Tucker Carlson has accused Senator Ted Cruz of being a “sleazy feline” for suggesting he was an anti-semite, as MAGA tensions over the Middle East once again erupted on screen.
Cruz, in turn, hit out at the former Fox News host for being “obsessed” with Israel, resulting in a conversation over the Iran conflict descending into yet another slanging match.
“It’s interesting that you’re trying to derail my questions by calling me anti-semite, which you are,” Carlson said, as the pair discussed the issue on Wednesday’s Tucker Carlson Show.
“I did not,” the Texas Senator replied.
“Of course you are,” Carlson said, “and rather than be honorable enough to say it right to my face, you are, in a sleazy feline way, implying it.”
“You’re the one that just called me a sleazy feline!” Cruz hit back.
“It is sleazy to imply that I’m an anti-semite—which is what you just did,” Carlson said.
“Give me another reason, if you’re not an anti-semite, why the obsession with Israel?” Cruz asked.
The brawl spilled over as Trump weighs whether the U.S. military should help Israel destroy a deeply buried Iranian nuclear enrichment facility at Fordow, located 20 miles from the Iranian city of Qom, using a 30-pound bomb known as a “bunker buster”.
But such a move would risk any remaining chance of nuclear disarmament through diplomatic means, and potentially tear apart the MAGA base that got Trump elected.
Carlson does not believe the U.S. should be involved and has branded Trump “complicit in the conflict.” Cruz, meanwhile, backs Israel and regime change in Iran, describing himself today as “a non-interventionist hawk”.
But things started to get tense when Carlson began asking about Cruz’s involvement with AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel PAC in America.
AIPAC actively lobbies the U.S. government, including Congress and the White House, to promote policies that support Israel. It has also donated to various lawmakers, including Cruz.
“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 said.
After some back and forth, Cruz told him: “It’s a very weird thing, the obsession with Israel… 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?”
“Oh so I’m an anti-semite now?” Carlson fired back.
“You’re asking why the Jews are controlling our foreign policy!” Cruz replied.
The war of words came after an earlier excerpt of the show also went viral, when Cruz was unable to explain the population of Iran.
But it is emblematic of the fissures within the GOP over America’s involvement in the Middle East, particularly after Trump came into office promising not to get involved in “endless” foreign wars.
Trump’s tone shifted considerably this week as he demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and declared on social media that “we” knew the exact location of Iran’s supreme leader but would not kill him—“at least not for now.”
The Pentagon also signaled it was moving more fighter jets to the region, while Vice President JD Vance posted on X that after showing “remarkable restraint,” Trump “may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment.”
Trump, however, is yet to say what he will do.
“I may do it; I may not do it,” he told reporters when asked if he would join Israel’s attack. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
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