During his heated two-hour interview with Ted Cruz that dropped on Wednesday afternoon, Tucker Carlson ripped into the Republican senator for suggesting he was an antisemite following a tense back-and-forth about Cruz’s overt support for Israel.
“Shame on you,” Carlson seethed, claiming the lawmaker had accused him of being antisemitic in a “sleazy, feline way.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s broadcast of Carlson’s online show, the discussion between the two conservatives had already drawn headlines after the former Fox News host posted a preview clip on Tuesday night of him berating Cruz on his aggressive stance towards Iran.
“You’re a senator who’s calling for an overthrow of the government, and you don’t know anything about the country!” Carlson exclaimed, accusing the senator of being ignorant of basic facts about Iran despite urging for regime change, adding: “You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?... How could you not know that?!”
That bitter exchange has served as a snapshot of the fractured divide between “America First” conservatives and hawkish Republicans as President Donald Trump continues to weigh joining Israel’s bombing campaign against Iran, which Trump suggests is necessary to destroy its nuclear program.
Carlson, a longtime Trump ally and informal adviser to the president, has set off a MAGA insurgency as he’s accused Trump of being “complicit” in Israel’s attack on Iran and warned that a “full-scale war” could end his presidency. Trump, meanwhile, has responded by calling Carlson “kooky Tucker” and mockingly noting that he no longer hosts a primetime Fox News show.
The confrontation between Carlson and Cruz on Iran, meanwhile, occurred roughly 90 minutes into the interview. The bad blood, however, started to bubble up well before they got to that point.
Carlson brought up the donations that Cruz has received over the years from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Specifically, Carlson pressed Cruz on why AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group that seeks to strengthen the US-Israel relationship, wasn’t deemed a foreign lobbyist.
“It’s just interesting, because what you’re now describing – in a very defensive way, I will say – is foreign influence over our politics,” Carlson noted, prompting Cruz to suggest there was an ulterior motive behind the conservative pundit’s query.
“It’s a very weird thing, the obsession with Israel,” Cruz grumbled. “You’re not talking about Chinese, you’re not talking about Japanese, you’re not talking about the Brits, you’re not talking about the French. The question is: ‘What about the Jews? What about the Jews?’”
The implication immediately made Carlson furious, prompting him to fire back: “Oh, so I’m an antisemite now?!”
While he denied that he outright called Carlson antisemitic, Cruz continued to question why the ex-Fox star was “obsessed” with Israel, leading Carlson to call him out for what he felt was at the very least an innuendo.
“It’s interesting that you’re trying to derail my questions by calling me an antisemite, which you are,” Carlson fumed.
“I did not,” the senator asserted.
“Of course you are, and rather than be honorable enough to say it right to my face – you are, in a sleazy feline way, implying it,” Carlson retorted.
“You asked me why I am obsessed with Israel three minutes after telling me that when you first ran for Congress you elucidated one of your main goals which was to defend Israel, and I am the one who is obsessed with Israel—I don't see a lawmaker’s job as defending the interest of a foreign government. Period,” he further noted. “That does not make me an antisemite, and shame on you for suggesting otherwise!”
Cruz would go on to complain that Carlson called him a “sleazy feline,” leading Carlson to state that “it’s sleazy to imply that I’m an antisemite, which you did.”
“Give me another reason, if you’re not an antisemite, why the obsession with Israel?” Cruz later wondered.
“I agree with Tucker on 80 percent of the issues,” Cruz declared on his own podcast on Wednesday, adding: “On foreign policy, Tucker has gone bat-crap crazy. He’s gone off the rails.”
The Texas senator also tried to preempt the full release of the interview on Wednesday by posting a cartoon image of Carlson interviewing Luke Skywalker and asking him: “What is the population of the Death Star?” Needless to say, Cruz received a largely negative reaction to the tweet.
Elsewhere in the interview, Carlson revealed that he had recently chatted with Trump on the phone. “I talked to him last night,” he said. “I’m not against Trump, and you know that. I think that we should be very careful about entering into more foreign wars that don’t help us when our country is dying.”
Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, Trump confirmed that they had indeed spoken, but the president also claimed that the former Fox News anchor had offered up a mea culpa.
“Tucker's a nice guy,” the president said. “He called and apologized the other day because he thought he said things that were a little bit too strong, and I appreciated that.”
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