Ted Cruz has called Tucker Carlson ‘bat crap crazy’ after the journalist posted an embarrassing clip of them talking about Iran.
Carlson and Cruz taped a two-hour interview on Tuesday morning that grew contentious after the journalist asked the senator if he knew what the population of Iran is.
In footage released for viewers on Tuesday evening, Cruz admitted he had no idea what the population of Iran was.
Then, he slipped up by appearing to suggest the United States was directly involved with Israel’s military strikes on Iran.
‘You said Israel was,’ Carlson said, to which Cruz responded: ‘I’ve said “we”. Israel is leading them, but we’re supporting them.’
‘You’re breaking news here,’ Carlson responded. ‘The U.S. government last night denied… on behalf of Trump, that we’re acting on Israel’s behalf in any offensive capacity.’
‘No, we’re not bombing them. Israel is bombing them,’ Cruz replied.
Cruz reacted to the early release of the interview clip on Wednesday morning on his own podcast.
‘I will say, on foreign policy, Tucker has gone bat crap crazy. He’s gone off the rails. He is suddenly a hardcore isolationist,’ Cruz said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, walks to the Senate Chamber
Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson discuss the Israel military strikes in Iran
The Texas senator admitted that he knew the interview would be contentious because of his support of Israel’s strikes on Iran, and he had been prepared for a ‘rough and tumble fight’ with Carlson.
Cruz said he agreed with Carlson on 80 percent of the issues but did not share his views on foreign policy.
‘Tucker has spent the last several days attacking Donald Trump,’ he said. ‘He’s blasted Trump as complicit in this horrible attack and keeps saying World War III is going to happen and it’s just over the top.’
He said Carlson began the interview by ‘throwing haymakers’ and was taken aback by his criticism of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby.
‘It was just unhinged,’ Cruz said, accusing Carlson of getting his views from the ‘conspiracy sections of the internet.’
Cruz said he called out Carlson for his views and that he ‘didn’t like it.’
Cruz also said it was a ‘fact’ that Iranian hi men had tried to assassinate Donald Trump, and that Carlson refused to hear it.
The full interview will be released Wednesday afternoon.
Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
Political commentator Tucker Carlson attends Donald Trump’s inauguration
The sudden Israeli military strikes on Iran last week stunned many of Trump’s supporters who believed the president would not support further conflicts in the Middle East.
Carlson and former Trump senior advisor Steve Bannon hosted two separate podcasts on each other’s shows on Monday, warning of the disastrous path to war in Iran.
They blamed the ‘deep state’ in the intelligence agencies and war hawk Republicans for swaying Trump to support Israel’s military strikes on Iran.
And they warned the president faced the ‘end of his presidency’ if he got America embroiled into another lengthy war in the Middle East.
The president bristled at Carlson’s criticism, dismissing his comments at the G7.
‘I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying, let him go get a television network and say it so the people listen,’ Trump said.
Shortly afterward, the president fired back at Carlson on social media.
‘Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,’ Trump wrote.
