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Tucker Carlson backed Senator Ted Cruz into a rhetorical corner on his show when the Fox News host challenged Cruz regarding his statements about January 6. Cruz was asked why he called January 6 a “terrorist attack,” a choice of words which he claims to regret. Carlson flatly told the senator that he does not believe that claim and pointed out that language has been used as a weapon in constructing the January 6 narrative.
Tucker Carlson asks Cruz tough questions
The conversation between the two was respectful but edgy as Tucker Carlson forced Cruz onto the defensive with straightforward questions about his remarks.
The exchange highlights how skilled Carlson is as an interviewer; immediately he complimented the senator’s intelligence and articulation before going on the offensive.
This instantly told Cruz that Carlson would not be accepting any claims that he had misspoken or made anything less than a calculated statement about January 6.
Senator Cruz indeed claimed that it was a mistake and that his words had been used in the wrong context. Carlson then returned to his earlier compliments to support the claim that Cruz was lying.
Cruz argued that he had intended only to refer to individuals who assaulted police officers as terrorists, though Carlson pointed out that legally and morally this is not the same thing.
The term, used in any context in related to January 6, serves only to support Democrats in their absurd comparisons to the 9/11 attacks, a real instance of terrorism.
Yesterday, I used a dumb choice of words and unfortunately a lot of people are misunderstanding what I meant. pic.twitter.com/vWCjFnA4t3
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 7, 2022
Senator forced to explain himself to voters
Ted Cruz appeared to be eager to respond to criticism of his remarks, though it appeared to be more damage-control than a legitimate explanation of a mistake.
Without Tucker Carlson it seems likely Cruz would never have felt the need to correct his remarks. The pressure from Carlson forced the senator to defend his remarks to the people who voted for him.
Carlson is widely despised among journalists but this is, objectively, what the media is supposed to be doing. A powerful elected official was confronted with his own words and asked to explain them to the public.
This was done without shouting or abrasiveness on Carlson’s part yet Cruz was still forced to sweat and justify himself in the face of a few polite but insistent questions.
Conservatives like Ted Cruz might not feel any need to explain themselves to openly hostile leftist interviewers but Tucker Carlson is someone who conservative voters actually watch and pay attention to.
Most Fox News hosts would not have been willing or able to press Senator Cruz like Carlson did. More Republican leaders should have to experience this kind of questioning from their own side.
