5 Heated Moments from Tucker Carlson’s Explosive Showdown With Ted Cruz

The heated two-minute preview excerpt released Tuesday night generated a ton of anticipation for the showdown between Tucker Carlson and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). And when the full interview was released on Wednesday, it did not disappoint.

For nearly two hours, the former Fox News host and the Texas senator battled over the Israel-Iran conflict, they challenged each other’s allegiance to President Donald Trump, and they even tussled over a Bible passage.

It was a stunning battle that illustrated the deep divisions within the MAGA coalition — as two of the most high-profile figures in conservative politics slugged it out over whether or not the U.S. should engage in a military operation against the Iranian regime.

The conversation veered between the highbrow and the lowbrow. At times, it evoked Buckley vs. Vidal. At others, it more resembled Povich vs. prospective baby daddy — at least tonally. But all told, it will likely go down as one of the most fascinating, and perhaps important political interviews of 2025.

Here are five of the highlights:

1. Carlson rips Cruz for using the Bible to justify bombing Iran

The former Fox News host did not appreciate Cruz — at several points during their two-hour long skirmish — invoking the Bible to defend his hawkish position on Iran.

“Growing up in Sunday school, I was taught from the Bible, those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will cursed. And from my perspective, I wanna be on the blessing side of things,” the senator said.

“Where is that?” Carlson asked.

“I can find it for you,” Cruz replied. “I don’t have the scripture off the tip of my—”

“It’s in Genesis,” Carlson informed Cruz.

Carlson promptly mocked the senator for citing a Biblical passage without knowing specifics.

“So you’re quoting a Bible phrase,” Carlson said. “You don’t have context for it, and you don’t know where in the Bible it is, but that’s, like, your theology? I’m confused. What does that even mean?”

Cruz pulled back and tried to deliver a more broad explanation for his support of Israel.

“Where does my support for Israel come from? Number one, because Biblically, we are commanded to support Israel, but number two—

“Hold on,” Carlson said — interjecting. He then asked, “We are commanded as Christians to support the government of Israel?”

“We’re commanded to support Israel,” Cruz replied.

“Define Israel,” Carlson commanded. “This is important! Are you kidding?”

“Define Israel?!” Cruz shot back. “Do you not know what Israel is? That would be the country you’ve asked like 49 questions about.”

Carlson clarified that, in the Biblical context, “most people understand that line in Genesis to refer to the Jewish people, God’s chosen people.”

“But that’s not what it says,” Cruz replied.

“Okay, Israel — but you don’t even know where in the Bible it is,” Carlson said.

2. Cruz accuses Carlson of having the same foreign policy beliefs as Jimmy Carter — while Carlson tries to puff up his MAGA bona fides

Ted Cruz spent much of this remarkable interview fully on the defensive. But at one point the Texas senator — and Trump critic turned convert — went on offense trying to paint Carlson as anti-Trump.

“You engage in reckless rhetoric with no facts!” Cruz told Carlson. “And to be clear, you put out a newsletter attacking Donald Trump and calling him complicit.”

“I campaigned for Donald Trump!” Carlson shot back. He added, “I love Trump!

“You put out a whole newsletter saying Trump has abandoned America first, and here’s what Trump said in response, ‘Well, considering that I’m the one that developed America first and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one who decides that. For those people who say they want peace, you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon, that’s not peace.’ That was directed at you,” Cruz said — quoting Trump.

“You got me!” Carlson mockingly replied. “Busted!”

Carlson then tried to downplay a rift with Trump by claiming they are still in touch.

“Look, I like Trump,” Carlson said. “I campaigned for Trump, I know Trump, I talked to him last night, I’m not against Trump, and you know that.”

“But you’re against his foreign policy,” Cruz replied.

Carlson responded: “I think that we should be very careful about entering into more foreign wars that don’t help us when our country is dying.”

3. Carlson tries to browbeat Cruz into apologizing for his stance on the Russia-Ukraine war

Carlson — who has notably adopted a Russian-friendly posture in recent years and even traveled to Moscow to conduct a softball interview with Vladimir Putin — tried to browbeat Cruz into apologizing for his pro-Ukraine stance.

“We were unable to beat Russia in the war that you supported against Russia!” Carlson said. “You’ve been spending the last three years telling us that Vladimir Putin is evil and we’re gonna beat him with other people’s children. And a million of those kids are now dead! You’ve never apologized for that. That was a full failure!”

“The number of falsehoods you lay out in one statement is rather stunning!” Cruz said.

“Do you think it’s been a success?” Carlson asked.

“No, it’s been an absolute disaster,” Cruz replied.

“OK, but you supported it,” Carlson said. “Shouldn’t you apologize?”

“No, you should apologize!” Cruz said.

“For what?!” Carlson said.

“I’m not going to engage in the demanding of apologies,” Cruz said.

“That’s my point!” Carlson said. “All these failures, and no one ever says I’m sorry!” Carlson said.

“Do facts matter?!” Cruz shot back.

The tense exchange played out for several more minutes before the two landed on the common ground that even a fractured MAGA coalition can still rally behind — blaming Joe Biden.

4. Carlson and Cruz clash over AIPAC

After Cruz confirmed he has taken money from the American Israel Public Relations Committee (AIPAC), Carlson was gobsmacked after the senator stated AIPAC is not a foreign lobby.

“What does it lobby for?” Carlson asked.

“To be honest, not a whole lot, effectively,” Cruz replied.

Cruz accused Carlson of using AIPAC as a bogeyman.

“There are folks online who are in the fever swamp terrified of AIPAC,” Cruz said.

“I’m not terrified of AIPAC at all,” Carlson replied. “You’re the one who seems a little uncomfortable.”

“No, not uncomfortable at all,” Cruz said.

Carlson pressed Cruz on whether AIPAC’s lobbying efforts are in lockstep with the Israeli government.

“When was the last time took a position that deviated from Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu?”

“All the time,” Cruz said.

“Name one,” Carlson replied.

The senator did not immediately produced one, and offered to give broader context.

“If you want to do a deep dive on AIPAC—” Cruz said, before Carlson cut him off.

“I don’t,” Carlson said. “I want to do a shallow dive that gets to the core question… AIPAC is lobbying for a foreign government.”

Cruz laughed.

“False,” he said.

5. Carlson stumps Cruz on the population of Iran

And finally, the preview excerpt that made this interview go viral. Tucker Carlson grilled the Texas senator about the population and ethnic makeup of Iran — and Cruz drew a blank.

CARLSON: How many people are living in Iran, by the way?

CRUZ: I don’t know the population.

CARLSON: At all?

CRUZ: No, I don’t know the population.

CARLSON: You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple?

CRUZ: How many people live in Iran?

CARLSON: Ninety-two million.

CRUZ: Ok. Yeah, I–

CARLSON: How could you not know that?

CRUZ: I don’t sit around memorizing population tables.

CARLSON: Well, it’s kind of relevant because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government.

CRUZ: Why is it relevant, whether it’s 90 million or 80 million or 100 million? Why is that relevant?

CARLSON: Well, because if you don’t know anything about the country–

CRUZ: I didn’t say I don’t know anything about the country.

CARLSON: Ok, what’s the ethnic mix of Iran?

CRUZ: They are Persians and predominantly Shia–

CARLSON: What percent?

CRUZ: Ok, this is cute. Ok–

CARLSON: You don’t know anything about Iran. So, actually, the country–

CRUZ: Ok, I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran, who says–

CARLSON: You’re a senator who’s calling for the overthrow of the government and you don’t know anything about the country!”

Cruz, in a post on X, complained that the question was a “gotcha.” But the damage was inescapable. Carlson clearly got the better of the senator — and managed to generate the kind of buzz which has largely eluded him since he held down the 8 p.m. slot on Fox News.

Watch above, via the Tucker Carlson Network.