The Tucker Carlson Encounter: Dan Ball (OAN) 1A TYRANNY "That’s illegal but it’s happening"

Democrats in Congress are working to shut down a TV network that criticized them. That’s illegal but it’s happening.Show more

LINK to original video here >>> https://tuckercarlson.com/the-tucker-carlson-encounter-dan-ball/
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Tucker [00:00:00] If the First Amendment means anything and it has to if this is going to remain America, it means that the US government cannot censor the news. It can't make laws to stop journalists from saying what they think is true. So that's not a arcane legal question, it's in the text. It's the First Amendment to our Bill of Rights, the whole point of America. And yet out there in the open. Democrats are working to shut down news organizations all over the country. We've reported on this for a couple of years, but in no case are they're doing it more openly than their attempt to shut down a conservative news channel called One America News. OAN. And so why are they doing this? Well, they say the channel pushes something called disinformation, disinformation you should know does not mean that something is dishonest or factually incorrect. It can be entirely true. It just means that the people in charge don't want to hear it, and they don't want you to hear it. So it's therefore, disinformation is a term stolen from the Intel agencies, which are part of the apparatus in the federal government that Democrats are using to shut down the news. So here's California Governor Gavin Newsom going after OAN for daring to say that the vaccine might not be safe and effective.

Newsom Soundbite [00:01:14] Well, the platforms are of concern, of course, and platforms have to do a better job across the spectrum. But they're also those that, propaganda machines that are out there as well. Let's be candid. One American News. You're familiar with them down here, perhaps one of the great disinformation networks in America.

Tucker [00:01:30] Oh, man. It's one of the great disinformation networks in America. There's a guy who lies every day for a living, and it's not a guess. It can be proven. There's a guy who locked down the entire state and then went to the French Laundry in Napa for dinner without a mask on. That guy's accusing other people of disinformation. So what you have here is the oldest story ever told. The people in power don't want to be criticized. And in a so-called democratic system, they don't want voters to know that they're liars and incompetent. So they shut down anyone who tells the truth about them or who spreads a message they don't care for. It's just abuse of power. It never changes. It's been going on since Nebuchadnezzar, and he learned it from his grandfather because it's never not existed. But this country officially disallowed it, made it illegal with the Bill of Rights, which is just now being ignored. So House Democrats are putting pressure on cable providers to cut ties with OAN, because that's not unconstitutional somehow. So we're watching all of this. It's getting no attention. And we thought, why not speak to someone at the center of it Dan Ball, he's a host of Real America on One America News on OAN, and he joins us now, is due to explain what's happening to him and his employer. Dan, thanks very much.

Dan Ball [00:02:39] Tucker. Can I say thank you. Oh my gosh. Inviting me, OAN. Some of our managements here and ownership as well. We truly appreciate it. Oh I mean of course, in a voice of reason, common sense for the people, for the Constitution, for freedom of press, freedom of speech. So thank you.

Tucker [00:02:57] Thank well, that's all that matters. I mean, I've got nothing to do with Oann. I don't even own a TV, as you know, but I think it is. I hate the word, but it's existential. It is a question of life or death for the country, whether or not the First Amendment stands, and the idea that Democrats in power trying to shut down a news organization for saying things you don't like, which, by the way, happen to be true things. Yes. Is really a threat to life as we know it. So thank you. So tell us, just I'll ask you simple questions and get out of the way. How are government officials trying to shut down your news organization?

Dan Ball [00:03:29] So go back to 2020. Let's start with the reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop. Yes. OAN was the first one to break that. Yes, they it was legit. We had Rudy Giuliani come on with our Sheinelle Ryan and discuss it. We even went over to Ukraine and interviewed some folks. And in August we broke that story before the election. We were then called by every single mainstream media outlet and Democrats, purveyors of disinformation, Russian propagandists. There was people online saying that we were owned by Russia, that we favored Putin, that Mr. Herring was bought and paid for by Russia or Trump. I can guarantee you it's a sweet 82 year old hard working man and his two sons. Not Putin, not Trump. I can assure you I've been there almost four years.

Tucker [00:04:10] Can I just say, because I've been obviously the the subject of this as well?

Dan Ball [00:04:13] Yes. You know.

Tucker [00:04:14] I don't really care who owns your news, anyone's news network. If it turned out that, you know, you were owned by Vladimir Putin, I would, which you're not, of course, but I would still assess the product on its own terms. Is what you're saying true or not? I mean, that's all that matters.

Dan Ball [00:04:28] And what they tell us back then, the laptop was Russian disinformation. You had those, what, 50 some ex intelligence community people say it was misinformation. Disinformation, Russian propaganda. Yes, sir. And we aired it. So that's when it really started. Okay. They looked at us and went, oh my God, these guys are going to interfere with the election because we're spinning truth to power. We're telling you this laptop is real. The big guy is Joe Biden, he's taking 10%. He's used his family and his influence to make millions to enrich himself. Well, they didn't like that very much. No. And then of course, Covid. We're in the middle of Covid. We busted through the narrative of the masks aren't working. When Joe took over and he told him to get the vaccine, he was talking about that winter of death and everything. We were talking about the irregularities you'd see with the vaccine when it comes to side effects and deaths, they didn't like that. So it was kind of cascading downward from a Hunter Biden laptop story to Covid coverage. And then we had the 2020 election, okay. And we had people on, of course, discussing irregularities in the election. They didn't like any of that. So it started several ways. YouTube demonetized us. I mean, every time we put a story about Covid masks, distancing, the laptop boom, taken down, 30 day suspension, 60 days, or just try to kill the whole account. And then all of a sudden letters came out. I think about 21 or 22 and somebody can correct me if I'm wrong on the date. But you had a letter and I think I gave it to your producers. There was a letter from four Democrat senators and two California Congress folks, Democrats, who sent letters to not only all of the satellite and cable carriers, but also to advertisers. And they used that little thing from Newsguard, which I heard you talk about Newsguard in that ESG rating and pyramid system.

Tucker [00:06:08] It's just a CIA operation to shut down the truth.

Dan Ball [00:06:11] And they told them to get rid of. And your old network was named Fox, Newsmax and OAN. Now, who's the smallest on that totem pole? We are. So they came after us. And so they scared away advertisers. They got us kicked off multiple carriers. Frontier Verizon Direct TV. Everything, because they sent these letters.

Tucker [00:06:29] Sitting members of Congress, tried to get a news channel kicked off the air and bankrupted. But isn't that right? I mean, call me naive in the country I grew up in, that was just absolutely not allowed. You weren't allowed to do that.

Dan Ball [00:06:42] We're not state run TV, right? We're not supposed to be. I mean, when I got ino-

Tucker [00:06:46] Against the law to do that.

Dan Ball [00:06:47] Well, but does this regime care? Look what the Biden or he has been doing to this country. They don't care that look at the border.

Tucker [00:06:52] So the members who just help us by doing this.

Dan Ball [00:06:54] I gave you the letters. I don't have them in front of me. The problem issue was one of them from California and, yeah. And McEnany, McEnany some like that from California. That's the two Congress folks.

Tucker [00:07:04] Our House rep. And your company's based in Southern California.

Dan Ball [00:07:06] Yeah, we're in San Diego. You're the stomping grounds for senators. I don't recall, but they were Democrats, I can tell you that. I don't have the names off the top of my head, but again, so they use those letters, and in those letters it said, we want you to look into these purveyors of disinformation, the good old disinformation phrase. And then what do you know? Months later, we're kicked off platforms. Okay. We're demonetized on social media, are major accounts with millions of followers for OAN are shadow banned or censored or fact checked every damn day? Right? This is what's been going on since 2020. And some people covered it and talked about it in 20 and 21 for us. And then it went by the wayside. You know, we went away according to the left because they kicked us off everything. But we've been fighting like hell ever since. And so again, thank you for covering.

Tucker [00:07:49] Well, I mean, it's just I'm sorry. I just have to pause to internalize all this. I mean, first of all, I'm embarrassed has taken me so long just to hear the story. I was sort of aware of it, but it's shocking to me, right? Because it is so illegal and obviously illegal. It's as illegal as anything you could do in America.

Dan Ball [00:08:06] Oh, Tucker, listen.

Tucker [00:08:08] For members of Congress to shut down a news organization because they don't like what it says. That is not allowed in the United States. That's like any other crime, including murder or rape. It's not allowed. And they're doing it anyway. And no one's saying anything about it, were there news stories about this?

Dan Ball [00:08:21] A couple, but not really mainstream. I mean, Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, places like that would cover it and say OAN is under fire, but when you have 98% is, you know, of the mainstream media that leans heavily left. And every other day we had an article from Mediaite, Media Matters, Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, even ripping away. And there's dozens of them online. Myself too. Calling me out, calling me a purveyor of disinformation, a liar, a propaganda.

Tucker [00:08:45] Because you were saying that Covid vax didn't work very well.

Dan Ball [00:08:48] We said that the masks weren't working, that the social distancing isn't working. And by the way, all those reports in the last few months have come out. All true.

Tucker [00:08:56] How many people, you know, who died of Covid? How many people do you know who are injured or killed by the facts? I've asked that question of 100 people, not one person knows more people who died from Covid than were killed or injured by the vax. Not one. Maybe the numbers are different. I'm just telling you my experience. So that's not a crazy thing to ask.

Dan Ball [00:09:10] Oh well, let me tell you. When I was out there talking about ivermectin hydroxychloroquine, which work, by the way, because I try, I did them when I was sick with Covid and I felt better in 36 hours. They I would get death threats and messages going. You're killing people by saying that. Why are you going to take chlorine in a horse tranquilizer? Morons, hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin around for decades.

Tucker [00:09:28] So and but it's this constellation of intell agency cutouts Mediate, rolling Stone, Daily Beast. It's the same group neoliberal effectively state media or organizations that don't represent a huge percentage of American voters or no meaningful representative, no, a percentage of voters. But they're just like they're all working in concert. They're a mouthpiece.

Dan Ball [00:09:55] For the left and Democrats. Yeah, I mean, that's what they are. Look, I got into this just like you. You're a few years older than me, but I've been doing this for, gosh, I'm 50 this year. And I started at 18 in the military. Yeah. And for the Armed Forces Radio television service. So 32 years I've been doing this and I started doing it to tell stories to help the people. My brother was a firefighter. We lost him years ago to cancer, him and I got into a debate one time about my job versus his and first responders and people that help the community goes. Dan your job's important. What journalists do is like a public servant. You're out there trying to help protect the people, tell them the truth of what's going on, speak truth to power of government. And so don't don't discount yourself. Don't discredit yourself. And so that stuck with me back in oh eight. My brother told me that free past and I come to this network in 2020 and I think, oh my gosh, here's a place where I can tell the truth, Mr. Herring, his sons, they don't come down and dictate and say, you will have these hosts, you are a guest. You won't have these guests. You must use these talking points. They're like, Dan, you have 30 years of experience. We've been on the air ten years. You know more than us go. And they let me be to tell the truth. And so I really embraced that. And I got to say it, I fell in love with the network and the family, and they've treated me like family. And to watch them go through this and 125 hard working employees, it pisses me off to no end, Tucker. I bet that they can do this to us when we have that first article. It talks about free speech and freedom of the press. I've dedicated my adult life to it. And now we're dealing with this bullshit where they can just try and shut down an entire family owned mom and pop network. It's disgusting. It's so un-American. It's like what's happening with the border.

Tucker [00:11:24] The people in charge, don't want to be criticized, of course. No. Right. But in this country, they're not allowed to do anything about it, but suddenly they are. Exactly. So tell me about the carriers. And for those who aren't in the in this business, explain, if you would, how that works.

Dan Ball [00:11:40] From, satellite and cable and online services. So in the year of 2022, from May, August and November, if I got those three months correct and it went in this order, I believe Direct TV, Verizon Fios and frontier all dropped us.

Tucker [00:11:57] So that means.

Tucker [00:11:59] You produce the product, the programing, the shows, and then those shows come into the homes of your viewers through wires owned by and services provided by the companies you just listed.

Dan Ball [00:12:09] And there's contracts worked out and whatnot, and I can't go too deep into all that because there's pending lawsuits, of course, but that's another way they've tried to silence us is through lawsuits.

Tucker [00:12:19] Are you satisfied? Is management of the company satisfied? You sincerely believe no B.S., that you were dropped from those providers because of pressure from the Congress?

Dan Ball [00:12:29] 110%, of course. Listen, right before they started dropping us, comscore, which is a rating service I'm sure you're familiar with. Yeah, correct. Nielsen at the old school books and stuff. But Comscore had us in the top 10/15 networks of all the cable channels, 200 some channels you get on like. Direct and dish, right? Yeah, yeah. We were actually scoring close to some of the Fox Business shows. We were beating Newsmax. We were claiming my show personally was claiming big time. And then all of a sudden, we're killed because they saw us growing. They saw the audience tuning in to want to hear some truth because they're not like, come on, can you trust MSNBC and CNN used to work there, and to a degree, some of the folks on Fox, a lot of the mainstream media, I think Americans are wising up. You can't trust anymore because everybody's figuring out you have to spew a narrative depending on which network you work for. So it doesn't happen at OAN.

Tucker [00:13:20] Well, that is factually true. I can say.

Dan Ball [00:13:23] I can tell you.

Tucker [00:13:24] Yeah. No, I know that to be true. So what happens then? They just they stop. We're not going to carry your signal into people's homes anymore.

Dan Ball [00:13:32] Again, I can't go into particulars. All I can tell you is that Mr. Herring and his sons tried like hell to keep us on those carriers, and we were dropped. And that's as far as I can.

Tucker [00:13:42] So what do you do that? Like I get.

Dan Ball [00:13:44] Up in arms.

Tucker [00:13:45] An anchor on the channel. I've been in this-

Dan Ball [00:13:46] Many more lawsuits against myself or the hearings and our wonderful network, and the employees don't deserve that either. So that's why, for the first time in 30 some years, I'm nervous doing this interview.

Tucker [00:13:55] No, no no.

Dan Ball [00:13:56] I because I don't want to get a company who's struggling to stay afloat because of what the Democrats have been doing because I misspoke. But this story is going to be told. And you have a massive audience and you can help.

Tucker [00:14:08] Well, I've I've certainly very often been in the position you are now in. You're working for companies you think's doing a good thing, and they're kind to you and you don't want to inadvertently certainly cause some more problems by talking too much. Yeah. So I'm very, very familiar with that position.

Dan Ball [00:14:23] But the story needs to be shared because like you said at the beginning, we're talking about the First Amendment.

Tucker [00:14:28] So what happened to you? And the first woman doesn't mean anything if no one can hear you. Right. You may have a right to speak, but if you know, they lock you in a room and no one can hear your words and it's it's a it's immaterial. It's not a real right. What happened to your viewership after?

Dan Ball [00:14:44] We had to not rebuild because we still were on, I think, 100 and some small cable affiliates around the country in different states where, you know, you might have a town of 50,000 and their local cable is a co-op they chose to keep, but you.

Tucker [00:14:57] Could take it off. All the big ones.

Dan Ball [00:14:58] All the big ones.

Tucker [00:14:59] All the big ones. So then-

Tucker [00:15:02] And just to be clear, without getting into the details, but just so our audience can make their own judgments about what happened and why, these companies are not connected to each other. They're independent companies. Yeah, right. So if they.

Dan Ball [00:15:12] They all got the letters, they all received.

Tucker [00:15:15] Those for a fact. They received the letters and they all dropped you within a short time.

Dan Ball [00:15:18] If you read the letters, it literally says we sent to cable and they called the cable and satellite carriers out. So yes, I would assume it went to every single major cable and satellite carrier from these four Democrat senators and two members of the House, all Democrats.

Tucker [00:15:31] So and shortly thereafter, you were dropped by all the big cable.

Dan Ball [00:15:35] In the same year? Yes.

Tucker [00:15:36] And then so I think a fair without knowing any other information, and maybe you guys committed some heinous crime that I'm not aware of. I haven't heard that, but just on the basis of what you said, which I think is checkable, a fair person would conclude they did that in response. Well, I think I would conclude on the basis of that information.

Dan Ball [00:15:54] You're a pretty smart guy, Tucker.

Tucker [00:15:56] I don't know about that, but like, I could I can note the obvious.

Dan Ball [00:16:01] I think any American out there with common sense can look at the timeline and say two and two is four, because math isn't racist.

Tucker [00:16:08] Right now. No, math is not racist. Yeah, maybe the only thing immune from racism. So let's destroy it.

Dan Ball [00:16:14] Yeah.

Tucker [00:16:15] So where does that leave the company?

Dan Ball [00:16:17] So here's what we did. We had to scramble. We had seen what happened to. I mean, it was Parler. Remember? Parler got shut down because.

Tucker [00:16:22] Then one.

Dan Ball [00:16:23] Third party servers shut them down. We didn't.

Tucker [00:16:25] Want to. And not just the servers. Like, I think it if I'm remembering correctly, it was it was everybody. Right. The entire what they call the stack. It was all the service providers between the content creator and the consumer. All I think their lawyers dropped them and it was intense.

Dan Ball [00:16:38] Were worried about the same thing, right? Yeah. Just like when Trump started Truth. You've got to go build everything on your own from scratch. If you hire one of these third party vendors, they're going to listen to the powers that be. So we don't want to trust them. So we had to build our own app, build up the servers, everything. And then we launched OAN app. So you can go to our website, you download, it's like 4 or 5 bucks a month and then you get live streaming on demand everything. So we're going streaming like everybody is anyway. Because let's be real, in 20 years, what's local news and cable and satellite going to be? Everything's streaming like yes, it's moving that way. So that took us a while to wrap back.

Dan Ball [00:17:10] And a ton of money. But Mr. Herring, who has an amazing story of perseverance and coming from nothing, Louisiana to creating, you know, millions of dollars for himself in multiple industries over the decades. And then getting into TV news about 10, 12 years ago, he's been kicking cash in and saying, we're going to fight this if we have to, all the way to Supreme Court. We're not backing down. We have a right to broadcast, and they cannot shut us up. Are they trying to bankrupt and put us out of business? Or they legitimately have a concern that we're purveyors of disinformation? Because I can name probably about nine of the major stories over the last 3 or 4 years I've covered. And we were right and we were right first, because we had the guts to say it, because we didn't have corporate lackeys telling us we couldn't like the other big networks.

Tucker [00:17:52] So, yeah, I mean, I've been accused of being a tool for Putin, of Putin, of Russia, for, you know, which is, I would say, material affected my life. I've never sued anyone over that, you know, and I never will. So I've never sued anybody. I never will see anybody because I don't I hate it, I don't believe in lawsuits, but, but anyway, leaving that aside, it's just interesting that coming out of this is whining, but I can't resist, you know, eight years of, like, nonstop lying by The Daily Beast and Rolling Stone and NBC News and CNN and MSNBC and all the rest about really big things like life and death things, insurrections and potential nuclear war and the.

Dan Ball [00:18:26] Russian collusion hoax.Exactly. I mean, if somebody is purveyor of misinformation, Tucker, why aren't those other networks getting letters sent about?

Tucker [00:18:33] That is sort of the question.

Dan Ball [00:18:34] They're getting kicked off for misinformation. Thank you. That's my first question. If we said something you all said was misinformation, then I can point to, as you just said, probably ten or a dozen major stories that CNN, MSNBC and others have lied or falsely reported about over the last, well, since 2015/16, since Trump came on the scene, are they kicked off careers? Are they being sued?

Tucker [00:18:55] Well, our country is.

Dan Ball [00:18:56] Conclusion.

Tucker [00:18:56] On the verge of collapse. Our country is being invaded and we are literally on the cusp of nuclear war. Well, actually, all because of lies told by NBC news, CNN, I mean told by their masters in Washington, but repeated by them.

Dan Ball [00:19:11] And people died because of the Covid lies. I mean, let's all remember again, as I said earlier, you have the winter of death and you had hosts out there like Rachel Maddow saying, if you get the vaccine, you will not spread it. You will not die. Go get it. Remember, all those people and the celebrities coming together rallied around Joe saying, you must take it. And the people that don't are going to kill people. We just told people, it's your body. No one can force you to take it. And by the way, here's the bears reporting website. Have you looked at bears? Because there's. Billions of side effects and thousands of deaths. Those were facts. Yet we would get fact checked. We would get shadow banned for saying factual.

Tucker [00:19:48] Stuff you want me about. I always want I don't have any abortion ladies in my life, thank heaven. But, when I see the abortion ladies on TV, I always want to say, whatever happened to my body? My choice, you know? Right. Whatever happened to that? Yeah.

Dan Ball [00:20:01] I know, and that's different because actually. Well, it's two lives. Obviously, if you take the shot, you're risking your own life. And if you're for abortion, you're killing a life, of.

Tucker [00:20:10] Course, but but just that slow.

Dan Ball [00:20:12] You'll bring that.

Tucker [00:20:12] Up, too. In my whole life, like, whatever, we made an exception for the VAX because why? But anyway, I want to ask you again with in a little more detail. So all of this is happening and everyone's ignoring it, including me.

Dan Ball [00:20:26] I know you were busy.

Tucker [00:20:28] I don't know about that. I just, you know, there's a lot going on. I missed it somehow. I should've I.

Dan Ball [00:20:31] Wouldn't have allowed you to have me on.

Tucker [00:20:32] I don't know about that. I never even really read about it or thought about it. It's just like so much drama going on.

Dan Ball [00:20:37] That's true. I like to keep up.

Tucker [00:20:38] It was publicly available. This information I know since you texted me and I went back and checked like. An informed person could know.

Dan Ball [00:20:45] You can do two minutes of research on, I'm not pitching that other one. And you can find it.

Tucker [00:20:50] Exactly.

Dan Ball [00:20:51] I'm not gonna say the G word.

Tucker [00:20:52] Exactly. Show it to me. It's not even about the vax or how corrupt NBC news is. Irretrievably corrupt. But it's about the First Amendment to the Constitution, which specifically prohibits Congress from doing what Congress did to you.

Dan Ball [00:21:06] Correct. Thank you.

Tucker [00:21:07] And so my question is, where are the First Amendment watchdog groups and all the media organizations and the white House Correspondents Association and all the people are supposed to be protecting us from to tell. Oh, wait.

Dan Ball [00:21:17] White House correspondents. Hold on. Can I button quick? Yeah. You mean the folks that wouldn't give us a seat at the table in the press room? Yeah, look that up. So our Ryan, our white House correspondent, should have gotten a seat there. They pushed back. Your fellow journalists in DC pushed back. Wouldn't let her sit. So for a couple of years, you had to stand in the corner once the Biden regime got in. They kicked us out. By the way, this is factual. You can have some for camera guys in Chanel, our tent that we have on the white House lawn when the Biden regime took over, guess what happened multiple times. Our internet line would be cut. So either that's a journalist or white House staff. So I thought you were.

Tucker [00:21:49] Going to give your tent to illegal aliens.

Dan Ball [00:21:54] I know they can't. They're not gonna live at the white House. Please. They want you to go to your house if they want. They want to give you 500 bucks in Michigan to put them in your house there, right? Why am I so yeah, that happened that literally multiple occasions. As they would come in, the camera guy would set up, we try to dial in and oh, what's wrong? Grab the line. It's cut or it's broken. Who did that? Was it other people in the press corps? Oh, I didn't like going in. Or was it white House staff? I don't know, had to be one of the two. Who else is on the grounds going to cut our cord?

Tucker [00:22:22] It's probably. It really is like getting booted out of a country club you don't want to be a member of, though I know, having spent my life there and a lot of time at the white House, it's like the worst, saddest, emptiest, most insecure people in the world cover that stupid beat and pretend like it's important when of course, it's not at all. You can get it all on C-Span and they're-

Dan Ball [00:22:40] In such a bubble. They have no clue what it means to be a regular American who's out there struggling.

Tucker [00:22:46] They're also like sad, bitchy little people.

Dan Ball [00:22:48] They are so impressed.

Tucker [00:22:48] Impressed.

Dan Ball [00:22:49] A misery, and that's liberals.

Tucker [00:22:51] How is that impressive?

Dan Ball [00:22:52] Yeah. Liberals in general, I think are miserable people. And the ones in the press corps are even worse because they're so snotty and arrogant and elitist, and they think they know better then conservative media people or just regular Americans.

Tucker [00:23:04] The hell is I can't stand? I'm standing there. All right.

Dan Ball [00:23:07] You did it all those years, by the way.

Tucker [00:23:08] What did you say?

Dan Ball [00:23:09] I don't know how you did it all those years.

Tucker [00:23:10] Well, I never covered the white House. I would just show up, you know, occasionally to do various things. But I always hated it in there. Living out of vending machines in a former swimming pool, waiting for some low IQ political operative to feed them lies and pretending they're real. And it's like, that's your life. Really? Can your wife possibly respect you or sleep with you? I don't think so. Like, it's just not possible. It's just not possible. And so I understand their bitterness and rage because it's really about themselves and their own wasted lives. Right?

Dan Ball [00:23:36] Unhappy.

Tucker [00:23:37] But I do think at some point they have to take a stand on principle, just on behalf of the profession itself in the country and say, no, government is not allowed to shut down news organizations because they don't like what they say. Did anyone stand up for you?

Dan Ball [00:23:51] Is there anybody I'm forgetting that actually stood up for us? No, I'm trying to remember. I can't think of. I mean, when I would have guests on from different entities like Gateway Pundit, the Hoffs, they would do articles. They stood up for us. Breitbart did a couple. I think those two, I don't recall. And, you know, what's sad is what.

Tucker [00:24:08] Happened in Gateway Pundit, I think I don't think there's any news organization in the world that's being sued by more left wing groups and Gateway Pundit.

Dan Ball [00:24:14] Yeah, they might beat us. They might beat us. But yeah, there wasn't a lot, from what I recall. And I'm trying to remember if anybody else did, I mean, I would have guests on my show that were from other entities, and they would say things to support us and then post things. But as far as, like doing full stories or one hour interviews and discuss it now, nobody did because I guess, no, we weren't big enough for something or organization.

Tucker [00:24:37] Well, I mean, it doesn't doesn't matter. We spent 70 years hearing about the McCarthy blacklist and the darkest moment in American history, and all those guys went on to win Academy Awards or whatever. They were fine. Not defending the blacklist. I'm not for it, but. But all these, this constellation of First Amendment free speech groups arose in the wake of the Red scare. And their job was to protect the principle of freedom of speech and the First Amendment as written. And none of them defended you?

Dan Ball [00:25:04] No. You know, I think that the American people are seeing through the facade of mainstream media, especially just what, two weeks ago with the bloodbath statement of Trump. And thanks to Elon opening up X so people could see it, unlike everything's been stifled and all social media thanks to Zuckerberg and those guys. Right. So I think just that one little, one little tidbit where they saw how the media takes a sound bite at of context, and then the politicians take it and make ads, and you had millions of people on X for days. We can have to go discussing how. And these were lefties, independents and righties. Everybody was discussing it. I think that and the spaces and things on X where he's opened it up to free speech, that is the new town square. And I hope that and places like Oann are going to save us, because I think the people, some are waking up and finally seeing the truth. It took a long damn time. Look at the border situation, right? We've been reporting on the border. I went down there the first week of March after Biden took over. So six, seven weeks, six weeks into his regime. I went to Yuma, Arizona. They were already seeing three times the numbers from Trump in six weeks. And now we've seen 500 times the numbers. But no one in the country really knew about it because the CNN, MSNBC, the big old three, ABC, NBC, CBS, they weren't going down there. They weren't going to Del Rio. They weren't showing you what was happening. We were, again, misinformation, disinformation. And then what, 3 or 4 months ago when the polls came out that the border was tied with the economy, all of a sudden the regime change their narrative, the media starts covering it, and now the American people are waking up.

Tucker [00:26:31] But you got to wonder, though, I mean, and you're in a good position to answer this because you've been in this business your whole life. Well, those places do seem like they're in their death throes, like Joe Scarborough.

Dan Ball [00:26:42] Like if you look at their numbers.

Tucker [00:26:44] Their numbers, that's what I'm saying. So Joe makes whatever 10 million or 12 million or whatever Joe makes. But if Joe Scarborough, like, walked into the NBC news HQ tomorrow, would he ever be able to sign a contract like that, like the business model? No. So the people currently on the air at those channels are really on their last contracts. Because none of this.

Dan Ball [00:27:04] I hope so.

Tucker [00:27:05] Nobody watches it, right?

Dan Ball [00:27:06] Yeah. Well, I'm glad you brought up Scarborough since he's gone so hard against Trump the last couple of weeks. And I love the fact that you just interviewed Cuomo. So bring Cuomo up the other night he had Geraldo on and they were discussing the coverage of the bloodbath comment and other things, and they were talking about how these guys are hypocrites, how Mika and Joe leading up to the 2016 election, had Trump won, like every other morning and they were kissing his ass. And now fast forward a few years and it's he's the devil. He's the you know, the phrase he's a threat to democracy. We're Republic, by the way. Thanks, idiots. But every day threat to democracy. And they call us that threat to democracy. What the hell does that mean? Free speech is a threat to democracy.

Tucker [00:27:43] Interesting. If you wake up in a country, all of a sudden you're getting a moral lecture from, of all people, Joe Scarborough.

Dan Ball [00:27:50] Or Joy Reid.

Tucker [00:27:51] We're all left. Yeah, but especially Joe Scarborough. Yeah. Well, Joe, I was just like an idiot. An angry idiot, but.

Dan Ball [00:27:56] And the most racist. Thank you. The most racist host on. It's unbelievable.

Tucker [00:28:02] Want a moral lecture from Joe Scarborough is. So it's hallucinogenic. I can hardly even believe this is happening. Do you know what I mean?

Dan Ball [00:28:09] Yeah, exactly.

Tucker [00:28:10] It's like getting a fitness lecture from an obese person that's like, I don't judge that you're fat. And Joe's case. I don't judge that you're evil. Like, you've got to deal with God on that question. That's not for me to judge, but for you to lecture me about morality. Yes.

Dan Ball [00:28:25] There's so many are so many skeletons in those main hosts and talk show host. I don't call them anchors anymore. I love they still call themselves journalists. That's what really pisses me off too. Tucker. When I got this job almost four years ago, I made it apparent to viewers, this is an opinionated, conservative talk show. You're going to hear some facts, you're gonna hear my opinion. But they never do that. The other night when MSNBC was doing their A victory lap and we got rid of Ronna McDaniel. Yeah, you had Joy and Rachel literally saying we journalists stood strong. And I'm so glad that the CEO at NBC changed his mind. I'm like, did you just call yourself journalists? Are you shitting me?

Tucker [00:29:02] It's also, that's.

Dan Ball [00:29:03] The biggest line of you guys are propagandists. I mean, I don't call myself a journalist any longer, even though I did it for 30 some years because now I throw my opinion in. But I remind viewers of that because a lot of American people are so busy, they're so stressed out with the economy, they're so worried about crime, their kids education, going to a war that they don't have time to pay attention, that everything in primetime is not a newscast, folks. It's people's opinions. Those are talk shows.

Tucker [00:29:27] Oh, I agree, but a lot, a talk show host. Yeah, that's what I am.

Dan Ball [00:29:30] But these guys lie to American people every day and.

Tucker [00:29:33] No one's even listening.

Dan Ball [00:29:35] Well, that's true. Their numbers are dwindling. That's the only hope I see. And the next couple generations. Right. The the Z-ers and the millennials are all in line anyway. Nobody's watching traditional media. They're streaming everything. They're getting their news on X, of course, Instagram or TikTok. So yeah, this old school set. In a corporate setting is done. What you're doing is where everything's going. You have a studio. You still.

Tucker [00:29:55] It feels that way. I mean, I'm only here by accident because I was totally out of options. I worked for everybody. I kept getting fired.

Dan Ball [00:30:01] But you're all about happiness. You aren't.

Tucker [00:30:02] You? Oh, 100%.

Dan Ball [00:30:04] More leash of the corporate assholes. No, but.

Tucker [00:30:06] I'm just saying I'm hardly at the, you know, leading edge of anything. I. I'm usually the last person to see the leading edge. It's already gone. I'm, like, waving at it as it drives by. So I just kind of wound up here. But now that I am here, it's very obvious that all the other I've worked for every network, that all of them, you know, it's just that things are changing really fast. Yeah, it does feel that way.

Dan Ball [00:30:29] It does.

Tucker [00:30:29] So, just bottom line, first of all, thank you for doing this. Second what? And finally what it like what's going to happen with OAN, do you think?

Dan Ball [00:30:36] I think that we're going to win. I think we're going to survive. I think that we're on the right side of history. I think that and I know the family and myself very religious. We're putting it in God's hands. And I also know Mr. H. Mr. herring, the owner, who is one hell of a fighter like me, says we're not backing down, so I think we will prevail. I think we'll get through it. And I think we'll only grow while the old dinosaurs die. That's what I hope happens. I hope that, and I think it will just. Just like you're going to go with this versus just doing the show with Fox. Not that that was bad. You were averaging 4 million viewers. But look at your videos now.

Tucker [00:31:10] Yeah. I mean, I just want to say what I think.

Dan Ball [00:31:12] They're even better.

Tucker [00:31:13] That's it. I just want to say what? I think. I'm on the Jimmy Cliff program. I'd rather be a free man in my grave, you know.

Dan Ball [00:31:19] I agree.

Tucker [00:31:20] Hey, man. Dan Ball, thank you for for telling us.

Dan Ball [00:31:22] No, Tucker.

Tucker [00:31:23] And I'm sorry it took me so long.

Dan Ball [00:31:24] No, that's okay, man. We appreciate the support and just getting the word out about who I. And oh, man is where we come from. What we're trying to accomplish with speaking truth to power and what's being done to us. Because as you've said throughout this entire interview, it is a direct assault on freedom of speech and freedom of the press, something you and I have dedicated our life.

Tucker [00:31:43] Of course, I just I mean, I actually agree with what you're saying, but even if I disagreed with what you're saying, I'd be every bit as outraged. We just interviewed a black nationalist. Communist, who's facing life in prison for saying things the Biden administration didn't like. And I, I brought the same level of outrage to that because, like, you can't tell people what they can say that's not allowed because you're not God and they're not slaves. Simple.

Dan Ball [00:32:08] That's what we were taught growing up here. Right? Let's see if we can continue that. Thank you Tucker.

Tucker [00:32:26] Hey, it's Tucker Carlson. The internet is crowded with interesting things that don't really matter. On TCN, we attempt to bring you interesting things that actually do matter, and a lot of them interviews, long form and short videos, documentaries. You can find all of it on TuckerCarlson.com, and we hope you will.

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