‘This Is Actually Not Parody’: CNN’s Abby Phillip Reacts to Blowup Between Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson

 

CNN’s Abby Phillip appeared highly entertained by wild clips from Tucker Carlson’s interview with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

For two hours, the two conservatives clashed on a variety of topics, though the bulk of their discussion centered on foreign policy. Carlson grilled Cruz on U.S. support for Israel and why the senator thinks it is advisable to join Israel’s war against Iran. Last week, conducted airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and assassinated military leadership and nuclear scientists across Iran. President Donald Trump had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold back until U.S. negotiations with Iran had run their course.

On Wednesday’s CNN NewsNight, Phillip aired snippets of Carlson and Cruz going at it.

“It turns out that accusing Cruz of knowing nothing about the country he sought to topple was just the tip of the iceberg,” she said before playing the montage:

CARLSON: I like Trump, I campaigned for Trump, I know Trump. I talked to him last night. I’m not against Trump, and you know that.

CRUZ: But you’re against his foreign policy.

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

[…]

CRUZ: Look, yes, focus on our country! I’m all for it! But the naivete–

CARLSON: You don’t even know how much money this costs. You don’t know anything about the country’s government, you wanna overthrow, and you’re calling me reckless!

CRUZ: I want to stop a lunatic who wants to murder us from getting nuclear weapons that could kill millions of Americans

CARLSON: Fair.

CRUZ: You say, “I can’t see how that benefits America in any way. That is bizarre.

CARLSON: It’s not bizarre.

CRUZ: And by the way, isolationism, your foreign policy is the foreign policy of Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama

CARLSON: Oh, absolutely.

CRUZ: And it doesn’t work.

CARLSON: Yeah, I’m a big leftist

The clips ended and Phillip said, “Well, this is actually not parody, believe it or not, despite the two of them sort of acting like caricatures of themselves.”

Watch above via CNN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!

Tags:

Mike is a Mediaite senior editor who covers the news in primetime. Follow him on Bluesky.