I, sorry, I tucked myself in a circle here. I just.

Tucker [00:19:18] I just wonder like can you reform the Republican Party? Can you reform the Democratic Party?

Buckley Carlson [00:19:23] Doesn't seem likely, no. And it doesn't seem like a lot of interest in doing so either. I think people are ready to burn both parties down. I think there needs to be a third way. The America First movement has been, the Make America Great Again movement has been so corrupted and so, I mean, it's joke at this point, I think. That's the sense I get. And people are interested in an America First party. That is independent of the burdens that those two parties have, because they're so, in the end, you vote Republican, you voted Democrat, you get exactly the same program, you got exactly the foreign policy, you the neglect on the domestic front, you've got the huge debt and you get the disdain from both sides. Both sides really don't care about the American people and they've demonstrated that So thoroughly. So once you're, I mean, if your house has, you know, a rotting foundation, you don't build upon it. You knock it down and build again. So I hope there's appetite for that. I would support it.

Tucker [00:20:27] You're seeing something like that. I know you have personal connections to this. You don't have to specify what they are, but there's something like that is happening in the UK. Yes. Where the liberal conservative split has been revealed as liberal conservative unity. Like there's really not that much difference between the Tories and labor actually. And so that whole, it's a parliamentary system. It's a different, slightly different system. It's more amenable to more party, obviously, but the consensus is breaking down. Right as we watch in the UK, and the country is being transformed by third party challenges. Yes, it is. It's heartening to see. It is heartening to see, and they're imperfect by the way. Yes. But they're better than.

Buckley Carlson [00:21:11] Current lie. Yes. Very much so. It's empowered people and given them hope that there is a new way because the lesson in the last 15 years, well before Trump was that nothing works, people don't listen, we don't have real leaders, they're totally captured by money and foreign power. And they're also, beyond that, they're working against the interests. Like, clearly, they don't like the people that they're supposed to govern.

Tucker [00:21:41] They're not just negligent, they're malicious.

Buckley Carlson [00:21:44] Not sustainable for a moment long.

Tucker [00:21:48] That's interesting. I do think the hope of AI, the real hope of it, no one's ever really shown how AI is gonna generate a lot of money. No. I mean, it's not an obvious business model. Like Facebook is an obvious business model, right? Yes. Gather all this information on people, sell ads on the basis of it. Got it. I don't see what the business model is for AI that's gonna repay the cost of the data centers. I just don't that. So I think maybe it's not primarily about money. Maybe I'm missing something. I think it's about keeping the population under control in a moment of crisis where, and the crisis is really simple, it's not about the Iran war, it's the total inability of the government to deliver anything people want. Yes.

Buckley Carlson [00:22:28] For sure, and then eliminate their livelihoods and eliminate their sense of purpose and their income, obviously. Yeah. No, I can't imagine, no, they obviously haven't articulated what the point is, but it's clearly not something that's gonna generate, I don't know what it's gonna generate other than misery.

Tucker [00:22:48] Maybe not human happiness, you don't see that?

Buckley Carlson [00:22:50] I mean, aside from the fact those surveillance centers that everybody calls data centers, I think it's more accurate to call them surveillance centers, but, you know, they're a blade on the landscape and they suck up all the power and they stuck up all water and people don't want them and people have been very clear they don't want them.

Tucker [00:23:08] And I heard from a cousin of ours this morning who lives in Tahoe, who shall remain unnamed, but it's just a wonderful person. Great person, you know who we're talking about? Yes. Obviously it's her cousin too. And who sent me this piece this morning that Tahoe Lake Tahoe which is, you know, in the middle of California on the Nevada border. And she lives on, I think on the Nevada side, does she? No, California side, whatever. Anyway, they're all giving without power. 50,000 residents are losing power, period. The utility company said, we're not gonna supply any more electricity to Tahoe after 2027 because all of that power is needed by the data center in Nevada. Sorry. That's it? No more electricity for you.

Buckley Carlson [00:23:52] But here's an assessment so you can pay for it in advance. You're not going to get it. The machines take... I'm sorry, the computers want the power. Literally no solution involved at all.

Tucker [00:24:01] She just sent this to me and it looks like a real piece. I think it is.

Buckley Carlson [00:24:03] Like it is crazy, one of the most beautiful places in the world. In the world, in the worlds of.

Tucker [00:24:09] I don't know why we're laughing, but it's like, who's more important, you or the machine? Unfortunately, the machine is actually electricity, so.

Buckley Carlson [00:24:19] Wow, that's astounding. I didn't know that. Yeah, luckily you saw cold there in the winter. Exactly. Yeah, try making through the Donner Pass. Exactly. How'd that work for the.

Speaker 3 [00:24:28] That work for the daughter party.

Tucker [00:24:31] For people, I'm sure I have no idea, the Donner Party, if you grew up in California, you know the Doner Party, very famous pioneer group coming west, who got stuck in a pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains and for the winter and ended up eating each other. Yes. Yeah. And it's still.

Buckley Carlson [00:24:48] You drive through it. Yes, Sahu. And even with modern technology, it's not easy to get through. You're still-

Tucker [00:24:52] putting chains on your truck to get through there. Absolutely.

Buckley Carlson [00:24:55] It's unbelievable.

Tucker [00:24:56] Okay, we're gonna take a quick detour here from the political. Do you mind if I have a camel? Please avail yourself of all nicotine products. I'm newly back on them and it's really improved my life. You're not gonna shock me. I am hard to shock in.

Buckley Carlson [00:25:13] I've noticed I've been blessed with you as my

Tucker [00:25:18] It's so funny that, I mean, I obviously love America. And by the way, if there is a new party, I hope it's called the America party. I hope so. So you can vote for America. Yes. Yeah, vote for American. Exactly. I like that. But it's also fair to kind of laugh at our silliness sometimes. And one of the silliest things I think in our culture is the idea that cigarettes are like worse than murder. Or like having a sex change. You could literally sit at dinner and be like, well, yeah, I was a man, but then I self castrated and became a woman. But it was like, I want to affirm your choice. But if you ever lit a cigarette at dinner, you would be banished.

Buckley Carlson [00:25:57] You can smoke weed at the table, you can pop mushrooms, you can use someone's front walk as a toilet, you can sleep on private property, but you're the greatest pariah in America if you smoke a cigarette.

Tucker [00:26:08] Oh, you can have sex on a subway platform. Yes. Yeah, but not smoke a cigarette. It's hilarious. Well, you're always welcome. Thank you. You're not welcome to have sex in my subway platform, but you can always smoke in my living room, always. Okay, here's a question from a man called Michael writing in from a place called Floydada, Florida. Unclear if that's a real place, but I love the name. And he writes, is Fausty your favorite over under shotgun? I don't know that you shoot over and unders, but whatever. Who gave you two, your first, your last, your third, your fourth, your fifth, your sixth,

Buckley Carlson [00:26:39] guns. I can answer that backwards. My great father or great father who taught us how to shoot when we were very young gave me all of my initial guns and my favorite which I subsequently gave to my son is a side-by-side and it's a Merkel made in 1971, 20 gage. 24 inches long twin trigger. One of the most- That's a short barrel in that gun. And it's a heavy barrel, German stock, of course, with an English straight stock on it. I've shot a Fausti, been a long time. Double triggers? Oh, it definitely has double triggers, yes. Do you prefer double or single? I'm so used to shooting a double trigger that I can't really shoot anything else. Or at least I'm looking for the double trigger every time. I totally agree. And I haven't shot a lot of over and unders lately. I shot one about three years ago And I just. Blew it. I mean, I didn't shoot well. I don't know, something about the site picture with the side-by-side, I really prefer.

We shot one yesterday. Shot one yesterday, yeah. Our great-grandmother's 110. Oh!

Tucker [00:27:42] No, no, we shut her yeah

Buckley Carlson [00:27:43] Yes, we shot, well we shot both, I think we shot a 28 yesterday side by side and then we shot a pump, a 115 year old Remington pump. Winchester. Winchester, forgive me. Yeah. Winchester blow.

Tucker [00:27:55] To her great-grandmother and still had the ranch stamp on the side of it. It's from the bunkhouse at the ranch. Tough lady. Yeah, tough lady.

Buckley Carlson [00:28:04] Great waterfowl hunter, duck hunting into her 80s after she broke her hip and had part of her hip bone made into a cane.

Tucker [00:28:14] I have a picture of her, which I should show you. I had it framed for our fishing camp, but it's a picture of her in the thirties or forties coming up on a duck with that gun with her Springer spaniel next to her. I mean, I thought, we don't have many relatives I'm proud to be related to, but she's definitely one of them. She was an impressive lady. So, okay, but you got your first shotgun from your dad and it's side-by-side Merkle. Yes. Straight stock double trigger. 24 inch barrel German shotgun in 20 gage And Fausti you're not exactly sure what that is

Buckley Carlson [00:28:52] Um, it's a, it' like an Argentinian, Italian, well I know it's Italian, I'm sorry, I was saying you would use it in like Argentina to shoot, you know, a thousand pigeons in a day. It's like a really utilitarian, well-made gun. The lesson.

Tucker [00:29:07] It is. I once for a wedding present gave a couple were very close to a pair of them that made for them.

Buckley Carlson [00:29:15] Oh, really?

Tucker [00:29:16] Yeah, in 28 and 20, and they shoot them all the time. Husband and wife shoot them all the times. What a gift. You know what I'm talking about. Yes. And they really like them. And they take them for duck and chucker and quail and obviously rough grass in Maine. Sorry, I wish I could speak more authoritatively. Yeah, so, but your favorite gun, if you were to say your favorite shotgun.

Buckley Carlson [00:29:41] You turned me on to 28s recently, in the last couple of years, and I try to shoot nothing other than a 28. I have a cheap 28, which is a side-by-side single trigger. Um, like Czechoslovakian made, but I, Oh, the CZ. Yes, which breaks easily. Yeah, it does break easily. But it's wieldy, it's light, long barrel. I've got a couple of those for guests. They're nice. In the fall. But I don't think I'm shooting anything other than a 28. That's like a $550 gun. Yes. It's a pretty good gun actually, for the cost. A little heavy. I aspire to buy an older.

Tucker [00:30:12] An older, better gun at some point. I think the AYAs are as good as you're gonna get for the, you know, if you're not willing to mortgage your house.

Buckley Carlson [00:30:22] Used, I think, aren't they used, Holland and Holland uses AYA's when they fit you for a I think that's right.

Tucker [00:30:27] I think that's right. Say AYA is a Spanish gunmaker that took the patterns for a bunch of English guns, Boss and Purdy and the rest. It's just kind of a conventional English side by side. Yes. Highly recommend it. Sidewalk.

Buckley Carlson [00:30:46] I do wish an American company would start making side-by-sides again. Yeah. I have a side- by-side gold label that was made very briefly. By Ruger? Yes. The great American gun company, the best. Great gun. And we got, well you have one of those. I do, I gave it to my son. I gave mine to my sun also. It's a great gun. It was made by Ruger.

Tucker [00:31:02] One year and they only made them in 12s and I don't shoot 12s anymore and I gave it to my son for ducks, I think because I have number 14. Do you really? Yes. Turns out to be a valuable gun. Yes, it is. I should remind my son that. And we got them because our father was friends with a chairman or a board member at Ruger. Yeah. Who was the father.

Buckley Carlson [00:31:26] Comet on the Marine Corps, one of the greatest men ever. PX Kelly. Real hero.

Tucker [00:31:31] He sent us, when we were kids, like the new Ruger's every year. Yes.

Buckley Carlson [00:31:40] And the red labels the red red labels red labels. The last side by side last over and under that I've ever shown. Yeah

Tucker [00:31:45] Yeah, they make.

Buckley Carlson [00:31:46] I only have one left. They're good looking.

Tucker [00:31:49] And they're fun. I sold one to Paul Begali years ago when we were on Crossfire, I had too many Ruger over and under, so I sold him a 20, I think. And then, but I, the one red label, like, is the only over and over I own, actually. It's literally the only one. And it's in 28 gage, and it's stainless, and it is an amazing gun. Amazing gun, and great looking, one of the best looking combinations. For an over and an under, I think over and unders are kind of ugly, but that one, it's a pretty gun.

Buckley Carlson [00:32:18] And it just shoots. Yes. Indestructible gun. So, to answer your question, never had a Fausti. Would certainly happily shoot one. Yeah. I mean, who wouldn't?

Tucker [00:32:29] Want more shotguns. Hey, man. Totally, it's one of my only weaknesses too. Just kidding, I have many. Okay, Teddy from Franklin Square, New York writes, which one of you got into more trouble as a kid? My money is on Uncle Buck. Boy. How would you answer?

Buckley Carlson [00:32:48] I would say you are an observant fellow, Teddy. Thank you. It wasn't that I engaged in more suspect. My brother was just better at evading capture, I would would say. I would that's true. Plus it was great too, because we went to the same schools our entire life. And you are in fact older than me. So I know that will come as a shock to some. Um, but you paved the way, and people were prepared for my hijinks after you... I don't know, they were fully prepared for your hijinks. Maybe not fully prepared.

Tucker [00:33:23] Um, so do you, when you look back on your childhood, would you say it was an uninterrupted strong string of troubles? It was a.

Buckley Carlson [00:33:33] Joyous time. And it was... I got to know some authorities. Yes, I did. There was a very typical relationship there. Yes. I knew them. They knew me.

Tucker [00:33:47] When was your first brush with the law and or authorities?

Buckley Carlson [00:33:54] I got arrested, arrested when I was like nine, it was such a BS charge, they didn't take me in, but it was public urination, I was completely sober, I was walking down the sidewalk, it was late at night, and I was on the way home, and I took a leak behind a hedge, and somehow that's illegal, I don't know, I wasn't anywhere near a school.

Tucker [00:34:16] You're arrested for public was that your first public or last public urination arrest?

Buckley Carlson [00:34:20] No, I think I've had a few of those.

Tucker [00:34:22] I like nature, man. So would you say, of all the people you know, you know a lot of people, you have the most public urination arrests of anybody?

Buckley Carlson [00:34:31] I would say I miss an America where the authorities actually had, they could make a decision on their own. Each individual cop could decide if you were, in fact, a bad guy or someone who just had a full bladder at night, because I evaded a lot, I had a lot of encounters with cops. Yeah. Not a lot arrests. You know, once they determine that you're not a threat and that you are a respectful citizen and exercising your. Your biological need or your freedom. They had discretion. They don't have discretion anymore.

Tucker [00:35:05] So you remember coming into contact with law enforcement officials and them saying, go on your way? Yes, multiple times. Any come rate to mind?

Buckley Carlson [00:35:17] A few driving, you know, I used to be a drinker. I was a young drinker, and- Very young drinkers. Very young drinking, and I was the driver. I know that's so much different in society now, but most people drank and smoked. Now only illegal aliens get to drunk drive. Yes, I've noticed that, Joe Biden said so. I know. Yeah, it was absolutely acceptable. So yes, I've had a few encounters after dinners, 30 years ago with police officers, where I was sober, but I'd had a couple of drinks. And as long as you could demonstrate that you had facility with the automobile, there used to be a blanket law that said you can't drive while distracted, which was a great law because it meant if you could smoke and drink coffee and maybe. Have a few cocktails or eat while you're driving or read a book while you are driving. As long as you can drive competently, you were safe to be on the road and that was discretion of a cop.

So we don't have cops like that anymore. No, we don't Technology has ruined it. And the matriarchy has ruined, I would say.

Tucker [00:36:22] What did you, I agree with you on both counts, did the main hierarchy work?

Buckley Carlson [00:36:27] Don't really believe it did. I don't think telling people that they're telling little kids that they are wonderful without any accomplishments at all. I don't think being inconsistent in your leadership and your inability to inspire boys specifically has been healthy. I think single mom households, while I completely admire women who've raised their children on their own, I don't think it's led to. The universality of it all has been bad for the country. And also, schools being run by women who don't like boys or don't understand boys or don't like men has been really corrupting and bad for society. Did you experience that? Experienced a little bit of that. You did? I did, I'm reminded actually, sorry to reference Owen Benjamin again, but during, he was talking about homeschooling his children and he'd found a. A great community where there are lots of like-minded people who had real skills and lots of children with not a lot of income, and they didn't wanna be involved in the school, the corrupting schools, so they homeschooled. And he asked his wife about being a teacher, and she said, I have no qualifications. Do you think I can be a good teacher? And he said, honey, half of my, the majority of my teachers were drunk sadists. And I laughed a lot during that interview, but I laughed at that one because I've encountered so many small-minded and irrational, just some of the worst people in the world who gravitate to teaching jobs, and I've never understood it. It should be, I used to joke about it when my son was in school, it's like, this is a very low bar. How about you just like children? And you understand children. Like that's it, just like children understand children and be like a rational, reasonable person. You don't find a lot of that. I didn't at least.

Tucker [00:38:22] Whenever, you know, when like we had kids in school and you go to dinner parties inevitably with the parents of other kids in your kid's class, you know your social world becomes like around the school at a certain age. And then there's some really nice people and other people you wouldn't choose to eat with, but whatever, that's your world for a while. And you know you get home on Friday night and you say to your wife, what are we doing this weekend? And she's like, oh, we're having dinner. So if I ever wanted to stop the conversation at one of these dinners, Did we talk about the school and its importance of school? I would point out that I was the only person in my nuclear family to make it through high school. Yeah. Look at you, like, wait. Be horrified. Were you from Appalachia? Like, where are you from? Yes. You're like, no, La Jolla, California, Georgetown. Yeah, everyone was successful and happy, but I'm literally the only who made it through. So that tells you how much it means.

Buckley Carlson [00:39:13] Matters, not too much. Not too much, I was always struck at those dinners, and boy, they're an argument for drinking, those diners, I found. But I was also shocked at the degree to which your average parent, well-educated, you know, economically well-off, parent would be willing to cede ultimate authority to a school. Oh, yes. And they felt it so foreign that, no, you're the boss of your children. Oh, yeah. I would say the majority of conflicts we had with my son's school growing up, my son understood that intuitively and I taught him that, you know, you encounter all these other adults in your life and yes, you have to accord them some certain amount of respect. But in the end, I'm the guy who decides what's right, what's wrong. Yeah, I am your father. What you can do, yeah, exactly. And that is a, that's completely absent in American society, as far as I can tell.

Tucker [00:40:05] So in other words, the process of schooling in this country and not just this country, the West, is really not simply about giving your children over to be educated, but about giving their children over.

Buckley Carlson [00:40:15] Yes, yes. Surrendering your children, surrendering your authority to the state. Why would you ever do that? Where has the state demonstrated any kind of love, responsibility, honor? I mean, it's an institution.

Tucker [00:40:29] Anybody who's fallen into the clutches of any state run organization whose whole purpose is purportedly to protect and help you and heal you. Yes. You will hear horror stories that are just like beyond. Yes, yesterday I was on, I was talking to an attorney who specializes in this stuff and you know he was telling me about state facilities in a pretty advanced first world state, one of our best states, I'm not going to name it, but uh. Not, you know, it's not Illinois, it's New York or California, it was like a real state. Yes. And he was saying the number of rapes and murders of innocent people caught up in the system is like unbelievable. He represents them for a living on contingency, by the way. So like it's, these are cases where the facts are so overwhelming that this guy's getting rich from representing the victims. He said it's people knew what was going on. But they don't know and they just kind of so that's the organization you're handing your kids over to

Buckley Carlson [00:41:31] analogous in pretty much every other institution in America, especially hospitals. It's like, where do you want to go for a communicable disease? It's not travel in the third world. It's go to your local hospital.

Tucker [00:41:41] That is so true, dude. Yeah, when our father was sick in the final months, he wound up in the hospital for one day. Oh, I remember.

Buckley Carlson [00:41:51] I remember, I drove to that wonderful state, I got there at 6.30 in the morning, he'd been there for nine hours. When are you gonna get me out of this fucking gulag?

Tucker [00:42:01] He said to me, he goes, I think you were sitting right there, he goes no one will ever understand how much I hate this. Profundity, like just no one will ever understand.

Buckley Carlson [00:42:17] That was amazing. It was amazing demonstration too, because he was so kind and nice and understood that the nurses were well-meaning. Oh yeah. Again, he was a perfect gentleman to them, but also had no trouble articulating how desperate he was to get the hell out of there. And he was determined to, yes, and he did. And he did

Tucker [00:42:36] And he had no contact with any medical authority from that point until he passed away happily. No drugs at all. Total clarity, total courage. And that last six weeks was just like frenzy of well-meaning. In fact, one of the doctors I love, I know personally and really love and is like a really good person, woman, a sweet person, smart person, but all of them from the good to the bad, they were all totally focused on intervening into a situation in which he wanted no intervention at all? Yes. I guess what I'm saying is it wasn't about the individuals, it was about the system itself had like the worst possible priorities. Yes, yes. Even though the individual-

Buckley Carlson [00:43:16] and it were well-meaning. So many of them were great. Even the annoying ones were basically good people, I thought. Absolutely. But you wouldn't want them making life decisions for you, especially end-of-life decisions. Yes. It's the most important part of your life, it seems. I had never thought that until I witnessed. What did you learn? His death. Just the fact. I mean, I had not really thought about, I'm... Don't condemn anybody, anything. And I know a lot of people at the end of life are in chronic pain and miserable and dying of cancer or some horrible ailment and they need the benefit of opioids or morphine or something. And he issued all of that and I'd never even considered it. I remember we were given the option and he said, no dice, I don't want any of that stuff. And I thought, wow, they really thought about it. And then to see the clarity that he had in the end of his life where he was disassociated from the pain because he knew where he going. Yes. He had no regrets in his life. He'd already made amends with God and he had obviously very strong, enduring relationships his entire life with us, his small family and his dogs.

And he was a total piece. And he could not have achieved that with any kind of medical deadening products. He couldn't have. I'm certain of it.

Tucker [00:44:33] So I don't judge anybody who I once took pink, you know, had a back injury and in my frenzy, you now, of pain, I took painkillers one time in my life and, uh, but I did that. So I, I get it. I'm not judging anybody at all. You know, you've got stage four pancreatic or whatever. There are very painful ways to die. Yes. And, and it's terrifying. It's terrifying the little taste of it. I had, I got it. I also think that we should respect people who, we should be honest about the effects of that and what we take from people. We take from them their pain, but we also take from their consciousness. Very much. And that's a trade. We shouldn't pretend it's not a trade, it is a trade

Buckley Carlson [00:45:17] Plus people spend enough time sleeping in their lives. And if there's one part you probably want to pay a lot of attention to, it's the end of your life. I am convinced of that now. I really hope I have the courage that he had. Me too. I mean, if I don't die some violent, automatic death over him, you know.

Tucker [00:45:32] You know, which I think is pretty plausible. The secret dream of every man. Yes.

Buckley Carlson [00:45:38] I mean, I hope I'm in bed with my girl and it's the apogee, honestly. That seems pretty selfish, but. Yeah, that's the real secret dream of every man. Yes, of course, absolutely.

Tucker [00:45:48] Yeah, the final cry. Yes. But I don't know if that's like kind to the remaining partner. I've had this discussion. Yeah, I think every man has. Yes. But you came away from watching your father's death with.

Buckley Carlson [00:46:08] The hope that you would be that brave. I'm gonna aspire to be that braved, the certainty that I'm going to try that. I mean, I have some self-discipline and I'd like to be disciplined there. I mean I'm, you know, I'm pretty certain I do know what happens in the end. I mean. I know where he went for sure. I know, where our mother went. I know they're together. I know that they're reunited with our animals and with their loved ones from the past. And yeah, I want to be as. Conscious and aware of that as I can possibly be plus. I don't know physical pain is horrible I've been I've had chronic physical pain. I've got a lot of painkillers. I thought a lot surgeries I stopped using them after my last one because just they make you feel so awful and disassociated from reality Don't begrudge other people using them, but I know I want to be awake It's like would you be asleep on a roller coaster? No, would you fly an airplane and asleep? No The ultimate journey.

Tucker [00:47:08] Unconscious during your

Buckley Carlson [00:47:09] No, absolutely not. No, you want to be covered in viscera. Right. Yeah. As I was, it was my son's first act. Urinated on absolutely everybody in the room. It's pretty great. I was very proud. Including you? Yeah. He was born a month early. I remember. You never know. He's a big, strong fellow now. Largest Swedish person in history. Shocking and tough and tough, physically tough. But, you know, he made an entrance. But, you think that-

Tucker [00:47:41] I mean, we were taught growing up that like, well, first of all, death is the one thing you don't talk about. Yes. You can talk all you want about your orgasms or your dreams or anything that previous generations thought personal, but you're totally invited to give lectures on them. It doesn't matter. But death is something that you just don't discuss. That's like.

Buckley Carlson [00:48:02] The true taboo. For sure, which I never, actually, I've never thought about it until I was confronted with it, with our father and our mother before him. But it seems absurd. It seems like a total inversion of priorities. Life itself is worth celebrating every moment of your life. Yes. And it's coming to an end here on earth. And you're definitely destined for something else, something greater, something more peaceful, something more love-filled. And... Yeah, I wanna be, I want my eyes fully open and fully aware. I wanna embrace that just like I've embraced life. And I wouldn't have thought that if I hadn't witnessed it with our dad.

Tucker [00:48:43] What I learned was a death like that is a profound gift to everyone who witnesses it. For sure. And I think like every child, you know, you go through life on some level dreading your parents' death, many, many years before it happens. It's like so- My entire life? Mine too. Yeah. And especially if you're in a single-parent household, like we were when we were little, it's like, that is the biggest nightmare. Yeah. You know, your dad's five minutes late getting home from work and you're like, is he still alive? You know, it's like you're so. Worried about a parent dying. And I think every child feels this way. And then when it happens, it's like inconceivable that there could be anything good in that at all.

Buckley Carlson [00:49:26] Is. Plus the lack of planning, maybe you planned it, I didn't. We were around for, I mean you were, you live near each other, so you were around a lot, but I was on scene for the last 10 days. Yeah. And still could not conceive what that was going to be like. Yes. We could plan for it, and like every great thing in life, we didn't have to plan, and God planned it for us, and we were there. I mean, it was like the most peaceful thing I've ever, ever encountered, in it. I had no sadness at his passing. I miss him every day, but I don't regret his passing and it was one of the most profound moments of my life. Me too. Me too, for sure. It was one the greatest things I've ever experienced. Thank you, by the way, for it.

Tucker [00:50:06] Oh, it was mostly my wife, as you know, but I just had no, uh... I've never experienced anything like that. It's amazing. And I hope to be that man too. Yes. Yeah, I remember when he died, I remember saying to you, God, he really was that tough. Wow. Yeah, we thought he was that tuff, but.

Buckley Carlson [00:50:27] Not to get personal, but also the physical elements that he had in the end. I mean, that would lay everybody I know out.

Tucker [00:50:34] Yeah, but like when you're a kid you think your dad is like, you know the toughest man who ever lived My dad will beat up your dad You know, like you just you a boy has to believe his dad is a hero. That's total Superman Yeah, and then to find out you know 50 years later that it actually is true. Yes was Incredible Alright, let me Hit with it. I don't know. I actually don't the answer to this I can answer for myself, but not you Here's the question, this comes from Kay in Hayden, Alabama. Uncle Buck, you and Tucker seem to be politically aligned, but is there one thing you totally disagree on?

Buckley Carlson [00:51:16] Hmm, I do feel like I'm politically aligned with you on pretty much everything, naturally. There's probably one thing I disagree with you on. Hit me. The death penalty. Yeah. Well, I hadn't really thought a lot about it. I think you are against it. And I have no interest in ceding more power to the state. And I don't think the state should be responsible for deciding decisions of life and death. I think there are some crimes. That merit death and the one that comes to mind obviously is child rape and child killing. Yes. And provided the state, which is a big if, has concluded beyond a shadow of any doubt, like real evidence that that person's guilty of something like that, I think they should be put to death. I think there are a lot of people in this country right now who are skating free from the most monstrous crimes. That being the top crime. Anybody who would hurt a child, anybody who would have sex with a child anybody who wouldn't torture a child needs to be put to death, preferably in public. I think it would, you know, provide hope and happiness actually to the rest of the country to see that kind of punishment meted out. And I think that might have a deterrent effect but beyond that, I think anybody who would do something like that is totally irredeemable. That you cannot rehabilitate someone with those kind of dark impulses and they should be eliminated from society.

Tucker [00:52:47] That's the only thing that comes to mind. I get it. All my instincts agree with you. Of course, I mean, of course. And I don't know that there have been many societies in history. Meet out the death penalty. And that's kind of the purpose of the state is famously to have the monopoly on violence and to protect its citizens. And if it's a legitimate state to protect itself. Yes. Yeah, no, I mean, that's why people come together and organize like a ruling structure. That's why you cede any of your liberty to the government. That's exactly right. No, I agree. I just hear the two things that I strongly feel that are in opposition to that, I guess, or at least would. Going to mitigate my enthusiasm for it. Uh, the first would be, um, I don't want our rulers to consider themselves gods with the power over life and death. And so that kind of feeds the mania, yes, the egomania, the hubris of our leaders that like, and you see this with them whenever they're killing people abroad, you know, I will unleash destruction. I will destroy your civilization. It's like, settle down son. You're gonna be cowering in terror on your deathbed soon. And you're going to find out how much power you have zero. And I just think it's good to make decisions informed by that reality. Just this kind of pathetic furry primate.

So like act like it. That's the first thing. The second thing is I personally wouldn't want to be the executioner. So it's a lot to ask someone else to do that. Yes. And I guess to me, justice feels more like the families of the victims being able, if they so choose, to carry out that- 100%. Death penalty, with the sanction of the state. Like I'm not endorsing vigilante justice, though I get it. I mean, I definitely do. If the state refuses to provide justice, I don't think it's crazy when people decide to affect justice themselves. I mean that's, of course, that's why you need a state that affects justice, but whatever. But it just seems like,

Buckley Carlson [00:54:56] just. I bet if you put that question to a referendum, it would be overwhelmingly supported. And I think most things of that importance should be put to a referendum. Especially now when we've revealed that representative leadership isn't really representative. Then put it to the citizens. A referendum.

Tucker [00:55:14] No, I think that's right. I mean, that worked in societies that were based on the family unit. Yes. And that actually has been a form of justice in many states and I think still is, and it is. But so the question we put to the family, but in a country that's not based on the family that doesn't really have families, for millions of people have no families. Or that hates families. Or that hate families, that's, right. That's trying, that sees the family's arrival to its own power. Yes. And therefore systematically destroys it. What it kind of leaves you in a weird position. Like. You know, someone's killed, a child is raped, but actually the child doesn't have parents really. I mean, there's a lot of that in our society. Yes.

Buckley Carlson [00:55:53] Plus people don't have faith in the judicial system anyway. So undermined the idea of equal justice. So it would have to be overwhelming evidence. And I think you're right, offer the family the opportunity to meet out the justice in a structured way. I kind of think so. Yeah.

Tucker [00:56:12] Okay, so let's let's end on a funny note. You want to? Yes. Your brother once told a hilarious story, this is from Mohammed in London. Your brother was told the hilarious story on Joe Rogan about losing you at a Grateful Dead show in San Francisco in 1984. The world needs to know your side of that story.

Buckley Carlson [00:56:37] I remember that pretty well, actually. You do remember it well. Set the stage for us. My side of that story would have to begin with our improbable possession of an obscenely red teatop Camaro that we drove from Lake Tahoe to San Francisco, and I don't think either of us were of age. It was a different America, but we had our own rental car.

Tucker [00:57:00] Well, I know, because that was in that was the New Year's shows. That was not the New York show. That was like two days before New Year, but it was that series of shows they played every year around New Year. Usually in Oakland, but that one year at San Francisco Civic Center. And that was 1984. So I was 13, and I was 15.

Buckley Carlson [00:57:20] So by definition, we do not have driver's licenses. So we drove, I was the designated driver, I recall. That's like 120 miles, beautiful roads.

Tucker [00:57:29] From our family ski house in Incline Village in Lake Tahoe to downtown San Francisco. Yes. And I know that we had parents, I don't know where they were.

Buckley Carlson [00:57:39] We did have, that's a joke, yes, we did absolutely have parents. I think we had some surrogates looking after us. Where were our parents? I don't, you know, reachable.

Tucker [00:57:54] I don't think they were reachable, I don't think they're in the country.

Buckley Carlson [00:57:57] Pre-cell phone. I don't know. I mean, we had. They were great people. I don't know where they were. We had a rental car in like $86, I think. That was a rental card? Yes. Who rented it? Do you know? I think the great Mike McGuire. Oh, our minder. Yes. I think, yes. He was great. Someone who was entrusted with her safety. It was really great. So it was an adventure to begin with.

Tucker [00:58:21] We're in Tahoe. We're both in boarding school. I think yes on the East Coast. We fly back to California We go to the ski place to ski at Squaw Valley Correct. Yes, and then our parents are somewhere somewhere unclear We're left with this guy is supposed to be like in charge of us somehow He was a great guy

Buckley Carlson [00:58:44] who was a great guy and smart and yet manipulable.

Tucker [00:58:47] Yeah, and he was often in charge of us. I'm not exactly sure where he came from. He later went on to be like a successful, legit guy. Let's not name him, but anyway, he worked for our father in some capacity. I never even figured that out, but whatever, he was somehow in charge of us and we're like, hey, we want to go to a Grateful Dead show in San Francisco. And he's like, I'll rent you a bright red Camaro. That was the idea.

Buckley Carlson [00:59:10] Apparently, so we drove in, we, it was my first dead show.

Tucker [00:59:14] And you drove from Inclined Village, Nevada to San Francisco, California. Yes, absolutely. And I was in the passenger seat.

Buckley Carlson [00:59:22] Yes, and we were playing tunes and having a great time. And we drove into downtown San Francisco, where I hadn't of course been, but never been to a Dead show. Went to a ton over the next, I think Jerry was alive for the next 12 years. Yeah. It was obviously the birthplace of The Grateful Dead. So- It was our birthplace too. It was out birthplace. The Dead had been playing there for 20 years or more. People, I don't know, I didn't get into the show. So you got a ticket, we got a scalper's ticket in the- No, some random guy came up to me and handed it to me. And handed it for free. Yes. So I didn't have a ticket which was, turn out to be fine. I mean, I would say the one observation I have, many observations about a Dead Show, is that the parking lot, the roving caravan of characters that would travel around with the Grateful Dead was every bit as enjoyable as the Dead Show itself. Great music, great people, a real sense of love and community and craziness. Lots of arts and crafts, dogs, children, food. And truly welcoming people. So I never- Like a medieval fair kind of. Yes, very much so. With a ton of creativity and joy, actually. Been to a lot of concerts, I've never had one other than a Grateful Dead show, recreate the sense of happiness that you would find in a parking lot. So tons of characters, many of whom didn't have aspiration even to get into the show, they were just there for them. The scene, you know, parked outside. So I remember you getting your ticket. I had been hopeful to get one, didn't get one. I don't recall ever feeling abandoned or worried or anxious about how you and I were going to logistically hook up again.

Tucker [01:01:12] So you're 13 years old, you're in downtown San Francisco with no money alone. Yes. Um, your parents are in another country or somewhere, not even clear where they are. And you're, you know, with your older brother who just gets handed a ticket from some random strange run LSD and walks off and leaves you for three hours. You have no plans whatsoever. No hotel, nothing. You don't even know where the rental car is and you're fine with that.

Buckley Carlson [01:01:42] It sounds horrifying now as a father and in retrospect, I don't recall being worried a bit. No, it was like a huge sense of adventure. And I was sober. I mean, I did a little pot smoking, I think. Pretty certain actually. And I read some, you know. Weed-filled cookies or something, and just ended up wandering around and finally finding a bunch of people that were playing music in a van and hung out with them, and I think you came and retrieved me. I got the sense that you were relieved that you found me, but I had total faith that we would hook up again. I mean, isn't that what a dead show's all about? You wound up in a Van. Yes, like a VW party van, like the caravan van. With a dog or several dogs, and a bunch of people in their 30s or their 20s. And you're 13 in the van with all these people. Yeah, they didn't seem to think it was weird. So I took my cue from those around me, I guess. And you didn't feel any threat at all and nobody did anything weird? No, not a bit. No, I only recall, I recall just a total sense of adventure, happiness. I mean, I guess I sound kind of dim-witted now, because it has all the hallmarks of an abduction. I mean it really does. I wouldn't have allowed my own 13-year-old son to do that. I don't think you could do anything like that in America. No, I think, no, the SWAT team wouldn't show up if they're in the... Amber, a little...

Tucker [01:03:14] You'd be in Croatia working in a brothel or something the next day, you'd be here in traffic so fast.

Buckley Carlson [01:03:21] To make your head spin. No discernible threat, as far as I recall, and no worry. And we did, it worked out. We ended up hooking back up, and then we stayed in some flea bag. We had like 12 bucks between us, and we stayed at some hotel. Didn't we? I don't remember.

Tucker [01:03:39] Where we stayed, I was not as sober as you, unfortunately, and I had eaten some substance that somebody handed me and would just like lost contact with my earthly self and- That's always a good idea. Yeah, it was not a good idea at all. I just really, man, when I see and I don't, you know, I feel so sorry for the guys who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I know so many of them in there. They did what they were asked to do and they did it well and they're so damaged from it. And so many of them are now finding relief in hallucinogens, and I want relief for everybody, however it comes. But I'm not quite as convinced that it's a good path, because I've been down that path so much, and I'm just not. I think it's lot more complicated than people are telling them. I think that's really scary to mess with.

Buckley Carlson [01:04:32] Why do you think that? Because I had a brief experience in boarding school where I engaged in some of that. Yeah, no, I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. I just think you don't know. It's different for everyone, I guess. I just you're fooling with things. You're foolin' with deep, dark stuff that you cannot control. And I know a number of people who've lost their minds. And lives. Yeah, and lives. And just never achieve true happiness again and disassociated from their lives and families. And please, life itself is a total flippin' joy. So you don't really, the older I get, the more I realize, I've realized it for 20 years, but I think about it almost daily. Like who would need any kind of additive to enjoy the splendor around you? You just don't need it. And it's a detractor, it's the deadener and.

Tucker [01:05:28] So if you grew up in, I don't know, La Jolla, California in the seventies and eighties, and you said to yourself, this is all so normal and nice, I really need to go to another place that's kaleidoscopic and maybe mildly threatening or euphoric or whatever, but I'm looking for a trip. My life's not weird enough for me. I wanna get strange, as they used to say. Remember that? Yes, very well. You were pivoting against what seemed very conventional. You tell me how with a straight face you could live in America in 2026 and say honestly, I just want it to be weirder

Buckley Carlson [01:06:08] No, we're all in the Twilight Zone at all the times. You can't keep up with all the craziness. So you have to embrace those around you. Embrace your dogs, embrace your loves. And that's where sanity comes from, I think.

Tucker [01:06:21] Do you ever wake up and say, you know, I just, I'm just kind of bored with this, the same old, same old, I mean, I need to head to Mexico for some ayahuasca, just to kind of spice it up a little bit and live in the experience.

Buckley Carlson [01:06:36] We do not live in boring times no not a bit

Tucker [01:06:42] Man of wisdom and restraint.

Buckley Carlson [01:06:45] Hardly, but I'm really glad to move. I'm a man of gratitude, I'll tell you that. Thank you for having me.