Sen. Cruz: 'Something Is Wrong With Tucker Carlson'

Tucker Carlson infamously criticized Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for citing the Bible's urging of support for Israel, and now Cruz is firing back, calling Carlson increasingly extreme and "unrecognizable."

"Something is wrong with Tucker Carlson," Cruz said on his podcast "Verdict With Ted Cruz."

"I don't know what the hell's wrong with him."

After being must-see TV during the 2020 presidential race, race riots, and COVID-19 lockdowns, the former Fox News host is lost with regard to war, peace, terrorists, and his recent condolences to Osama bin Laden's family, according to Cruz.

"I look at the Tucker today: He's unrecognizable," Cruz said. "As listeners to this podcast know, I went on Tucker's show. I know Tucker was going to come after me, and — sadly — do so dishonestly."

Carlson's recent commentary crosses moral and ideological lines that conservatives have long drawn, according to Cruz. Carlson not only offered condolences to bin Laden's family — and nodded to the suggestion that perhaps Nazi Germany might have been the one to side with in World War II — he has questioned whether Hamas is a terrorist group and has been sympathetic toward authoritarian regimes in Russia and Iran.

Cruz called those positions "bizarre," "unhinged," and morally indefensible, arguing figures like bin Laden and organizations like Hamas must be condemned without equivocation.

"I'm not even sure Hamas is actually a radical jihadi organization. It seems more like a political organization," Carlson said recently.

Carlson's trajectory is a betrayal of core conservative principles, according to Cruz, who likened his rhetoric to that of liberal Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. — evidence of a broader drift away from mainstream conservatism.

"Now, @TuckerCarlson doesn't know if Hamas is a terrorist organization," Cruz added in an X post, sharing video clips of Carlson's empathy for terrorists. "('Elmo is just asking questions …') What the hell happened to Tucker?? He's turning into Ilhan Omar."

The latest volley follows Carlson's past swipes at Cruz over Israel, which helped spark a public rift between two once-aligned figures on the right.

"The week that I did the Tucker interview, it was the week right before the president launched the bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities," Cruz said on his podcast. "And Tucker was spiraling at the time because he was attacking [President] Donald Trump and saying, if the United States bombs Iran, he said it would be World War III, No. 1.

"He said thousands of Americans will die, No. 2.

"And he said America will lose, No. 3: Iran will beat us in World War III."

None of that happened, Cruz noted.

"Every one of those predictions, we now know the truth: They were laughingly, entirely, totally false," he continued.

Even Trump had to call out Carlson.

"I'm the one that decides what America First is, and I'm telling you right now, defending America is America First," Cruz said, quoting Trump's response.

"I've got to say it just started Tucker on this downward spiral."

Carlson attempted to call it "human decency" to be sorry for the loss of a family member, even if the family member was a terrorist, but that did not sit well with Cruz.

"If people are evil psychotic mass murderers, then society celebrates that they are no longer with us," Cruz said. "There is justice. I believe in the principle of justice.

"We're so sorry we took out your psychotic daddy who murdered nearly 3,000 Americans — no, we're not sorry."

Cruz added, "This moral relativism, I have got to say, is a weird thing when someone who considers himself, calls himself a conservative, sounds exactly like Ilhan Omar. It is a weird thing when a supposed conservative sounds like Rashida Tlaib, sounds like [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.,] and says, 'Gosh, we ought to be saying I'm sorry to Osama bin Laden's family.'

"No, we should not."

Hamas' own political charter says "jihad is its path," according to Cruz.

"Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the United States of America — that's as a matter of federal law — by Australia, by Canada, by Paraguay, by Israel, by Japan, by New Zealand, by the United Kingdom, and the European Union," Cruz said.

Carlson knows he would alienate his listeners if he attacked Trump, so he attacks the actions without aiming at the president, according to Cruz.

"He doesn't have the courage, he doesn't have the backbone to actually attack Trump, so he just attacks everything Trump does," Cruz said. "He attacks bombing Iran. Well, who was the commander in chief who made the order? And by the way, that was an incredibly successful military operation that made America safer."

Carlson might detest war, but Trump does, too, Cruz concluded.

"I don't know what's going on with Tucker; I don't know what is driving it," the senator said. "It's one thing to feel kind of isolationist and to say, 'Gosh, you know, I don't like wars.' OK, fine, that is a view, and to be clear, Donald Trump doesn't like wars either.

"[Former President] Joe Biden and the Democrats get us in war. President Trump has gotten us out of war. But getting us out of war, you do it through strength. And getting us out of war does not mean that you refuse to defend America."

Cruz added, "Fine, if Tucker wants to be isolationist, knock yourself out."