Brian Stelter: Ted Cruz’s Groveling is a Preview of the ‘Tucker Carlson Primary’ for the 2024 GOP Presidential Nomination

CNN’s Brian Stelter said that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his groveling display before Fox New host Tucker Carlson on Thursday is evidence that Carlson will dictate the direction of the Republican Party during the 2024 primary.

Cruz joined Tucker Carlson Tonight on Thursday, a day after he was derided by the host for calling Jan. 6 a “terrorist attack.”

During a contentious interview, Cruz attempted to explain that he had simply used the wrong words. The senator claimed that he was broadly describing people who attack police officers are “terrorists,” and was not equating everyone who protested peacefully on Jan. 6 to enemies of the state.

Carlson, who had accused Cruz of adopting the left’s language about Jan. 6, didn’t let the Texas Republican off the hook during their interview, concluding, “I guess I just don’t believe you.”

When discussing the Fox News interview with Victor Blackwell on CNN Newsroom, Stelter opined that Republican presidential candidates in 2024 will be forced to endure a “Tucker Carlson primary,” citing the apparent influence Carlson now wields.

Stelter told Blackwell:

Cruz folded like a paper airplane. I think what it shows is the Republican messaging about being tough on crime, which is something that’s gone back decades, that Cruz was trying to lean into, has come up against this denial of the Jan. 6 crime.

So, you have Tucker Carlson try to take a position that what we saw with our own eyes didn’t really happen, or not that many police officers were injured, even though some of the officers that were attacked that day still can’t get back to work because the injuries were so severe. But Carlson’s in such profound denial about that, Victor, that he has to put on this performance and Cruz absolutely begged for forgiveness.

About a year ago, media reporters like yours truly started to say Tucker Carlson is the new Donald Trump, and I’ve never seen a bit of proof that’s better than this. This is the ultimate example of Tucker Carlson’s power. He essentially now runs the GOP media and as we think about the midterms and 2024, there is going to be a Tucker Carlson primary and you just saw what it’s going to be like. It’s going to be this kind of obsession with sticking to the party orthodoxy and denying the reality of the riot.

The Reliable Sources host later criticized conservative media outlets for not giving the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot adequate coverage and inferred that the way Cruz was treated on Fox News is evidence that all GOP paths now lead through Carlson.

“They did the bare minimum to cover the anniversary,” Stelter said of outlets such as Fox News and Newmax. “And then Carlson in primetime absolutely punishes Cruz for stepping out of line on this issue.”

Watch above, via CNN.