Ted Cruz was baffled by Tucker Carlson’s “weird” Russia obsession during a testy debate between the duo this week, with the right-wing pundit even demanding that the Texas senator apologize for the war in Ukraine.
Carlson characterized the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine as “the war against Russia,” and faulted Cruz (R-Texas) for fomenting opposition against Moscow.
“We were unable to beat Russia in the war that you supported against Russia!” Carlson exclaimed during a tense exchange that dropped Wednesday in which the former Fox News host accused Cruz of presiding over foreign policy failures.
“You’ve been spending the last three years telling us that [Russian leader] Vladimir Putin is evil and we’re gonna beat him with other people’s children,” Carlson continued. “And a million of those kids are now dead! You’ve never apologized for that. That was a full failure!”
“All these failures, and no one ever says I’m sorry!” he later groused.
Taken aback, Cruz blamed former President Joe Biden’s “weakness” for enabling the war. Carlson countered that Biden’s “aggression” caused the bloody war and pointed to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to the Munich Security Conference in February 2022 as evidence.
Putin had been mobilizing his forces along the border with Ukraine for months before the invasion took place.
Cruz harked back to a sanctions package against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was shot down by the Senate before the war, which he argued may have prevented it. He also cited the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan as a key factor in Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
“I gotta say, I don’t understand, for some reason, you are really invested in defending Russia. I don’t get that. I’m not attacking you,” Cruz vented at one point, stressing that he was “genuinely” bewildered why Carlson is “so passionate” about that.
Carlson later shot back that “I don’t want to be at war with Russia” and warned of the dangers of Moscow and Beijing growing closer.
The former primetime Fox News anchor also argued that “Russia is stronger” now despite the onslaught of sanctions imposed against Moscow and claimed that the West has grown weak.
“Western Europe is weaker and more in debt. The United States is weaker and much more in debt,” Carslon contended, insinuating that the US needs to prioritize domestic plights rather than overseas wars.
At one point, Cruz acknowledged that while he voted against the first major tranche of military aid to war-torn Ukraine, he voted against subsequent ones after concluding the efforts to support Kyiv weren’t working.
“It hasn’t worked. So I’ve been in between. I haven’t been on the full Ukraine, full-throated hawk side or the anti- [Ukraine side] from day one,” the Texas senator said.
The bulk of Carlson’s explosive interview with Cruz centered around the Israel-Iran conflict and philosophical differences on foreign policy intervention. Cruz dubbed himself an “isolationist hawk” who wants a middle ground between hawks and doves.
Lawmakers in the Senate are currently mulling bipartisan legislation to significantly ramp up sanctions on Russia.
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