Tucker Carlson tried to make Ted Cruz look bad and ended up exposing himself

Tucker Carlson, perhaps the world's most famous conservative journalist, interviewed Republican Senator and voice of authority on the US right, Ted Cruz. In the interview, Tucker tried to make Ted Cruz look bad on several occasions for his positions on the war in Iran and on Israel.

Although a few years ago Tucker was one of the strongest voices against the Iranian regime to the point of calling for its annihilation, he is now completely opposed to any measures of pressure against Iran and is a major critic of the State of Israel and its prime minister, conservative Benjamin Netanyahu. In the interview with Ted Cruz, Tucker raised these points and went out of his way to profile the senator as a war hawk whose interests have nothing to do with those of the U.S.

The problem is that Tucker attempted to do this in a rather mean-spirited and low way. In an attempt to unsettle him, the reporter asked him leading, mean-spirited, and frankly irrelevant questions.

Tucker asked Ted Cruz what the population of Iran was. When Cruz didn't know the answer, Tucker began to say that this was a sign that the senator had no idea what he was talking about. That Ted Cruz was calling for more pressure for a regime he knows nothing about.

At another point, Ted Cruz quoted a Bible verse. Tucker followed suit. He asked him exactly what part the verse was from, and Cruz couldn't say precisely either. And so the interview was full of leading questions, as if it were a questionnaire to be admitted somewhere—Tucker also asked Cruz what the religious and ethnic demographics of the Iranians were, and, in this case, the senator answered, correctly, that they are Persian Shiites.

It may be significant that Cruz, especially being a relevant voice on the issue, does not know exactly what the population of Iran is or where in the Bible a verse he quotes appears. But these are not determinative questions. You don't have to know the population of North Korea to know that Kim Jong-un is a despicable tyrant threatening peace in his region, nor do you have to know the population of Cuba or Venezuela to say that both Maduro and Diaz-Canel are two ruthless butchers who hate the United States. Ted Cruz speaks appropriately about the situation in the United States.

Ted Cruz speaks with propriety about the situation in Iran. First, because he knows in general terms what is going on, and second, because morally he is on the right side: against the ruthless regime of Khamenei.

The senator, beyond those isolated desperate moments, was able to explain very well why the United States should take the Iranian problem seriously and why it should unconditionally support Israel. Cruz told Tucker a truth that the journalist tried to deny: the Iranian regime has planned to assassinate Donald Trump, and that deserves consequences.

The interview, beyond Tucker Carlson's animus, is entertaining. Ted Cruz acquits himself well and raises essential points. However, with the clips that have been massively disseminated and Tucker's tone, it's clear that it was concocted as an ambush, from leading questions, to make one of America's most prominent and serious conservatives look bad.

It's mean-spirited. Being a conservative, what Tucker is doing with a coideario like Cruz speaks very poorly of him. For weeks now, his attacks have been directed at the inner workings of the conservative movement and the MAGA project. Although he warns that there are those who aspire to divide Trump's base, it is he who is doing it first.

Ted Cruz is not a bloodthirsty neocon, as Tucker tried to portray him. On the contrary, he is someone pragmatic, with clear principles, who understands well that America has made the mistake of engaging in fruitless wars but that it cannot make the mistake of burying its head in the ground while its enemies gather strength and become emboldened.

It is precisely Obama's passivity that ended up making Iran a problem as it is today, ruthlessly attacking Israel, funding terrorist groups around the world, and plotting to assassinate the president of the United States. It was precisely Carter's mediocre and naive foreign policy that caused Iran to transform into a dangerous theocracy whose purpose is the annihilation of the infidels, starting with Israel but ending with the United States.

For that is what neither Tucker nor those who want to look aside and ignore the Iran problem understand. The Iranian regime, which is not a simple autocratic system, is driven by religious dogma. It is driven by holy war. Jihad determines it, and that will be the case regardless of who is in the White House.

Obama, naive, thought he could keep the theocracy at bay. Trump would make the mistake of squandering Israel's military achievements, not helping to finish the job.

The latter is perfectly understood by Ted Cruz, who, in the face of Tucker, defended the interests of both the United States and President Trump. Tucker, on the other hand, although he tried to make his interviewee look bad, was exposed as someone inconsistent and with very bad intentions vis-à-vis the conservative movement.

One X user, The Misfit Patriot, put it very well: "This is the most blatant example of 'debate me, bro' manipulation tactics. No interest at all in a real discussion, just baited questions for gotcha moments to clip so you can use them as propaganda for your fucking narrative. I used to really look up to this guy; now I’m disgusted seeing what he’s become."

The one who is dividing, if anything, is Tucker Carlson.