J.D. Vance Condemns ‘Cowards’ at Pentagon For Celebrating Tucker Carlson Ousting

AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) condemned Pentagon officials who anonymously celebrated Tucker Carlson’s ousting from Fox News on Tuesday, calling them cowards and arguing that US defense officials should be required to stay politically neutral.

Politico interviewed several senior US Department of Defense officials on Tuesday, who said “good riddance” to the Fox News star and expressed relief that he could no longer criticize the Pentagon on his prime time show Tucker Carlson Tonight.

“We’re a better country without him bagging on our military every night in front of hundreds of thousands of people,” one anonymous official remarked.

Vance criticized the officials for speaking to the press about Carlson’s departure, writing on Twitter that “every ‘senior Pentagon official’ who commented on this story while hiding behind anonymity is a coward.”

“Call me old fashioned, but senior military officials should maintain neutrality about hot button political topics. And they certainly shouldn’t run to one media outlet to gossip—anonymously—about another,” he concluded.

Following news that the Fox News host had been fired, Vance called Carlson “the most courageous person in American media.” Carlson also received support from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), with Massie calling Carlson’s departure a “big loss” for Fox News.

While Fox News’ decision to fire Carlson was heavily criticized by most conservatives, with some even threatening to boycott the news network, many of Carlson’s critics and political opponents joined the anonymous Pentagon officials in celebrating the move, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).