The recent rhetoric coming from Tucker Carlson on his program garnered an interesting review from The Atlantic’s Peter Beinart in a story he wrote, which focuses on a unique brand of conservatism espoused by Fox News’s newest prime time host.
Beinart tuned into Tucker Carlson Tonight on two consecutive nights earlier this week, and noticed something he deemed interesting.
On Tuesday’s episode, Carlson told retired Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters he thought the U.S. should join forces with Russia to defeat ISIS. Col. Peters, a bit stunned, responded by saying, “You sound like Charles Lindbergh in 1938.” Carlson referred to that comment “grotesque” and “insane.”
The following night, Carlson got into another argument with a conservative guest on his program, Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow, and former Romney adviser, Max Boot. Carlson said he opposed overthrowing Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and didn’t consider Russia to be a serious threat. When Boot then called Carlson a “cheerleader” for Moscow and Iran, the host then called that comment “grotesque” as well.
Beinart writes:
“In his vicious and ad hominem way, Carlson is doing something extraordinary: He’s challenging the Republican Party’s hawkish orthodoxy in ways anti-war progressives have been begging cable hosts to do for years…Carlson is moderating a debate between the two strands of thinking that have dominated conservative foreign policy for roughly a century.”
Beinart gives Carlson and Fox News a backhanded compliment, saying “Carlson is offering a glimpse into what Fox News would look like as an intellectually interesting network.”
But Beinart then concludes his piece by criticizing the host’s stance on Russia: “Tucker Carlson can be a provocative, necessary voice on foreign policy. Or he can be an apologist for Donald Trump. He can’t be both.”