One didn’t need to watch the recent conversation/confrontation between Tucker Carlson and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, which created a storm of controversy. The tone and nature of the conversation were predictable. But having watched it, it was breathtaking nevertheless to see Tucker use every canard imaginable as evidence of his antisemitic pedigree. Despite claiming that he’s just asking questions, he comes across as prosecutor, judge, and jury.
The confrontation probably didn’t move anyone who is a rational thinker, other than to think of Tucker as a bottom-feeding faux-journalist. It probably didn’t move any of Tucker’s amen corner of trolls. Their comments are truly frightening. And his comments create a level of incitement that is unprecedented for someone not wearing a white hood.
Billed as an “interview,” it was really more of an ambush. Tucker pounced out of the gate to attack Huckabee from multiple angles, in a program that lasted more than two hours. Tucker’s comments billed under the banner of concern for America ranged a wide perspective of lies and antisemitic tropes. Sadly, all very predictable and part of Tucker’s MO.
One unusual thing was that Tucker used his bully pulpit of being the host, not simply to present the conversation, but leading it (and the viewers) with 25 minutes of ranting at the outset; not a three to five or even seven minute intro, but a full 25 minutes barrage, nearly 25 percent of the length of the entire conversation with Huckabee, telling you what to look for. If he ever feigned journalist objectivity, this was thrown out the window before the confrontation even began.
Without even discussing the ambush on Huckabee, it’s important to unpack and debunk Tucker’s 25-minute stage-setting barrage of lies.
Prefacing his monologue, Tucker noted that it’s never worth talking about the backstory of a story, as it makes the conversation more about the interviewer, and takes off the record items and casts a spotlight on them. He said it’s best to let an interview speak for itself, and then he ranted for another 20+ minutes speaking about it.
Tucker claimed that the conversation with Huckabee was important because the US was on the verge of a “regime change” war against Iran, which he argued was being driven by Israel at the behest of Netanyahu. A pundit is allowed to speculate, but he presented this nefarious lie as a truth, suggesting that a war against Iran is only in Israel’s interest, and President Trump and the US are being used as Israel’s puppet. He conveniently forgets the Islamic Republic's hijacking of the US embassy and kidnapping of its staff, and 47 years of chanting “death to America” and planting its agents within US shores.
Tucker repeated a bald-faced lie with which he used to batter Huckabee, that Jonathan Pollard (a former spy who spent 30 years in US prison), with whom Huckabee had a private meeting, was the “most damaging spy in American history.” This lie is not only historically incorrect, but it was repeated multiple times to paint the Israel-US relationship as anything but close allies. He employed other examples as well. In fact, when doing an objective investigation as to what US spy was indeed most damaging, Pollard does not even make the Top 10 List, which is headed by former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, former CIA spy Aldrich Ames, and John Walker.
In further castigating Israel, Tucker claimed that the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu himself called Tucker an antisemite and a Nazi and, with no evidence, that Netanyahu has directly threatened Tucker’s family. He claimed that Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel called him an enemy of Israel, and then alleged disingenuously that she was the one being placed in charge of Tucker’s security.
He stated erroneously that Israel is the most violent country in the world. But he neglected that in the US, there are more than 120 weapons per 100 people and where personal violence is rampant in many areas, as compared to Israel, where it’s under ten percent, and personal crime outside of Islamic terrorism is a fraction of that in America. Another bald-faced lie that had no relevance to his confrontation with Huckabee, just to make Israel look bad.
Tucker slandered the US Embassy's handling of reporting his (very expensive) private chartered plane’s arrival to the IDF, as making him feel uncomfortable. He must have been intoxicated on his privilege, as countless private jets enter Israel all the time, and the pilots and chartering companies are responsible for reporting this to Israeli authorities, not the US (or any other) embassy. The very expectation that the US embassy should serve at Tucker’s behest is a fraud.
Tucker whined about not getting a private meeting with Netanyahu, to “deliver a message” after saying how busy he was, that he needed to be “in and out” of Israel and that’s why he alleged he didn’t have time to leave the airport. If he were so busy, how would he have had the time for such a meeting, and why would he expect to be afforded that opportunity? And specifically why after accusing Netanyahu of “blood guilt” in allegedly threatening Tucker’s family. He claimed that this was due to Amalek, and that such a notion was not Christian. Yet, most Christians I know actually believe that the command to blot out Amalek in Deuteronomy 25:17-19 is correct. This week, we celebrate the blotting out of Amalek’s descendant, Haman, in Persia, 2500 years ago. Yes, Tucker, actual Christians actually believe that. Is Tucker a modern descendant of Amalek? I don’t know. I’m just asking a question.
If Tucker wanted to deliver a message to Netanyahu, he could write a letter, post a tweet, or make one of his abhorrent videos. In the same way that during the confrontation itself, after Tucker slandered Israeli President Herzog as having a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, he received a letter from the President’s office triggering Tucker’s clarification. Messages can be delivered in many ways other than a face-to-face meeting to which Tucker has no right. It is not the duty or interest of the Prime Minister of Israel, or any head of state or government in the world, to meet with any wacko conspiracy theorist who wants an audience. But Tucker narrates this all in his opening diatribe to castigate others and find fault with Israel.
[Editor's note: Part 2 of this story will run on March 1.]