Much like the President Donald Trump-Elon Musk feud, sometimes it’s nice to watch two jackasses duke it out, in the hopes that maybe they’ll just beat each other up—metaphorically speaking. Such is the pleasure of watching Tucker Carlson condescendingly wipe the floor with Senator Ted Cruz. Everyone involved is insufferable, but hey, you’ve got to take your schadenfreude wherever you can get it.
The exchange in question is an interview with Cruz on Carlson’s podcast. The two are on opposite sides of the conservative spectrum when it comes to U.S. intervention in the conflict between Israel and Iran. Carlson, from the isolationist perspective, asked Cruz how many people live in Iran; Cruz, from the war hawk perspective, admitted he didn’t know. “You don’t know the population you seek to topple?” Carlson asked incredulously. Cruz questioned the relevance of the inquiry, claiming he does actually know things about Iran. Asked about the country’s “ethnic mix,” the beleaguered Cruz paused before responding, “They are Persians, and predominantly Shia.” The men started to bicker before Carlson erupted, “You don’t know anything about Iran!”
“You don’t believe they’re trying to murder Trump, because you’re not calling for military strikes against them in retaliation,” Carlson accused the senator, who shot back: “We are carrying out military strikes today.” Carlson quickly latched on to Cruz’s use of “we,” though Cruz tried to backtrack and say it was Israel’s strikes with support from the U.S. “You’re breaking news here because the US government last night denied—The National Security Council spokesman Alex Pfeiffer denied, on behalf of Trump, that we were acting on Israel’s behalf in any offensive capacity.”
“We’re not bombing them, Israel’s bombing them,” Cruz attempted to correct. “You just said we were,” Carlson disagreed, continuing with a vindictive sort of glee: “This is high stakes. You’re a senator. If you’re saying the United States government is at war with Iran right now, people are listening.” You can check out the clip for yourself below.
