Tucker Carlson's sit-down chat with JD Vance was a huge hit... but the thousands who flocked to attend were hit by huge delays because there were only eight metal detectors to screen 6,000 people.
Saturday's event in Hershey, Pennsylvania, played to huge crowds, who watched the former Fox News host and GOP vice presidential hopeful discuss the 2024 election and state of modern America.
But the 8pm event at the city's Giant Center didn't end up starting til 10pm because of the security delay, which comes after two assassination attempts on Donald Trump over the summer.
Some attendees took to social media to vent their frustrations.
‘JD Vance and Tucker Carlson gonna say the delay was because of crowd demand when in fact it was because someone decided there should only be eight metal detectors for a crowd of 6,000,' a user on ‘X’, formerly Twitter shared.
‘Tucker Carlson and JD Vance running two hours behind because of abysmal security logistics. This is the worst night in American history,’ another posted.
Another commented: ‘Tucker Carlson and JD Vance at Giant Center delayed due to poorly working magnetometers.
‘Tucker Carlson just arrived so the show is definitely delayed,’ the user added.
Many of the guests praised the show itself. Broadcast media were only allowed to film the first few minutes of the event.
That saw Vance insist polls were skewed in favor of liberals and blast modern American lawmakers for being out of touch with regular people.
During the sit-down chat the pair traded laughs making mockery of their career paths with both agreeing they 'don't even know what they do for a living at this point.'
Vance then went on referring to the American people as 'paupers in their own country,' blaming the current administration's leadership for high interest rates making it 'way too expensive' to own property.
The U.S. senator from Ohio also claimed the election polls are misleading after citing a polling inconsistency from Donald Trump's 2016 campaign - which predicted the former president losing Wisconsin by 17 points, a state he later won.
'Even with the ideas the polls are fundamentally biased, you have to reach the right people to actually get an accurate poll,' he said.
When Carlson asked the Republican candidate of his campaign's current standing based on recent polling - which Carlson said are 'meant to deceive' - Vance replied confidently that his party 'will win.'
'You can't get depressed and give up on your country, you have to get out there and vote because if you do we are going to win. So get out there and vote and we will win,' he said.
Earlier in the day Vance appeared at the Berks County Fairgrounds in Leesport, where he was met with a sea of red and blue Trump-Vance banners before throwing verbal punches at Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
He went on to mock Harris's record before attempting to convince event-goers why they wouldn’t want to put Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, in the White House.
‘On November 5, the American people, the people of Pennsylvania are going to send a message that you are firing Harris and Trump is coming back,’ he said.
The vice presidential candidate continued on lending his focus to what he believes are Harris’s shortcomings - rather than his plans if elected.
Vance focused mainly on two areas when attacking Harris: the economy and the southern border.
In his bit about the economy, the vice presidential-hopeful shared his experience from even earlier in the day when he scoured a Pennsylvanian grocery store, making note of the ‘way too high’ prices.
He explained the cost of a dozen eggs has risen to nearly $4, while when Trump was president the cost of eggs was about $1.50.
He continued on that sentiment adding ‘the price of ground beef went from just shy of $4 a pound to $6 a pound because Harris cast the deciding vote’ on what he called the ‘Inflation Explosion Act.’
‘She says that on Day 1 she’s going to tackle the affordability crisis affecting American families.'
Vance added: ‘Kamala, Day 1 was 1,400 days ago. What the hell have you been doing that whole time? Stop talking about what you’re going to do and go out there and do it.’
The U.S. inflation rate as of the end of August 2024 was 2.5 percent - its lowest mark since February 2021, the Morning Call reports.
When President Biden and Harris took the oaths of office the rate was 1.4 percent.
Vance said that it’s not just grocery prices that are too high, ‘everything is more expensive and people cannot afford to meet their basic needs because of Harris’s policies.’
Vance also blamed the Biden-Harris border policy for allowing drug trafficking from Mexico.
Ahead of his visit to Hershey, Onotse Omoyeni, Pennsylvania Rapid Response Director for Harris for President, released the following statement.
‘JD Vance comes to Pennsylvania as Republicans across the Commonwealth are announcing their support for Vice President Harris, including over a dozen senior former national security officials who know Trump and know he’s unfit to serve as Commander-in-Chief.
‘Democrats, Republicans, and independents across Pennsylvania are rallying behind Vice President Harris because she will take our country forward and they’re ready to turn the page on the extreme politics of Trump and Vance,’ the statement concluded.
Carlson’s visit is part of a nationwide tour with conservative guests, including Donald Trump Jr., Glenn Beck, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
