Tucker Carlson Tells Russell Brand He Despises Ben Shapiro and Nikki Haley Because They’re Threatening the Lives of His Children

Isaac SchorrFeb 14th, 2024, 8:52 am
 

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson asserted that he had a “right to despise” GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro because they’re threatening the lives of his four children in an appearance on Russell Brand’s Awakened Wonders show.

In a clip from their conversation shared by Brand, Carlson suggested that those supporting Israel in its war against Hamas were threatening the lives of his children and attempting to “use the power of the state to make me be quiet and enslave me.”

“I would say two things. First, we have a right to be mad, at least. And let me just again speak for Americans, middle-aged Americans, which is what I am. You know, I’ve got four draft-age children, so if you’re playing recklessly, fast, and loose with their lives, then I have a right to despise you, and I do,” began Carlson. “So if you’re Nikki Haley, who’s running for president, or Ben Shapiro or half the people I see on television casually mentioning the possibility of nuclear war or sending Americans to fight in the Middle East, or in any way involving us in a war that has nothing to do with prosperity and peace at home — nothing, in other words, to do with us Americans — then I have a right to call you out and be really offended because it’s my family. They live here. It’s not a joke to me; there’s nothing abstract about it.”

He continued:

And that is the difference between what’s happening in the Middle East from what’s happening in Ukraine, about which I had very strong feelings, but I didn’t think there was a realistic possibility that my kids could be enmeshed in it. Now there is. So, I think, you know, get some self-respect. I would say to my fellow Americans, get a clearer picture of what’s important. Your children are important. Okay, that’s number one, your children. And if they’re threatening your children, I don’t care what their justification is; they’re your enemy. That’s how I feel about it, okay? Number one. Number two, in the United States, the right defends free speech. For most of my life, the left defended free speech in the United States, till about 2014-15. Donald Trump, a lot of things happened, the parties inverted, the wings inverted, the left became avowed enemies of free speech, and it was really up to the right to defend the first- our First Amendment, the right to say what you think is true, not be a slave. Because, by the way, if you can’t say what you think is true, you’re not, you’re not a citizen, you’re not a human being, you’re a slave. So the right has been the group defending that sacred God-given right. With the rise of this war in the Middle East, you’re watching people on the right say ‘Well, actually, you know, there’s a difference between hate speech and free speech.’ Well, no there’s not, actually. You may hate certain sorts of speech. Certain kinds of speech may be immoral, according to me. I think certain kinds of speech are immoral. But if you’re suggesting they should be illegal, you can use the power of the state to make me be quiet and enslave me, then you are again my enemy. And you’re seeing a lot of people on the right say that in the United States, and I’m absolutely shocked by it. I can’t even believe what I’m watching. And I can’t overstate my rage or my contempt for them, because these are the people- and by the way, if they’re not defending free speech in my country, no one is, and we’re done. And we’re going to have hate speech laws, which, again, are just laws criminalizing speech that the people in charge hate, that they’re threatened by. That’s it, that’s all they are. They’re not on behalf of some oppressed group. Many of those groups are not actually oppressed, but leave that aside. Maybe they are oppressed, but it’s not on their behalf that these laws will be passed. It’s on behalf of the people in charge. And that’s completely wrong and you don’t live in a free society. You don’t live in a society of citizens and human beings, you live in a slave state when you have that. And the right, the people on the right who are calling for it should be deeply ashamed of themselves.

Carlson and Shapiro have been embroiled in a months-long war of words over their disagreement on the Israel-Hamas war. The former has  argued that Shapiro’s support for Israel suggests that he doesn’t “care” about the United States, while the latter has condemned Carlson for his “idiocy” and “moral stupidity.”

Haley is challenging Donald Trump — Carlson’s preferred candidate — in the Republican presidential primary.

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