Tucker Carlson on War Propaganda, Censorship, and Ben Shapiro's Attack on Dissent
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Tucker Carlson on War Propaganda, Censorship, and Ben Shapiro's Attack on Dissent
Tucker Carlson examines the overwhelming dishonesty and censorship surrounding current Middle East conflicts, where basic facts about casualties and damage remain suppressed by governments and social media companies. As the conflict enters what the military calls the kinetic stage, Carlson argues that propaganda becomes irrelevant in the face of physical realities that will be settled by force. He criticizes war propagandists like Ben Shapiro who label anyone questioning whether the war serves American interests as Holocaust deniers and conspiracy theorists, while President Trump openly discusses the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Iran.
March 13, 2026
The Challenge of Finding Truth in a Censored Information Environment
In an incredibly censored moment online, separating truth from dishonesty has become nearly impossible. The information landscape is filled with things that seem true but aren't, while genuinely true things get suppressed. Basic facts remain elusive: How many people have been killed on all sides? How many have been injured? False reports circulate repeatedly, such as claims that Israeli cabinet minister Ben Gvir died, even though he was in Jerusalem issuing decrees just hours earlier.
The physical damage to countries sucked into this conflict cannot be verified because that information has been censored by the countries where events took place and by American social media companies. Every party involved in this conflict has a strong incentive to lie and to spin, making it extraordinarily difficult to discern what's actually happening.
When Physical Reality Supersedes Propaganda
At some point, all the lying becomes irrelevant. Rhetoric itself, propaganda itself becomes irrelevant in the face of war because war changes physical things, not just words and minds, but physical realities like borders, populations of countries, and control over resources. These decisions are settled by armed conflict much of the time, and they certainly will be in the case of this war.
In the end, it doesn't matter what anyone says. Somebody's going to win and somebody's going to lose, and the world's going to be very different. The rest of us can assess those differences unencumbered or impeded by lying and propaganda.
The Absence of Traditional War Justification
For a war, there's been relatively little propaganda around this conflict. The current administration hasn't really tried to explain why we're doing this, at least not very hard. In some ways, we should be grateful for that. It's a sign of respect not to lie to people too aggressively.
The President of the United States said on camera, "We're thinking about using nukes against Iran. We could eliminate Iran, make it uninhabitable forever in an hour. We have weapons that can do that." Those are nuclear weapons. The President is saying out loud that if this gets more intense, nuclear weapons could be used. Whether you support or disagree with that position, it's not often that people are that blunt about what could happen.
There's been very little attempt to convince Americans that this action was taken in America's national interest. The Secretary of State came out and said, "We did it because Israel forced our hand." They've been pretty direct about what is going on and what the stakes potentially are, with the President threatening nuclear weapons.
The Anger of War Propagandists
The propagandists for the war, the people who more than anyone else in this country pushed us to where we are now, are weirdly and unaccountably even angrier than ever. They got what they wanted, but they're madder than ever. That's been true since the very first hours, from the second the first barrage was unleashed against Iran and then the counterattacks from Iran against the Gulf and American interests there. These people have been enraged. A licensed psychiatrist should study that someday: Why are they so mad since they got what they wanted?
The nature of their propaganda hasn't really changed. There's been no effort to convince Americans or citizens of any country that it's good for them. Only that we must do this. And if you're opposed to it in any way, you are a bad person. Not incorrect, not wrong in your calculations, not uninformed, but evil.
Dividing America into Neocons and Non-Neocons
You have to wonder what this is other than an obvious attempt to divide American society into neocons and non-neocons. Why would you want to do that? Neocons are a tiny percentage of the American population, but clearly they're trying to create this division.
Ben Shapiro's Arguments for War
One clip from Ben Shapiro sums up the arguments in favor of this war. Shapiro stated: "Sadly, younger Republicans have become similarly prone to conspiratorial thinking. According to Manhattan Institute, 54% of young Republicans, men under 50, believe the Holocaust didn't happen, as historians describe. 53% of Republicans under 50 believe in 9/11 conspiracy theories. 51% believe the moon landing was faked. These people, too, have bought into a grievance-based distrust of the system. And it's showing in their embrace of psychotic figures and disconnected politics. America is a force for good in the world. Radical Islamists are evil. American allies who demonstrate strength are an asset for us. Terrorists are bad. Members of the grievance party are losing their mind over this. And now they've been relegated to basically rooting for Iran to win."
Shapiro continued: "Members of the grievance party, meaning Democrats and members of that horseshoe, right, have decided that after paying lip service to the horrors of the Mullahs, the true horror is American interventionism and destruction. America must be undermined."
Questioning War Equals Holocaust Denial?
If you have questions about this war, whether it's in your interest or your country's interest or not—a question that's never occurred to Ben Shapiro, as "Is this good for America?" is not really under consideration for him—but if it's under your consideration, if you've raised that question, you are tantamount to a Holocaust denier according to this framing. You're insane. You're a crazy person. You probably think the moon landing was fake and 9/11 was fake.
By the way, there's a pretty easy way to settle any debate about 9/11, which is by declassifying the millions of pages of classified documents that might explain what 9/11 was, but that's never under consideration. We could end this debate right now. We won't, of course.
According to this argument, if you question the war, you're a bad person, and above all, you are a disloyal person. Disloyal to the United States. You are "rooting for Iran to win." You're part of the "grievance party." How dare you complain? How dare you have grievances?
The Kinetic Stage of Conflict
This conflict has entered what the military refers to euphemistically as the kinetic stage. People are actually firing munitions at each other. It doesn't matter what people on the sidelines say at this point. This is a hot war and it will be decided by force. That's one of the reasons you don't want to get into a hot war.
We've exited the part of the exchange where it's two guys in the parking lot saying "What'd you say? I'll mess you up." We've gotten to the part where one guy just punches the other guy in the face and keeps going unless he's stopped. That's exactly where we are. It doesn't matter what you said before the punching started. Not that Ben Shapiro has any experience of that, but it's just true that once people start hurting each other, words matter less and the dominant party will emerge victorious.
If Iran wins, people like Shapiro will double their calls to arrest anyone on the other side. They're already calling for it. "These people should be investigated. Anyone who's against this should be investigated on charges. They should go to jail." Their ideological opponents should go to jail. Who's the totalitarian here? You'll hear a lot more of that, but people will not pay much attention to yelping, childish, totally uninformed screaming like that ever again because this conflict will be decided by force.
