Tucker Carlson Throws Down with GOP Congresswoman Over Ukraine: ‘I’m Not Gonna Take the Anti-Communist Lecture from Anybody!’

Tucker Carlson interviewed Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) on Wednesday night and it quickly became the brawl it was destined to be.

Last week Salazar was asked if the United States should impose a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace, which would require shooting down Russian aircraft.

“Of course!” she emphatically replied.

An incredulous Carlson played the clip for his audience last week. The Fox News host has cautioned against U.S. involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

He replayed the clip before welcoming Salazar to the show, hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Congress to request more assistance and a no-fly zone.

“So, since you have called for war with Russia, how do you think that war, once it begins, would play out?” Carlson asked.

“I think that’s a hypothetical question,” she replied. “I think that we should concentrate, Tucker, on what Zelensky asked Congress today.”

Carlson interrupted, stating, “I’m sorry, I can’t–and I’m in no way trying to cut you off, but I can’t let you elide over that. You said we should shoot down Russian planes. That’s of course war. Since you’ve called called for that–”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You just said that on tape we played.”

Salazar claimed the clip “was taken out of context” and stated she was saying that she “of course” knows what a no-fly zone means.” She added that a no-fly zone should not ruled out as an option. She stated the U.S. should give Zelensky what he’s asked for.

“No troops on the ground, let’s give him the MiGs and the S-300s, what he needs to defend his own airspace, so he will create his own no-fly zone,” she said. “And that’s what I think we should have done months ago. It’s embarrassing that this guy, this president who is under the bullets has come to Congress to beg for us to give him something we should have down a long time ago.”

Carlson replied that Zelensky had requested the U.S. impose a no-fly zone earlier in the day. “So you are denying him that,” he said.

Salazar noted that Zelensky had proposed some assistance other than a no-fly zone.

Carlson stated, “I think a lot of people sympathize with that. Let me just say I think a lot of people who saw President Zelensky’s speech today and have seen the atrocities in Ukraine feel deep sympathy for the Ukrainian people and want this to end. I’m certainly among them. But I’m wondering–”

“I’m sure you are,” Salazar interjected. “So I am asking you, then what should we do? Ok? So what should we do then?”

The host said the U.S. should look after its own interests and asked Salazar, “If the United States providing weapons to one side in a war, how is that not participating in the war?”

Salazar, a Cuban American who represents a largely Cuban American district, began talking about the tyranny of Fidel Castro when Carlson interrupted.

“I’m sorry, I’m not going to take the anti-communist lecture from anybody because of course I agree with you.”

He added, “But my question is if we are providing weapons to one side in a war, I think it’s fair to ask, maybe the other side would say that’s an act of war against us. And if that happens, then what next? And to not think about that seems negligent, but since you are on the Foreign Affairs Committee I know you have bought it through. So tell me your views and what would happen next.”

Salazar replied by stating the U.S. has already provided weapons to Ukraine, and that there’s no fundamental difference between those or the MiG fighter jets Poland has signaled its willing to give Ukraine. She said the U.S. allowed Vladimir Putin to dictate the situation.

Watch above via Fox News.

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