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March 29, 2024 - The Tucker Carlson Show
41:39
Tucker Carlson - Ep. 86 Esau Cooper is an excavator and semi-professional lawn mower racer from Western Maine, and a man well worth listening to.
# urban_migration tucker_carlson rural_life 12_step_program addiction_recovery alcohol_and_drug_addiction domestic_terrorists donald_trump esau_cooper excavating_business extreme_sports fox_news joe_biden john_deere kip_cummings lawfare lawnmower_racing logging_industry maine_politics marijuana_legalization near_death_experiences newsmax personal_narrative politics progressive_policies religion

Esau Cooper, a Maine excavator and 25–30 mph lawnmower racer, credits pulley modifications for his speed on a 100-foot track while logging for 30 years—until a friend died in a hung-tree accident. After running away at 10, surviving addiction since age 13 (cocaine by 20), and near-death crashes from snowmobiles to drunk driving in Canada, he sobered in 2004 via 12-step programs but relapsed into marijuana before quitting again in 2021. A Trump-aligned Republican, he blames federal "lawfare" for targeting the ex-president and warns progressive policies will follow urban migration into his rural town, where 50–60% support Trump despite his clashes with liberal friends over "gender baloney." Now churchgoing and sober, he mocks Biden’s "domestic terrorist" label while running a business he admits frustrates him. [Automatically generated summary]

Participants
Main
e
esau cooper
31:12
t
tucker carlson
dailycaller 07:15
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Speaker Time Text
Killed While Logging 00:06:46
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
This fall, during hunting season, I was getting a slice of pizza at a general store in a small town in the mountains of western Maine.
And I was standing in line, and I ran into a guy I know, a guy I like a lot, called Esau Cooper, who was a local excavator.
And he said, I've been watching you, interviewing all these people.
Why don't you interview me?
I've got interesting stuff to say.
unidentified
And I thought, you know, I bet he does.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Esau Cooper is an interesting person.
Esau Cooper is not only...
A good upstanding citizen of his town, to remain unnamed, in the Western Maine Mountains, but he's also the local lawnmower racing champ.
Every year, this town, in August, has a lawnmower race, and Esau Cooper often wins it, sometimes at great personal risk.
Here's a video of it.
Esau is the one in the green John Deere that runs into the camera.
unidentified
We'll be right back.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
We'll be right back.
It's dangerous.
That video, by the way, is shot by Toby Wenzel.
Esau Cooper, the man on the green John Deere, joins us now in studio.
Esau, it's great to see you.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Good to be here.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Wasn't joking.
So, first lawnmower racing, how fast do those go?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
The sky's the limit.
It depends on...
How fast you make it go.
Our particular track in Andover, 25-30 miles an hour is probably too fast to make turn one.
So not particularly fast, but because the track's small and tight, it looks like you're flying.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
It certainly does.
I've seen it.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
The straight stretch is only 100 feet long.
So if you gear your tractor to pull for 100 feet, you're good.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So how do you get a ride-on mower to go 30 miles an hour?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Change the pulleys.
And get rid of the governor.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
How do you get rid of the governor?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
You just unhook a few springs and pull it back.
And so the motor turns, pushes as fast as it can all the time.
It's not good for longevity of the motor, but...
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
Could you do that in any vehicle?
You can get rid of the governor.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
On a lawnmower engine, yeah.
unidentified
Wow.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So you do that over the where?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
No.
Winter, I log, snowmobile, hunt.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Oh.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It's springtime when you can't cut wood and it's too early to start digging.
That's when the lawnmowers come out and we start tinkering them up.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
For people who don't live in an area where logging's big, why can't you log in the spring?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It's mud season.
They post the roads so you can't drive big trucks on the roads and the snow melts and the ground gets really soft.
The frost goes out and it's just the ground is soft.
You can't do much other than go in the garage and fix equipment.
Tinker on lawnmowers.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
How long have you been logging?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
30 years.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
A guy from your town got killed last year logging.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Good friend of mine.
unidentified
How'd that happen and how do people get killed logging?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well, generally speaking, people get complacent.
He was actually taught logging and he knew how to do it.
He was considered a considerable logger.
I looked at the site.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
He went and cut another tree while a tree got hung up.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And he went and cut another tree in the line of sight of that tree that was hung up, and the tree fell on him and killed him.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So he, I mean, by reputation was, and you just said, knew exactly what he was doing.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Do you ever worry about getting herd logging?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, you just...
I mean, especially after that, you just don't take those chances.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
But this is all, you know, everybody takes chances now and then, you know.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So how did you end up living in a little town in western Maine?
unidentified
Oh.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well...
My mom is from Livermore Falls area.
She grew up in Maine.
My dad was from all over the Northeast.
I was born in New London, Connecticut.
We moved to a little trailer park in Peru when I was really young.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Peru, Maine.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yes.
And then we moved to another small town in Western Maine.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What town?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Rumford Center.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yep.
Very small town.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yep.
And when I was 10 years old, my father died when I was 6. And shortly thereafter, my mom got remarried and we moved to Andover when I was 10. And I was disgusted.
I actually ran away from home.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Where'd you go?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
An old Girl Scout camp on the Whip-Wool Road, me and a buddy of mine.
I ran away on my 10th speed and disappeared for a day or two until they finally found us, you know.
At that time, we were into Rambo.
Outdoor survivalists and stuff.
I don't know what we were thinking.
I just was making a statement, I guess.
This town sucks.
I'm from Rumpet, and I'm going back to Rumpet.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
You thought Andover was bad.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, it was not.
I didn't know anybody.
Shortly thereafter, though, I met two guys that I consider brothers.
Now, one of them's gone to heaven.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
But the other one I consider a brother, you know.
It was the three of us, me, Mike, and Mike.
And we grew up together, and one of the Mikes died when I was 19. Oof.
Died in a car accident.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah?
unidentified
Yeah.
Rehab and Relapse 00:13:14
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
So, yeah, that changes you.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, it does.
unidentified
Yep.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Did you stay in the town?
unidentified
Yep, I did, until I was 25. Where'd you go?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Traveled all over the country.
Putting in natural gas pipelines.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Really?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
Running from myself.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What do you mean?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well, I was, you know, I played too hard, you know, work hard and drink even harder on the weekends.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Each town, there were temporary jobs.
You go into a town, you lay a pipe and you leave.
And each time I go into a town, I say, it's going to be different this time, you know.
And it was never any different.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Just the partying?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, the partying and it progressed.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I started just drinking and then got into drugs and just, you know, it was a time in my life when at one time I was going to make a career of pipelining.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And then at 31 I sobered up and I tried to keep pipelining.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And I realized that it's just, when I quit drinking, I had to let things go.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
How'd you sober up?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well, they first tried to put me in rehab at 13, and I wouldn't go.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
13 years old?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yes, yes.
They wouldn't take me up to Bangor because the doctor says, the doctor's talking to me, so I don't got a problem with alcohol.
I love alcohol.
At that time, it was just drinking at that time, I believe.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And then at 15, I went in and I spent...
Three or four days in detox because I ate too many Valiums.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Ended up in rehab for a month.
It's a 28-day program.
On the 21st day, I got kicked out.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
For what?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well, I had been reprimanded for something.
I don't remember what.
But one of the ways they punished you was at that time, you could smoke right in rehab.
Yeah.
No cigarettes for you.
So I was like, yeah, okay.
And so I got in the line to get my daily cigarette or whatever it was a long time ago.
And got up the line, got the cigarette, went back to the smoking area and had a lighter.
I was just about to light it.
And the nurse realized that I wasn't supposed to have a cigarette.
So she bolted over to me and took my cigarette and said, you can't have that.
You're being punished.
I said, oh, really?
And she's walking away.
I said, take your effing lighter, too.
And I threw it at her.
And had I hit her with that lighter, I would have had to go to NYC, Maine Youth Center.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Oh.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I missed.
Thank God.
And they booted me.
That was the end of that.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Damn.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Did you go to rehab again after that?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Ten years later.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Twenty-five.
And I checked myself in.
I had a massive cocaine problem.
And all I really wanted to do was quit that.
unidentified
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
So when I got out of there, I stayed sober for a little while and of course started back.
And that's when I started Pipeline.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I actually got hired.
I got hired in the paper mill in Rumford while I was in rehab.
And I told them, I said, well, I'm in rehab right now because I had passed all their testing and they wanted me and they called me up and said, okay, let's come to work.
I said, well, small problem.
I'm in rehab right now.
Oh, that's okay when you get out.
Come on.
So I did.
I went to work from where I lasted 10 days and quit.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Why?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I went backlogging.
I couldn't stand it.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It was inside.
It was toxic.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
All my coworkers were overweight and bald and unhappy.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
Do you think it makes you bald working on a paper mill?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I don't know about that.
I probably, you know, that was probably mean, but it just didn't look happy.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
No, I agree.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I was an outdoor enthusiast, you know?
unidentified
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And I just, so I left, you know, I left.
And I went back logging, and shortly thereafter, I jumped on.
They were laying a natural gas pipeline in Peru.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yep.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And I got hired on that, and that was a godsend.
Yeah.
The wages were high.
The outdoor, it was grueling.
It was hard work and the mud and equipment and laying pipe across, like, how are we going to lay a pipe across that, you know?
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Like a granite ledge or something?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Swamp, yeah, river crossings, just unreal stuff.
Tying crews, you know, where all the prestige is on a pipeline.
Tying crew.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
They're the ones who connect the pipes.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Connect the pipes in the hard spots.
Mainline lays it in the easy spots, and the tying crews come in and connect the pipe in all the difficult areas, the swamps.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
So, yeah, I got on that and started working that, and it was my thing.
I loved it.
I was going to make a career out of it.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And I did it for seven years until I realized it was killing me, you know.
Not so much the work, but the nightlife.
Because with Pipeline and in a different town every six months came bar life.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Living in a motel and lots of drugs.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Do all the guys go out together at night?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Not all of them.
Not all of them, no.
There was sober, good, hardworking, normal people.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
But, you know, I wasn't one of them.
I was a party animal and they liked that, you know?
unidentified
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
They liked you to work hard and play even harder.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Well, when you're working hard, you can party hard for a while.
How did you end up stopping?
It sounds like you've been trying to stop for a long time.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, I knew.
I don't know.
I left South Chicago on a job and I headed east to another job.
I quit.
One job was headed to another.
I wanted to make a change.
When I got to the East Coast, it was either head south to that job or head home and try to straighten my ass out.
And I was in trouble.
I was afraid my mom was going to go to my funeral.
unidentified
Wow.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It was really in my mind, you know.
And at that time, I didn't know I had a heart condition.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
But you could just feel there was something wrong?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, I was living hard, you know, doing a lot of drugs, snorting a lot of cocaine.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Putting chunks of, you know, graham chunks of cocaine in my coffee in the morning.
Does that work?
Party all night, smoke crack all night long, sleep for 10 minutes, go to work six days a week, sometimes seven.
unidentified
Wow.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It was intense.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
It sounds intense.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I made a ton of money.
I had, at the end of it, I had my apartment, my room would be paid, my truck would be paid.
I'd had top hours of working foreman.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And they'd just throw money at you.
You try real hard and I just, I didn't want to die.
I didn't want my mom going to my funeral because I knew it would kill her.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So you've been to rehab three times at this point.
Did you quit in rehab a fourth time?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
No.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Really?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
No.
By this time I had been taught enough I knew where the help was.
It was a 12-step program that I had been to before.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yep.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
One Monday morning I woke up and things were different.
I don't know.
To this day, I don't know what happened, but things just were different.
I knew I was in trouble.
And instead of going to the store and buying beer, because that's what I wanted to do that morning, I woke up on my stepfather's couch.
I was living at the time on my stepdad's couch.
I had a pickup, and that's it.
I didn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
So I... I just went to a meeting.
I went to a meeting that Monday night, and I've been sober ever since.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
That's amazing.
How long has it been?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It'll be 20 years in March.
unidentified
Wow.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
How have you been able to stay sober all that time?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
God.
Yeah, I made a decision shortly after that.
I met a gentleman.
He's deceased now.
His name was Kip Cummings, and he became my sponsor, and he saved my life.
I could relate to him.
He was a grumpy old man, and he was black and white.
If you do this, you get that result, and I responded to that.
He'd say, there are clear-cut directions in this book, and you'll get this result.
I've always been able to read directions and do something.
That's how my mind works.
And it made sense to me.
And he reminded me of like my grandfather or my father.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I kind of, you know, I like old, mean old men who are, you know, you can tell they've worked hard.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And they've been through the ringer and I could relate to them.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I've always been around people like that.
So he helped me.
He just taught me how to become a man, how to stay sober.
He died a few years back, but he just taught me how to be a grown-up.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Was he right?
I mean, did your life change for the better once you got sober?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well, it slowly has.
I'm in the process of changing my life.
It's been a long journey.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I quit drinking, doing drugs.
I was straight up for a year and a half.
And not everybody knows this.
But I couldn't take the pressure of life.
I started smoking pot.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
So it took me a long time.
I didn't want to be.
I felt like a hypocrite trying to help people get sober.
You know, talk at a meeting.
Then get high on the ride home.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
So I had a lot of hypocritical feelings towards myself.
But...
March 13th, 2021, I was able to kick that.
Shortly after they legalized it.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
I was about to say, it's legal in your state.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It's the worst idea ever.
I voted no.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Why?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It's just not sending a good message.
It's just not.
Do we want to promote drugs?
Do we really want to?
Or do we want to just...
I don't know what the answer is.
I don't want to chase around a bunch of potheads and spend a bunch of money on it.
I also don't want to just have it be okay.
You know the tobacco campaigns that they have?
Why don't we have weed campaigns?
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Well, you tell me.
You've used a lot of drugs.
You've smoked a lot of weed in your life.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It made me dumber.
It put me in a little bubble so I couldn't relate with people.
Instead of relying on my higher power, God, Jesus Christ, I relied on marijuana.
And before that it was alcohol, before that it was cocaine, all this stuff.
My higher power now is God.
God.
God.
That has evolved.
It started out as I wasn't a godly person when I quit drinking.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
But I learned through a 12-step program and eventually through the Bible that that is the answer to all our problems, I believe.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yes.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yes.
unidentified
I agree.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So, as someone who smoked a lot of marijuana, you think it is bad for people.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yes, I do.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
That's an unpopular thing to say.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Why?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Because people don't want to hear it.
They don't want to hear it.
I have a lot of successful friends that smoke daily.
If you don't ever see the insanity, it's like cigarettes.
Where's the insanity?
It's easy to see how bad alcohol is for you, or cocaine, or crack, or heroin.
But marijuana is so insidious.
It's so mild.
It's hard to see how it's holding you back.
Uncle Esau's Influence 00:02:56
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I mean, myself personally, I became a better businessman, a better parent.
I can remember numbers now.
It's just better.
I'm not in that bubble.
I can relate to people.
I can see people in mills market and start up a conversation with them instead of running out the door because I smell like a skunk.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
You know?
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Where did you get your politics from?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I'd say my Uncle Esau.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Your Uncle Esau?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
My Uncle Esau.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
I think that's a song, isn't it?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I don't know.
I don't know.
You know, it's funny.
I have never met another Esau except for people in my family.
And then just the other day, I was listening to a podcast on the radio, and there was this dude named Esau.
A black guy named Esau who was a pastor, and he's in, like, Massachusetts.
And I was listening to Bible-thumping radio, and this dude was on there.
His name was Esau, and I was like, wow.
That was amazing.
The first time ever.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What was your Uncle Esau like?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
He was a staunch Republican, free market guy.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Where is he from?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Auburn.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Maine.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What do you do?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
He's still in Auburn.
He's a paver.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yep.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yep.
My whole father's side of the family were all pavers.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Really?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Asphalt pavers.
Yep.
Cooper Paving.
There's a whole bunch of them.
Yep.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Bred to pave.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Pave driveways, paved roads, paved parking lots.
Yep.
unidentified
Pave.
Pave, pave, pave.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I worked for them for two years out of us.
When I first got sober, I went to work for my cousin, Cooper Paving, LLC. And I lasted a couple years and had to move on.
Well, what happened, I bought an excavator to fix up a piece of land of mine, and it kind of evolved, and I started getting side jobs, and I finally said, you know what?
Screw it.
I'm going on my own.
That's how I became, that's how I got into the business.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Do you like it?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
The business I'm in?
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I love what I do.
I don't necessarily like the business aspect of it.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
But you like excavating?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Why?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I like taking raw land.
And creating something out of it.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I can stand on the side of a road and look at the contour of the land and some folks want it cleared and they want to put a house and I can see, you know, you can see, you know, how it should be and you get a vision and you do it and it's awesome.
It's very rewarding.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
I believe that.
unidentified
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It's kind of artistic.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Do you...
Do you notice the difference between the town you grew up in, which you still live in, the way it was when you were a kid and it is now?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Other than there's a lot of people I don't know now.
Why the Country Feels Different 00:05:27
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
As far as the politics goes, it's basically the same.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What about the country you grew up in?
and how is it different? - Ugh.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I'm distraught about my country.
Why?
Because...
Our freedoms are just being taken away from us daily.
What the federal government is doing to Mr. Trump with the political persecution and what is it called?
Lawfare.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
It's just gross.
It's gross.
It's gross.
And I believe that this is what happened.
This country has turned from God and now we're cursed.
And this is what we got.
That's my theory.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Do most people you know like Trump?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Most people I know?
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Why is Trump so popular in rural America?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Because of blue-collar workers.
Yeah.
There's very few educated elites.
And actually, there's a couple in our town, and they don't like Trump.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Really?
unidentified
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So it's a class thing, as far as you can tell.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, yeah.
I have a friend.
She's a lady.
She's a liberal, you know.
She's a progressive.
She loathes Trump.
And that's cool.
We're still friends.
You know, I don't talk politics with her.
Except sometimes I just kind of throw in a little jab, like, you know, just to get her goat.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What do you say?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Oh, she might try being...
She may try to express...
unidentified
How do I put it?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
A desire to be compassionate of the gender baloney and stuff like that.
And I'll totally state where I am.
I guess I recent...
She accused me of being a sexist, and I was like, yeah, I am, I guess, a sexist.
Sorry.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What did she say?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
She laughed, you know, she knows me.
It's all good.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
You sure she wasn't trying to say sexy?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
No, I don't think so, because she's like 70-something.
I don't think so.
But she's...
Yeah, I just think she's crazier than the shithouse rat.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And it's okay.
There's a lot of crazy people in Andover.
unidentified
You know what I mean?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I weren't supposed to use that name.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What percentage of your town do you think will vote for Trump?
unidentified
I don't know.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
50, 60. Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, there's a bunch of people that just refuse to see the truth.
I have a...
Someone in my family is all...
H-Trump, gonna vote Democratic, and he just...
I'm not gonna say his name, but it just...
unidentified
It's like...
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
If you go principle, if you stand there and you talk on principle, okay, we believe in this, we believe in this, we believe in this, we're just the same.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
But when it comes voting day, check the Democratic box.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
How do you...
So a lot...
You live in Maine, which is run by...
Socialists.
Oh, you don't like the leadership of the state?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I don't like our current Secretary of State.
He got on the bad side of me with the whole trying to take Mr. Trump off the primary ballot.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
But it seems like that's very far away from where you live.
It's a totally different world.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well, not if you...
I watch the news.
unidentified
Yeah?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
I mean, if you watch the news, I'm kind of a news junkie.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So where do you get your news?
unidentified
Like what?
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
I mean, you live hours from the nearest airport, so it's pretty far away, right?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Mm-hmm.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
How do you find out what's going on in the world?
What do you read?
What do you watch?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
TV. Yeah.
I used to watch a lot of Fox News.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
As a matter of fact, I watched it as often as my family would let me.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yep.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
You know, I'd turn Fox on and my wife and my kids would be like, oh, here we go again!
You know, because they just had it.
They don't want it.
But I listened to the news two, three nights a week, maybe four.
So the day they fired your ass was the last day I have not watched.
Ten seconds of Fox since they fired you.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Have you caught your way for kids watching?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Nope.
Just on principle.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Well, thank you.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Just on principle.
Just because I just think it was wrong.
Because it was obvious that they were putting pressure.
You were telling the truth.
In my opinion, you were telling the truth about a bunch of stuff, and you got too close to the truth, and they got rid of you.
So that's just my thing on that.
Embarrassing Crash in Canada 00:09:25
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So where do you go?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Now I'm watching Newsmax.
Now I'm a Newsmax guy.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What do you think?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well, it's alright.
It's grown on me.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
You go on the internet?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
No.
Not for news.
unidentified
No.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What's your shirt mean?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
This is a direct retort to Joe Biden's speech that he gave last week where he basically called all Trump supporters domestic terrorists.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Okay.
Let's brand domestic terrorism as cool.
unidentified
Huh?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
That's what I'm saying.
Because I'm a Bible-thumping, hard-working, blue-collar, you know, I got a few guns.
I'm no gun expert, but I got a few.
You know, I hunt fish.
I will die for my country.
Oh, that's a good story.
I tried to go into the service.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I scored, like, in the 99 percentile of my ASVABs.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
I believe it.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
My junior year.
So my senior year, and I was all advanced entry or whatever you call it, right there in Desert Storm.
So I was all enlisted my junior year.
My senior year, this general...
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Where'd you go to high school?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Telstra.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yep.
Bethel, Maine.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
My senior year, this general comes in, and he wants to get inside my head and see what I'm good at.
I'm like, yeah.
So I get in the room with him, and I start being honest with the guy.
I told him what I had going.
I wanted to get out of here.
I want to change my life.
I told him I had, you know, I was partying and, you know, I was honest with him.
And at the end of that meeting, he's like, we don't want you.
Why?
You know, the partying, the drugs, the drama, you know, yeah.
It wouldn't take me.
unidentified
So...
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Their loss.
Maybe that was God.
Maybe he didn't want me to go because I might have popped.
You know what I mean?
I might have got in there and tried too hard and just exploded on the thing and I wouldn't be here sitting with you, talking with you, embarrassing my kids.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Wow.
So you partied too hard for the U.S. Army?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yes.
Yeah, they wouldn't take it.
I was honest.
I didn't realize I was supposed to lie.
If someone would have said, don't tell the guy that you, don't tell him about your personal things.
Just say yes or no, sir.
No one told me.
I just, I told him what I had going on.
It was my ticket to ride.
I'm getting out of here.
I'm going to go straighten my life out and be somebody.
And he's like, no, we don't want you.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So obviously you changed your view, though, because you did leave for a while in the pipeline, but then you came back to your town.
Are you happy that you did that?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
Well, mainly because my mom, she's aging.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And I live a thousand feet from her now.
And that's why I live in Andover.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I found a few cool places in the country that I could have stayed at, you know.
But I basically came and lived where I live because my mom.
I have two sisters.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
One's deceased.
One's still with us.
But they had moved away.
One lived in New York.
One lived in Virginia.
And she, you know, my mom and my stepdad were getting age, up there in the age, and I felt obligated to come home and help them live out the rest of the years.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Are you glad you did?
unidentified
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What do you think of the cities now?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well, it's atrocious.
It's atrocious.
I don't even know what to say about it.
They've gone so far crazy town that, you know, the real estate prices in our town are stupid now because everybody wants to get out of the city.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
They're all moving up this way.
And, you know, that's good for business, but don't bring your friggin' laws with you.
You know what I mean?
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I don't mind people.
I like people.
I actually do like people.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
But I don't like their rules and regulations and all that.
It creeps me out.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
It does.
Do you think they'll bring them?
unidentified
Oh, most likely.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
You know.
One thing you can count on in life and then it's gonna change.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
And that liberals are going to show up and wreck everything.
unidentified
Yep, yep.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Maybe we'll have to move north.
You know, maybe we'll have to.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
You live pretty close to Canada already.
unidentified
Yeah.
I had a cool story about Canada.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What is it?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I went to Canada on my 18th birthday.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
We went to Shabrook.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Went to the, yeah.
And had a really good time.
That's all I'm going to.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Did you wind up in jail?
Can you go back to Canada?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
No, but I should have gone to jail, but I didn't get caught.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Anything related to cows, or what did you do?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
No, no, no.
No, just a bad parallel parking job and intoxicated behind the wheel.
Nothing too serious.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
I think you can parallel park any way you want in Canada, I think.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Is it okay to move the vehicle and take the spot?
unidentified
Not if it's not your vehicle, it's not.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
No.
unidentified
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
There's just been so many things that have...
unidentified
I have a lot of lives.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Not so much now, but back in the day, I am lucky to be alive.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Well, now, though, too, though you're sober and you're going to church and you've got a family and thriving business and everything, ride-on-mower racing and then stock car racing?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, yeah.
So have you...
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
You've had, like, just let's start with the ride of mowers.
You've had mishaps, right?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What happened?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Crashed, got hurt a little bit, and just kept doing it.
You know what I mean?
You just make pretend it don't hurt.
Yeah.
I don't know what happened.
I mean, I got bum knee, bum arm, bum neck.
But that's not just from that.
I've crashed and smashed a lot on a lot of stuff.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Like what?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Snowmobiles.
Back when I used to drink, I'd wreck a snowmobile every winter, just basically every winter, and have to get another one.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
On trees?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Trees and rocks and brooks.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
A lot of people in Maine died in snowmobiles.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
People die on snowmobiles, yeah.
I can't believe I'm not one of those people, actually.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So, now you race at a big track in Oxford, Maine.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Well, I used to.
I did it for two years.
They got rid of the trucks this year.
They canned them.
No more trucks racing at Oxford this year.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Why?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I don't know.
My wife never really liked it, so I'm just kind of going to back away from it.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
You had a pretty bad crash, though, didn't you?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, but it didn't hurt.
It was really cool.
I got out of the truck and did a bow, and the crowd loved it.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What happened to your truck?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Nothing.
I mean, it dented it, but...
Broke some bent spindles and broke a few rims and smashed a windshield.
But my stepdad, in his garage, with one leg, fixed it in a week.
We raced the following week.
unidentified
Really?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
Yeah, while I worked.
Yeah.
At the end of the day, I'd go there in the evening.
He'd be pounding and smashing on.
He'd be all bloody knuckled.
Got it ready.
And we went and we raced again.
And the following week, I did it again in practice.
And that was embarrassing.
That wasn't cool like the first time.
The second time was embarrassing.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What did you do the second time?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
We were in practice and a guy came underneath me and poked me.
And I spun sideways and rolled like four times.
Did an endo and crashed.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
You did an end over end?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, I don't know.
I didn't see it.
But they told me if last week's crash was an 8.5, this week's was a 10. That's what one guy told me.
So I was like, oh, alright, yeah.
But it was embarrassing.
This time it was embarrassing.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So when you're in a vehicle on a track at high speed and it's going end over end or side over side, what are you thinking?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Please stop before I run into something.
That's what I was thinking the first time.
When I was barrel rolling, I was barrel rolling down Victory Lane.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I was like, it took forever.
You know what I mean?
And then when I came to stop, I was on my roof.
And I'm like, oh, okay.
unidentified
So...
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
The lady come over and she said, you alright?
I'm like, yeah, yeah, I'm fine.
So I put my hand down.
I could smell gas.
I put my hand down and it was all wet with gas.
So then I'm like trying to freak me out.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Were you smoking?
Press Influence Matters 00:03:50
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
No, no.
But I was afraid, you know, one little spark.
You know, the truck's hot.
You've been racing.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Oh, yeah.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
There's a chance of fire.
So I kind of got a little nerfed up.
And I couldn't get my belt undone because I was kind of tripping out a little bit.
And finally when I got done, I went smash down on the roof.
And I got out and I was all covered with gas, but there was no fire and it was all good.
And I got out.
And I was a little discombobulated, and I turned towards the crowd, and I did a bow, and they just went nuts, and they loved it, and it was awesome.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Was your wife there?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Nope.
She wasn't.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So let me just ask you finally about Trump, a little more specifically.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Okay.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
So I asked you what you were mad about in America, and the second thing you said was they're persecuting Trump on political grounds.
What do you like about Trump?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
He tells it how it is.
He's pro-business and he's anti-swamp.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
What do you mean anti-swamp?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
In our government, there's a bunch of people that all they do is keep making the government bigger and bigger and bigger to give themselves jobs.
They have a budget and they make sure they spend every penny of it.
So that they can get more.
Instead of trying to save some money.
Because they're all worried that they won't get as much in the next year's budget.
So they spend every dime.
Every year.
All the time.
And that's what happens to bureaucracy.
Job one of a bureaucracy is to make itself bigger.
And Trump recognized that.
And he tried cleaning it out.
Tried making it work right.
Work like a decent business.
And they...
That's why they hate him so much.
That's why the left hates Trump is because he was trying to make our government honest and work for the people.
Beneficial to you and I. He wanted to do that and he exposed the lies.
You know what I mean?
He exposed the corruption and That's why they're doing what they're doing to him.
Could you imagine how successful his presidency had been if he hadn't had all the pushback by the left, by the powers that be, by the press?
Imagine what we could have gotten done in the past, because it would have been eight years.
He would have got elected the second time if it weren't for the press.
And that's another thing.
I lay blame to them.
There's no free press anymore.
They're not...
They used to be...
They used to hold the politicians accountable.
Now, only if you're a Republican do you get held accountable.
If you're a Democrat, they just ignore you.
Only talk about...
It's so...
It drives me up a wall.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
If Trump was here, what would you say to him?
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
I'd shake his hand.
unidentified
I'd ask him if he was looking for any help.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
And then I'd tell him he's got my vote in the fall.
I wouldn't bother making any suggestions on what I think he should do to win because I know he wouldn't listen.
That's about it.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Isak Cooper.
It was great to see you at lunch.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
And I'm glad you came.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
I'm humbled.
tucker carlson ▲ ● ▼
Well, I'm humbled that you will come.
esau cooper ▲ ● ▼
Yeah, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
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