BUCK: He is running in one of the most important hotly contested Senate battles of this entire election cycle. Dr. Oz, Mehmet Oz, is with us right now. Dr. Oz, we always appreciate your time, sir. This is Buck. I just gotta know. Tell us you’re gonna win this thing, man, and how are you gonna do it?

DR. OZ: We’re gonna win it, you’re gonna be proud of me, and the polls have closed dramatically as, folks, have gotten out of summer and they start to focus in on the race and begin to appreciate how far-left radical my opponent really is. And I say that in part because when you talk about what’s happening to America and you start to identify the real problems, which is what doctors do, you know.

We listen to our patients. You begin to appreciate the continuous series of errors, Washington keeps getting it wrong. And John Fetterman is further left than Joe Biden, further left than any other Senate candidate in the contested race and the positions that he takes are gonna further worsen the situations we’re in. And I am pretty clear in my campaign that I stand for the things that I believe will continue to make America powerful.

And it includes making our city streets safe, you know, keeping our borders secure so we don’t have fentanyl pouring across that’s now taken the lives of about a hundred thousand young people in the past year — that’s four times more than covid — I believe we can have a strong energy policy that will help deal with inflation and, you know, I think parents’ values should be reflected in their schools.

All the things that we know have kept this country strong for 250 years. And it’s a pretty clear black and white choice. And so, on November the 8th folks are gonna say, are you happy with where the country’s headed? There are ones who say, no, which is the majority who are gonna vote for me ’cause I’m the guy for change for all the things I just mentioned.

Why won’t John Fetterman debate Dr. Oz? 🤔pic.twitter.com/s1GUVhODbc

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 26, 2022

CLAY: Dr. Oz, do you think that Fetterman is going to — I know this has been a big topic and Buck and I have talked about it a great deal — do you think that John full time is going to be able to debate at all? And if he isn’t, why is that so significant in this race, in your mind?

DR. OZ: Well, as a physician I have empathy, compassion for the fact that he had a stroke. I know he’s recovering, and he’s — hopefully at some point gonna feel comfortable coming on the debate stage. I’ve offered to make concessions to make it easier for him to do that. But he is continuing to decline. Now, the reason it’s significant in this race is if the real reason you’re not debating is because you can’t defend the far-left radical positions that you have taken throughout your career, that’s a real problem.

That’s an issue that the voters will penalize you for. And he’s hiding right now. He’s not out in his campaign trail answering questions. He’s very measured in the outings that he has. He’ll speak for five minutes and get off the stage, no questions. And that’s no way to run a campaign. I mean, politics, democracy is all about hearing your candidates, witnessing them answer tough questions, making sure they’ll do what they need to do for you as your representative in the Senate.

And he’s not been doing that throughout this general campaign. It’s now almost four months since the primaries that we’ve barely heard from the man. And voters in Pennsylvania, they want to understand exactly what you stand for. It’s a purple state. So, you know, folks, are — a lot of people right in the middle. They could go either way, but if they don’t hear from him, they’re not gonna vote for him.

BUCK: What is Fetterman, Dr. Oz, what is he far left on? I mean, if you had to give us a couple things that for those people right now in your state of Pennsylvania who are worried about paying the mortgage, the price of gas, the price of energy, crime on the streets, Philadelphia crime is out of control, is just one example, where is Fetterman on the issues that matter?

As a violent crime wave plagues Pennsylvania communities, John Fetterman is bragging about pardoning more criminals “than every administration in Pennsylvania history combined.” pic.twitter.com/FTSprKr95g

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 1, 2022

DR. OZ: Let’s say crime is the starting point. He wants to release one-third of all prisoners in Pennsylvania. Does not believe in life sentences. Has been critical of the fact that we penalize people for doing drugs. He wants to legalize all drugs. He wants heroin injection sites.

These are the kinds of actions that have paralyzed law enforcement in, for example, Philadelphia, where I am now, and given us the highest murder rate ever in our history. Fetterman is for open borders and sanctuary cities. Not appreciating that when you have an open border you have a cartel to profit by trafficking human beings, they take that money, think buy fentanyl from China and traffic that too, which is why we have so much of this deadly drug leading to those deaths I mentioned earlier.

He’s — but Bernie Sanders, they’re partners in crime here, they both argued that we should get rid of all private health insurance, get rid of the private health care system. And that is a drastic change from what we have today. And there’s no backup. Neither one of them really knows what that would do, which is I think the biggest thing we should be fearful of, that they lob these tweets thinking these are policy comments. They’re not.

Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman thinks requiring an ID to vote is “outrageous,” “illogical,” “unfair,” “unnecessary,” “insidious,” and “simply voter suppression.” pic.twitter.com/St9GSNlpYm

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 31, 2022

You’re destroying health care in America is not something that you can do and fix readily. These are some of the examples. He’s called fracking a stain on Pennsylvania, wants to, you know, call for a moratorium on the fracking. I mean, these are all positions that are way outside the guidelines. But most importantly he’s argued that Joe Biden is too conservative, that if he really was gonna be a good president, he would go much further to the left and that’s why he penalizes him in his comments.

And I’m thinking that that’s the opposite of what we need in America. We need to pull back towards the middle. I understand the need to reach across the aisle and I appreciate we’ll be working with Democrats in the Senate, but I definitely don’t want to go further to the left. There’s no one out there, and it’s not good for the country.

CLAY: We’re talking to Dr. Oz, Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania. It seems to me that Fetterman is the most radical nominee in a major state for the Senate in decades. I mean, when you consider that he is a Bernie Sanders clone effectively running in Pennsylvania, he also — this is wild to me — he also didn’t really have jobs in his thirties or forties.

His parents paid for his lifestyle, his family to live. I believe he bought a house from his sister for a dollar. Yet he walks around trying to sell this idea ’cause he’s wearing a hoodie that he’s a blue-collar guy that connects with Pennsylvanians. Isn’t he basically just playing dress-up here? In reality he’s a rich kid whose parents have paid for him to live his life.

As a doctor, I saved the lives of thousands of patients. As your Senator, I plan to bring the power of change to Washington that Pennsylvania desperately needs. pic.twitter.com/bNsv476TDE

— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) August 24, 2022

DR. OZ: It’s a costume. And the hypocrisy continues. He’s critical of giving parents choice over the schools that their kids attend but his kids go to private school, again, paid for by his family. He hasn’t had an experience working. He doesn’t understand the machinery of America. That it’s hard to make a living, that there are challenges that tax paying Americans face and they need to supported through that.

And that’s why his first response to a problem is ask Big Government to get involved with big bureaucracies, thinking they’ll fix everything. It doesn’t work, and it won’t work. And historically it’s been a catastrophe when this happened. But people like John Fetterman are especially dangerous because they don’t have any personal experience with these problems so they come up with cockamamie ideas that sound good when you’re at a cocktail party but they don’t work in real life.

That’s why things like forgiving student debt is so detrimental. Not just because it’s unfair for plumbers to have to pay for lawyers’ tuition, right? People who couldn’t go to college, they didn’t have the money for it, they didn’t desire to go, they had other desires in life, you know, they’re not paying for all the people who went to college and didn’t pay their debt, like, all the kids who went to college and paid their debt, they’re being penalized too.

And imagine this. Who in the future is ever gonna pay off their college debt if you know the government’s gonna swoop in there once in a while and pay it all off? And those are the kinds of mistakes that Fetterman is prone to over and over again because of his life experience. And I gotta say, the reason this race is so important is evident, right?

We control the balance of power in the Senate. But this is profoundly important observation. The money is pouring in by Democrats on the coasts into Pennsylvania ’cause they desperately want that 51st seat. And I’m saying to all my colleagues in the Republican Party, don’t believe the misguided commentary in the liberal press. They’re trying to paint a picture that is untrue.

There are many examples I can give you. But best of all that’s the argument being made, that the Senate leadership is not all that supportive. They are. I got $34 million from Senate leadership Mitch McConnell in particular in order to run our campaign. That’s a huge endorsement and embrace of our campaign. Same is happening in Ohio and Georgia and other major states that have, you know, been doing well, and we will win these races.

Don’t the chilling effect of negative press. Do your own homework. You’ll see that these are tight races. They’ll be decided at the last second ’cause these are purple states. People understandably want to see both sides, you know, express their opinions. But if my opponent’s not willing to show up and do the work, then things look pretty good for the Republican Party in Pennsylvania.

CLAY: So, let’s go back to the debates for one sec to close out with you, Dr. Oz, Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania. Need everybody out there listening in Pennsylvania to make sure that you are out working for Oz not only because you support Oz but because Fetterman is a radical, left-wing, Bernie Sanders clone who has basically never worked a day in his life and wants a job for — this is me saying this — for six years that, according to basic data right now from his campaign, he’s not healthy enough to debate.

He’s certainly not gonna be healthy enough to be a senator for six years down in Washington, D.C. So, when does this resolve itself in your mind as to whether he will ever debate you? Is this gonna be a two-month argument that you have to put out there that you want to go to toe-to-toe with this guy? Or do you think they just come out at some point in September or October and say, no debates?

DR. OZ: I can’t predict what his team is gonna do. They want to protect him and shield him from having to answer for the radical leftist issues that he’s taken. But I think the public plays a large role here. The more pressure he feels from the voting public in Pennsylvania, the more these polls show that it’s a very tight race and it matters to the voters, the more he’s gonna need to go out and actually answer questions and address this debate issue.

Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman: If I could “fix one thing,” I would end “life without parole” for CONVICTED MURDERERS.
pic.twitter.com/nn0QdMHRyM

— GOP (@GOP) August 31, 2022

And I do believe it’s gonna happen. At some point he’ll feel enough pressure from the voters that the election will hinge on whether he’s willing to answer simple questions about things he said, that he’ll have to show up. And that’s when we know we’re in a good position because he doesn’t like to debate, he’s avoided them continually, not just in this race but in the primary. And I’m confident that if I get him on the debate stage, we’ll be able to ask each other tough questions and the voters of Pennsylvania will find out exactly who they want to vote for, which is me.

And, by the way, everyone listening from all over the country, help me deal with this influx of cash from, you know, liberals on the coast into Pennsylvania. DrOz.com is our website. Even $10 helps. Just get it — you know, vote with your pocketbook, show that you care. And that sends a message also to the media that the grassroots support for our candidates in these critical states that is vital to the success of our nation going forward.

CLAY: No doubt. He’s Dr. Oz. Pennsylvania may well decide who controls the Senate in a little over two months’ time. I’m sure we’ll talk to you again. Keep up the good work and keep taking the fight to John Fetterman.

DR. OZ: I look forward to going to a Penn State game with you. I’ll see you at State College.

CLAY: It will be fun. Nittany Lions about to kick off. Appreciate you, Dr. Oz. Have a good weekend.

DR. OZ: God bless, my friends. Take care.