Tucker Carlson Explains Why He Left the Republican Party Over Foreign Allegiance Concerns

[00:00] Have there been threats? Have there

[00:01] been? Yeah, of course there have been.

[00:02] Are you kidding? And

[00:04] >> aren't you used to that? Like like

[00:06] you're outspoken on a lot of stuff,

[00:08] right? Like for many, many, many years.

[00:10] This can't be new to you.

[00:11] >> Well, you're never going to hear me

[00:12] whine about threats ever. Um to me,

[00:16] because I got on this voluntarily. I

[00:18] know what the I mean, I got fired after

[00:20] 15 years. The highest rated show in

[00:21] American cable television. So, and I got

[00:23] fired for my opinion. So, I And I'm not

[00:25] whining at all. I'm so grateful that I

[00:27] got fired. I'm just saying you it's not

[00:29] like I didn't know what the price is. I

[00:31] do know what the price is. Charlie Kirk

[00:33] was murdered.

[00:34] >> Yeah.

[00:34] >> Um and he was not murdered for his

[00:36] opinions on transgenderism.

[00:39] Obviously he was I believe and most

[00:42] people who knew him well as I did and

[00:44] was friends with him as I was believe he

[00:47] was most likely murdered for his

[00:49] evolving views on Israel. So I I get it

[00:52] and a lot's at stake. The world is at

[00:54] stake. But from my perspective, I have a

[00:57] duty to say what I think is true. I'm

[00:58] often wrong and I always say that

[01:00] because it it's a fact. I have been

[01:02] wrong a lot and I may be wrong now, but

[01:04] I am sincere. I'm saying what I believe

[01:06] is true and I'm going to continue doing

[01:08] that no matter what.

[01:09] >> Does it give you pause uh ever being so

[01:12] forthright with your opinions when it

[01:14] comes to your family? Yeah, I mean this

[01:16] is a conversation that you know we've

[01:19] been having uh internal I have a very

[01:21] large family um internally in my family

[01:24] for you know more than a decade and you

[01:26] know obviously we've had

[01:28] >> you know small and in some a few cases

[01:31] very large you know problems because of

[01:34] this but you know we've made our peace

[01:36] with it I think and I have very close

[01:38] family so that's I'm grateful for that

[01:41] above all things and um really really

[01:44] grateful for it close to all my

[01:45] children, all my extended family, very

[01:47] close. So, yeah. No, I mean, I'm I'm not

[01:49] I just want to be clear. I'm not

[01:50] complaining and I'm unlike the people

[01:53] who are calling me an anti-semite or

[01:54] racist or whatever. I don't see myself

[01:57] as a victim. I don't think victimhood is

[01:59] inherently virtuous. I find that whole

[02:02] way of communicating and of covering up

[02:05] crimes disgusting. I don't respect it at

[02:08] all. I think it's feline and um and

[02:11] really kind of beneath contempt. Oh,

[02:13] you're, you know, someone will attack

[02:15] you or threaten you literally up to

[02:18] threatening your life and as he's doing

[02:20] that claim that he's the victim of bias.

[02:23] And, you know, I just reject that.

[02:25] That's not the culture that I come from.

[02:26] I think that's dishonorable. That's not

[02:28] the American way to do things at all.

[02:31] That's not the way I was raised. I will

[02:33] never act like that and I look down on

[02:34] anyone else who does act like that. in

[02:36] terms of a read from the American people

[02:38] off if they feel the same way as you do

[02:40] and maybe some of the others that have

[02:42] have moved away from the Republican

[02:44] party and have moved away from President

[02:45] Trump because of the war and these

[02:47] issues. Do you think that the midterms

[02:49] are are going to be like the the first

[02:51] chance for us to get a get a temperature

[02:53] read of of how the American people are

[02:55] feeling towards Trump and and and some

[02:57] of these issues that you're talking

[02:58] about?

[02:59] >> Well, the poll numbers now are, you

[03:00] know, tell a pretty clear story about

[03:02] it. I I would not support the Republican

[03:04] party. There's no chance I would support

[03:05] the Republican party. Not going to

[03:07] support the Democratic Party. I don't

[03:08] know what I'm going to do. But at this

[03:10] point, you know, how could you support

[03:12] how could I or any American voter

[03:14] support a political party that's not

[03:16] loyal to the United States that puts the

[03:18] interest of a foreign country above

[03:20] those of its own citizens? Like I that's

[03:22] that's, you know, it's not possible to

[03:24] vote for people like that. And I'm not

[03:26] going to. And I think I've voted

[03:27] Republican my entire life. I worked at

[03:30] Fox News. I CNN, MSNBC. I I've been a a

[03:34] consistent defender for 35 years of the

[03:37] Republican party. I mean, very

[03:39] consistent defender. But there's no

[03:41] defending this because it's immoral and

[03:43] it's exactly the opposite of what a

[03:46] political party in a democracy is

[03:48] charged with doing, which is

[03:50] representing its own voters, its own

[03:52] citizens, its own nation. And they're

[03:54] not doing that. So, no, I'm out. And if

[03:56] I'm out, then I think a lot of other

[03:58] people are out. Well, I mean, you know,

[03:59] Marjorie Taylor Green, who I know that

[04:01] you're close with, is also out. I was

[04:02] working at a uh not the CBC, another

[04:04] network, and I covered the 2016

[04:07] campaign, and we went all across the

[04:09] United States. And by the end, when I

[04:11] was in New York City, I thought to

[04:12] myself, okay, Donald Trump is going to

[04:14] win. I had an understanding at that

[04:15] point in time of what the MAGA movement

[04:19] was. What is your definition today of

[04:22] what MAGA now means?

[04:25] >> I never understood it. I mean, I think

[04:27] there was a strong latent desire um in

[04:32] the hearts of a lot of Americans to

[04:33] improve the country, make America great

[04:35] again. So, on a literal level, you know,

[04:37] people wanted that. They still want it.

[04:40] I still want it. But it was imprecise by

[04:44] design. So, the phrase America first,

[04:47] however, which has kind of been retired,

[04:49] you don't hear that very often, is is

[04:52] precise. just put your own country first

[04:54] as you make decisions as a leader of

[04:56] your country. And that's very obvious

[04:58] like there it's hard to imagine that any

[05:00] leader would use any other standard to

[05:04] make decisions. Of course, just like a

[05:05] father makes decisions what's best for

[05:07] my family. You know, a leader has to

[05:09] make decisions on the same basis. But

[05:11] they don't use that anymore because of

[05:13] course they're making decisions on the

[05:15] basis of other criteria. What's best for

[05:17] this company? What's best for Israel?

[05:20] What's best for our donors? I mean, you

[05:22] know, that's I just want to say again

[05:23] that's unacceptable. That's not just

[05:26] like they're off in the wrong direction.

[05:27] Like that is unacceptable. That's

[05:29] treasonous. It's immoral. It can't

[05:32] continue. You can't have a government

[05:35] that calls itself Democratic, a

[05:36] Democratic Republic in our case that is

[05:39] representing interests outside the

[05:41] country. Like it that's just insane

[05:43] >> when folks say, "Okay, well all of this

[05:46] stuff if you take this and what Tucker

[05:48] Carlson has been saying on this issue,

[05:50] it amounts to anti-semitism." You have

[05:52] said you're not anti- anti-semitic, that

[05:55] you oppose what the state of uh Israel

[05:57] is doing right now and you have a

[05:59] problem where the US government stands.

[06:01] I just wonder though if you feel any

[06:03] kind of responsibility in terms of how

[06:05] your audience takes this away and if

[06:07] they interpret this as anti-semitic and

[06:10] that perpetuates it.

[06:12] I mean, I couldn't have been clearer. I

[06:14] I have been I almost every single time I

[06:16] address this, I say I'm a Christian. I I

[06:18] don't think I think it is it is immoral.

[06:20] It's against my religion to judge people

[06:23] on the basis of their blood. The story

[06:25] of the New Testament of the gospel is

[06:27] the story of each individual's

[06:29] relationship with God. Um not a group,

[06:33] but an individual. So that, you know,

[06:35] that's the the essence of my worldview

[06:37] and of my religious faith. So yeah, I

[06:39] oppose anti-semitism as I oppose all

[06:41] forms of racism. So, but I don't really

[06:45] think the onus is on me to apologize for

[06:47] a crime I didn't commit. The onus is on

[06:49] the

[06:51] policy makers and advocates and members

[06:53] of the media in the United States who

[06:54] are more loyal to a foreign country than

[06:56] they are to the country that I live in

[06:58] and that my children were born and that

[06:59] my ancestors helped build. And those are

[07:02] the betrayers. And so it is the claim

[07:04] that it's racist or anti-semitic or

[07:07] whatever the lie, the slander is

[07:09] designed to change the conversation, the

[07:12] guilt trajectory from the guilty to the

[07:14] innocent. And I'm just I'm over it. I'm

[07:17] not intimidated in the slightest. I'm

[07:19] not an anti-semite. I don't work for

[07:22] anybody. I don't have any personal debt.

[07:25] I'm not beholden to anybody on this

[07:27] earth. And so I'm going to continue to

[07:29] say what I think is true and what I

[07:31] think the overwhelming majority of

[07:33] Americans know in their hearts is true,

[07:35] which is this is disgusting. And it's

[07:38] just a classic it's a classic maneuver

[07:40] where I get caught doing something

[07:42] rather than admit what I'm doing or

[07:44] apologize for it, I attack you. I have

[07:46] children. I know how this works. Kids do

[07:48] this. But I'm not fooled by it and I'm

[07:51] not afraid of it. And I'm certainly not

[07:53] going to be intimidated into shutting up

[07:55] because of it ever.